“Cry aloud! Don’t spare! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Declare to my people their disobedience, and to the house of Jacob their sins.
Parallel Translations
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“Cry aloud! Don’t spare! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Declare to my people their disobedience, and to the house of Jacob their sins.
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Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
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Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a horn, and declare unto My people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins.
Cross-references (23)
Passages linked to Isaiah 58:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Titus 2:15 Say these things and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one despise you.
- Hosea 8:1 “Put the trumpet to your lips! Something like an eagle is over Yahweh’s house, because they have broken my covenant, and rebelled against my law.
- Acts 20:26-27 Therefore I testify to you today that I am clean from the blood of all men, for I didn’t shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
- Ezekiel 3:17-21 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and warn them from me. When I tell the wicked, ‘You will surely die;’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; that wicked man will die in his iniquity; but I will require his blood at your hand. Yet if you warn the wicked, and he doesn’t turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.” “Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he will die. Because you have not given him warning, he will die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered; but I will require his blood at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous not sin, and he does not sin, he will surely live, because he took warning; and you have delivered your soul.”
- Acts 7:51-52 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do. Which of the prophets didn’t your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers.
- Matthew 3:7-9 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
- Ezekiel 3:5-9 For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel; not to many peoples of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you can’t understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you. But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they will not listen to me; for all the house of Israel are obstinate and hard-hearted. Behold, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads. I have made your forehead as a diamond, harder than flint. Don’t be afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.”
- Isaiah 40:9-10 You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength! Lift it up! Don’t be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold, your God!” Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
- Ezekiel 20:4 “Will you judge them, son of man? Will you judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers.
- Micah 3:8-12 But as for me, I am full of power by Yahweh’s Spirit, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his disobedience, and to Israel his sin. Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, “Isn’t Yahweh among us? No disaster will come on us.” Therefore Zion for your sake will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the mountain of the temple like the high places of a forest.
- Revelation 14:9-10 Another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead, or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.
- Jeremiah 7:8-11 Behold, you trust in lying words that can’t profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known, then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered,’ that you may do all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it,” says Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 15:19-20 Therefore Yahweh says, “If you return, then I will bring you again, that you may stand before me; and if you take out the precious from the vile, you will be as my mouth. They will return to you, but you will not return to them. I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall. They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you to save you and to deliver you,” says Yahweh.
- Isaiah 40:6 The voice of one saying, “Cry!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.
- Isaiah 56:10 His watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all mute dogs. They can’t bark— dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
- Jeremiah 1:17-19 “You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and say to them all that I command you. Don’t be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them. For, behold, I have made you today a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you”, says Yahweh, “to rescue you.”
- Ezekiel 22:2 “You, son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations.
- Jeremiah 1:7-10 But Yahweh said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for you must go to whomever I send you, and you must say whatever I command you. Don’t be afraid because of them, for I am with you to rescue you,” says Yahweh. Then Yahweh stretched out his hand, and touched my mouth. Then Yahweh said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. Behold, I have today set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
- Psalms 40:9-10 I have proclaimed glad news of righteousness in the great assembly. Behold, I will not seal my lips, Yahweh, you know. I have not hidden your righteousness within my heart. I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation. I have not concealed your loving kindness and your truth from the great assembly.
- Ezekiel 2:3-8 He said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even to this very day. The children are impudent and stiff-hearted. I am sending you to them, and you shall tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Yahweh says.’ They, whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse, for they are a rebellious house, yet they will know that there has been a prophet among them. You, son of man, don’t be afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you dwell among scorpions. Don’t be afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. You shall speak my words to them, whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse; for they are most rebellious. But you, son of man, hear what I tell you. Don’t be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth, and eat that which I give you.”
- Revelation 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet
- Isaiah 27:13 It will happen in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, shall come; and they will worship Yahweh in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
- Revelation 4:1 After these things I looked and saw a door opened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, like a trumpet speaking with me, was one saying, “Come up here, and I will show you the things which must happen after this.”
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The Lord thus speaketh to the Prophet, willing him…
The Lord thus speaketh to the Prophet, willing him to use all diligence and severity to rebuke the hypocrites.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 58:1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy…
Isa 58:1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
Ver. 1. Cry aloud.] Heb., Cry with the throat, or, With full throat. {as Jer 12:6} {a} Plenis faucibus, voce sonora, et quasi tubali: Set up thy note; not only say to the wicked, "It shall be ill with him," {Isa 3:11} there is no peace to him, {Isa 57:21} but cry it aloud.
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Spare {b} not.] Singulae particulae habent emphasin; use utmost intention of spirit and contention of speech. Thou hast to do with a hypocritical nation, than which kind of people nothing is more stupid, more uncounsellable, or impenitent; for how should such repent as have converted conversion itself into a form, yea, into sin? Bestir thee therefore against these deaf sea monsters. Sic clames ut stentora vincere possis. If a man’s house be on fire, we must not speak softly, as loath to awaken him: Sir, your house is on fire.
Lift thy voice like a trumpet.] Non ut tibia, sed ut tuba; not as a pipe for delight, but as a trumpet alarm against sin and Satan. As all the country was filled with the sound of that trumpet at the giving of the law, {Exo 19:16} and as all the world shall hear the sound of that trumpet of God {1Th 4:16} when the law shall be required, so let the preacher’s voice be a summons to speedy repentance, or else to unavoidable judgment. There is one {c} that descanteth thus upon the words: Various things there are, saith he, that sound louder than a trumpet - the sea, the thunder, or such like - yet he saith not, lift up thy voice as the sea, or as the thunder, but as "a trumpet"; because a trumpeter, when he sounds his trumpet, he winds it with his mouth, and holds it with his hands; and so a preacher, which is a spiritual trumpeter, must not only, by preaching well, sound forth the word of truth with his mouth, but also, by doing well, he must support and hold it up with his hands, and then doth he "lift up his voice as a trumpet."
And show my people their transgressions.] Let God’s watchmen cast away the inverse trumpets of Furius Fulvius, which sounded a retreat when they should have sounded an alarm; but deal freely and faithfully with men’s souls, taking the same liberty to cry down sin that men take to commit sin.
{a} Ne frigide arguas, et in aenigmatibus ac obscure. - Oecol.
{b} Ne parcas guttari et voci, - A Lap.
{c} Dr Playfair on Mat 5:19.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The prophet having in the foregoing chapter noted and…
The prophet having in the foregoing chapter noted and censured divers gross miscarriages of the Jews, proceeds upon the same subject in this chapter, and in God’s name expostulates with them for other misdemeanours.
Spare not; forbear not to speak whatsoever I command thee for the conviction of this people.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain When our Lord Jesus promised to send the Comforter…
When our Lord Jesus promised to send the Comforter he added, When he shall come he shall convince (Joh 16:7, Joh 16:8); for conviction must prepare for comfort, and must also separate between the precious and the vile, and mark out those to whom comfort does not belong. God had appointed this prophet to comfort his people (Isa 40:1); here he appoints him to convince them, and show them their sins.
I. He must tell them how very bad they really were, Isa 58:1. 1. He must deal faithfully and plainly with them. "Though they are called the people of God and the house of Jacob, though they wear an honourable title and character, by which they are interested in many glorious privileges, yet do not flatter them, but show them their transgressions and their sins, be particular in telling them their faults, what sins are committed among them, which they do not know of, nay, what sins are committed by them which they do not acknowledge to be sins; though in some things they are reformed, let them know that in other things they are still as bad as ever. Show them their transgressions and their sins, that is, all their transgressions in their sins, their sins and all the aggravations of them," Lev 16:21. Note, (1.) God sees sin in his people, in the house of Jacob, and is displeased with it. (2.) They are often unapt and unwilling to see their own sins, and need to have them shown them, and to be told, Thus and thus thou hast done. 2. He must be vehement and in good earnest herein, must cry aloud, and not spare, not spare them (not touch them with his reproofs as if he were afraid of hurting them, but search the wound to the bottom, lay it bare to the bone), not spare himself or his own pains, but cry as loud as he can; though he spend his strength and waste his spirits, though he get their ill-will by it and get himself into an ill name, yet he must not spare. He must lift up his voice like a trumpet, to make those hear of their faults that were apt to be deaf when admonition was addressed to them. He must give his reproofs in the most powerful and pressing manner possible, as one who desired to be heeded. The trumpet does not give an uncertain sound, but, though loud and shrill, is intelligible; so must his alarms be, giving them warning of the fatal consequences of sin, Eze 33:3.
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II. He must acknowledge how very good they seemed to be, notwithstanding (Isa 58:2): Yet they seek me daily. When the prophet went about to show them their transgressions they pleaded that they could see no transgressions which they were guilty of; for they were diligent and constant in attending on God's worship - and what more would he have of them? Now,
1. He owns the matter of fact to be true. As far as hypocrites do that which is good, they shall not be denied the praise of it; let them make their best of it. It is owned that they have a form of godliness. (1.) They go to church, and observe their hours of prayer: They seek me daily; they are very constant in their devotions and never omit them nor suffer any thing to put them by. (2.) They love to hear good preaching; They delight to know my ways, as Herod, who heard John gladly, and the stony ground, that received the seed of the word with joy; it is to them as a lovely song, Eze 33:32. (3.) They seem to take great pleasure in the exercises of religion and to be in their element when they are at their devotions: They delight in approaching to God, not for his sake to whom they approach, but for the sake of some pleasing circumstance, the company, or the festival. (4.) They are inquisitive concerning their duty and seem desirous only to know it, making no question but that then they should do it: They ask of me the ordinances of justice, the rules of piety in the worship of God, the rules of equity in their dealings with men, both which are ordinances of justice. (5.) They appear to the eye of the world as if they made conscience of doing their duty: They are as a nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinances of their God; others took them for such, and they themselves pretended to be such. Nothing lay open to view that was a contradiction to their profession, but they seemed to be such as they should be. Note, Men may go a great way towards heaven and yet come short; nay, may go to hell with a good reputation. But,
2. He intimates that this was so far from being a cover or excuse for their sin that really it was an aggravation of it: "Show them their sins which they go on in notwithstanding their knowledge of good and evil, sin and duty, and the convictions of their consciences concerning them."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like…
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet,.... These words are directed to the prophet; and so the Targum expresses it,
"O prophet, cry with thy throat;''
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and so it is in the original, "cry with the throat" (d), which is an instrument of speech; and it denotes a loud, strong, vehement cry, when a man exerts his voice, and as it were rends his throat, that he may be heard; as well as it shows the intenseness of his spirit, and the vehemence of his affections, and the importance of what he delivers; and this the prophet is encouraged to do, and "spare not", the voice, throat, or his lungs, nor the people neither he was sent unto; or, "cease not", as the Targum, refrain not from speaking, "cease not crying"; so Ben Melech: "lift up thy voice like a trumpet"; like the voice or sound of a trumpet, which is heard afar, and gives an alarm; and to which the Gospel ministry is sometimes compared, Isa 27:13 all which shows the manner in which the ministers of the word should deliver it, publicly, boldly, with ardour and affection; and also the deafness and stupidity of the people which require it:
and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins; by whom are meant the professing people of God, the present reformed churches, as distinguished from the antichristian ones, spoken of in the preceding chapter; who yet are guilty of many sins and transgressions, which must be showed them, and they must be sharply reproved for; and particularly their coldness and deadness, formality and hypocrisy in religious worship; their "works not being perfect" before God, or sincere and upright, as is said of the Sardian church, which designs the same persons, Rev 3:1. In the Talmud (e) the words are thus paraphrased, "shew my people their transgression"; these are the disciples of the wise men, whose sins of error or ignorance become to them presumptuous ones; "and the house of Jacob their sins"; these are the people of the earth, or the common people, whose presumptuous sins become to them as sins of ignorance.
(d) "clama in gutture", Pagninus, Montanus; "exclama gutture", Junius & Tremellius; "exclama pleno gutture", Piscator; "clama pleno gut ture", Cocceius. (e) T. Bab. Metzia, fol. 33. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The hypocrisy of the Jews, in their fasts, ver.…
The hypocrisy of the Jews, in their fasts, ver. 1-5. A true fast described, ver. 6, 7. Promises to Godliness, ver. 8-12. To the keeping of the sabbath, ver. 13, 14.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain This elegant chapter contains a severe reproof of the…
CHAPTER LVIII
This elegant chapter contains a severe reproof of the Jews on
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account of their vices, particularly their hypocrisy in
practising and relying on outward ceremonies, such as fasting
and bodily humiliation, without true repentance, 1-5.
It then lays down a clear and comprehensive summary of the
duties they owed to their fellow creatures, 6, 7.
Large promises of happiness and prosperity are likewise annexed
to the performance of these duties in a variety of the most
beautiful and striking images, 8-12.
Great temporal and spiritual blessedness of those who keep holy
the Sabbath day, 13, 14.
NOTES ON CHAP. LVIII
Verse 1. Cry aloud, spare not] Never was a louder cry against the hypocrisy, nor a more cutting reproof of the wickedness, of a people professing a national established religion, having all the forms of godliness without a particle of its power. This chapter has been often appointed to be read on political fast days for the success of wars carried on for - God knows what purposes, and originating in - God knows what motives. Politically speaking, was ever any thing more injudicious?
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 58:1. Cry aloud — Be faithful, plain, and…
Isa 58:1. Cry aloud — Be faithful, plain, and earnest in thy addresses, remonstrances, reproofs, and exhortations to and among my people; and spare not — Forbear not to speak whatsoever I command thee for their conviction and reformation. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet — Be not afraid to exert thy voice and spend thy strength in this work. Give an alarm which all may hear. Show my people their transgressions — Set their sins, all their sins, before them, in a true point of view, and with all their aggravations, especially the iniquities of their holy things, and the hypocrisy of their religious services, (Isa 58:2,) that they may be brought to true repentance for them.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Cry aloud - Margin, ‘With the throat;’ that is,…
Cry aloud - Margin, ‘With the throat;’ that is, says Gesenius, with open throat, with full voice coming from the throat and breast; while one who speaks low uses only the lips and tongue 1Sa 1:13. The Chaldee here introduces the word prophet, ‘O prophet, cry aloud.’ The Septuagint renders it, ‘Cry with strength.’ (ἐν ἰσχύΐ en ischui).
