The Book of the Prophet Isaiah
Isaiah 58
Chapter LVIII · Vol. III, pp. 1217–1218
1 The prophet, being sent to reprove hypocrisy, 3 showeth the difference between a counterfeit fast and a true. 8 He declareth what promises are due unto godliness, 13 and to the keeping of the sabbath.
1 Cry aaloud,1 spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet bthey seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
b De.5.28,29. ch.1.11-15; 29.13; 48.1,2. Eze.33.30,31. Mat.13.20. Mar.6.20. Jn.5.35. He.6.4,5. Tit.1.16. 2 Ti.3.5. Re.3.1,2.
3 Whereforec have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we dafflicted2 our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast eye find pleasure, and exact all your 3labours.4
A.M. cir. 3306. B.C. cir. 698.
c Zec.7.1,5. Mal.3.14. Lu.18.9-11.
2 Afflicted. The duty of the great day of expiation, Le.16.29; 23.27.—C.
e ch.22.12,13. Ja.5.5.
3 Or, things wherewith ye grieve others.
4 Labours (Heb. 'griefs'). Enforce, by law, all the demands by which the poor are distressed. See ver.6,7.—C.
4 Behold, gye fast for strife and debate,5 and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day,6 to7 make your voice to be heard on high.
g Mat.23.14; 5.25; 6.14,15. Lu.20.47. 1 Ki.21.9-13.
5 The leisure of the day of fasting is dedicated, not to devotion and benevolence, but to strife and debate.—C.
6 Or, ye fast not as this day.
7 Not Mat.6.5, but Joel 2.13,14. Jonah 3.8.
5 Is it hsuch a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul?8 is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? ito loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens,9 and to let the oppressed1 go free, and that ye break every yoke?
i Jonah 3.5-10. Mi.6.10-12; 2.2; 3.1-11. Ne.5.10-12. Je.34.8,9. Mat.23.4. Ac.15.28. Ga.5.1. 1 Co.7.23.
9 Heb. the bundles of the yoke.
1 Heb. broken.
7 Is it not jto deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast 2out kto thy house? when thou seest the naked, that lthou cover him; and that thou nhide not thyself from thine own flesh?
8 Then3 shall othy light break forth4 as the morning, and pthine health shall spring forth speedily; and thy qrighteousness shall go before thee: rthe glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.5
3 Then—when my facts are thus observed; when from pure and sanctified hearts my people shall perform acts of kindness and charity to their brethren; when joy shall prevail as the result of wide-spread beneficence:—then shall light break forth as morning.—P.
o ver.10,11. Es.8.16. Ps.37.6; 77.11; 112.4. Job 11.17.
4 The light of 'the Sun of righteousness' will then arise upon you 'with healing in his wings,' Mal.4.2.—C.
p ver.11. Je.8.22; 30.17; 33.6.
q ch.1.27; 3.10; 61.3. Ps.37.6.
r Ex.14.19. ch.52.12. De.33.26-29.
5 Heb. shall gather thee up.
9 Thens shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee tthe yoke, uthe putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity:
10 And if vthou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then xshall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon-day:
v De.15.7-10. 2 Co.8.5-12; 9.7. Ps.112.5. See ver.7.
11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and ysatisfy thy soul in drought,6 and make fat thy bones:7 and thou shalt be zlike a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.8
A.M. cir. 3306. B.C. cir. 698.
y Job 5.20. Ps.33.19; 34.9,10; 36.9,10; 65.4,5; 37.19. Pr.3.8. Je.31.14. Eze.34.14. Ps.51.9. Job 21.24.
6 Heb. droughts.
7 Cover the skeleton form of national poverty with the flesh and fatness of restored prosperity.—C.
z Ge.2.10. Je.17.8. Ps.1.3. ch.30.24,25; 35.6,7; 41.18; 44.3,4; 33.21; 49.10. Jn.4.14; 7.38,39.
8 Heb. lie or deceive not.
12 And they that shall be of thee ashall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
a ch.61.4; 49.8. Je.30.3,18; 31.23-28,38; 32.37; 33.7-13. Eze.36.8-11. Zec.2.4; 8.7-15; 10.6-10. Ac.ii.-xx. Mat.17.11. ch.19.23; 35.8. Je.6.16.
13 Ifb thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath ca delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
b Ex.20.8,9; 31.14; 16.23; 35.2,3. Ne.13.15-22. Je.17.21-23. ch.56.2,4,6. Am.8.5. Pr.4.26,27.
c Ps.84.2,10; 27.4; 42.4. Re.1.10, with He.4.4. ch.66.23.
