he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. This was because He lived at a place (Nazareth) which was always regarded as _dry ground_ so far as anything good was concerned.[368] Moreover, His appearance was humble, and when at His trial, Pilate presented Him to the people, they did not desire Him. 3. 'He was despised, and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and as one from whom men hide their face he was despised, and we esteemed him not. But they at once rejected Him as they had done often before. 4. 'Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. While His life was not only one of grief and sorrow, but such a death seemed to show that He was accursed of God, for the Jews so regarded anyone who was crucified.[369] 5. 'But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. The scourging and other ill-treatment is here referred to; including probably the nails, and spear, for the word translated _wounded_ is literally _pierced_. [Footnote 367: _Comp._ Isa. 40. 10; 51. 9.] [Footnote 368: John 1. 46.] [Footnote 369: Deut. 21. 23; Gal. 3. 13.] 6. 'All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7. 'He was oppressed, yet he humbled himself and opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before her shearers is dumb; yea, he opened not his mouth. Christ, who is sometimes called the Lamb of God, not only bore His ill-treatment patiently, but refused to plead at either of His trials (the verse repeats twice _He opened not His mouth_) to the utter astonishment of His judges.[370] 8. 'By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who among them considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living? for the transgression of my people was he stricken.