Spare not - That is, do not spare, or restrain the voice. Let it be full, loud, and strong.
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Lift up thy voice like a trumpet - Speak loud and distinct, so that the language of reproof may be heard. The sense is, the people are insensible and stupid. They need something to rouse them to a sense of their guilt. Go and proclaim it so that all may hear. Speak not in whispers; speak not to a part, but speak so earnestly that their attention will be arrested, and so that all shall hear (compare the notes at Isa 40:9). “And show my people.” This either refers to the Jewish people in the time of the prophet; or to the same people in their exile in Babylon; or to the people of God after the coming of the Messiah. Vitringa supposes that it refers to the nominally Christian Church when it should have sunk into the sins and formalities of the papacy, and that the direction here is to the true ministers of God to proclaim the sins of a corrupt and degenerate church. The main reason assigned by him for this is, that there is no reference here to the temple, to the sacrifices, or to the idolatry which was the prevailing sin in the time of Manasseh. Rosenmuller, for a similar reason, supposes that it refers to the Jews in Babylon. But it has already been remarked (see the analysis to the chapter), that this reason does not appear to be satisfactory.
It is true that there is no reference here to the temple or to sacrifices, and it may be true that the main sin of the nation in the time of Manasseh was idolatry; but it is also true that formality and hypocrisy were prominent sins, and that these deserved reproof. It is true that while they adhered to the public forms of religion, the heart was not in them; and that while they relied on those forms, and were surprised that the divine favor was not manifested to them on account of their observance, there was a good reason why that favor was witcheld, and it was important that that reason should be stated clearly and fully. It is probable, therefore, that the reference here is to the times of the prophet himself, and that the subject of rebuke is the formality, hypocrisy, and prevalent sins of the reign of Manasseh.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Sins. During the captivity, ver. 11. (St. Thomas Aquinas)…
Sins. During the captivity, ver. 11. (St. Thomas Aquinas) --- Some will not hear, and those must be rebuked with all patience, till they follow virtue. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain c.—The new creature
c.—The new creature
Isaiah 58-66
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At the close of the second Ennead, the gaze of the Prophet had returned from the heights of prophecy to the practical necessities of his own time. In the third Ennead he renewedly mounts aloft to the heights of prophetic vision. Chapters 58, 59. form, as it were, the ladder on which he ascends. He shows in them how the people must, by a sincere repentance, raise themselves out of the region of the flesh into the region of the spirit. After this introductory section, the Prophet, in the second discourse, chap. 60, lets the day of salvation dawn by the rising of a new sun that will prove to be a new, heavenly principle of life in the sphere both of nature and of personal life. The third discourse, Isa_61:1 to Isa_63:6, shows us that the new principle of life will be represented by a personal centre. And in this personality, which, indeed, he beholds only as veiled, the Prophet distinguishes a three-fold official activity. He so speaks of it that we must recognize it as the bearer of a prophetic, priestly and kingly power and dignity. As for the object of this three-fold activity, it will be a double one. In a positive respect, there will be brought by that personal centre to the people Israel all-comprehending salvation, that shall find its concentrated expression in a new name. But negatively, it will be active as judge of the whole Gentile world, here represented by Edom. The fourth discourse, chaps, Isa_63:7-19 implies another descent of the Prophet into the present. But this time it is not the actual, absolute present, but a relative present, viz., that of the Exile into which he translates himself in thought. And as out of this present, he makes the people pray the Lord, in a fervent prayer, that He who once showed Himself as the God of His people, would now also look down, yea, that He would come down with grand display of His power. The fifth discourse, finally, chaps. 65, 66, is like a limited “yes” to the prayer offered in the foregoing discourse. For the prayer was respecting the deliverance of all Israel (Isa_64:7-8). To this 65 replies that neither all Israel will be saved, nor all Israel be lost. The righteousness of God will give to each his own (Isa_65:1-16). The pious shall receive new life. For there shall be a new earth and a new heaven. And the new life that shall reign in these will be one that is inexhaustibly rich, spiritually exalted, in the highest degree intensive; it will also bear the character of the tenderest maternal love (Isa_65:17; Isa_66:14). In conclusion, there follows, Isa_66:15-24, a panorama of the last time. Its acts of judgment the Prophet beholds together. The first act of the judgment is pre-supposed when, in Isa_66:19, it is said, that those that have escaped bring the salvation to the heathen; that the latter shall, as it were, bring back Israel as an offering to Jehovah, and that then all mankind shall be a new Israel on the highest pinnacle. So ends the book with an outlook on a new creation of a higher grade, whose reverse side is briefly indicated in the extended refrain, Isa_66:24, as a worm that never dies, and a fire that is unquenchable.
It must, in the third Ennead, first of all surprise one, that the number of the chapters in it no longer corresponds to the number of discourses, as is in general the case in both the Enneads that precede. For there are nine chapters, and yet only five discourses. Besides, we observe evident interpolations in various places [see Introd., p. 16 b]. Also, the division of verses is erroneous in several places (comp. the rem. on Isa_63:19 b—Isa_64:4 a). All this appears to me to indicate that the Prophet had not wrought out the last Ennead as perfectly as the two preceding. In the materials originating from him, there were doubtless nine discourses indicated for the third division. Hence the undeniable Isaianic character of much the greater part of these last nine chapters. [The Author’s further inferences are substantially a repetition of what appears on pp. 16, 17 of the Introduction, where see.—Tr.]
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I.—THE FIRST DISCOURSE
Bridge from the Present to the Future, from Preaching Repentance to Preaching Glory
Chaps. 58, 59
This discourse connects closely with the concluding word of the foregoing Ennead. There the Prophet had descended from the heights of future glory to the level of the present. This present, with its sad moral condition, makes him doubtful whether the glorious images of the future that he beheld could be realized. But he is comforted: God’s loving wisdom is able to heal a man, if only he does not harden his heart. The Prophet, then, in these chapters, proceeds from the level to which in 57 he descended. But he mounts upward again. He builds a bridge for himself that shall conduct him again to those heights he has momentarily forsaken. This he does first, by repelling the charge of the people that God is unjust and denies to their deserving its suitable reward. God, he says, is not unjust, but your piety is good for nothing, for it is merely outward, and appears associated with deeds that are morally objectionable (Isa_58:1-5). Then it is shown how true piety that pleases God must prove itself by actions (Isa_58:6-14). Then in chap. 59 which, with chap. 58, forms an organic whole, the Prophet first refutes the charge that God cannot help, and shows that the moral corruption of the people is to blame for their misfortune (Isa_59:1-8). This charge the people acknowledge to be founded, and make a sincere confession that promises genuine fruits (Isa_59:9-15 a). Upon this confession the Prophet promises again that Israel shall come to its right, to the possession of the theocratic salvation, and receives in conclusion the comforting assurance that the Spirit imparted to him will rule in Israel forever (Isa_59:15 b–21). This artistically constructed conclusion has a double sense. First it intimates that the new covenant which the Goel will conclude with Israel shall inaugurate a life in the Spirit, and indeed the same Spirit which is imparted to the Prophet, and which will instantly, from chap. 60. on, again raise him aloft to the heights of prophetic vision. Here the division of the chapter is not quite correct. The first chief part of the discourse comprises Isa_58:1 to Isa_59:8; the second Isa_59:9-21. The first part opposes charge to charge. In chap. 53 the charge against Israel on account of false piety is opposed to the charge against God of unrighteousness. In Isa_59:1-8 the charge of moral corruption is opposed to the charge of inability. The second part contains first the people’s confession of sin (Isa_59:9-15 a), and then the promise that Jehovah will, after their repentance, also help Israel to their rights, by which also the spirit of the Prophet is, as it were, set free, and rendered capable of a new flight.
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1. CHARGE AGAINST CHARGE
Isa_58:1 to Isa_59:8.
a. The complaint of the people against the unrighteousness of Jehovah, opposed by the charge of false piety.
Isa_58:1-14.
1 Cry 1aloud, spare not,
Lift up thy voice like a trumpet,
And show my people their transgression,
And the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily,
And delight to know my ways, 2
As a nation that did righteousness,
And forsook not the ordinance of their God: 3
They ask of me the ordinances of justice;
They take delight in 4approaching to God.
3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not?
Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?
Behold, in the day of your fast ye 5find pleasure,
And exact all your 6labours.
4 Behold, ye fast for 7strife and debate,
And to smite with the fist of wickedness:
8Ye 9shall not fast as ye do this day,
To make your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen?
10A day for a man to afflict his soul?
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?
To loose the bands of wickedness,
To undo 11the 12heavy burdens,
And to let the 13oppressed go free,
And that ye break every yoke?
7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry,
And that thou bring the poor 14that are 15cast out to thy house?
When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him;
And that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning,
And thine 16health shall spring forth speedily:
And thy righteousness shall go before thee;
The glory of the Lord 17shall be thy rereward.
9 Then 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 the yoke,
The putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
10 And18 if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry,
And satisfy the afflicted soul;
Then shall thy light rise in obscurity,
And thy darkness be as the noon day:
11 And the Lord shall guide thee continually,
And satisfy thy soul in 19drought,
And 20make fat thy bones:
And thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water,
Whose waters 21fail not.
12 22And they that shall be of thee shall 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 23to dwell in.
13 If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath,
From doing thy 24pleasure on my holy day;
And call the Sabbath a 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:
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord ;
And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth,
And feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father:
For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isa_58:3. It is doubtful whether עַצְּבֵיכֶם means operas vestras (i.e„ your laborers), or opera vestra. But since עֶצֶב (on the abnormal doubling of the צ by Dagheshforte derimens or separative see Green, § 24. b; 216, 2 a) never has a personal sense, but always means only labor, hard work, we must translate: and ye exact all your compulsory labor. נָגַשׂ is construed not only with the accusative of the person, but also with the accusative of the thing, as is shown by 2Ki_23:35. The double accusative joined with the word here shows that it is conceived of as verbum postulandi.
Isa_58:5. It is not clear to me why Delitzsch affirms that the לְ in הֲלָכֹף is not dependent on תקרא. Only the ablative of the gerund could be so expressed. But here no ablative gerund is in place. For one could not translate: num flectendo caput arundinis instar? But it is the pure dative of the remoter object, that numberless times stands after קָרָא in the sense of “calling, to give a name.” לְ very often has a pretonic vowel before the monosyllabic infinitive that itself does not stand in the construct state (comp. Num_24:10; Amo_7:4). The construction ושׂק ואפר יַצֹּיעַ after the infinitive לָכֹף is a return from the subordinate to the principal form.
Isa_58:6. Also in the last clause of this verse we notice the discourse returns after three infinitives to the principal form, to the imperfect.
Isa_58:7. הֲלֹא at the beginning of the verse recapitulates the הלא Isa_58:6, and also represents the clause introduced by the latter (is not that a fast, that I choose?).——פָּרַם “to split, divide,” (only again spoken of bread, Jer_16:7, where לֶחֶם is to be supplied; used beside only with פַּרְסָה of beasts that cleave the hoof) occurs only here in Isaiah.——The word מְרוּדִים is difficult. It is found Lam_1:7 meaning “a going astray, erratio.” Lam_3:19 has the same word in the singular in the same sense. Both times the word is joined with עֳנִי, miseria, as in our text it is with עָנִי, miser. That it is so connected with one or other of these words in every instance of its use, is certainly no accident. It seems to indicate a proverbial mode of expression. Also it results that our word is really from the same root as that in Lam. If then the latter be from רוּד, errare, vagari, then our word must be from the same, and not from מָרַד rebellare. Now as there are no words ad. f. מָקוֹם (with further obscuration in the plural into u) or מָצוּק, that would have both a substantive and adjective signification, we must, with Maurer, Knobel, et al., take מרוּד as a substantive, which like e.g. מַלְאָךְ ,מוֹרָא, etc., pass over from the abstract meaning to the concrete. Then מְרוּדִים would be not merely wanderings astray,” but also “wanderers,” as it were personified goings astray.
Isa_58:10. הֵפִיק (in Isaiah occurs only פּוּק vacillare Isa_28:7) is “to make go out, promere, bring forth,” in various senses, comp. Psa_140:9; Psa_144:13, Pro_3:13; Pro_8:35; Pro_12:2; Pro_18:22. It is still uncertain whether the root of our תפק is or is not identical with that of פקו Isa_28:7 and יָפִיק Jer_10:4. The jussive form וְתָפֵק stands parallel with אִס־תָּסִיד in the foregoing conditional clause. We translate, not quite literally: “and sacrifice thy hunger to the hungry one” (comp. Gesen. and Umberit). Properly it should be rendered: “and draw forth (offer out of thy provision) to the hungry one that after which thy soul craves.” The other translation is for the sake of brevity and pregnancy.
Isa_58:11. By the imperf. with Vav consec. [copulat?] יחליץ appears as the consequence of חָלַץ ּוְהִשְׂבִּיעַ is extraxit, subtraxit; חָלוּץ is extractus, “become loose, free from, expeditus.” The Piel חִלֵּץ denotes “to draw off” (clothes), “to draw out” (a prisoner; thus to free). Hiph. occurs only here. As Kal has a transitive meaning (excepting in Hos_5:6), a Hiph. formed from it is hardly in place here. Already Archbishop Secker, with whom Lowth agrees, would on this account read וְעָצְמָֽתְךָ יַחֲלִיף (comp. Isa_40:29; Isa_40:31;Isa_41:1). But חָלוּץ meaning “equipped, fighting men,” is a word of such frequent occurrence, that the formation of a denominativum הֶֽחֱלִיץ, meaning “to make fit for war, active,” is quite conceivable. I agree in this with Delitzsch without regarding it necessary to assume a חָלַץ, “to be strong,” for חֲלָצִים, lumbi.
