John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 50:7

"For the Lord Jehovah will help me; therefore have I not been confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame." — Isaiah 50:7 (ASV)

For the Lord Jehovah will help me. The Prophet declares from where such great courage comes—courage that he and the other servants of God need to possess to courageously withstand the attacks of everyone. It comes from God’s assistance; by relying on Him, the Prophet declares that he is fortified against all the attacks of the world.

After having, with lofty fortitude, contemptuously looked down on all that opposed him, he also exhorts others to maintain the same firmness. He gives what might be called a picture of the condition of all ministers of the word: that by turning aside from the world, they may turn wholly to God and have their eyes entirely fixed on Him. There will never be a contest so arduous that they will not gain the victory by trusting in such a leader.

Therefore I have set my face as a flint. By the metaphor of “a flint,” he shows that, whatever may happen, he will not be afraid; for terror or alarm, like other passions, makes itself visible in the face. The countenance itself speaks and shows what our feelings are. The servants of God, being so shamefully treated, would inevitably have sunk under such attacks if they had not withstood them with a forehead of stone or iron. In this sense, Jeremiah is also said to have been “set for a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a brazen wall, against the kings of Judah, and the princes, and the people” (Jeremiah 1:18), and Ezekiel is said to have been given “a strong forehead, and even one of adamant, and harder than that, that he might not be dismayed at the obstinacy of the people” (Ezekiel 3:9).

Therefore I was not ashamed. The word “ashamed” is used twice in this verse, but in different senses; for in the former clause it relates to the feeling, and in the latter to the thing itself or the effect. Accordingly, in the beginning of the verse, where he boasts that he is not confounded with shame because God is on his side, he means that it is not enough for God to be willing to help us if we do not also feel it. For what advantage will God's promises be to us if we distrust Him? Confidence, therefore, is demanded, so that we may be supported by it and may assuredly know that we enjoy God’s favor.

I shall not be confounded. In the conclusion of the verse, he boldly declares his conviction that the end will be prosperous. Thus, “to be confounded” means “to be disappointed,” for those who have entertained a vain and deceitful hope are liable to be mocked. Here we see that special assistance is promised to godly teachers and ministers of the word, so that the fiercer the attacks of Satan and the stronger the hostility of the world, the more the Lord defends and guards them by extraordinary protection. And from this we ought to conclude that all those who tremble and lose courage when they come to the contest have never been duly qualified for discharging their office; for he who does not know how to strive does not know how to serve God and the Church, and is not fitted for administering the doctrine of the word.