13“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy of Yahweh honorable; and honor it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words,
14then you will delight yourself in Yahweh, and I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father;” for Yahweh’s mouth has spoken it.
13 “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy of Yahweh honorable; and honor it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words,
14 then you will delight yourself in Yahweh, and I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father;” for Yahweh’s mouth has spoken it.
KJVKing James Version
13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure 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.
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JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
13 If thou turn away thy foot because of the sabbath, from pursuing thy business on My holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, and the holy of the LORD honourable; and shalt honour it, not doing thy wonted ways, nor pursuing thy business, nor speaking thereof;
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD, and I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Jeremiah 17:21-27(v13)Yahweh says, “Be careful, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. Don’t carry a burden out of…
Psalms 92:1-2(v13)It is a good thing to give thanks to Yahweh, to sing praises to your name, Most High, to proclaim your loving kindness in the morning, and…
Isaiah 56:2-6(v13)Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast; who keeps the Sabbath without profaning it and keeps his hand from…
Nehemiah 13:15-22(v13)In those days I saw some men treading wine presses on the Sabbath in Judah, bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys; also with wine,…
Revelation 1:10(v13)I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet
Show all 34 cross-references
Exodus 20:8-11(v13)“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. You shall labor six days, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your…
Deuteronomy 32:13(v14)He made him ride on the high places of the earth. He ate the increase of the field. He caused him to suck honey out of the rock, oil out of…
Exodus 31:13-17(v13)“Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Most certainly you shall keep my Sabbaths; for it is a sign between me and you throughout…
Job 22:26(v14)For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and will lift up your face to God.
Psalms 84:10(v13)For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of…
Deuteronomy 5:12-15(v13)“Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as Yahweh your God commanded you. You shall labor six days, and do all your work; but the…
Psalms 84:2(v13)My soul longs, and even faints for the courts of Yahweh. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Psalms 27:4(v13)One thing I have asked of Yahweh, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in Yahweh’s house all the days of my life, to see Yahweh’s…
Psalms 42:4(v13)These things I remember, and pour out my soul within me, how I used to go with the crowd, and led them to God’s house, with the voice of…
Isaiah 1:19-20(v14)If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured with the sword; for…
Isaiah 33:16(v14)he will dwell on high. His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks. His bread will be supplied. His waters will be sure.
Habakkuk 3:18-19(v14)yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer’s…
Psalms 122:1(v13)I was glad when they said to me, “Let’s go to Yahweh’s house!”
Deuteronomy 33:29(v14)You are happy, Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by Yahweh, the shield of your help, the sword of your excellency? Your enemies will…
Psalms 37:4(v14)Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Isaiah 40:5(v14)Yahweh’s glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”
Psalms 36:8(v14)They shall be abundantly satisfied with the abundance of your house. You will make them drink of the river of your pleasures.
Exodus 36:2-3(v13)Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every wise-hearted man, in whose heart Yahweh had put wisdom, even everyone whose heart stirred him…
Psalms 105:9-11(v14)the covenant which he made with Abraham, his oath to Isaac, and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute; to Israel for an everlasting covenant,…
Jeremiah 3:19(v14)“But I said, ‘How I desire to put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations!’…
Micah 4:4(v14)But they will sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and no one will make them afraid: For the mouth of Yahweh of Armies has…
Philippians 4:4(v14)Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, “Rejoice!”
Job 27:10(v14)Will he delight himself in the Almighty, and call on God at all times?
Matthew 24:35(v14)Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
1 Peter 1:8(v14)whom, not having known, you love. In him, though now you don’t see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy that is unspeakable and…
Job 34:9(v14)For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.’
Psalms 37:11(v14)But the humble shall inherit the land, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
Psalms 135:12(v14)and gave their land for a heritage, a heritage to Israel, his people.
Psalms 136:21(v14)and gave their land as an inheritance; for his loving kindness endures forever;
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (19 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn v13If thou refrain thyself from thy wicked works.
If thou refrain thyself from thy wicked works.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv13–14Isa 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from…
Isa 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, [from] doing thy pleasure 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:
Ver. 13. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath.] If thou abstain from journeys and all secular businesses as much as may be. {Eze 22:26} Otherwise God will sue thee upon an action of waste; and the superstitious Jew will rise up and condemn thee, who if in his journey he be overtaken by the Sabbath he must stay, though in the midst of a field or wood, though in danger of thieves, storms, or hunger, he may not budge.
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From doing thy pleasure on mine holy day.] Plutarch thought Sabbath was from Sabbos a name of Bacchus, that signifieth to live jocundly and jovially. The Sabbath that many pleasure mongers keep may well have such a derivation, and their Dies dominicus the Lord’s day, be called Dies daemoniaeus; the Devil’s day, for they make it as Bacchus’ orgies rather than God’s holy solemnity, as doing thereon things no day lawful, but then most abominable.
And call the Sabbath a delight.] Counting it so, and making it so. The Jews call it Desiderium dierum, the desirable day. They meet it with these words, Veni sponsa mea, Come, my spouse. Of old, they blessed God for it, {Neh 9:14} and gave the whole week the denomination from it; {Luk 18:12} they strictly and spiritually kept it: but now they think the Sabbath is not sufficiently observed except they eat and drink largely, and give themselves to other sensual delights. {a} After dinner, the most of their discourse is about their usuary, and other worldly businesses, &c. They pray indeed, but it is that Elias would hasten his coming, even the next Sabbath if he please, that he might give them notice of the Messiah’s coming, &c. Let us take heed of being weary of the Sabbath, and wishing it over, as they did. {Amo 8:5 Mal 1:12-13} Walk into God’s garden, taste how good the Lord is in his ordinances, feel a continual increase of sweetness in the pleasure and dainties of holy duties, whereof we have such variety that we cannot easily be sated: so little need is there that we should, with the Rabbis, expound this delight in the text, of dainty and delightful meats to be eaten on this day.