Isa_58:12. Ewald, et al., would read בֻּנּוּ. But, apart from only the Kal and Niph. of בָּנָה being used, this reading is needless, because nothing is gained by it either in respect to grammar or sense. Still I would not render מִמְּךָ by “a te oriundi,” and treat it as implying the subject of בָּנו. But the latter carries its subject in itself; the third person plural of the personal pronoun (הֵם), for which we use the indefinite subject man, “one, they,” is expressed by the afformative וּ.
Isa_58:13. The expression הָשִׁיב רֶגֶל מִן is found only here. Elsewhere we find: מָנַע ר׳ (Pro_1:15), שָׁמַר ר׳ (Pro_3:26; Eccl. 4:17), הָסִיר ר׳ (Pro_4:27).—Expositors now justly give up supplying מִן before עֲשׂוֹת, which affords a forced construction, if not exactly an impossible one. עשׂות is in apposition with רגלך, The doing, dispatching business (חֵפֶץ see on Isa_58:3) is in fact the foot that desecrates the Sabbath. [Though the meaning “business,” maintained for the word חֵפֶץ, be suitable for its use in later writers, there is no reason for so rendering it here or in ver.3 or in the passages there cited from Isaiah. Delitzsch says at Isa_58:3 of מָצָא הֵפֶלִ: “In the face of ver.13 this cannot have any other meaning than to stretch one’s hand after occupation, to carry on business, to occupy one’s-self with it,—חפץ combining the three meanings, application or affairs, striving, and trade or occupation.” Translation of Clark’s F. Theol. Lib. As at Isa_58:13 he adds nothing to corroborate the above appeal to that verse, it would seem that in some way the use of חפץ in connection with the Sabbath must self-evidently refer to business. That is, we may suppose, it is self-evident that it can’t mean “pleasure.” It is hard to resist the persuasion that such is actually the logical process of this interpretation. It is influenced by a state of religious life that has given up the Sabbath and will only recognize a Sunday. To those of different tradition it is not self-evident, that the right observance of the Sabbath does not call for self-renunciation in favor of God, even the renouncement of our own pleasures, that we may seek pleasure in what pleases God. To such, therefore, it seems perfectly obvious, as J. A. Alex., says on (Isa_44:28) that “the word (חפץ) has here its strict, original, and usual sense of inclination, will or pleasure, that which one delights in, chooses or desires; and the substitution of affair or business would be not only arbitrary but ridiculous.” –Tr ].
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Cry aloud——their sins.
Ver.1. The Prophet still stands in the present; he is not soaring in the heights of prophetic vision. He never loses sight of the practical question: what must Israel do to be saved? Even in this last Ennead, where yet the inmost depths and the highest heights of the future salvation present themselves to his gaze, he does not forget to oppose the illusion, that every Israelite by his birth alone and nothing more has an expectancy of this salvation. On the contrary he says most emphatically, that the judgments of the Lord will fall on the unbelieving Israel just as on the unbelieving Gentile world (comp. especially Isa_65:2 sqq.; Isa_66:4 sqq., 14 sqq.). The Prophet, therefore, does not idealize his nation. He sees it in its concrete reality, made up as it is of the God-fearing and the godless combined. But it deeply concerns him that as many as possible of the latter may be converted. He had concluded the second Ennead with such a descent to the sphere of practical necessity, and from that sphere also he addresses himself to the third and final cycle of discourse. One sees how important to the Lord this practical point of view is, from the way He summons the Prophet to give it effect; with the greatest emphasis, without timidity or sparing the Prophet must hold up to the people their sins. For without the knowledge of sin there is no return (שׁוּב), and without return there is no salvation. This exhortation, to hold up to the people their sins, is of the nature of a theme. For warning against sin and exhortation to repent is the undertone of all of chapts. 58, 59; and is similarly the serious, dark background in chapts. 64–66.
“Cry with throat,” i. e., with chest-tones, with a full, strong sound (not with suppressed or whispered sound, comp. 1Sa_1:13). Farther, the Prophet is not to restrain (Isa_54:2), viz., his voice. He is therefore not to spare his voice, and accordingly not his hearers either. For a loud calling that penetrates marrow and bone, strains not only the crier but hearer also. The Prophet’s cry should penetrate to the quick, therefore it is said to him he must lift up his voice like the Shophar. שׁופר interchanges Joshua 6 with פֶרֶן (comp. vers.5 and 4, 6, 13). According to Josephus (Antiq. V., 6, 5, comp. Jdg_7:16), the Shophar was a rams-horn [κριοῦ κέρας). Jerome, too, remarks on Hos_5:8 concerning the Shophar: buccina pastoralis est et cornu, recurvo efficitur, unde et graece κερατίνη appellatur.” Comp. Leyrer, in Herz.,R. Enc. X., p. 131.
2. Yet they seek——to the Lord.
Vers.2–5. I share the view of Delitzsch, that וְ before אותי is to be taken in an adversative, and not a causal sense. For the summons to hold up importunately to the people their sin, implies that they do not know their sin, that they hold themselves to be quite sinless. In contrast with this (indirectly expressed) opinion of themselves, stands what the people attempt with respect to God. God’s ways seem incomprehensible to them. That is, they do not at all understand how the Lord can deal with them as He does. They think they deserve reward and praise, and yet must endure severe tribulation. דָּרַשׁ (comp. Isa_31:1) is=“to inquire, to find out by asking, to search out.” They would know from the Lord how His treatment is to be understood. For such is the meaning of דעת דרכי יחפצון, which on its part is moreover explanatory of אותי ידרשׁון. But they do not stop with a verbal explanation. They demand a formal reply, i. e., they would have their pretended right assured to them by formal, judicial procedure. As a people that practice righteousness and has not forsaken the law (משׁפט=legal norm) of its God, they demand of Jehovah judicial processes of righteousness, i. e., an impartial judicial procedure. They appeal, as it were, from Jehovah to a higher, independent court, and demand that Jehovah shall appear before it. In the expression משׁפטי צדק “righteous judgments,” there is thus an indirect charge that Jehovah’s treatment of them had been unjust. An impartial tribunal shall decide, and before this Jehovah Himself should appear. Such is the meaning קרבת א׳ (substant. קְרָבָה again only Psa_73:28). קָרַב is often used for appearing before judgment or before the lord and governor (Isa_34:1; Isa_41:1; Isa_41:5; Isa_48:16; Isa_57:3; Mal_3:5).—Notice the full-sounding forms יֶחְפָצוּן ,ידְרשׁוּן (the latter rhyme-like concluding the two halves of the verse). They paint the bold insolence displayed.
In ver.3 the Lord lets the Israelites themselves produce their complaint. We have fasted and chastened ourselves. Such is the merit they urge. They ask why it is not acknowledged.—This passage has been urged as a proof that our book originated in the exile, because from Zec_7:3 sqq. (comp. Isa_8:19) it appears that in the Exile fasting in the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months came in vogue (comp. WienerR. W., and Herz.R. Enc. s. v. Fasten), whereas the Mosaic law prescribed fasting for only one day in the year, viz., the great day of atonement (Lev_23:27-32). In this bragging about their fasting is found an indication of that extension that in the Exile was given to the rite of fasting. Even Delitzsch will not be dissuaded of the idea that here we “have before us a picture out of the life of the exiles.” But was that Isaiah’s task, to give pictures from the life of the exiles?
In that passage of Zech. we are informed of an embassy, probably from Bethel, that made inquiry in Jerusalem, whether fasting in the fifth month was to be retained even after the return out of the Exile. Thereupon Zechariah receives a commission to answer the people that they might use their pleasure in this respect. For fasting as eating was indifferent to the Lord. What other divine service, better and more rational (Rom_12:1), Jehovah requires must be known to them from the words that Jehovah caused to be proclaimed by “the former prophets (נְבִיאִים הָרִא ֹשׂנִים) when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her,” And then follows vers.9, 10, what sort of words of former prophets the Lord means: “Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother: and oppress not the widow, or the fatherless, the stranger nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.” If it be asked what words of an older prophet Zechariah means, only our passage can be first thought of. Of course the agreement is not verbal; but neither is there any other passage that does agree verbally with that in Zechariah. And as regards the sense, our passage is the only one that in the same way as Zechariah exposes negatively the valuelessness of outward fasting and sets positively in antithesis to it the true λατρεία that is well-pleasing to God. “Did ye at all fast unto me?” the Lord asks in Zec_7:5. The idea of fasting here involves the idea of solemnizing, honoring, sanctifying in the way of divine service, and on this depends the accusative suffix (“do ye then fast me”). Not my honor and my interest did ye seek in your fasting, is, then what the Lord says, Zec_7:5. And He says the same in our text, only more extendedly, in that He charges the Israelites with not having God at all in view or in their hearts when they fasted, since otherwise it were impossible for them at the same time to carry on all sorts of wickedness. And as regards the positive feature, our Prophet in vers.6, 7, when he admonishes to let go the bound, to feed, entertain, clothe the poor, actually says what Zechariah (Isa_7:9-10) says with his admonition to practise works of righteousness and love. Also the prophet Joel utters a similar thought (Joe_2:12-13). By the words “and with fasting, and with weeping and with mourning” followed by “and rend your heart and not your garments,” he points out the difference between the true and the false λατρεία. Zechariah may also have thought of Eze_18:5 sqq. (although it by no means has for subject the contrast between true and false divine service) since that is the only place beside Zechariah where the expression מִשְׁפַּט אֱמֶת is found. But our passage has the most resemblance to that in Zechariah, partly because it speaks only of fasting and partly because it contrasts false and true fasting. There are some other particulars that favor the idea that Zechariah had our passage, and also others in chapts. 40, 66 in mind. Of inferior significance is the fact that the expression משׁפט אמתZec_7:9, (in which we have recognized a connection with Eze_18:8), perhaps includes also a reminiscence of מִשְׁפְטֵי־צֶדֶקIsa_58:2, which expression, beside here, is found only Psa_119:7; Psa_119:62; Psa_119:106; Psa_119:160; Psa_119:164, in the form מִשְׁפְטֵי צִדְֶֽקךָ. It is more important that in Zec_7:13 we have a very plain echo of Isa_1:2; Isa_65:12; Isa_66:4. For after Zechariah (Isa_7:9-10) had quoted what “the former prophets” had demanded instead of the merely outward fasting, he proceeds in ver.11, with the information that Israel did not heed the words of those prophets, and that thereby a great wrath came about on the Lord’s part (Isa_58:11-12). Then it is said further: “And it came to pass, that as He cried and they would not hear” (ver.13). Now these words are the reproduction of a thought that in this form is peculiar to chapts. 40, 66. Thus in Isa_50:2 we have the words: “Wherefore when I came was there no man, when I called was there none to answer?” Afterwards we read: “I called and ye did not answer, I spake and ye did not hear” (Isa_65:12). Finally: “I called and there was none answering, I spake and they did not hear” (Isa_66:4). The same form of expression is found with modification only in Jeremiah and Zechariah beside. Thus in Jeremiah we read: “And I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not” (Jer_7:13); and again: “And thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hear thee; thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee” (Jer_7:27). Finally: “I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered” (Jer_35:17). Such are the Old Testament passages in which the said form of speech occurs applied to the people Israel. For it occurs already Job_19:16, but there only in relation to Job and his servant. We expressly observe that we have to do here only with that form of expression, which to the calling of a superior opposes the not answering of an inferior, and not with the opposite where the superior refuses to answer the call of an inferior. Now it is possible that the expression was borrowed from Job_19:16, and applied to the relation of Jehovah to Israel. Who did this first is the question. Any way the words in Zec_7:13 a, have most resemblance to Isa_65:12; Isa_66:4. Now as this kind of expression is found in Isaiah only Isa_50:2; Isa_65:12; Isa_66:4, the conclusion is very natural that Zechariah reckoned the author of Isaiah 40-64 to the former prophets that prophesied in the time “when Jerusalem still sat and was quiet and its cities round about and the south, and the plain” (Zec_7:7). For evidently vers.13, 14 are explanatory of what precedes. It is said wherein “the great wrath” consisted, of which Isa_58:12 spoke. And as the cause of this wrath was said to be that the Israelites would not hear “the law and the words which Jehovah Sabaoth sent by His Spirit by the hand of the former prophets,” so, in ver.13a, the cause of the wrath is more nearly defined by a condensed statement of the contents of those former prophecies. The conclusion here presented is the judgment also of KueperDas Prophetenth, d. A. B. p. 291. Another proof of the same thing is, that the words: “made heavy their ears that they should not hear” (Zec_7:11), is a quotation of Isa_59:1. And it may be noted that the expression כָבְדָה אִתֶן in general occurs only in Isa. (Isa_6:10; Isa_59:1). From this whole investigation it results, that we have not to consider the words of Isa_58:3 a, as the language of an exile, but of a contemporary of Isaiah.
Although only one fast day in the year was legally prescribed, still voluntary fast-days were allowed both for individuals, and for the whole community. And there are many texts to prove that such often occurred. Comp. Jdg_20:26; 1Sa_7:16; 2Sa_1:12; 2Sa_12:16 sqq.; 1Ki_21:12; Joe_1:14; Jer_36:6; Jer_36:9; 2Ch_20:3; Ezr_8:21; Psa_109:24, etc. It was just voluntary fasting that was likely to become the subject of work-righteous, Pharisaical boasting (Luk_18:12). עִנָּה נֶפֶשׁ is “to restrain, bow, repress the craving” for food. It is the expression by which the law itself designated the inward side of fasting (Lev_16:31; Lev_23:27; Lev_23:29; Lev_23:32; Num_29:7; Num_30:14; Psa_35:13). “Crucify the flesh,” though not a literal rendering, is true to the sense; for נפשׁ is after all nothing else than the inner flesh, fleshly craving in the extended sense.
