Hebrew Word Study – Gateway – “Ezar – Ayin Zayin Resh 

Isaiah 50:7: “For the Lord God shall help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed,”

Practically every translation I read this verse in will translate ezar as help or helper.   There are not too many options here except that this is the same word used in Genesis 2:18 which is usually translated as helpmeet.  In its Semitic root, the word has the idea of helping one join or be involved with God. A woman was created as a helpmeet for man in the sense that she was to be a gateway to helping a man to meet God and understand God.

Here, Isaiah is saying that God will be the gateway, the one who will bring you into an understanding of the relationship He desires to have with you. In this capacity, this sounds very Messianic. We can not reach God on our own and like Isaiah, we need an ‘ezar. That appears to be the role of Jesus. “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father but by Me.” John 14:6.

It is through Jesus and his shed blood that brings us into our relationship with God He is our gateway, our ‘ezar. Once He has brought us into that relationship with God we will not be confounded. The word confound is kalam which means to blush, hence the idea of being embarrassed, humiliated, insulted, or ashamed.  Isaiah is describing the persecution he is going through for speaking the Word of the Lord.  In verse 6 we see where Isaiah’s persecutors pulled his hair out and humiliated him, and yet the Lord came at that moment and was an ‘ezar, drawing him into His presence.  In His presence, he was not ashamed, or humiliated.  

For this reason, he set his face like flint.  We have a definite play on words here for the word for flint is chalam, which sounds the same as the word for confound – kalam.   Flint is a shining rock.  Rather than his face being dejected it is a face that is shining.  There is something else a little odd about this word chalam – flint.  It is the same word used for a dream.   His face will be dreamlike?  But that is an English idiom, not a Hebrew idiom.  Dreams were considered healthy, hence the word is also used for an egg yolk, considered the nutritious part of an egg. The word is also used for strength and good health.  In other words, despite what the people did to persecute him, he was still a shining example of strength and health. 

He knew he would not be ashamed. The word for ashamed here is bosh.  Like kalam it means to be ashamed, but this type of shame has more of the idea of disappointment.  It is what you feel when you depend upon someone and they let you down.  Someone important to you tells you they will meet you at a certain time, but they never show up.  That is bosh.  Isaiah is confident that God will not let him down.

You step out in faith, and you know God’s Word and what He expects of you and asks of you but you do not see the expected results.  People begin to ridicule you; suggesting maybe you sort of missed God’s voice.  Yet, if it is of God, He will be your ‘ezar, that is He will draw you into His presence, and when He does you are not ashamed or embarrassed. In fact, you have a renewed confidence that He will not let you down.

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