The holy of the Lord, honourable.] And therefore "honourable" because "holy"; as it is said also of the "Lord of the Sabbath" - "Holy and reverend is his name." {Psa 111:9} "A holy convocation" the Sabbath is called. {Lev 23:3} See Lev 19:30; Lev 26:2. Let us sanctify this holy rest, else it will degenerate into idleness, which is a sin any day (one of Sodom’s sins), but on the Lord’s day a double sin. Better not do our own work any day, than not God’s work on his day. Debet tutus dies festivus a Christiano expendi operibus sanctis, saith Rob. Grosthead, Bishop of Lincoln: {b} The whole Sabbath should be spent in holy duties. Debemus die Dominico solummodo spiritualibus gaudiis repleri; we should be in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and be filled with spiritual delights only, saith the Council of Paris, held A.D. 829. Christ hath for this purpose made us a "holy nation, and a kingdom of priests" {Exo 19:6} - that is, holy and honourable; and God hath sanctified it for a day of blessing to those that sanctify it. {Exo 20:11 Eze 20:12} He hath called it "an everlasting covenant" by way of eminence, {Exo 31:16} as if nothing of God’s covenant were kept if this were not kept holy.
Not doing thine own ways.] Ea tantum facias quae ad animae salutem pertinent, saith Jerome, Those things only are then to be done that pertain to thy soul’s health - works of piety, of charity, and of necessity, none else. Tantum divinis cultibus serviamus, saith Augustine. What meant, then, that good King Edward VI - and where were those that should have better instructed him, Cranmer, Ridley, &c. - to deliver to his council these articles following: - That upon Sundays they intend public affairs of the realm, despatch answers to letters for good order of the state, and make full despatches of all things concluded in the week before; provided that they be present at common prayer, &c. {c}
Nor speaking thine own words.] These words of vanity or vexation, {Isa 58:9} but words of wisdom and sobriety suitable to the holiness of the day.
{a} Buxt., Synog.
{b} In Decalog. praec. 3.
{c} Life of Edward VI, by Sir J. Heywood.
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 Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv13–14If thou turn away thy foot: this is taken…
If thou turn away thy foot: this is taken either properly, i.e. If thou take no unnecessary journeys, or do any servile works, either of hand or foot, that are forbidden on the sabbath day, the instrument being here put for the work; or metaphorically, i.e. If thou keep thy mind and affections clear, and restrain thyself from whatever may profane it, as David did concerning the word, Psa 119:101. Feet are often put for the affections, Ecc 5:1, because the mind is moved by the affections, as the body is by the feet; If we do not let our thoughts be extravagant either upon impertinencies or unlawful things. The sum is, If thou be careful not to break the sabbath.
From the sabbath; or for the sabbath’s sake, whether we understand it more largely, of the occasional sabbath in solemn humiliations or otherwise set apart for sacred services, which is called a sabbath, Lev 16:31; 23:32. Days of this nature were set apart before the captivity, Isa 22:12; Jer 36:9, and also in the captivity, Zec 7:5. And thus it may be pertinent to the occasion of this discourse, Isa 58:3. And further, though sabbath be here only mentioned, yet it may take in every institution of God that they were in a capacity of observing during their captivity; thus I conceive it is understood Isa 56:1,2. Or whether we take it more particularly, for the weekly sabbath, such a carriage doth God expect as doth become it. From doing thy pleasure, satisfying thy lusts, and the corruption of thy will, on my holy day, i.e. on my sabbath, which is a holy day. A delight; full of delights in thy judgment, not looking on it as a burden; and practice, performing the duties of it with cheerfulness, delighting in the ordinances of it: and so the sabbath by a metonymy is put for the works of the sabbath, the time being put for the things that ought to be done in that time; therefore calling here is not only a verbal, but affectionate calling, the understanding assenting, the will consenting, and the actions conforming thereto: this delight appears in the saints of God, in their breathings after it, as it did frequently in David, Psa 27:4; 36:8; 42:1, with many more.
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The holy of the Lord; or to the Lord, i.e. dedicated to him, consecrated to his service. The Jews had a law that no man might take from the sabbath to add to the profane days but he might on the contrary.
Honourable, viz. the chief of days; worthy of all honour, and therefore honourable, because holy; and so shall honour, either it, i.e. the day; or him, i.e. the Lord, whose day it is. For to sanctify God and to sanctify his day is all one; compare Isa 8:13, with Exo 20:8; thus esteem it an honour as well as a pleasure.
Not doing thine own ways, or works, or course of life; a man’s whole course being described by a way or walk, Gen 17:1; Eph 5:8.