Isa_58:3 b. To this proud, work-righteous speech of the people, in which they make the Lord, as it were, the defendant, the Lord Himself replies by pointing them away from worship in the letter to worship in spirit, and in truth (John 4). First He exposes the hypocrisy of their way of fasting. Fasting ought to be a divine worship. Thus it implies a direction of the heart toward God. But how can devotion be thought of in those who, while they fast, turn their thoughts only to worldly profit, yea, to wrangling and unrighteousness. חֵפֶץ is that which a man delights in, not merely in the sense of transitory pleasure, but also in the more serious sense of business interest. In this sense it even stands parallel with בֶּצַעJob_22:3, comp. Job_21:21. In Isa_44:28; Isa_53:10 we see plainly the transition from one to the other meaning. In our chapter ver.13 the word occurs twice again in the sense of πρᾶγμα, negotium. In Ecc_3:1; Ecc_3:17; Ecc_5:7; Ecc_8:6, it occurs in this sense, and each time the LXX. render it by πρᾶγμα. By the expression מָצָא before חפץ the Prophet purposes primarily a paronomasia with respect to צֹמְכֶם. But perhaps, too, מצא חפץ (to touch, take hold of a business, according to the fundamental meaning pertingere ad, assequi, comp. Job_11:7; Psa_21:9; Isa_10:10; Isa_10:14) was a popular expression current in business life. The general sense of תנגשׂוכל־עצביכם is easily made out. The Prophet reproaches the Israelites with combining greedy exaction with their fasting. But עצביכם occasions difficulty, on which see Text, and Gram.
Isa_58:4. But beside greedy harshness toward those under them, the Israelites combined with their fasting vexatious strife that degenerated into deeds of violence towards those of like condition. Fasting, instead of raising them up inwardly, made them moody to the degree that they give vent to their ill-humor by cudgelings. Thus their fasting exercised even a demoralizing influence. The consequence is that the prayer, which combined with such fasting they send toward heaven, is not heard. כַּיּוֹם cannot possibly (with Hahn) be taken in the sense of ὡς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ (Rom_13:12-13), ὡς τέκνα φωτός (Eph_5:8). Also Stier ascribes too much to the expression when, following Jarchi, he takes it in the sense of “as becomes the day” (i. e., the day of atonement). כַּיּוֹם simply urges the present, silently implying a contrast with the past and future. That is, the Prophet will say nothing of the past and future. He only makes prominent: that Israel now, in the present moment, does not fast as it ought to (comp. 1Sa_2:16; 1Sa_9:27; 1Ki_22:5). It implies also the possibility of doing better in the future. In להשׂמיע the לְ denotes the intended effect: ye fast not so that (the intended effect, to bring your voice on high (Isa_57:15; Isa_33:5) to a hearing) can be attained. Fasting and praying go together, and fasting is intended to serve the prayer as an accompaniment that recommends it, as say, with reference to men, a present is joined to a petition to make it more effective (compare the texts cited above on voluntary fasting).
Ver.5. The Prophet once more comprehends what has been said, in a question that calls for a negative response. Shall that (described vers.3 b–4) be a fast that I choose, a day when a man afflicts his soul? We must not (with the Vulg. Luther and many others refer הכזהוגו׳ to what follows (numquid tale est jejunium quod elegi, per diem affligere hominem animam suam?Vulg.). For the words יום ענות אדם נפשׁו are words of the law (Lev_16:31; Lev_23:27; Lev_23:32; Num_29:7). One ought to fast so according to the law. Therefore the words יום ענות ו֝ are parallel with צום אבחרהו. It is indeed God’s will that a man afflict his soul, i. e., his psychical lusts, that he crucify the flesh. That is wholesome and healthy. But would fasting combined with outrage, as described Isa_58:3 b–4, be really a wholesome crucifying of the flesh? This question must be answered with no. Moreover that is also to be called no fasting when one lays all stress on the outward, bodily exercise (the σωματικὴ γυμνασία) 1Ti_4:8) and at this price leaves the inward flesh wholly unmolested. The expression “sackcloth and ashes” occurs again only Dan_9:3; Est_4:1; Est_4:3. Evidently Isaiah has also here been the source for later usage, for in general the language of Isaiah 40-66 is not that of Daniel and Esther.
3. Is not this the fast——thine own flesh.
Isa_58:6-7. It is well to observe that in these two verses, which would describe the fasting that is well-pleasing to God, the Prophet says nothing more of bodily mortification. He only names the works of righteousness toward the oppressed (ver.6), and beneficence toward the poor and needy. But one must not understand that he positively rejects fasting. When he says: is not that a fasting I choose? he assumes that there will be fasting. What follows: to loose, etc., only gays what should be combined with fasting, in contrast with the conduct of the Israelites in this respect. Nevertheless the Prophet lays the chief stress just on the works mentioned in Isa_58:6-7. He assumes that the practice of these works also costs a sacrifice either of bodily substance, or of inward resignation and subduing uncharitable inclinations. He that subdues the flesh to the will in this wise, practises the true “afflicting of the soul.” Notice how the Prophet is here quite on the road that reaches its highest elevation in the declarations of Isa_66:3. Also: that thou hide not thyself from thy flesh, is a trace of the broad, evangelical spirit that reigns in our passage. To the question: who is my neighbor? the answer is given here: every one who is of thy flesh. The answer does not run: every one who is of thy nation, or tribe (Luk_10:29 sqq.). Thus our Prophet here, too, rises far above theocratic narrowness. [Comp. Jam_1:27].
4. Then shall thy light——to dwell in.
Isa_58:8-12. The Prophet now gives a series of ten promises of glorious reward for those who will fulfil the command of the Lord in the right spirit. He strings them together like a necklace of pearls, yet so that, after the first four promises, he mentions again (Isa_58:9 b, and 10a), the conditions, as one breaks the monotony of the string of pearls by an ornament of another form and color. The row of promises consists of four and six members, among which a certain parallelism and also a climax is observable. In Isa_58:8-9 a, the Prophet describes in some measure the pious man’s course of life. Rising out of the obscurity of his previous way of life, the light of divine holiness and glory rises like the morning dawn for the pious man—בָּק־ע “to split,” Niph. “by splitting to press forth,” (comp. Isa_35:6; Isa_59:5). Heretofore sick, he feels in himself the power of a new life, by which, as it were, new, healthy flesh grows on him, as on the dead bones Ezekiel saw (Eze_37:5 sq.). אֲרֻכָה is certainly derived most naturally from אָרַךְlongum esse, and denotes the new flesh that extends over the wound, by which, supplanting that which is dead, it fills up the gaps and restores the normal form of the member, (comp. FleischerinDel. Comm. p. 592, Anm.). The word is found only here in Isaiah, comp. Jer_8:22; Jer_30:17; Jer_33:6; 2Ch_24:13; Neh_4:1. He that has come to the light, and that has become strong in health, moves along the course assigned him. This march resembles a triumphal procession. As before him that goes in triumph are borne or led along the signs of his victory, so the glory of the pious goes before him, i. e., his righteous works. But he does not on this account shine in the brightness of his own celebrity, for he that closes up and holds together (comp. Isa_52:12) the procession, and thus shows himself to be the power that controls all, is the glory of Jehovah. But where is the pious one, let his course of life be never so glorious, that does not need God? Therefore the Prophet comprehends all the rest together in the great, glorious right of petition of the pious one, which consists in this, that the pious may ask for everything, and never prays in vain (Mat_21:22; Mar_11:24; Joh_14:13 sq.). As has been remarked, the Prophet in ver.9 b–10 a interrupts the chain of promises, in order to repeat the conditions. What he mentions as such is again the demand to forego every sort of lovelessness (Isa_58:9 b), and to practise every sort of love (ver.10a). As the first thing to be abstained from, he designates: not to rule tyrannically, but to take away yokes wherever they exist. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2Co_3:17), and love does no evil to its neighbor; it seeks not its own; it rejoices not in iniquity (1Co_13:4 sqq.). There is here a certain climax: the Prophet evidently regards subjugation, tyranny, violence as the coarsest violation of the law of love. As a more refined transgression, he regards the pointing (שְׁלַח, inf.) with the finger. This, among western nations as well as among orientals, is a gesture of contempt, comp. Gesen.in loc. (infamis digitus, the middle finger; Pers. II:33: rideto multum et digitum porrigito medium, Martial, II:28, 2). According to Pro_6:13, pointing the finger appears also as a means of malignant denunciation and spiteful betrayal. Still more refined, but not better on that account, is the transgression of the law of love by sacrilegious discourse (comp. Isa_1:13; Isa_10:1; Psa_5:6; Psa_6:9, etc.).—The demand to cease to do evil is followed by the demand to do good (ver.10). And vice omnium it is demanded that the pious sacrifice his own hunger to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul. For I agree with Delitzsch in the opinion that נֶפֶשׁ can mean nothing else here than that after which the soul, i. e., here the hungry man’s prompting for nourishment, craves. Hence it is going too far, when Stieret al., following Jerome, take נפשׁ in the sense of life and heart. For he that is hungry after our life, to him we would not owe it.
Ver.11. In what now follows we have a second row of promises and made stronger. It is composed of six members, but in its fundamental thought it corresponds to the one of four members [that precedes]. For underlying it is the thought of a life-career, that begins with the morning and presses happily through conflicts of every sort. But in this succession of six members the issue is different. That is, it concludes with a perspective of an activity that is richly blessed, and extends its efficiency into the remotest times. The first promise of this series corresponds exactly to the beginning of the first series: liberation from the chains of darkness, rising of light and increase of it is promised in such measure, that even the obscurest parts of that darkness will have the brightness of midday. (Job_11:17; Psa_18:29; Psa_37:6, etc.).—The second promise is indeed the shortest, but it is also the most important of all: the Lord will never withdraw His hand from the pious one; He will abide with him and guide him (Isa_57:18) in all his ways. The third promise assumes that cross and conflict will, nevertheless, not be wanting to the pious one. For there will be also for him still עַחְצָחוֹת, i. e., hot places. Jerome translates: “implebit splendoribus animam tuam.” Hahn follows this and translates: ‘ ‘and let thy soul be satisfied with brightness.” It is true, the root צָחָה ,צָחַח, in its fundamental meaning, “burning,” involves the meaning of “gleaming” and of “drought.” Hence on the one hand צַח, nitens on the other hand צְחִיחָה (Psa_68:7) and צְהִיחִיִּם (Neh_4:7) loca arida. But what is promised already, Isa_58:10 b, satisfies the requirements of light, and ver.11b. shows that the Prophet has in mind the refreshing element of water. He promises satiety from it in a two-fold gradation. First, the pious one shall want none, even in localities that for others are arid deserts. The soul, i. e., the need of -water shall be richly satisfied, so that thereby the bones (thus the body itself) become fresh and powerful. But, and this is the fourth promise, the refreshing element shall be, bestowed on the pious one in a still greater degree. That is to say, he shall himself become a well-watered garden; in fact, a richly flowing spring of water. Thus the pious one shall be an oasis in the desert, a lovely, green, fruitful garden, with a glorious spring that never goes dry. The expression גן רוה is found again only in Jer_31:12. מוצא מים is the place of issue, the flowing place for water (comp. Isa_41:18; Psa_107:33; Psa_107:35; 2Ch_32:30). In general comp. Isa_1:30; Isa_51:3; Son_4:12.—The fifth promise extends to the pious one the prospect that he will be still beyond the period of his life a source of blessing, and indeed the cause of a glorious restoration: they shall build (see Text, and Gram.) from thee (מִמְּךָ designates the ideal originator) ancient waste places,” means nothing else than: thou wilt be the author and spiritual director of such buildings by which ancient buildings that were destroyed shall be restored. The Prophet purposely does not say that it shall be just bodily children. Any way it will be children after the Spirit. Hence, also, in the second clause, just the second person sing. is used. It were incomprehensible why the children’s building should be mentioned before that of the father. On the other hand, תְּקוֹמֵם explains to us the meaning of the בנו ממך. One is, indeed, tempted to do as Stier and others do, and refer the second clause to new buildings, since דור ודוד, as a rule, points to the future, and since great men are wont not merely to restore, but also to found new institutions. But in Isa_61:4, the Prophet repeats this expression with some modifications, and there, according to the context, only restoration can be meant. Added to this, קום in Pilel designates essentially “rising up again,” and the predicates גֹדֶר and מְשׁוֹבֵכ equally refer to restoration. דור ודור (notice that it does not say לְדֹור ו׳) is used of the past also in Deu_32:7; Psa_90:1.—The sixth promise extends to the pious one the prospect of honorable surnames, the praise of having deserved well of his country. A פֶרֶץ גֹּדֵר is one that walls up (comp. Eze_22:30; 2Ki_12:13) what is shattered (פֶרֶץ28:21; Isa_30:13), thus a repairer of human dwellings. But, in order to dwell comfortably in a land, men must be able to go to one another, commerce and intercourse must be possible. Hence the additional title restorer of the paths. לָשָֽׁבֶת “to dwell in,” is probably to be referred to both, since, in order to dwell, i. e., for comfortable and secure dwelling in a land, both are necessary, good dwellings and good roads. נְתִיבָה is a poetic word with no technical reference, and hence suitable for designating any sort of way (comp. Leyrer’s article “Strassen in Palaestina;” Herz. R. Enc. xv. p. 157 sqq.).—One sees, especially from ver.12, that the Prophet, who here still before the Exile preaches repentance to his nation, has yet always in mind the great future of restoration. So it is characteristic that, to the pious of his day, as a last and most glorious reward, he presents the prospect, that by him, too, shall be exercised blessed influences on Israel’s reinstallation in its land.