14 Then shalt thou ddelight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth,9 and feed thee with thee heritage of Jacob thy father; for gthe mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
d Hab.3.18. Lu.1.47. Job 22.26. ch.25.6; 55.2; 66.11. Je.31.14. Ps.34.8; 66.11; 36.8; 37.11.
9 Continue in mountainous Canaan, De.32.13; 11.11; 33.29. ch.33.16. Eze.36.2. Ps.37.34. Re.11.15.
e Ps.105.9-11; 16.5,6; 135.12. Je.3.19. Ge.27.29; 28.14. Mat.8.11. ch.3.10; 33.16; 55.2; 65.13; 1.19.
g ch.1.20. Nu.23.19. 1 Sa.15.29. Tit.1.2. He.6.18.
Notes
Ver. 1-7. Why complain ye so loudly that I do not reward your fasting, while therein you but gratify your own inclinations, oppress your poor servants, promote contention and oppression of the innocent, reproach your debtors, servants, or neighbours, or content yourselves with mere outward noise and show?—whereas the fasting which I delight in, is to repent of, and reform you from, your wickedness; particularly your usurious exactions and cruel oppressions, and to bestow necessary supplies upon your poor brethren, 8-12. If you forbear and restrain oppression of your neighbours, threatening and derisive contempt, hypocritical dissimulation, and do kindly pity and relieve the destitute and afflicted, great shall be your gracious reward; great shall be your comfort, prosperity, and glory. God shall, by his presence and providence, protect you; he shall readily accept and grant your requests; he shall direct you in all your ways, and while others are distressed with want, ye shall be plentifully provided for, and rendered the honoured instruments of re-establishing your nation, repairing your long desolate cities, and of the erection and re-establishment of the gospel church. 13, 14. And if ye carefully abstain from all carnal labour and recreations on the Sabbath, and with pleasure observe it in the spiritual exercises of my worship, ye shall enjoy unbounded comforts in me, as your God, in my ordinances; and with safety, honour, and pleasure, continue in the possession of Canaan, till at last ye be exalted to the felicities of the heavenly inheritance.
Ver. 2. Seek me daily. 'They loved to pray standing in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they might be seen of men,' Mat. 6. 5.—Delight to know my ways—as Herod, who heard John gladly, Mar. 6. 20; as the stony-ground hearers, who received the seed with joy, Mat. 13. 20; to whom the word—as mere matter of temporary feeling and taste—is as the words of a song, Eze. 33. 32.—Delight in approaching to God. Not for any love to God or his law; but from habit, love of a pompous worship (ver. 3), and the opportunity of attracting the admiration of ignorant followers. C.
Ver. 6. If 'every yoke' is to be broken in the acceptable fast of the Lord, then his Spirit demands the abolition of all that can be called slavery in every nation 'that names the name of Jesus.' C.
Ver. 8. Thy righteousness, &c. Messiah, in whom alone is righteousness, will go before you as your Leader, ch. 55. 4, and the 'glory of God in the face of Jesus' (2 Co. 4. 6) will protect your rereward, as did the Shechinah glory in the day when it protected your fathers in the passage of the Red Sea, Ex. 14. 19. C.
Ver. 9. Putting forth of the finger. Being connected with the abolition of the yoke, or of slavery, it is most probably an allusion to 1 Ki. 12. 10, and synonymous with oppression upon pretence of right. See ch. 59. 3. C.
Ver. 12. Tadmor in the desert, which still abides in solitary and desolate grandeur, is believed to have been the work of Solomon, and affords one of the most striking examples of the ruins of 'many generations.' What a cheering prospect is afforded in the predicted restoration of such ruined and deserted cities! C.
Ver. 13. If thou turn away thy foot from works of agriculture, De. 11. 10, walks of amusement, or journeys of pleasure, upon the Sabbath. C.
Reflections.—There is great need that ministers should deal closely with the consciences of their hearers, particularly nominal professors; and that all should seek, by a thorough self-examination, the evident marks of grace. For what alarming lengths in religious appearances do hypocrites sometimes go, and that merely to gratify their own legality and pride! Many flatter themselves that God will reward the services which, in fact, he abhors. And such are often greatly exasperated to have the vanity of their self-confidence exposed. There is much need of great brokenness of heart for and of reformation from sin, in our humiliation for it: otherwise our demure looks will but provoke God to abhor us. Nor can we have a deep sense of Jesus' grace without having our hearts and hands opened towards our poor and distressed brethren: and what is lent to the Lord, by relieving his people, he repays with usury. Let us likewise be careful that our hearts are sanctified and divinely influenced, in order to a proper sanctification of the Lord's-day. Multitudes undergo the most alarming miseries in time and eternity, as the just punishment of their profanation of it; while in keeping his commandments there is a great reward.