Nor speaking thine own words, viz. that are properly thine own, i.e. thine own in opposition to what God commands, proceeding from the corruption of nature, and vanity of the mind; or not speaking words, i.e. vainly, impertinently, and not suitable to the work of the day, tending neither to thy profit nor pleasure; or rather injurious, revengeful, or reproachful words, contrary to rest, quiet, and sedate composedness of the sabbath. And thus it refers to what was their usual practice upon their solemn assemblies or sabbaths towards their poor brethren, which they are charged with, Isa 58:3, and is called speaking vanity, Isa 58:9; see there; and accordingly the LXX. render it, if thou speak not a word in anger.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v13Great stress was always laid upon the due observance…
Great stress was always laid upon the due observance of the sabbath day, and it was particularly required from the Jews when they were captives in Babylon, because by keeping that day, in honour of the Creator, they distinguished themselves from the worshippers of the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth. See Isa 56:1, Isa 56:2, where keeping the sabbath is joined, as here, with keeping judgment and doing justice. Some, indeed, understand this of the day of atonement, which they think is the fast spoken of in the former part of the chapter, and which is called a sabbath of rest, Lev 23:32. But, as the fasts before spoken of seem to be those that were occasional, so this sabbath is doubtless the weekly sabbath, that great sign between God and his professing people - his appointing it a sign of his favour to them and their observing it a sign of their obedience to him. Now observe here,
I. How the sabbath is to be sanctified (Isa 58:13); and, there remaining still a sabbatism for the people of God, this law of the sabbath is still binding to us on our Lord's day.
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1. Nothing must be done that puts contempt upon the sabbath day, or looks like having mean thoughts of it, when God has so highly dignified it. We must turn away our foot from the sabbath, from trampling upon it, as profane atheistical people do, from travelling on that day (so some); we must turn away our foot from doing out pleasure on that holy day, that is, from living at large, and taking a liberty to do what we please on sabbath days, without the control and restraint of conscience, or from indulging ourselves in the pleasures of sense, in which the modern Jews wickedly place the sanctification of the sabbath, though it is as great a profanation of it as any thing. On sabbath days we must not walk in our own ways (that is, not follow our callings), not find our own pleasure (that is, not follow our sports and recreations); nay, we must not speak our own words, words that concern either our callings or our pleasures; we must not allow ourselves a liberty of speech on that day as on other days, for we must then mind God's ways, make religion the business of the day; we must choose the things that please him; and speak his words, speak of divine things as we sit in the house and walk by the way. In all we say and do we must put a difference between this day and other days.
2. Every thing must be done that puts an honour on the day and is expressive of our high thoughts of it. We must call it a delight, not a task and a burden; we must delight ourselves in it, in the restraints it lays upon us and the services it obliges us to. We must be in our element when we are worshipping God, and in communion with him. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! We must not only count it a delight, but call it so, must openly profess the complacency we take in the day and the duties of it. We must call it so to God, in thanksgiving for it and earnest desire of his grace to enable us to do the work of the day in its day, because we delight in it. We must call it so to others, to invite them to come and share in the pleasure of it; and we must call it so to ourselves, that we may not entertain the least thought of wishing the sabbath gone that we may sell corn. We must call it the Lord's holy day, and honourable. We must call it holy, separated from common use and devoted to God and to his service, must call it the holy of the Lord, the day which he has sanctified to himself. Even in Old Testament times the sabbath was called the Lord's day, and therefore it is fitly called so still, and for a further reason, because it is the Lord Christ's day, Rev 1:10. It is holy because it is the Lord's day, and upon both accounts it is honourable. It is a beauty of holiness that is upon it; it is ancient, and its antiquity is its honour; and we must make it appear that we look upon it as honourable by honouring God on that day. We put honour upon the day when we give honour to him that instituted it, and to whose honour it is dedicated.
II. What the reward is of the sabbath - sanctification, Isa 58:14. If we thus remember the sabbath day to keep it holy,
1. We shall have the comfort of it; the work will be its own wages. If we call the sabbath a delight, then shall we delight ourselves in the Lord; he will more and more manifest himself to us as the delightful subject of our thoughts and meditations and the delightful object of our best affections. Note, The more pleasure we take in serving God the more pleasure we shall find in it. If we go about duty with cheerfulness, we shall go from it with satisfaction and shall have reason to say, "It is good to be here, good to draw near to God."
2. We shall have the honour of it: I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, which denotes not only a great security (as that, Isa 32:16, He shall dwell on high), but great dignity and advancement. "Thou shalt ride in state, shalt appear conspicuous, and the eyes of all thy neighbours shall be upon thee." It was said of Israel, when God led them triumphantly out of Egypt, that he made them to ride on the high places of the earth, Deu 32:12, Deu 32:13. Those that honour God and his sabbath he will thus honour. If God by his grace enable us to live above the world, and so to manage it as not only not to be hindered by it, but to be furthered and carried on by it in our journey towards heaven, then he makes us to ride on the high places of the earth.