5. If thou turn——hath spoken it.
Isa_58:13-14. Isaiah’s contemporaries seem to have provoked the Lord especially by two things. First by an excess that was not demanded; that is by fasting much more than was commanded. They fancied that by this outward exercise they could bribe the Lord and wipe out scores with Him. But then they let themselves be caught in doing too little. They were as lax about keeping the Sabbath as they were strict about fasting. The Sabbath was Jehovah’s day. Keeping it holy was a sure sign of fidelity to Jehovah, and easily tested. Thus the Prophet demands a right sanctification of the Sabbath as a condition of glorious, theocratic blessing (comp. Isa_56:2). The doing or dispatching business (חֵפֶץ comp. onver.3 and Text, and G., where see Tr.’s note) is just the foot whose tramp desecrates the holy ground of the Sabbath. From the mouths of those that did not heartily serve the Lord, one may often have heard utterances that the celebration of the Sabbath was a burden, that interfered with all business and occupation (Amo_8:5). Opposed to this the Prophet demanded that men shall call the Sabbath a delight (ענג again only Isa_13:22). It merits this name as the universal friend of man, that brings rest and refreshment to all that are weary and heavy-laden. But, as being holy to Jehovah, it deserves the name honorable (מְכֻבָּד to be highly honored). But the Israelites should practically honor it also by not doing their own ways, and not going about their trade and occupation (מעשׂות=far from making, without making or doing), by not doing their own business (see on ver.3) and by not carrying on conversation. The expression דִבֵּר דָּבָר is found again Isa_8:10. The sense differs with the context. In many passages it has no pregnant sense (comp. Gen_41:28; Gen_44:18; 2Ki_5:13; Job_2:13; Pro_25:11). But there are also passages where it has (Deu_18:20; Isa_8:10; Jer_29:23; Jer_34:5; Eze_12:25; Eze_12:28; Eze_14:9; 2Sa_7:7). According to the Mosaic law, the Sabbath should be a day of joy (comp. Oehler in Herz.R. Enc. xiii. p. 199). Could it be exacted of all Israelites that on this day only weighty words should proceed from their mouth? Certainly not. But business conversation could properly be forbidden. On the Sabbath no business must be transacted, neither by works nor by words. Thus דָּבָר is here about the same as πρᾶγμα (comp. 1Sa_20:2; Jdg_18:7; Jdg_18:18, etc.). Let the Israelite practically honor the Sabbath in this way and he will delight himself in Jehovah Himself. He will serve the Lord with inmost satisfaction, and the Lord on His part will bestow upon Him the highest honor and the highest enjoyment. I will cause thee to ride, I will feed thee are citations from Deu_32:13, comp. Deu_33:29. To ride on the high places of the earth denotes exaltation above all other nations. Instead of “eating the heritage of Jacob thy father,” the original text in Deuteronomy reads “eat the increase of the fields; and He (Jehovah) made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.” These expressions are compressed in our text, and an expression used instead that recalls the promises given to the fathers in reference to the land of Canaan (Exo_3:8; Exo_3:17; Exo_13:5, etc.). On “For the mouth of the Lord,” etc., see on Isa_1:20; Isa_40:5.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isa_58:2-3. There are also to-day many men that hold up their good works to God (Luk_18:11 sqq.), and who, out aloud or silently, reproach Him for not adequately rewarding them for them. But one can distinguish here two classes: those that boast of having done works of undoubted moral worth; and such as found their pretensions essentially on works that are morally indifferent, as ceremonies of worship and the like. Of course there is a difference between these, for the former can, under some circumstances, really deserve praise; whereas the latter under all circumstances accomplish something more or less morally worthless, yea, possibly, as miserable hypocrites, directly provoke the wrath of God. But never has the creature the right to accuse God. It may be debated whether such accusation is more folly or wickedness. It is tinder all circumstances a presumptuous judgment. For, as long as we live, results are not assured, and we lack ability to see all. Only the day will make it clear what is the relation between God’s doing and ours, and that He has not let the just recompense be wanting (Isa_1:18; Isa_43:26).
2. On Isa_58:4 sqq. The Prophet finds fault with the fasting of the Jews in two respects. First, because they combined them with works of unrighteousness. Second, because they held the “bodily exercise” to be the chief thing. Perhaps in the Sermon on the mount our Lord had our text in mind when He said: “When ye fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance.” Mat_6:11. He makes prominent one particular that probably hovered before our Prophet also. For it is possible that he saw in the “hanging the head” an artificial, affected, and so hypocritical expression of a piety that did not exist inwardly; although it is not absolutely necessary that this letting the head hang and making one’s bed in sand and ashes took place with hypocritical intent. But our Lord expressly demands that one do not let appear the harassed, sickly look, that was the perhaps quite natural consequence of fasting. He says (Mat_6:17): “but thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father, which is in secret.” One sees, therefore, that in the Sermon on the mount the Lord by no means rejects corporeal fasting. He only shows abhorrence of men’s hypocritically abusing fasting for the gratification of pride. But the Prophet also does not reject fasting. But he would have corporeal fasting be the faithful expression of a simultaneous moral doing of penitent self-denial and compassionating love.
3. On Isa_58:6-9. As the apostle James pressingly urges against dead works, that even Abraham’s faith was in itself a grand moral act, so here, too, the Prophet insists on right works as opposed to false works. But neither declares essentially anything concerning the true ground and origin of the works that they mean, because the context of their discourses does not call for it. We are to supply this from passages that professedly speak to this point, which they silently take for granted, according to the measure of intelligence given to them. For even Isaiah knows right well that that which satisfies and strengthens is not to be obtained by one’s own labor and effort (55).
4. On Isa_58:7. “Flesh denotes here in this context something more still, which J. von Mueller has remarked: “The remembrance of universal brotherhood, and how we are all exposed to like things”—as ἅνθρωποι ὁμοιοπαθεῖς. Verily flesh has need of covering. When therefore thou seest the naked, then see and feel therein the need of thine own flesh, and do not, proudly selfish, conceal or cover only thyself with thy garment that belongs to the other as also being thy flesh.” Stier.
5. On Isa_58:7. Concerning the expression כָּרֹם לֶחֶם see Doctrinal and Ethical on Jer_16:7.
6. [On Isa_58:13-14. “From the closing portion of this chapter we may derive the following important inferences respecting the Sabbath. (1) It is to be of perpetual obligation. The whole chapter occurs in the midst of statements that relate to the times of the Messiah. There is no intimation that the Sabbath was to be abolished, but it is fairly implied that its observance was to be attended with most happy results in those future times.... (2) We may see the manner in which the Sabbath is to be observed. In no place in the Bible is there a more full account of the proper mode of keeping that holy day. We are to refrain from ordinary travelling and employments; we are not to engage in doing our own pleasure; we are to regard it with delight, and to esteem it a day worthy to be honored. And we are to show respect to it by not performing our own ordinary works, or pursuing pleasures, or engaging in the common topics of conversation. In this description there occurs nothing of peculiar Jewish ceremony, and nothing which indicates that it is not to be observed in this manner at all times. Under the gospel assuredly, it is as proper to celebrate the Sabbath in this way as it was in the times of Isaiah, and God doubtless intended that it should be perpetually observed in this manner. (3) Important benefits result from the right observance of the Sabbath. In the passage before us these are said to be, that they who thus observed it would find pleasure in Jehovah, and would be signally prospered and be safe. But those benefits are by no means confined to the Jewish people. It is as true now as it was then, and they who observe the Sabbath in a proper manner find happiness in the Lord—in His existence, perfections, promises, law, and in communion with Him—which is to be found no where else... And it is as true that the proper observance of the Sabbath contributes to the prosperity and safety of a nation now as it ever did among the Jewish people. It is not merely from the fact that God promises to bless the people who keep His holy day—though this is of more value to a nation than all its armies and fleets; but it is that there is in the institution itself much that tends to the welfare and prosperity of a country.... Any one may be convinced of this who will be at the pains to compare a neighborhood, a village, or a city where the Sabbath is not observed with one where it is; and the difference will convince him at once that society owes more to the Sabbath than to any single institution beside.” Barnes.]
7. On Isa_59:2. “Quia quotidie apud nos crescit culpa, cur non et simul crescat poena?” Augustine. “The public sins are compared to a thick cloud, that sets itself between heaven and earth, and as it were hinders prayers from passing through (Lam_3:44).” Starke. “There is great power in sin, for it separates God and us from one another.” Cramer. “There are times when the hand of the Lord lies long and heavy on His children. One feels that God has withdrawn from him and hidden His countenance. But one does not sufficiently investigate the cause. One seeks it in God, and it lies in us, who, by sins unacknowledged and not repented of, make it impossible to God to turn to us in grace.” Weber.
8. On Isa_59:3-8. The register of sins that Isaiah here holds up to the Jews is a mirror in which many a Christian, many a nation, many a time may recognize its own image. The Prophet declares here very plainly the poison nature, the serpent origin of sin. Sin is the poison that the old serpent knew how to bring into our nature. He that has stolen a taste of a product of this poison, as Eve did of the tree of knowledge, supposing that he will thereby receive some good, will go to ruin by it. But he that would be no lover of sin, but would stand forth as its opponent, may count upon it that the reptile will press its malignant fang in his heel, as was even held in prospect to the great trampler of the serpent’s head Himself (Gen_3:15).
9. On Isa_59:9-15 a. Here is for once an honest and thorough confession of sins. Nothing is palliated here, nothing excused. It is freely confessed that Israel is itself to blame for all its wretchedness, and this guilt is acknowledged to be the consequence of the apostacy from Jehovah and of the workings of a depraved heart, whose malignant fruits have become manifest in words and works. Comp. Jer_3:21 sqq.—Here therefore is given a model for all who would know wherein true repentance must consist.
10. On Isa_59:15 b sqq. “Si tu recordaberis peccatorum tuorum, Dominus non recordabitur.” Augustine. “God wonders that men let sin become so great and His righteousness so small.” Oetinger in Stier.—It is a divine privilege to need no helper. With God there is no difference between willing and being able. With Him the being able follows the willing ad nutum. And there is nothing to which God, when He wills, has not also the right. We men, when we have the will and the power, are often without the right, and this takes the foundation from under our feet.
Isa_59:17. This is the original source of the Apostle Paul’s extended description of the spiritual armor, Eph_6:14; Eph_6:17. Also in 1Th_5:8 there underlies the same representation of the equipment required by Christians. On the other hand God is conceived of as an equipped warrior, e.g., Psa_7:13-14; Psa_35:2-3. In Exo_15:4 He is directly called “a man of war.”
11. On Isa_59:18-20. Regarding the time of the fulfilment of this prophecy, the honorable and thorough confession of sin in Isa_59:9-15 a, assumes the conclusion of the judgments against Israel and the conversion of the Gentiles. So Paul understood our passage, who cites it, Rom_11:26, to prove that only then will the Jews partake of the salvation when the fulness of the Gentiles shall have come in. Therefore the Prophet distinguishes three great periods of time. The first comprehends all the stages of time in which Israel will be impenitent, and hence deprived of its theocratic rights. This period will conclude with a condition wherein Israel’s scale, as too light, hurries upwards to the highest elevation, while the scale of the Gentiles, by reason of its weight, will sink deep down. Just this situation will bring about the turning of the scale. Israel will repent; but those Gentiles and those Israelites that will not have repented will be overtaken by the judgment (Isa_59:18; Isa_59:20 שׁבי כשׁע ביעקב). For neither the “fulness of the Gentiles,” nor “all Israel” excludes there being still unconverted Gentiles and Jews. The third period is then the period of salvation, when the Goel [“Redeemer”] will come to Zion and raise up the covenant (Isa_59:21).
12. On Isa_59:21 “Does the Spirit of God remain, then does also His word; does the word remain, then preachers also remain; do preachers remain, then also hearers do; do hearers remain, then there remain also believers, and therefore the Christian church remains also, to which ever some still will be gathered out of the Jews (Rom_11:26).”—“Although in general God has promised that His word and Spirit shall not depart from the church of God, still no one must become so secure about that (comp. Jer_18:18) as if it were impossible that this or that particular church (and even the Romish church is nothing more) could err.” Cramer.
HOMILETICAL HINTS
1. On Isa_58:1. Penitential Sermon. The text teaches us two things: 1) What one ought to preach on a day of repentance [fast-day]; viz., hold up to the people their sins. 2) How one should preach: a. boldly, b. without sparing, loud as a trumpet.
2. On Isa_58:2-9 This text contains the outlines of a popular theodicy. First we hear, Isa_58:2-3 a, the popular complaint that the divine Providence that guides the affairs of the world is unjust, and that He is not fair to the claims of reward that each individual fancies he has. Then in Isa_58:3 b–9, we hear the divine justification. It consists of two parts. In the first part God shows that the claims of men are unfounded in two respects. First for this reason, because they do not do good purely, but along with the good have still room in their hearts for evil, consequently imagine that they can serve two masters (Isa_58:3 a., 4). Second, their claims are unfounded, because founded in the illusion that it is sufficient to fulfil the divine commands in a rude, outward manner. Thus men suppose, e.g., that they can satisfy the divine command to fast by harassing the body by hunger, and lying on sack-cloth and ashes (Isa_58:5). In the second part God shows what must be the nature of the performances that would satisfy the demand of His holiness, and give a claim on His righteousness for reward. That is to say, men must first of all, by practical repentance, make restoration for all injustice done by them, and make manifest by works of mercy their love to God and their neighbor (Isa_58:7). Then divine salvation and divine blessing will be constantly with them, and in every necessity their prayer for help will find certain hearing (Isa_58:8-9 a).
3. [On Isa_58:3. “Having gone about to put a cheat on God by their external services, here they go about to pick a quarrel with God for not being pleased with their services, as if He had not done justly or fairly by them.” M. Henry.]
