Isaiah 58:3-14
3. Wherefore—the words of the Jews: "Why is it that, when we fast, Thou dost not notice it" (by delivering us)? They think to lay God under obligation to their fasting (Ps 73:13; Mal 3:14).
afflicted . . . soul— (Le 16:29). Behold—God's reply. pleasure—in antithesis to their boast of having "afflicted their soul"; it was only in outward show they really enjoyed themselves. GESENIUS not so well translates, "business." exact . . . labours—rather, "oppressive labors" [MAURER]. HORSLEY, with Vulgate, translates, "Exact the whole upon your debtors"; those who owe you labor (Ne 5:1-5, 8-10, &c.).4. ye shall not fast—rather, "ye do not fast at this time, so as to make your voice to be heard on high," that is, in heaven; your aim in fasting is strife, not to gain the ear of God [MAURER] (1Ki 21:9, 12, 13). In English Version the sense is, If you wish acceptance with God, ye must not fast as ye now do, to make your voice heard high in strife.
5. for a man to afflict his soul—The pain felt by abstinence is not the end to be sought, as if it were meritorious; it is of value only in so far as it leads us to amend our ways (Isa 58:6, 7).
bow . . . head . . . sackcloth—to affect the outward tokens, so as to "appear to men to fast" (Mt 6:17, 18; 1Ki 21:27; Es 4:3).6. loose . . . bands of wickedness—that is, to dissolve every tie wherewith one has unjustly bound his fellow men (Le 25:49, &c.). Servitude, a fraudulent contract, &c.
undo . . . heavy burdens—Hebrew, "loose the bands of the yoke." oppressed—literally, "the broken." The expression, "to let go free," implies that those "broken" with the yoke of slavery, are meant (Ne 5:10-12; Jer 34:9-11, 14, 16). JEROME interprets it, broken with poverty; bankrupt.7. deal—distribute (Job 31:16-21).
cast out—rather, reduced [HORSLEY]. naked . . . cover him— (Mt 25:36). hide . . . thyself—means to be strange towards them, and not to relieve them in their poverty (Mt 15:5). flesh—kindred (Ge 29:14). Also brethren in common descent from Adam, and brethren in Christ (Jas 2:15).8. light—emblem of prosperity (Isa 58:10; Job 11:17).
health—literally, a long bandage, applied by surgeons to heal a wound (compare Isa 1:6). Hence restoration from all past calamities. go before thee—Thy conformity to the divine covenant acts as a leader, conducting thee to peace and prosperity. glory . . . reward—like the pillar of cloud and fire, the symbol of God's "glory," which went behind Israel, separating them from their Egyptian pursuers (Isa 52:12; Ex 14:19, 20).9. Then . . . call . . . answer—when sin is renounced (Isa 65:24). When the Lord's call is not hearkened to, He will not hear our "call" (Ps 66:18; Pr 1:24, 28; 15:29; 28:9).
putting forth of . . . finger—the finger of scorn pointed at simple-minded godly men. The middle finger was so used by the Romans. speaking vanity—every injurious speech [LOWTH].10. draw out thy soul—"impart of thine own subsistence," or "sustenance" [HORSLEY]. "Soul" is figurative for "that wherewith thou sustainest thy soul," or "life."
light . . . in obscurity—Calamities shall be suddenly succeeded by prosperity (Ps 112:4).11. satisfy . . . in drought— (Isa 41:17, 18). Literally, "drought," that is, parched places [MAURER].
make fat—rather, "strengthen" [NOYES]. "Give thee the free use of thy bones" [JEROME], or, "of thy strength" [HORSLEY]. watered garden—an Oriental picture of happiness. fail not—Hebrew, "deceive not"; as streams that disappoint the caravan which had expected to find water, as formerly, but find it dried up (Job 6:15-17).12. they . . . of thee—thy people, the Israelites.