3. We shall have the profit of it: I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father, that is, with all the blessings of the covenant and all the precious products of Canaan (which was a type of heaven), for these were the heritage of Jacob. Observe, The heritage of believers is what they shall not only be portioned with hereafter, but fed with now, fed with the hopes of it, and not flattered, fed with the earnests and foretastes of it; and those that are so fed have reason to say that they are well fed. In order that we may depend upon it, it is added, "The mouth of the Lord has spoken it; you may take God's word for it, for he cannot lie nor deceive; what his mouth has spoken his hand will give, his hand will do, and not one iota or tittle of his good promise shall fall to the ground." Blessed, therefore, thrice blessed, is he that doeth this, and lays hold on it, that keeps the sabbath from polluting it.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv13–14If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath,....…
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath,.... From walking and working on that day; or withdrawest thy mind and affections from all worldly things; the affections being that to the mind as the feet are to the body, which carry it here and there. The time of worship, under the Gospel dispensation, is here expressed in Old Testament language, as the service of it usually is in prophetic writings; though its proper name is the Lord's day, Rev 1:10, and is here instanced in, and put for all religious institutions and services to be attended unto, and which will be with greater strictness in the times referred to:
from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; that is, if thou turnest away, or dost abstain from doing thine own servile work, the business of thy calling; which may be agreeable for the sake of the profit of it; or from recreations and amusements, which may be lawfully indulged on another day:
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and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of God, and honourable; take delight and pleasure in the service of it; in all the duties of religion, private and public, to be observed on that day; in reading and hearing the word, and meditation on it; in prayer, and in attendance on all ordinances; and reckon it as separated for holy use and employment, and on that account honourable; and so have it in high esteem, and desire the return of it, and not think the service of it long and tedious, when enjoyed, and wish it was over: or, "for the Holy One of God, and honourable"; that is, for the sake of Christ, the Holy One of God, in both his natures, and honourable in his person and office; accounting the sabbath a delight, in remembrance of the great work of redemption and salvation wrought out by him:
and shall honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; honour the Lord on that day, by not attending to any secular business, or walking abroad in the fields, to the neglect of private duties or public worship; by not seeking the gratification of the fleshly and sensual part, or indulging to those things which are agreeable to it; and by not speaking such words, or talking of such things, as relate to worldly affairs, or the things of civil life, but walking in the ways of the Lord, doing those things which are well pleasing in his sight, and conversing about spiritual and heavenly things; by such means God is honoured on his own day; and the reverse of this is a dishonouring him. The Jews (o) make this honour to lie chiefly in wearing other clothes on this day than on a weekday, and not walking as on other days, or talking as on them; yet they allow of thoughts, though not of words, about worldly things.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv13–14If - If thou take no unnecessary journeys, or…
If - If thou take no unnecessary journeys, or do any servile works on the sabbath-day. A delight - Performing the duties of it with chearfulness, delighting in the ordinances of it. Holy - Dedicated to God, consecrated to his service.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv13–14Verse 13. If thou turn away thy foot from…
Verse 13. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath] The meaning of this seems to be, that they should be careful not to take their pleasure on the Sabbath day, by paying visits, and taking country jaunts; not going, as Kimchi interprets it, more than a Sabbath day's journey, which was only two thousand cubits beyond the city's suburbs. How vilely is this rule transgressed by the inhabitants of this land! They seem to think that the Sabbath was made only for their recreation!
From doing thy pleasure] The Septuagint, Syriac, and Chaldee, for עשות asoth, manifestly express מעשות measoth. So likewise a MS. has it, but with the omission of the words שבת רגלך shabbath raglecha. - L.
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The holy of the Lord - "And the holy feast of JEHOVAH"] Twenty-eight MSS. (seven ancient) add the conjunction ו vau, ולקדוש velikedosh; and so the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate. One of my own has the same reading.
Nor speaking thine own words - "From speaking vain words."] It is necessary to add some epithet to make out the sense; the Septuagint say, angry words; the Chaldee, words of violence. If any such epithet is lost here, the safest way is to supply it by the prophet's own expression, Isa 58:9, ודבר און vedabar aven, vain words; that is, profane, impious, injurious, c.
"The additional epithet seems unnecessary the Vulgate and Syriac have it not; and the sense is good without it; two ways, first by taking ודבר vedabar for a noun, and דבר dabur for the participle pahul, and rendering, -
'From pursuing thy pleasure, and the thing resolved on.'
Or, secondly, by supposing the force of the preposition מ mem to have been continued from the verb ממצוא mimmetso to the verb ודבר vedabber immediately following; and rendering, -
'From executing thy pleasure, and from speaking words
concerning it.' But the first seems the easier rendering." - Dr. JUBB.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv13–14Isa 58:13. If thou turn away — If thou…
Isa 58:13. If thou turn away — If thou take no unnecessary journeys, nor do any servile works on the sabbath day; or, metaphorically, if thou keep thy mind and affections disengaged, and free from secular cares and concerns, and restrain thyself from whatever might profane it; from doing thy pleasure on my holy day — From taking the liberty of doing what thou pleasest, without the control and restraint of conscience and the law of God; or from indulging thyself in the pleasures of sense and carnal delights; and call the sabbath a delight — Not looking on the duties of it as a burden and drudgery, but performing them with cheerfulness, and delighting in all its ordinances and services; the holy of the Lord — Or, to the Lord, that is, dedicated to him, consecrated to his service; honourable — Namely, the chief of days, worthy of all honour, and therefore honourable because holy: and shalt honour him — That is, The Lord, whose day it is; not doing thine own ways — Or works, or pursuing thy usual course of life, or thy worldly business; nor speaking thine own words — The words that are thine own, in opposition to what God commands to be spoken; words proceeding from the corruption of human nature, or the vanity of the human mind; or, not speaking words unsuitable to the work of the day, tending neither to thy edification nor comfort.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv13–14If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath…
If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath - The evident meaning of this is, that they were sacredly to observe the Sabbath, and not to violate or pollute it (see the notes at Isa 56:2). The idea, says Grotius, is, that they were not to travel on the Sabbath day on ordinary journeys. The ‘foot’ is spoken of as the instrument of motion and travel. ‘Ponder the paths of thy feet’ Pro 4:26; that is, observe attentively thy goings. ‘Remove thy foot from evil’ Pro 4:27; that is, abstain from evil, do not go to execute evil. So here, to restrain the foot from the Sabbath, is not to have the foot employed on the Sabbath; not to be engaged in traveling, or in the ordinary active employments of life, either for business or pleasure.