4. [On Isa_58:4. “Behold, you fast for strife and debate. When they proclaimed a fast to deprecate God’s judgments, they pretended to search for those sins that provoked God to threaten them with His judgments, and under that pretence, perhaps, particular persons were falsely accused, as Naboth in the day of Jezebel’s fast, 1Ki_21:12. Or the contending parties among them upon those occasions were bitter and severe in their reflections one upon another, one side crying out, ‘It is owing to you,’ and the other, “It is owing to you, that our deliverance is not wrought.’ Thus, instead of judging themselves, which is the proper work of a fast-day, they condemned one another.” M. Henry.]
5. [On Isa_58:5; Isa_58:7. “Plain instructions given concerning the true nature of a religious fast. 1. In general a fast is intended: (1) For the honoring and pleasing of God (Isa_58:5, a fast that I have chosen, an acceptable day to the Lord). (2) For the humbling and abasing of ourselves, Lev_16:29. That must be done on a fast-day which is a real affliction to the soul, as far as it is unregenerate and unsanctified, though a real pleasure and advantage to the soul as far as it is itself. II. What will be acceptable to God and afflict our corrupt nature to its mortification. (1) Negatively, what does neither of these, a. To look demure, put on a melancholy aspect and bow the head like a bulrush, Mat_6:16. Though that were well enough so far, Luk_18:13. b. It is not enough to mortify the body a little, while the body of sin is untouched. (2) Positively, a. That we be just to those with whom we have dealt hardly (Isa_58:6). b. That we be charitable to those that stand in need of charity (Isa_58:7).” After M. Henry.]
6. On Isa_58:7. The compassionate love of the Samaritan. 1) What does it give? a. food, b. housing, c. clothing. 2) To whom does it give? To its flesh, i. e., to its neighbor in the sense of Luk_10:29 sqq.
7. On Isa_58:9. “What if the Lord were to make us priests, and if He were to give us the light and righteousness that Aaron bore on his heart as often as he went in unto the Lord, and by which the Lord gave him answer when He inquired,—if He were to give all of us that in our hearts, who are priests of the new covenant? And assuredly I believe that He will also do this. What He has already promised by the Prophets, He will much more fulfil in us: Thou shalt call, and the Lord shall answer thee; when thou shalt cry, He will say: here I am.” Tholuck.
8. On Isa_58:7-9. “O God, our great, sore, horrible blindness, that we so disregard such a glorious promise! To whom are we harsh, when we do not help poor people? Are they not our flesh and blood? As in heaven and earth there is no creature so nearly related to us, it ought to be our way: what we would that men should do to us in like case, that let us do to others. But there that detestable Satan holds our eyes, so that we withdraw from our own flesh and become tyrants and blood-hounds to our neighbors. But what do we accomplish by that? What do we enjoy? We load ourselves with God’s disfavor, curse and all misfortune, who might otherwise have temporal and eternal blessing. For he that takes on him the distress of his neighbor, his light shall break forth like the morning dawn, i.e., he shall find consolation and help in time of need. His recovery shall progress rapidly, i.e., God will again bless him, and replace what he has given away. His righteousness shall go before him, i.e., he shall not only have a good name with every one, but God will shelter him from evil, and ward off from him temporal misfortune, as one may see that God wonderfully protects His own when common punishments go about. And the glory of the Lord will take him to itself, i. e., God will interest Himself for him, [as follows Isa_58:9]. Lo, of such great mercy as this does greed rob us, when we do not gladly and kindly help the poor!” Veit Dietrich.
9. [On Isa_58:12. Thou shalt be called (and it shall be to thy honor) the repairer of the breach, the breach made by the enemy in the wall of a besieged city, which whoso has courage and dexterity to make up, or make good, gains great applause. Happy are those who make up the breach at which virtue is running out, and judgments are breaking in. M. Henry].
10. On Isa_59:1-2. It is often in human life as if heaven were shut up. No prayer seems to penetrate through to it. To all our cries, no answer. Then people murmur (Isa_8:21 sq.; Lam_3:39) and accuse God, as if He were lame or deaf. But they ought rather to seek the blame in themselves. There still exists a wall of partition between them and God, a guilt unatoned for, the sight of which still continuously provokes the anger of God, and hinders the appearance of His mercy (Isa_1:15 sqq.; Isa_64:5 sqq.; Dan_9:5 sqq.: Pro_1:24 sqq.). Hence Christians must be pointed to what they must guard against in seasons of long-continued visitation and what they should strive after at such times before all things. As they would avoid great harm to soul and body, they must beware of laying any blame on God, as if He were wanting in willingness or ability. Rather, by sincere repentance, their endeavor should be that heaven may be pure and clear, that their guilt may be forgiven for Christ’s sake, and that, as children of God, with the testimony of the Holy Spirit (Rom_8:16) in their hearts, they may have free access to the heart of their heavenly Father.
11. On Isa_59:3-8. The description the Prophet gives here of the depraved moral condition of Israel is also a description of human sinfulness generally. And the Apostle Paul has adopted parts of it in the portrait he gives of the condition of the natural man (comp. Isa_59:7 with Rom_3:15). Therefore, where one would draw the picture of the natural man, he may make good use of this text.
12. [On Isa_59:13. Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. “They were words of falsehood, and yet they were said to be uttered from the heart, because though they differed from the real sentiments of the heart, and therefore were words of falsehood, yet they agreed with the malice and wickedness of the heart, and were the natural language of that; it was a double heart, Psa_12:2.” M. Henry.]
13. On Isa_59:15 b–21. One may preach on this text in times of great distress and conflict for the Church. The Lord the protection of His Church. 1) The distress of the Church does not remain concealed from Him, for He sees: a. that the Church encounters injustice (Isa_59:15 b), b. that no one on earth takes its part (Isa_59:16) 2) He stirs Himself (Isa_59:16 b; Isa_59:17 a, Isa_59:19 b): a. to judgment against the enemy (Isa_59:17 b, Isa_59:18), b. to salvation for the Church (Isa_59:17 helmet of salvation): a. with reference to its deliverance from outward distress (Isa_59:20), β. with reference to inward preservation and quickening of the Church (Isa_59:20 b, 21), c. to rescue the honor of His own name (Isa_59:19 a), because the Church is even His kingdom, the theatre for the realization of His decrees of salvation. Comp. Homil. Hints on Isa_49:1-6.
14. [On Isa_59:16 sqq. “How sin abounded we have read, to our great amazement, in the former part of the chapter; how grace does much more abound we read in these verses. And as sin took occasion from the commandment to become more exceedingly sinful, so grace took occasion from the transgression to appear more exceedingly gracious.” M. Henry.]
Footnotes:
[1]Heb. with the throat.
[2]period instead of comma.
[3]comma.
[4]the approach of God.
[5]carry on business.
[6]Or, things wherewith ye grieve others.
[7]Heb. griefs.
[8]Or, ye fast not as this day.
[9]Ye fast not at present so as to make.
[10]Or, to afflict his soul for a day?
[11]Heb. the bundles of the yoke.
[12]yoke-chains.
[13]Heb. broken.
[14]wanderers.
[15]Or, afflteted.
[16]sound flesh will speedily grow.
[17]Heb. shall gather thee up.
[18]sacrificest thy hunger to the hungry and satisfiest.
[19]Heb. droughts.
[20]invigorate.
[21]Heb. lie, or, deceive.
[22]And they shall build from thee.
[23]so that men may inhabit.
[24]business.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 1, 2. Cry aloud — Literally, with open, full…
1, 2. Cry aloud — Literally, with open, full throat. It is an alarm-cry that is called for, against sins common, indeed, in the prophet’s time, but peculiarly common just as the Messiah’s advent approaches.
Spare not — Lay on reproach without stint or reserve.
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Lift up… like a trumpet — Earnestly show up Jewish iniquities to the extreme end, notwithstanding they pretend to be very religious.
They seek me daily — They make ado about it; pretend great delight in justice, as if they were indeed a righteous nation; as if their professed delight in approaching God were real.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 1. Cry aloud] lit. Cry with the throat, with…
1. Cry aloud] lit. Cry with the throat, with the full power of the voice.
shew my people their transgression &c.] The function of the true prophet as distinguished from the false; see Mic_3:8, a verse which seems to have been in the prophet’s mind.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) Cry aloud . . .—Literally, with the throat,…
LVIII.
(1) Cry aloud . . .—Literally, with the throat, i.e., with no faint whisper as from stammering lips, but with full strength of voice. The work of the preacher of repentance is not to be done slightly or by speaking smooth things (comp. Eze_13:10-15). The “trumpet” of the next clause emphasises the thought yet further.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 1-12. FORMALISM REBUKED AND INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN WITH RESPECT…
Vers. 1-12. FORMALISM REBUKED AND INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN WITH RESPECT TO FASTING. As in the last section, so here, the prophet"s eye seems to rest upon his contemporaries rather than upon the exiles; and to note the vices of the time, which have a general resemblance to those rebuked in ch. 1. The whole Law seems to be in force, and the People to make a show of keeping it, and to complain that they are not properly rewarded for their religiousness. God tears the mask from their face, and shows the difference between true religion and the pretence of it.
Cry aloud; literally, cry from the throat; " a plein gosier," as Calvin says. The command is addressed to the prophet by Jehovah, who will have him warn the people in such sort as to compel their attention. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet. (comp. Hos 8:1Jo Hos_2:1) The trumpet gives a note of alarm. Show my people their transgression; i.e. "show them how they are especially offending me at this time". (see Mic_3:8)
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HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON Vers. 1-12. True and spurious fasting.
Loudly, with all the strength of throat and as with trumpet-voice, the prophet is to cry and denounce the rebellion and the sins of the people.
I THEIR FORMALITY AND HYPOCRISY, They consult Jehovah daily; they apply to the prophet or the oracle; they offer prayer. They profess to desire to know God"s ways, his commands, and his dealings with his people. Just as if they were a holy people, and were not really far in heart from God, they demand of him "judgments of righteousness;" i.e. manifestations of his pleasure as the God of the covenant, his approach as the God of justice. They adhered to the forms of religion, but the heart was not in them. Relying on those forms, they were surprised the Divine favour was not vouchsafed to them. "A hypocrite has no true and real delight in the service of God or in his truth; but, at the same time, there may be a great deal of professed interest in the ways of God. A great deal of busy and bustling solicitude about the order of religious services, the external organization of the Church, the ranks of a clergy, the claims of a liturgy. There may be a great deal of pleasure in theological discussion, in the metaphysics of theology, in the defence of what is deemed orthodoxy. There may be much pleasure in the music of devotion, in the pleasant voice of a preacher, in the triumphs of party, the advancement of our sect. But true religion is delight in religion itself in the service of God as such, and because it is holy. It is pleasure, not even in the triumph of Christianity as a mere party measure, but in God as he is, his holy service and truth" (Barnes).
II SPURIOUS FASTING. Formal fasting appears to have increased from the time of the Captivity. Another phrase for it was "humbling the soul". (Lev_16:29, 31 23:27, 32 Num_29:7 Num_30:13) In connection with this outward observance, they keenly pursue business ends, exacting the full tale of tasks. "Like Shylock, they demand the pound of flesh, at the same time that they may be most precise, punctual, and bigoted in the discharge of the duties of religion. If we desire to keep a fast acceptable to God, it should be such as shall make us kind, mild, benignant; such as shall take effect in the unbinding heavy burdens from the poor, and relaxing the rigidness of the claims we have on others." Moreover, the fasting is connected with strife and contention; and so their prayers cannot rise to the seat of Jehovah. (Isa_57:15) "Thou hast covered thyself with clouds, so that prayer may not pass through". (Lam_3:44) "Their words fly up, their thoughts remain below; Words without thoughts never to heaven go.
The inclination of the head, the sackcloth and the ashes, these make not the fast in the eyes of Jehovah. "It is not a mournful expression, a solemn dress, or a thin table that God so much regards. It is the heart, and not the stomach, that he would have empty; and, therefore, if a man carries a luxurious soul in a pining body, or the aspiring mind of a Lucifer on the hanging head of a bulrush, he fasts only to upbraid his Maker, and to disgrace his religion, and to heighten his final reckoning, till he becomes ten times more the son of perdition than those who own their inward love of sin by the open undissembled enmities of a suitable behaviour. Let a man not count himself to have fasted to any purpose, if by it he has not got ground of his corruption, in some measure supplanted his sin, and estranged his affections from the beloved embraces of sinful objects" (South).
III THE TRUE FASTING. There was elaborate and merciful legislation for the protection of Hebrew slaves; (Exo_21:2 Lev_25:39) yet it appears to have become a dead letter, which called for severest castigation. (Jer_34:8, etc.) "To loose the bands of wickedness," to release those borne down by exactions contrary to the Law, to "untie the thongs of the yoke" (to free those detained beyond the legal time), to raise up the "crushed", (in the spirit of him who cherishes the crushed reed, Isa_42:3; Cheyne) this was the chosen fast of Jehovah. It was "to break bread to the hungry, and to bring miserable outcasts to their home". (cf. Eze_18:7, Eze_18:16) It was "to clothe the naked, and not to hide one"s-self from one"s own flesh." It is known that from time to time, both in the Jewish and the Christian Churches, alms-giving has been exalted into a religion and a morality, instead of remaining the expression and fruit of a pure heart. None the less it may be true that at certain times the duty may stand in the forefront of piety, and the neglect of it leave the reproach of "worse than the infidel" on the conscience. Righteousness is not coincident with almsgiving; but almsgiving, like any other external act, may be perverted into a formalism. (as we see from Mat_6:14) Charity must begin at home. The outcasts, (Joe_3:2-8 Neh_5:8) and those of the same flesh, (Neh_5:5) are especially those of one"s own house and country. "The condition of a truly religions fast is that it be attended with alms and works of charity. Amongst our other emptinesses, the evacuation of the purse is proper to this solemnity, and he that inflicts a thorough penance upon this, stops the fountain of luxury and the opportunities of extravagance. Charity is the grand seasoning of every Christian duty; it gives it a gloss in the sight of God, and a value in the sight of man; and he fasts properly whose fast is the poor man"s feast, whose abstinence is another"s abundance. God here roundly tells his people what is truly a fast and what is no fast in his esteem not to abstain from bread, but to deal it to the hungry; "this is properly to fast. Not to wrap ourselves in sackcloth, but to cover and clothe our naked brother; this is to be humbled. Alms have so much the pre-eminence over prayer, that one is a begging of God, the other a lending to him" (South).
