shemuah 'what is heard' that is used in Isaiah 53:1.  The same is used in 1

Samuel 2:24, 'It is no good report that I hear', something that Eli had heard

from others, not a report that he made himself.  The prophet Isaiah declared

in Isaiah 52:15 'That which they had not heard shall they consider', and

follows this statement immediately with the question 'who hath believed that

which we have heard?', and the answer that is implied is no one.  It is

evident as we read on in Isaiah 53, that the amazement and the confession of

verses 4 and 5 are a continuation of the admission of verse 1.

'Penitent men, looking back from the light of the Servant's exaltation

to the time when His humiliation was before their eyes, say, Yes: What

God has said is true of us.  We were deaf and indifferent.  We heard,

but who of us believed what we heard?' (Geo. A. Smith).

In Romans 10 the apostle points out that Israel in his days were acting

precisely as Isaiah had said,

'But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all

the earth' (18).

Israel heard, faith comes by hearing.  How was it then that Israel did not

believe?  They were 'a disobedient and gainsaying people' (Rom. 10:21), and

the word 'believe' in Isaiah 53:1 is the Hebrew aman, the parent of our word

'Amen'.  Men may 'hear', but the hearing that leads to faith, is a hearing

that 'heeds', that says 'Amen'.  'Hear ye indeed, but understand not' said

Isaiah 6 of this same disobedient and gainsaying people.  The hearing with

the ears, is accompanied in Isaiah 6 with 'understanding with the heart'.  So

there may be 'itching ears', ears that are turned away from the truth and

turned unto fables (2 Tim. 4:3).  Stephen accused his hearers of being

'uncircumcised in heart and ears' (Acts 7:51), and those who were thus

accused 'stopped their ears and ran upon him' (Acts 7:57), acting out in

their blind zeal the very truth of the accusation Stephen had made.  The

Saviour knew that there were 'ears to hear', but that not all who heard His

word would believe, obey or understand.  The parable of the sower shows that

it is possible to 'hear the word' without profit, as James speaks of

'forgetful hearers', and those who are 'hearers only' and not doers of the

Word.  Having granted all this, there is, as Galatians 3:2 and 5 reveal, 'the

hearing of faith'.  The Ephesians were reminded that they had 'heard the Word

of truth', the gospel of their salvation (Eph. 1:13) which when the fact is

repeated reads 'after that ye believed', showing that once again, this is

'the hearing of faith'.  In the epistle to the Colossians this same emphasis

upon 'hearing' the gospel is found.

'Ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel ... since the

day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth' (Col. 1:5,6).

At the great dispensational change, the apostle covered the whole

evangelization of the Gentile with the words,

'The salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and ... they will Hear

it' (Acts 28:28).

This verse is not only connected with the quotation from Isaiah 6 which

immediately precedes it in Acts 28, but is an intentional application of the

argument of Romans 10.  'How shall they hear without a preacher?  and how

shall they preach except they be sent'.  While therefore it is sadly true

that many may hear the Word of truth and not believe, it is also blessedly