From doing thy pleasure on my holy day - Two things may here be observed:
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1. God claims the day as his, and as holy on that account. While all time is his, and while he requires all time to be profitably and usefully employed, he calls the Sabbath especially his own - a day which is to be observed with reference to himself, and which is to be regarded as belonging to him. To take the hours of that day, therefore, for our pleasure, or for work which is not necessary or merciful, is to rob God of that which he claims as his own.
2. We are not to do our own pleasure on that day. That is, we are not to pursue our ordinary plans of amusement; we are not to devote it to feasting, to riot, or to revelry. It is true that they who love the Sabbath as they should will find ‘pleasure’ in observing it, for they have happiness in the service of God. But the idea is, here, that we are to do the things which God requires, and to consult his will in the observance. It is remarkable that the thing here adverted to, is the very way in which the Sabbath is commonly violated. It is not extensively a day of business, for the propriety of a periodical cessation from toil is so obvious, that people will have such days recurring at moderate intervals. But it is a day of pastime and amusement; a day not merely of relaxation from toil, but also of relaxation from the restraints of temperance and virtue. And while the Sabbath is God’s great ordinance for perpetuating religion and virtue, it is also, by perversion, made Satan’s great ordinance for perpetuating intemperance, dissipation, and sensuality.
And call the Sabbath a delight - This appropriately expresses the feelings of all who have any just views of the Sabbath. To them it is not wearisome, nor are its hours heavy. They love the day of sweet and holy rest. They esteem it a privilege, not a task, to be permitted once a week to disburden their minds of the cares, and toils, and anxieties of life. It is a ‘delight’ to them to recall the memory of the institution of the Sabbath, when God rested from his labors; to recall the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, to the memory of which the Christian Sabbath is consecrated; to be permitted to devote a whole day to prayer and praise, to the public and private worship of God, to services that expand the intellect and purify the heart. To the father of a family it is the source of unspeakable delight that he may conduct his children to the house of God, and that he may instruct them in the ways of religion. To the Christian man of business, the farmer, and the professional man, it is a pleasure that he may suspend his cares, and may uninterruptedly think of God and of heaven. To all who have any just feeling, the Sabbath is a ‘delight;’ and for them to be compelled to forego its sacred rest would be an unspeakable calamity.
The holy of the Lord, honorable - This more properly means, ‘and call the holy of Yahweh honorable.’ That is, it does not mean that they who observed the Sabbath would call it ‘holy to Yahweh and honorable;’ but it means that the Sabbath was, in fact, ‘the holy of Yahweh,’ and that they would regard it as ‘honorable.’ A slight inspection of the Hebrew will show that this is the sense. They who keep the Sabbath aright will esteem it a day “to be honored” (מכבד mekubâd).
And shalt honor him - Or rather, shalt honor it; to wit, the Sabbath. The Hebrew will bear either construction, but the connection seems to require us to understand it of the Sabbath rather than of the Lord.
Not doing thine own ways - This is evidently explanatory of the phrase in the beginning of the verse. ‘if thou turn away thy foot.’ So the Septuagint understands it: Οὐκ άρεῖς τὸς πόδα σου ἐπ ̓ ἔργῳ Ouk areis ton poda sou ep' ergō - ‘And will not lift up thy foot to any work.’ They were not to engage in secular labor, or in the execution of their own plans, but were to regard the day as belonging to God, and to be employed in his service alone.
Nor finding thine own pleasure - The Chaldee renders this, ‘And shalt not provide on that day those things which are necessary for thee.’
Nor speaking thine own words - Lowth and Noyes render this, ‘From speaking vain words.’ The Septuagint, ‘Nor utter a word in anger from thy mouth.’ The Chaldee renders it, ‘Words of violence.’ It is necessary to add some epithet to make out the sense, as the Hebrew is literally, ‘and to speak a word.’ Probably our common translation has expressed the true sense, as in the previous members of the verse the phrase ‘thine own’ thrice occurs. And according to this, the sense is, that on the Sabbath our conversation is to be such as becomes a day which belongs to God. It is not less important that our conversation should be right on the Sabbath than it is that our conduct should be.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv13–14Sabbath, doing no work, or refraining from the violation…
Sabbath, doing no work, or refraining from the violation of festivals. --- Delightful. We must not think the sabbath of the Lord a loss: (Amos viii. 5.) but rejoice in praising him, Psalm xlv. 11. (Calmet) --- A word, or to apply to God’s word. (Grotius) --- Pious reading on holidays is the duty of all who have an opportunity. (Haydock)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv13–14(Isa 56:2; Neh 13:15-22). The Sabbath, even under the…
(Isa 56:2; Neh 13:15-22). The Sabbath, even under the new dispensation, was to be obligatory (Isa 66:23).
foot--the instrument of motion (compare Pro 4:27); men are not to travel for mere pleasure on the Sabbath (Act 1:12). The Jews were forbidden to travel on it farther than the tabernacle or temple. If thou keep thy foot from going on thy own ways and "doing thy pleasure," &c. (Exo 20:10-11).