IV PROMISES TO THE OBEDIENT. "Thy light shall break forth as the morning". (cf. Job_11:17) Like the spreading welcome light of" rosy-fingered dawn," prosperity will come to gladden their hearts. "Thy new flesh shall quickly shoot forth." Old wounds shall be healed, and the vital forces, which have been checked, shall resume their activity. "Thy righteousness shall go before thee." Personal rectitude (Isa_1:27 Isa_33:5, Isa_33:6) shall be as a leader, conducting them in the paths of prosperity and peace; and in the rear of the host shall be Jehovah"s glory. (Isa_52:12) Here, then, is joy, vigour, confidence, all connected with rightness; this rightness found, where alone it can be found, in mind and heart conformed to the Divine will. Prayer will be heard and answered (contrast vers. 2, 4). A God distant and exiled will give place to one so near that a cry will bring his presence and his help. As the last note of despair is, "Where is our God?" the highest point of faith is reached by those who hear him say, "Here I am!" But God would ever be near, were it not for the "thick cloud" of sin between the heart and him. Only let the oppression and the contumely and the defilement of the tongue, reflected in the defilement of the mind, cease, and the better springs of the inner life will rise. When they rise, there will be blessing around one, and other lives will be gladdened; and, when this shall be, then "thy thick darkness shall be as noon;" life shall be a progress under Divine direction; there shall be refreshment, comfort, exhilaration, and restoration of the ruins of the past. J.
Vers. 1-12. Religion: its semblance, its substance, its reward.
I THE SEMBLANCE OF RELIGION. It argues nothing whatever against religion that there is a great deal of hypocrisy in the world; indeed, the absence would be a more formidable argument than the presence of it. For men imitate that which is most worthy of esteem, and if nobody-pretended to be religious it would be fair to conclude that religion itself was of very small account. Imitation implies the respect, and indicates the value, which is attached to anything which is copied. It speaks well, therefore, for religion that men more often affect to be religious than they pretend to any other excellency. There may be:
1. Acts of devotion. "Seeking God daily him" in the attitude and engagement of "prayer," whether in the secret chamber, the family circle, or in the house of God.
2. Consultation of his Word. "Asking of God the ordinances of justice the regular and systematic reading of Scripture.
3. Special acts of piety. Like that of fasting, which was not enjoined by Mosaic Law (except on one day in the year); or observing certain particular days as days of humiliation and devotion, or ostentatious deeds of beneficence. Concerning these outward shows of piety, it has to be observed:
(1) That, begun in insincerity, they may become positively pleasurable to those who practise them. There are many who always go through religious rites with labour and weariness of spirit; but there are others who find enjoyment in the ceremonies and services in which they engage. They may be said to delight in them (ver. 2). Love of the artistic, fondness for distinction, or other earthly considerations, may account for this; but it is also an undeniable fact that many who do not please God with their observances do greatly please themselves.
(2) That it is the solemn and urgent duty of the minister of Christ to show the utter insufficiency of these things. He is to "cry aloud, and spare not, to lift up his voice like a trumpet," to show those who pass for God"s people that, if they have nothing better to bring to the heart-searching God than hollow phrases, formal services, outward actions which are not animated by inward feeling, they are living in transgression and in sin (ver. 1). He is to. insist upon it with utmost earnestness, that only they can worship God acceptably who worship him "in spirit and in truth;" and that if the semblance of piety be divorced from a holy and useful life (ver. 4), it weighs nothing whatever in the balances of heaven (ver. 5). Those who have the form of piety without the substance may consider themselves to be of the number of the faithful (ver. 3); but they are miserably mistaken. God decisively and peremptorily rejects such empty formalities (ver. 5); nay, they are positively offensive in his sight. (Isa_1:13-15)
II THE SUBSTANCE OF RELIGION. The teaching of the text is that real piety is to be found in such fear of God as will manifest itself in doing his holy will in all the relations of human life; such reverence for the Supreme as will constrain men to do what is right and good in all their dealings with their equals and their inferiors; such piety as bears the fruits of:
1. Peaceableness: the exact opposite of strife and smiting (ver. 4).
2. Justice: loosing the bands of wickedness, letting the oppressed go free, etc. (ver. 6).
3. Kindness: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, etc. (ver. 7); practical recognition of the claims of the suffering humanity which we can pity and can succour (ver. 10). This is "the fast," this is the piety, which God has chosen that love of God which shows itself in the love of our neighbour. (Le 10 Rom_12:20, 21 Jam_1:27 Jam_2:14-26)
III THE REWARD OF RELIGION. It is quite true, profoundly true, that real religion is its own reward. Well does the active servant of Jesus Christ beg to be continued in his holy work, saying"And I will ask for no reward, Except to serve thee still.
But God offers to us, and even presses on our acceptance, his ample and generous rewards for our genuine and faithful service. These are, under Christ:
1. Spiritual illumination (ver. 8); being made to be the children of light and of the day, walking in the light of Divine truth, receiving the communications of the enlightening Spirit.
2. Soundness of soul, wholeness of heart and character within (ver. 8).
3. Divine guidance and protection. (Vers. 8, 11.)
4. Communion with the living and present Saviour (ver. 9).
5. Fruitfulness; ourselves being as a "watered garden" for beauty and productiveness (ver. 11); and our work resulting in moral and spiritual restoration (ver. 12). C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Cry aloud, spare not
Isa_58:1-4
Cry aloud, spare not
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Cry aloud
Cry with the throat.
Crying with the throat or from the lungs is here opposed to a simple motion of the lips and tongue (1Sa_1:13). The common version, Cry aloud, is therefore substantially correct, though somewhat vague. The LXX in like manner paraphrases it ἐν ἰσχύι. J.D. Michaelis reads, as loud as thou canst. The positive command is enforced by the negative one, spare not, as in Is
54:2. The loudness of the call is intended to suggest the importance of thesubject, and, perhaps, the insensibility of those to be convinced. The prophet here seems to turn away from avowed apostates to hypocritical professors of the truth. (J. A. Alexander.)
Conviction before comfort
When our Lord Jesus, promised to send the Comforter, He added, When He is come, He shall convince; for conviction must prepare for comfort, and must also separate between the precious and the vile, and mark out those to whom comfort doth not belong. God had appointed this prophet to comfort His people (Isa_40:1); here He appoints him to convince them, and show them their sins. (M. Henry.)
The minister must be faithful
He must be vehement and in good earnest, must cry aloud, and not spare. Not spare them, nor touch them with his reproofs as if he were afraid of hurting them, but search the wound to the bottom; lay it bare to the bone; not spare himself, or his own pains, but cry as loud as he can. Though he spend his strength, and waste his spirits; though he get their ill-will by it, and get himself into an ill-name; yet he must not spare. The trumpet doth not give an uncertain sound, but, though loud and shrill, is intelligible. So must his alarms be, giving them warning of the fatal consequences of sin (Eze_33:3-4). (M. Henry.)
National sins protested against
I. TESTIFY AGAINST SOME OF THE PREVAILING SINS AND CRYING ABOMINATIONS OF THIS LAND.
1. Pride.
2. Luxury.
3. Pleasure.
4. Gluttony.
5. Drunkenness.
6. Swearing.
7. Sabbath-breaking.
8. Lying.
9. Avarice.
10. Adultery and fornication.
11. Profane contempt of holy things.
12. The evil passions which agitate the bosoms of men, and which receive the sanction of a large portion of the community--not as casual evils, but as principles of action, and tests of what is called highmindedness and honour. Some of the most prevailing of these, when stripped of their specious coverings, and exhibited in their proper character, are--ambition, envy, malice, and revenge.
13. Flagrant insincerity., and wicked abuse of professed acts of public worship.
14. Hardened impenitence.
II. URGE WITH FAITHFULNESS AND IMPARTIALITY THE SENTENCE OF GOD DENOUNCED UPON EACH. (R. Shittier.)
Selfish piety
Selfish piety is the popular piety of this age and land.
I. IT IS VERY EARNEST. The piety, of Israel at this time seems to have been anything but a dull and inactive power; it was very busy.
1. It was earnest in study. They seek Me daily, etc. (Isa_58:2).
2. It is earnest in prayer. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice, etc.
3. It is earnest in its self-sacrifice. It endures lastings and self-mortifications (Isa_58:3).
4. It is earnest in its churchism. Ye fast for strife and debate, etc. It would seem that the Israelites were divided into religious parties or factions, some professing to be more orthodox than others. There was a rivalry, therefore, in their devotion; one tried to excel the other, and the competition ran so high that they began to smite each other with the fist.
5. It is earnest in its professions. They made their voice to be heard on high.
II. IT IS TERRIBLY REPREHENSIBLE. The prophet is here called upon to Cry aloud, spare not, etc.
1. It is an insult to God. He abhors the sacrifice where not the heart is found. This selfish piety is the most abhorrent of all impieties.
2. It is pernicious to souls. This selfish piety inflicts incalculable injury upon its possessor: it warps the judgment, it deadens the conscience, it awakens false hopes generates diseased affections and dehumanizes the man. Nor is the injury confined to the possessor himself. (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Isa_58:1. Cry aloud and spare not, &c.
UNSPARING REPROOF
Isa_58:1. Cry aloud and spare not, &c.
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Faithful dealing always objected to: called fault-finding, indulging in personalities, &c. The old cry is still heard, “Prophesy unto us smooth things.” O for the prayer (Psa_139:23).
I. ISRAEL’S SINFULNESS. A whole catalogue of sins (Isa_56:10-12; Isa_57:5; Isaiah 59). In the face of these appalling sins and fiendish cruelties and wrongs, they profess themselves saints (Isa_58:2). The sham and hypocrisy of all this is emphasised by the word “yet,” which strikes a contrast between their religiousness and their sins, and declares their religiousness a sham (Isa_58:5; Isa_57:12).
What a striking parallel between the state of Israel then and of England now.
1. We pose as a righteous nation! Yet look at our national sins.
(1.) Social wrongs, greed of place and wealth, so that the state to which the needy has been reduced has been declared to be one in which “we sit on a volcano.”
(2.) Social impurity, with its abounding immorality and fiendish crime.
(3.) Murder as a trade. It may be slow, but sure; and, as in Israel’s case, it is the slaying of children!
(4.) Intemperance. It is computed that we have 800,000 drunkards, and that for every £1 we spend on Christian missions, we spend £130 in drink!
(5.) Idolatry. Everything being sacrificed to worldliness, fashion, custom, public opinion, &c. No nation sins with more determined step, or with more brazen face!
2. Not only is our national religiousness deceptive, but there is also very much that is sham in the Churches of our land. Formalism, cant, rant, self-delusion. Many seem to be righteous, and think they delight in religious duties, &c. What wilful blinking of the truth! What religiousness without religion! No wonder that to many religion is a synonym for sham—keenly noticed by the worldly, and a grievous hindrance to those who would join God’s people, &c.
II. ISRAEL REPROVED.—Israel’s sins must be reproved plainly, earnestly, faithfully, fearlessly, and publicly. So with us to-day.
1. Sin must be reproved plainly. Show transgressions and sins—point them out, show how they abound, &c. Some say “No,” you only make it worse; you emphasise sins, quicken the imaginations, and fire the heart with it. So in the Church. Some harm, but much good. Must reprove with Bible-plainness—call by right names; with Bible-clearness—speak of awful consequences. Examples: Elijah, John the Baptist, Christ, Luther, John Knox, Wesley, &c.
2. Faithfully. Spare not. Some object that we hurt the feelings, offend, frighten, &c. But we must not spare high or low, &c.; we must probe deep, wound, fill with anguish, &c.
3. Earnestly. “Cry aloud.” Let men feel that every Christian feels it his commission to reprove sin, &c. Fearlessly. Regard no consequences. Be not timid, hesitating, daunted, for such reprovers never give conviction.
5. Publicly. Like a trumpet of proclamation, loud and authoritative, that the sound of the reproof may be deep and stirring; go far and wide, and create and sustain public opinion in reference to these sins. There is much apparent boldness around us, but alas! how much shirking of the solemn duty.
6. In the true prophetic spirit. Under the burden of souls as David (Psa_119:53; Psa_119:136); Jeremiah; Christ weeping over Jerusalem; Paul, &c. In the spirit of wisdom and power (Mic_3:8). We must catch the mantle of Elijah! We must possess the tongue of the Baptist! In the spirit of saving grace (Isa_61:3). Not only all preachers of the Word, but Sunday-school teachers, tract distributors, fathers and mothers—all must “cry aloud,” &c.
The gracious conclusion God makes to this matter (Isa_58:6-12; Isa_65:1; Isa_65:15). Spoken to the same people, and by the same God. Spoken to us as well. The painfulness of the probing of Divine truth is only to prepare for the removal of sin, and the pouring in of healing balm. “Let us search our ways,” &c. “Return to the Lord,” &c. (Lam_3:40).—D. A. Hay.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain Isa 58:3-7
Isa 58:3-7
I. The Hebrew prophet’s deliverance here is not in condemnation or disparagement of all fasting. The people of his day were in the habit, it appears, of denying themselves food, and assuming postures of mourning and humiliation as an offering to the Almighty, and an appeal to Him for His recognition and regard, while they were living, and persisted in living, unrighteously and unlovingly. Ever and anon, they would set apart a time in which to make themselves generally uncomfortable, by going without their meals, and spreading sackcloth and ashes over themselves, as an act towards Jehovah, and a call upon Him for His favour, while their lives were rank with injustice and selfishness. This was what their religious teacher inveighed against so sharply: the idea that to stop once and again in a course of bad conduct, and lie in the dust, with bent heads, and empty, unfed mouths, was a ceremony acceptable to God, and would suffice to atone in a measure for their habitual covetousness and cruelty.
