What do the active verbs indicate?

The active verbs (I gave, I hid not) point to the Servant’s conscious and willing submission to humiliation and abuse. He is fully in control. Instead of saying that men struck him, he says that he gave his back to those who strike. Giving one’s back to those who strike, one’s cheeks to those who pluck out the beard, and not hiding one’s face from insults, taunts, and spitting are not merely a secondary result of obediently declaring God’s Word; it is part of the Servant’s obedience to give himself to these things (cf. John 10:17–18).¹ This willingness to undertake suffering marks the highest and most fruitful type of suffering.² His suffering is distinct from the exiles’ suffering: he understood and embraced his suffering.