This verse follows naturally from verse 2. Ancient Mediterranean cultures placed heavy emphasis on honor and shame. This verse describes one who has been shamed. Bruce J. Malina, professor of biblical studies at Creighton University, explains: “People get shamed (not have shame) when they aspire to a certain status and this status is denied them by public opinion. At the point a person realizes he is being denied the status, he is or gets shamed, he is humiliated, stripped of honor for aspiring to an honor not socially his.” It is not the suffering servant who turns his head, but the rest of society. He is despised and not esteemed. These are the reactions of people who have shamed him. Under Malina’s model, to what social position does this suffering servant aspire? Assuming the Messianic context, the servant “aspires” to be known as the true Messiah, yet society rejects him and shames him for the attempt.
Victor Ludlow suggests:
[Jesus] experienced constant sorrow and rejection throughout his life (Matt. 23:37). Members of his own family and the people in his hometown rejected him at first (John 7:5, Luke 4:16–30). His own chosen people, the Jews, rejected his messianic calling (John 1:11, 5:18). As his mortal ministry neared completion, one of his apostles betrayed him and another temporarily denied any knowledge of him (Luke 22:48, 54–62). This constant persecution and rejection must have caused Christ great sorrow, for the very people he came to save first turned away from him (see Mark 9:12, 1 Ne. 19:7–10).