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II. While Isaiah is denouncing the superstition of his countrymen in thinking to compound for their transgressions by bodily abstinences and austerities, he is led, it would appear, to consider the practice of fasting with outward signs of humiliation and mourning, and to ask the question, "Is it ever what the Lord desires and demands? "And the answer of the prophet’s soul is, "No." Men will and must fast if heavily oppressed with grief, and they may and should fast if it will help them at all in the effort to rise above false passion, and subordinate the lower nature to the higher. But to fast and lie in the dust, as an offering to God, as an exercise toward Him, for Him to look upon and be attracted by, is altogether vain and worthless. The one true repentance is to turn from the ways of sin into the ways of righteousness. The fear of the Lord is to depart from evil, and if a man be departing from evil he need not trouble about any further confession or repentance, except in so far as his own heart should compel him. In departing from evil he is fasting the fast which God chooses, which is not to afflict his soul with abstinence for a day, and to bow down his head as a bulrush, but to "loosen the bands of wickedness," and to "deal his bread to the hungry."
S. A. Tipple, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 200.
References: Isa 58:4.—J. G. Rogers, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 145. Isa 58:5.—F. W. Farrar, Ibid., vol. xxxi., p. 129.
Isa 58:6. 7
This passage is one of those in which the purity and holiness peculiar to the Gospel seem to be foretokened in the morality of the prophetic canon. Isaiah has been termed the Evangelical Prophet; and he is so, not more in the transcendent clearness of his predictions of evangelic facts, than in the corresponding brightness of his anticipations of evangelic holiness. As the inspired writers approached the great centre of purity, they became more and more deeply tinged with the glory they were approaching. The twilight clouds were red with the coming Sun.
I. Isaiah and his brother-prophets were holier and heavenlier and richer in the works of love upon an anticipated Christ than we are in a Christ already our crucified example. These men of God knew no divorce between belief and love, between living perpetually in the presence of a benevolent Lord and imitating His benevolence to their fellow-creatures. As it is the spirit of truth that has solemnised the union of the principle of faith with the works of charity, so it is, and in all ages has been, the master policy of the spirit of evil to effect their separation. This same purpose of separation which in darker ages the enemy of man sought to accomplish by making faith stand for a catalogue of superstitious observances—similar to the fasts of which the prophet speaks in the text—he now attempts to accomplish by exaggerating and perverting its more legitimate signification.
II. The whole religious providence of God towards man in every age has been a system operating by the combined influences of faith and love,—both directed towards His own perfect essence. In our existing condition, what is faith but love relying on support? What is love but faith forgetting the support in the supporter? Every progressive step in attaining habits of compassion and kindness upon earth must necessarily be a step towards estimating and loving Him who is the essential Spirit of benevolence. The love of man is the type and shadow of the love of God—the first step upon a pathway that conducts to paradise. The people of God are here engaged with the rudiments and images of those affections which are to be the duty and the happiness of their eternity.
W. Archer Butler, Sermons Doctrinal and Practical, 2nd series, p. 148.
References: Isa 58:6, Isa 58:7.—T. Dale, Penny Pulpit, No. 2977; W. M. Punshon, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 317. Isa 58:6-8.—S. Pearson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 225.
Isa 58:8
I. That the word "prophet" should so early in our language have come to be used as a synonym for a predictor is only an instance of the prevailing error which consists in looking for signs and wonders as evidence of Divine power. If a man possesses a superhuman commission", he must be able to do superhuman acts. Such is the vulgar reasoning. And as the prophets, men inspired by God, have looked forward into the future and spoken of what they saw, these predictions have been seized upon as the characteristic feature of the speaker’s mission, and the noble office of prophet has come to be regarded as that of a worker of magic. The true seer is not the magician, but the pleader for the righteousness of God.
II. The attitude of the prophet Isaiah is that of the forward-looking man. His eye is not so much lifted to heaven, or bent downwards upon the people, as it is turned ever towards the horizon, waiting for the dawn. It is for all nations that he looks forward with hope. The keynote of his song has been struck long before in the promise to Abraham, that in his seed should all nations of the world be blessed. The prophets were commissioned to instil the truth which might have saved the peculiar people from the danger of exclusiveness. They saw from the height on which they stood, alone with God, the future of the world lying like a map at their feet, and bathed in the sunshine of God’s favour. The prophet was a predictor. He could not fail to be. The firmer his faith in God, the farther a man sees. The "seer" owes his power to faith. The believer sees and knows what the unbeliever cannot see or know. These are the two notes of the prophetic character,—its hopefulness and its catholicity.
A. Ainger, Sermons in the Temple Church, p. 268.
References: Isa 58:8.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxx., No. 1793. Isa 58:11.—Ibid., vol. xiii., No. 736; Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 364. Isa 58:12.—Pulpit Analyst, vol. iii., p. 296. Isa 58:13, Isa 58:14.—Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. ix., p. 267; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 257; H. F. Burder, Sermons, p. 426; H. W. Beecher, Plymouth Pulpit, 4th series, p. 213.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain The Glorious Future of the Jewish Race
The Glorious Future of the Jewish Race
This concluding group of chapters is chiefly distinguished by glowing pictures of the future of Jerusalem, when the Jews shall be restored to their land again. A glorious restoration is promised (Isa_60:1-2; Isa_61:4, Isa_61:10-11), all nations are tobe members of the restored city (Isa_60:3-5), the glories of which are vividly pictured (Isa_60:6), the crowning glory being the holiness of the citizens (Isa_60:21). The fulfilment of the prophet's utterances may be traced in the spiritual glories of the new Jerusalem above, which is the mother of us all.
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Isa_58:1-7. Mere outward service of Jehovah is vain; He desires mercy rather than sacrifice.
8-12. They who thus serve Him in a right spirit shall be wonderfully rewarded, and shall restore Jerusalem;
13, 14. as also shall they who duly observe the sabbath.
Isa_59:1. But why is Jehovah's help so long delayed?
2-8. Because of the depravity of the leaders of Israel,
9- 15a. and because of the sins of the people, which they recognise and confess.
15b-21. No human aid can suffice to right matters, but Jehovah will interpose to vindicate and deliver His oppressed people.
Isa_60:1-9. Then shall the dispersed Israelites be gloriously restored.
10-13. Jerusalem shall be rebuilt with splendour, and 14-22. her people shall be dominant and prosperous.
Isa_61:1-3. The prophet is commissioned to announce the restoration of exiled Israel.
4-9. The rebuilding of Jerusalem and the coming glory of her people.
10-12. Jerusalem's song of praise.
Isa_62:1-7. The great change that is imminent in the fortunes of Jerusalem, and 8-12. in the lot of her afflicted people.
2. Did righteousness] i.e. kept the law. They are ready enough for the external requirements of religion.
3. The questions express surprise that the fast is without effect.
Find pleasure, etc.] render, 'carry on business and oppress all your labourers.' With all their professions of self-denial they are selfish.
4. For strife] i.e. strife is the result of this formal fasting. Ye shall not, etc.] RV 'ye fast not this day so as to make your voice,' etc.
5-7. Literal fasting is not here excluded, but the prophet declares its uselessness when divorced from the spirit of love. Our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount closely connects fasting and almsgiving (Mat_6:1, Mat_6:16).
6. The heavy burdens] RV 'the bands of the yoke.'
8. Health] RV 'healing.' Thy righteousness] i.e. thy inward personal righteousness: cp. Isa_1:27 or, perhaps, 'thy justification in the eyes of the world': cp. Isa_54:17; Shall be thy rereward] i.e. shall protect thee. The allusion is to the exodus, when the visible manifestation of Jehovah's presence was a defence to the Israelites from the Egyptians pursuing in the rear (Exo_14:19). Rereward] i.e. rearguard.
9. Yoke] i.e. of enforced or oppressive labour. Putting.. finger] i.e. in scorn. Vanity] RV 'wickedly.'
10. Draw out, etc.] i.e. supply to the hungry such things as thou thyself desirest.
11. Fat] RV 'strong.'
12. Primarily the prophet contemplates the restoration of the ruined buildings of Jerusalem, but the wider spiritual application of his words is obvious. The faithful soul is not only itself fruitful (Isa_58:11), but a means of bringing help and blessing to others.
13. Turn away thy foot from the sabbath] so as not to profane it.
14. Cause thee, etc.] i.e. give thee triumphant possession of the land.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain 3. Jewish History in the End time: their Future…
3. Jewish History in the End time: their Future Glory and the Glory of the Coming Age (58-59)
This third and last section of the vision of Isaiah can only be understood and appreciated if it is studied in the light of other prophecies which predict the final events with which the times of the Gentiles close. That period consists of 7 years, the last 3 1/2 being the great tribulation. According to these predictions a part of the Jewish nation will be back in their land. These returned Jews will consist of two classes, a faithful remnant who own their condition, trust in Jehovah and in the national promises, and an unbelieving mass. The latter will be the large majority and hate their own brethren. In their unbelief they will build another temple and eventually will accept the false messiah, the Antichrist. The struggles and troubles of the end time can easily be traced in this last section. The faithful remnant, their fears and hopes, their sufferings and prayers are written here, as well as their deliverance through the coming Of the King, the Lord Jesus Christ. The prophetic descriptions of the future of Jerusalem, the land of Israel, the restored nation, the spiritual blessings and the glories in store for this earth are the most magnificent in the entire book.
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CHAPTER 58
The Condition of the People, Repentance, and the Blessings to Follow
1. The Prophet’s commission (Isa 58:1) 2. The transgression and sins of Jacob uncovered (Isa 58:2-5) 3. The divine requirements (Isa 58:6-7) 4. What Jehovah promises (Isa 58:8-14) Once more the Prophet is commissioned to cry and this time to call the people to repentance. Such will be the case during the time of the end. The first advent of the Lord was heralded by John the Baptist, who called the nation to repentance. The Second Advent will be preceded by another call to repentance. It is before us in this chapter. See also Mal 4:3-6.
In Isa 58:9-14 we have all the great future blessings of the converted remnant of Israel described. It is the entire section in embryo.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain A Sharp Reproof of Hypocrisy
A Sharp Reproof of Hypocrisy
v. 1. Cry aloud, so the Lord calls out to the prophet in bidding him rebuke the hypocritical conduct of the people, spare not, in an indulgence which in this case would amount to a sinful weakness, for which reason a crying at the top of the voice is demanded, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, with the far-sounding signal of the trumpets used on the great festivals of the Jewish Church, and show My people their transgression, the breach of covenant of which they had become guilty, and the house of Jacob their sins, for the Lord’s mercy had chosen the entire nation and He still sought all its members with the same fervent love which He had shown them of old.
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v. 2. Yet they seek Me daily, the very Lord whom they have rejected, and delight to know My ways, pretending an earnestness which they are far from feeling, inquiring into the reason for God’s manner of dealing with them, as a nation that did righteousness, as though they were a nation practicing the covenant righteousness required of them, and forsook not the ordinance of their God, just as if they had upheld their end of the covenant; they ask of Me the ordinances of justice, literally, "the judgments of righteousness," namely, that the Lord should interfere in their behalf; they take delight in approaching to God, pleading for their own deliverance and the destruction of their enemies.
v. 3. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, in the spirit of self-righteousness, which caused them to act as though God had been placed under obligations by their fasting, and Thou seest not? the Lord ignoring them on account of their hypocrisy. Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, by the hardships of fasting, and Thou takest no knowledge? the intimation being that Jehovah was not appreciating their efforts sufficiently. But the Lord has His answer ready and sets them right with emphasis. Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, seeking advantage for themselves by their show of piety, and exact all your labors, oppressing the men who worked for them even while they were professing an unusual degree of holiness.
v. 4. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, while they were practicing their wicked oppression, they made a great show of their supposed piety, and to smite with the fist of wickedness, not hesitating even to strike blows in tyrannizing their laborers; ye shall not fast as ye do this day to make your voice to be heard on high. Their fasting was nothing but hypocritical show, lacking the essence of the practice; for proper fasting presupposes a heart filled with repentance, pleading with the Lord for forgiveness and mercy.
v. 5. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? Could the Lord accept their fasting as an expression of repentance? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, affecting a sorrow which he was far from feeling, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? to make that his bed. Wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? All external evidences of sorrow and mourning mean nothing if the heart and mind are not affected, if they do not flow out of a repentant heart. The fasting which pleases the Lord is of an entirely different kind.
v. 6. Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bands of wickedness, to release the oppressed laborers, to undo the heavy burdens, which these tyrants had laid upon their men as upon pack-animals, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Note the heaping of synonymous expressions in order to emphasize the necessity of desisting from works of tyranny and of practicing true works of mercy.
v. 7. Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, to share it with him who is in need, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out, those without a home, without a roof to call their own, to thy house; when thou seest the naked that thou cover him, by providing him with clothing, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? every human being in need of help being our neighbor. The true proof of repentance consists in discontinuing wickedness and oppression in every form and in practicing mercy toward all men.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Lift up your voice like a trumpet
Lift up your voice like a trumpet
This means shout loudly. Here "your" refers to Isaiah. (See: Simile and Forms of You)
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Confront my people with their rebellion, and the house of Jacob with their sins
These two phrases mean basically the same thing. Together they strengthen the urgency to confront Yahweh's people. (See: Parallelism)
translationWords
voice
trumpet
people of God
rebel
house
Jacob
sin
know
nation
righteous
law, laws
God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 58:1-4 This is a charge against religious Israelites who…
58:1-4 This is a charge against religious Israelites who were pleased with themselves because of their religious activities.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.