The Failure of One the Gain of Another
A. Crauford, M.A. Isaiah 53:4-6 Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.… I suppose that no thoughtful person would think of denying the fact that predestined failure is the lot of many noble natures here on earth. They are stepping-stones on which others "rise to higher things." Of each of them we might truly, affirm that he is thus addressed by others, "Bow down, that we may go over. And, in meek obedience, he complies; so that we write concerning him, "And thou hast laid thy body on the ground, and as the street to them that went over." Such souls are scapegoats of the race, bearing away the deficiencies and the sins of many into the wilderness of isolation, despondency, and disaster. They drink to the very dregs the cup of ancestral sinfulness, and their brethren thereby escape that fatal heritage of the soul. It seems as if it were necessary that they should be lost, in order that others may be saved. Consciously or unconsciously, they suck out the poison from the wounds of the human race. (A. Crauford, M.A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. WEB: Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.