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my holy day--God claims it as His day; to take it for our pleasure is to rob Him of His own. This is the very way in which the Sabbath is mostly broken; it is made a day of carnal pleasure instead of spiritual "delight."
holy of the Lord--not the predicate, but the subject; "if thou call the holy (day) of Jehovah honorable"; if thou treat it as a day to be honored.
him--or else, it, the Sabbath.
not doing . . . own way--answering to, "turn away thy foot from the Sabbath."
nor finding . . . pleasure--answering to, "doing thy pleasure." "To keep the Sabbath in an idle manner is the sabbath of oxen and asses; to pass it in a jovial manner is the sabbath of the golden calf, when the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose again to play; to keep it in surfeiting and wantonness is the sabbath of Satan, the devil's holiday" [BISHOP ANDREWES].
nor speaking . . . words--answering to, "call Sabbath a delight . . . honorable." Man's "own words" would "call" it a "weariness"; it is the spiritual nature given from above which "calls it a delight" (Amo 8:5; Mal 1:13).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn v1313, 14. To the foregoing duties of love is…
13, 14. To the foregoing duties of love is added the duty of sabbath observance. See Isa_54:2; Isa_54:4. For preserving the unity of a theocratic nation this was a vital duty. It is singled out here from other commands (Exodus 20) to represent the whole first table of the decalogue.
If thou turn away thy foot — Namely, from walking in its usual paths — from pursuing its customary avocations.
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From doing thy pleasure — That in which thou usually delightest, and lovest. A lesson of self-denial for God’s sake.
And call the sabbath a delight — Under the Old Testament dispensation, the holy observance of the weekly “sabbath” was one of the most significant marks of a God-fearing people. Such, and none else, would term the “sabbath a delight.” To the irreligious it would, because of its largely enforced abstinence from mere secular pursuits, be a day of weariness rather than of delight.
Cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth — “High places” stand for security: hence, fortresses were usually built on elevated ground. Metaphorically, then, the expression denotes a position of safety and honour. To such exaltation would God raise his people, if trustful in him, and honouring his holy laws.
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 Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv13–1413, 14. A promise attached to the strict and…
13, 14. A promise attached to the strict and cheerful observation of the Sabbath. See on ch. Isa_56:2.
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath] treating it as “holy ground” (ἄβατος). The metaphor is translated into literal terms in the following clause.
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from doing thy pleasure] so as not to do thy business (as Isa_58:3).
call the sabbath a delight] Great stress is laid on heartiness in the observance of this command; for a contrast see Amo_8:5. The next clause must be translated as in R.V. and [sc. call] the holy of the LORD honourable, and shalt honour it. “The holy of Jehovah” is a remarkable designation for the Sabbath, and all the expressions of the clause are peculiar.
not doing thine own ways] so as not to do after thy wont (Cheyne). For pleasure render, as before, business.
nor speaking thine own words] Lit. a word, i.e. “idle words”; cf. Hos_10:4.
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 Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv13–14(13) If thou turn away thy foot.—The teaching of…
(13) If thou turn away thy foot.—The teaching of Isa_56:4-7, as to the Sabbath is resumed. The form of the phrase implies the idea that the Sabbath is as holy ground, on which no profane foot must tread (Exo_3:5).
Thy pleasure.—Better, thy business.
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Nor speaking thine own words.—Literally, speak words, as in Hos_10:4, for idle unprofitable talk (Pro_10:19, Ecc_5:3).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv13–14Vers. 13, 14. A STRICT OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH…
Vers. 13, 14. A STRICT OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH ENJOINED. While the fasting of the day only required to be spiritualized, the sabbath observance needed both spiritualizing and increased strictness. 2Ch_36:21 we learn that the sabbatical years had been little observed during the later Jewish kingdom; and it would Seem from the present passage (comp. Jer_17:21-23) that even the observance of the sabbath itself had been neglected. Not that the neglect was total. The sacrifices proper to the sabbath were duly offered the "solemn assembly" was duly called and attended; (Isa_1:13) but during the rest of the day business flowed in its usual course the complete sanctification of the entire day was set aside. We find a similar laxity prevalent after the return from the Captivity. (Neh_10:31 Neh_13:15, Neh_13:16)
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath; i.e. treat it with reverence, as if it were "holy ground". (Exo_3:5 Pro_4:27) From doing thy pleasure; rather, from doing thy business the same expression as in ver. 3. It is by "business," not by pleasure, that the sabbath was polluted both in the time of Jeremiah (Jer_17:21-23) and of Nehemiah. (Neh_10:31, etc.) And call the sabbath a delight. This is the spiritualization of the sabbath call" and feel it "a delight," a real satisfaction to the soul, not a weariness, (Amo_8:5) as it was to many. And shalt honour him; rather, and shalt honour it; i.e. the sabbath, which is made masculine here, as in Isa_56:2. The sabbath was to be honoured by men not pursuing their own ordinary ways, or engaging in their regular business, or even carrying on their ordinary everyday talk. Literally, the command is, not to "speak words;" but no Jews were ever such strict sabbatarians as to understand this as prohibiting all speech on the sabbath. Some have held that sabbatical talk should be scanty, limited, restrained as much as possible; but even for this there is no warrant. It is the quality, rather than the quantity, of the words uttered that is of real importance.
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Rightful and wrongful keeping of the sabbath need to be distinguished.