old waste places—the old ruins of Jerusalem (Isa 61:4; Eze 36:33-36). foundations of many generations—that is, the buildings which had lain in ruins, even to their foundations, for many ages; called in the parallel passage (Isa 61:4), "the former desolations"; and in the preceding clause here, "the old waste places." The literal and spiritual restoration of Israel is meant, which shall produce like blessed results on the Gentile world (Am 9:11, 12; Ac 15:16, 17). be called—appropriately: the name truly designating what thou shalt do. breach—the calamity wherewith God visited Israel for their sin (Isa 30:26; 1Ch 15:13). paths to dwell in—not that the paths were to be dwelt in, but the paths leading to their dwellings were to be restored; "paths, so as to dwell in the land" [MAURER].13. (Isa 56:2; Ne 13:15-22). The Sabbath, even under the new dispensation, was to be obligatory (Isa 66:23).
foot—the instrument of motion (compare Pr 4:27); men are not to travel for mere pleasure on the Sabbath (Ac 1:12). The Jews were forbidden to travel on it farther than the tabernacle or temple. If thou keep thy foot from going on thy own ways and "doing thy pleasure," &c. (Ex 20:10, 11). my holy day—God claims it as His day; to take it for our pleasure is to rob Him of His own. This is the very way in which the Sabbath is mostly broken; it is made a day of carnal pleasure instead of spiritual "delight." holy of the Lord—not the predicate, but the subject; "if thou call the holy (day) of Jehovah honorable"; if thou treat it as a day to be honored. him—or else, it, the Sabbath. not doing . . . own way—answering to, "turn away thy foot from the Sabbath." nor finding . . . pleasure—answering to, "doing thy pleasure." "To keep the Sabbath in an idle manner is the sabbath of oxen and asses; to pass it in a jovial manner is the sabbath of the golden calf, when the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose again to play; to keep it in surfeiting and wantonness is the sabbath of Satan, the devil's holiday" [BISHOP ANDREWES]. nor speaking . . . words—answering to, "call Sabbath a delight . . . honorable." Man's "own words" would "call" it a "weariness"; it is the spiritual nature given from above which "calls it a delight" (Am 8:5; Mal 1:13).14. delight . . . in . . . Lord—God rewards in kind, as He punishes in kind. As we "delight" in keeping God's "Sabbath," so God will give us "delight" in Himself (Ge 15:1; Job 22:21-26; Ps 37:4).
ride upon . . . high places—I will make thee supreme lord of the land; the phrase is taken from a conqueror riding in his chariot, and occupying the hills and fastnesses of a country [VITRINGA], (De 32:13; Mic 1:3; Hab 3:19). Judea was a land of hills; the idea thus is, "I will restore thee to thine own land" [CALVIN]. The parallel words, "heritage of Jacob," confirm this (Ge 27:28, 29; 28:13-15). mouth of . . . Lord . . . spoken it—a formula to assure men of the fulfilment of any solemn promise which God has made (Isa 40:5). Ezekiel 33:31-32
31. as the people cometh—that is, in crowds, as disciples flock to their teacher.
sit before thee—on lower seats at thy feet, according to the Jewish custom of pupils (De 33:3; 2Ki 4:38; Lu 10:39; Ac 22:3). as my people—though they are not. hear . . . not do— (Mt 13:20, 21; Jas 1:23, 24). they show much love—literally, "make love," that is, act the part of lovers. Profess love to the Lord (Mt 7:21). GESENIUS translates, according to Arabic idiom, "They do the delights of God," that is, all that is agreeable to God. Vulgate translates, "They turn thy words into a song of their mouths." heart goeth after . . . covetousness—the grand rival to the love of God; therefore called "idolatry," and therefore associated with impure carnal love, as both alike transfer the heart's affection from the Creator to the creature (Mt 13:22; Eph 5:5; 1Ti 6:10).32. very lovely song—literally, a "song of loves": a lover's song. They praise thy eloquence, but care not for the subject of it as a real and personal thing; just as many do in the modern church [JEROME].
play well on an instrument—Hebrew singers accompanied the "voice" with the harp.