I The more worldly among the Jews were inclined to a mere perfunctory keeping of the sabbath. They shut up men"s religious duties on the day within the corners of the Levitical enactments; and considered that, if the legal sacrifices were offered, and the "holy convocation" held and duly attended, the rest of the day might be employed exactly as they pleased. They pursued their secular occupations on the sabbath day with all freedom bought and sold, carried their corn, trod the wine-press, conveyed commodities from place to place, and engaged in every form of traffic and merchandise. (Neh_13:15, Neh_13:16) This was the lowest theory of sabbath-observance propounded by any, and it received direct and severe condemnation from Jeremiah (Jer_17:21-23) and Nehemiah. (Neh_13:15, Neh_13:16)
II A second form of observance added to the Levitical enactments with respect to sacrifices and the "holy convocation," an abstinence during the rest of the day from work of every sort an abstinence which was sometimes pushed to excess, as when it was interpreted to forbid self-defence in war. (RAPC 1Ma 2:34-38) These religionists were content to remain in a negation, and, so long as they preserved the sabbatical rest unimpaired, were fully satisfied in their consciences. Something of the same spirit, it is to be feared, still pervades certain parts of Christendom. Mere abstinence from work a negative "folding of the hands" appears to be thought acceptable to God; and the sabbath is given a morose aspect by the disallowance of occupations which are innocent, which conduce to cheerfulness, and which are in no way at variance with piety.
III The third and only rightful form of observance, here touched by Isaiah, and more fully taught by our Lord, (Mat_12:3-13) consists, in the first place, in "making the sabbath a delight." It should be made a delight, both to ourselves and to others. God"s people should look forward to their sabbaths as times of refreshment and of "joy in the Lord oases in the wilderness of life, glimpses and foretastes of heaven. Music should]end its charm to them, intensifying and elevating devotion; the aid of other arts should be called in; churches should be aglow with floral beauty; preaching should be warm and heart-stirring; and the highest act of Christian worship should be viewed as the crowning perfection of the feast-day. In the next place, our Lord"s example should be followed, and his words remembered, "It is lawful to do good on the sabbath day." Acts of mercy and loving-kindness to our fellow-men are pointed out by him as our best employment on the sabbath; it is the special day on which to visit the sick, to clothe the naked, to give our bread to the hungry, to relieve the oppressed, to carry the glad tidings of the gospel to the poor and ignorant. It is also a day part of which may well be devoted to the strengthening of family affection by oral or written communications with relations from whom the business of life commonly separates us, and also for kindly talk with our neighbours and friends. Without in any way secularizing the sabbath, we may give it a cheerful, kindly, friendly aspect, and cause it to be regarded in our families, not as a "dull time," with difficulty to be "got through," but, as it was intended to be, the crown of the week the special "day which the Lord hath made," to the end that we should "rejoice and be glad in it". (Psa_118:24)
Vers. 13, 14. The claims of the sabbath.
I THE HOLINESS OF THE SABBATH. "The prophet regards the fast-days as forms without authority and significance. All the more strict is his view of the claims of the sabbath" (Cheyne). It is emphatically a con secrated day, and the foot is to be turned aside from it as if it were holy ground, like that where Moses put the shoes from his feet. (Exo_3:5) The foot, as instrument of travel, is to be "removed from evil", (Pro_4:27) and its "path is to be pondered". (Pro_4:2-9) Selfish, merely human business, is not to be done on that day, which may be viewed as a part of that great duty of sacrifice which runs through the Law. The day was to be peculiarly Jehovah"s own. A particular temperance and modesty of the tongue was suitable to its observance. Falsehood (Hos_10:4 Job_15:13) would especially desecrate it. Scripture is especially strong on the significance of words. For they express the soul, and reflect in their expression influences of good or evil on the soul again. There should be reserve and economy of speech (a lesson disregarded too much in modern times), for an element of sin is certain to find its way into excessive loquacity. (Pro_10:19 Ecc_5:3) A "tonguey man" almost means the same as a malicious talker. (Psa_140:11) The regulation of the tongue may, therefore, in great part, be taken as the measure of spiritual self-control and sobriety, as the expression of the living sacrifice of the heart.
II THE BLESSING ATTACHED SPIRITUAL DELIGHT. Joy in Jehovah, the Eternal, is manifested to men in grace, in proportion as they approach him in obedience. "You shall no longer be left to barren ordinances and to unanswered prayers. No one has ever properly observed the sabbath who did not find as a consequence that he had increased pleasure in the existence, character, and service of Jehovah". (cf. Job_22:21-26 Psa_37:4, for the illustration of the principle involved) Triumphant possession of the land of promise. (For the phrase, see Deu_32:13; cf. Hab_3:19 Psa_18:33 Amo_4:13. For the idea, see Isa_65:9 Eze_34:13, 14 36:1-12) The hills and fortresses of Palestine, so greatly beloved by the patriot-hearts of the prophets, shall be recovered by the people, once following the righteous moral lead of Jehovah. J.
The sabbath ideal.
"Call the sabbath a delight." It cannot be a holy day unless it is a happy day. For only souls that joy in God are really devout. Unless religious exercises have a charm for the soul, they are only routine; they are not religious.
I A SEEMING CONTRADICTION. "Turn away thy foot....from doing thy pleasure." And again, "Not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure." But there is no real contradiction. Many things are rightly enough pleasant to us in daily occupation and association; but things right in themselves may be wrong if indulged in under improper conditions; and the sabbath is to be holy unto the Lord and in the Christian dispensation it is called "the Lord"s day." This is to dominate everything. Those who seek worldly pleasure upon this day hinder others from fellowship with God, and keep from that constancy of vision on heavenly things by which alone they can be indelibly impressed on the mind and the heart.
II A SOLEMN OBLIGATION. It is a day that should be made pleasant, not merry nor mirthful, but full of all the highest and best enjoyments. Praise is pleasant it awakens a remembrance of mercy. Fellowship is pleasant it nerves the fainting soldier"s heart to look at his companions in arms, and it cheers the weary to hear of "the rest that remaineth." Christian parents should take heed to this. Dulness and moroseness are not religion. Literature is none the less Christian that is well illustrated, and written with all the charm of an attractive style; and the church of God is none the less the house of the Lord and the gate of heaven, that the service is in itself cheerful and bright. There is no memory more potent for good than the remembrance of the happy sabbaths of our childhood. And service for others helps our joy; to call the sabbath a delight, we must be, if possible, givers as well as receivers like Nehemiah, "cup-bearer of the King," handing the living water to others. W.M.S.
Vers. 13, 14. The day of sacred rest.
The institution of the weekly sabbath is certainly one of the "water-marks" of revelation. It is not possible to conceive of anything more wise and beneficent than this provision for our bodily and spiritual well-being. Who can calculate the material or the moral benefit which it has conferred on the human race? Who can estimate the blessing it will have proved to humanity when time has run its course? Whether we regard it in the lower or in the higher aspect of the question, its value is simply inestimable. We may look at
I THE GROUND OF ITS OBSERVANCE. The Jews had special reasons for honouring the day. Its observance was part of their statute law. (Exo_20:8-11) But all mankind have reason enough for giving it a conspicuous place in their custom and their commandment.
1. It has its commencement at the very dawn of human history. (Gen_2:2, Gen_2:3)
2. It was inculcated in the most solemn form, and enforced by the weightiest sanctions on the Hebrew people; and although it is not, on that account, binding on us as a Divine enactment, yet the fact that it was made of so much consequence in the judgment of the Divine Legislator, and had so large a part in the training of the healthiest and purest people the world has ever known, is a very strong argument in favour of its perpetuity: we may surely elect to continue that which we are not formally bound to adopt. We find a powerful reason for so doing in the text anal in similar passages, where we have the significant fact that:
3. It finds a prominent place in prophetic utterance. Inasmuch as the prophets were the strong and even vehement opponents of ceremonialism, and (as in the previous verses of this chapter) made everything of the moral and the spiritual, their testimony concerning the sabbath day has peculiar value. It points to a Divine intention that it should not pass away with the local, the rudimentary, the temporary, but hold its ground with the abiding and the permanent.
4. It was stated by our Lord to have been "made for man". (Mar_2:27)
5. In the new form of the "Lord"s day," commemorating the crowning work not of creation but of redemption, it was honoured by the apostles of our Lord. We may, therefore, conclude, in the exercise of our reason, that it is the will of Christ that we should observe one day in seven as a day of sacred rest.
II THE TRUE SPIRIT OF OBEDIENCE.
1. The spirit of self-renunciation. The Hebrew saint was to "turn away his foot from the sabbath, from doing his pleasure on God"s holy day;" i.e. he was to lay aside his customary labours, and to refrain from ordinary amusements on a day on which God asked for contemplation and worship. As Christians, we come to the conclusion that it is the will of our Saviour that we should give to him our homage, our docility, our sacred zeal; we therefore gladly forego the common engagements and enjoyments of our life, "not doing our own ways," in order that we may do his will and gain his good pleasure.
2. The spirit of devotion. The corollary of the cheerful renouncement of our own business is the adoption of God"s worship and service as the appropriate engagement of the day. Quitting our home and shunning the mart and the place of amusement, whither should we go but to the house of the Lord, to the field of sacred usefulness? And how can we better spend our time or occupy our powers than in the manly, the lofty, the elevating engagements of devotion and sacred service? Then do we reach our highest mark, and most nearly attain the true standard of our manhood, the richest heritage of our race. Then do we "delight ourselves in the Lord;" then is God what he was to Abraham, and what he will be to us all when we receive the fulness of our inheritance our "exceeding great Reward.
3. The spirit of sacred joy. We shall "call the sabbath a delight," shall find it so, and shall do our best to make it so to the children, to the employed, to the lonely and the confined, who can be visited and cheered in the quiet home, in the sick-chamber.
III ITS LARGE REWARD.
1. In immediate spiritual enjoyment; in the gladness of heart with which the worship of God is anticipated; (Psa_122:1) in the joy of holy fellowship and sacred song; in the happiness of domestic piety.
2. In the continuous spiritual blessedness to which it leads; for a true use of Christian privileges ends in the reconciliation of the soul to God, and in the possession of his abiding favour, in the lifelong friendship of Jesus Christ; there is daily, continual "delight in the Lord.
3. In the realization of the kindest promises of God. To Israel was offered the excellency of "riding on the high places of the earth," and being "fed with the heritage of Jacob." To us, if we truly seek God"s face until we find his favour, is offered
(1) the guidance of an unerring finger and the protection of an almighty arm along all the path of life, whether along higher or lower levels;
(2) the exercise of a benign and gracious influence on human hearts an influence which will live when we are gone;
(3) entrance into the heavenly kingdom. C.
The universal sabbath-law.
"Not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words." The peculiarity of the day, the essential thing about the day, is that it is Gods day, not ours. We only keep it aright when we keep it for God. We misuse it when we fill it with any ends of our own. The one sabbath-work is a special effort to honour and obey God, and we shall surely find that the one-day effort helps us in establishing and confirming the everyday habit. Do only God"s pleasure on the sabbaths, and it will be easy to put God"s will and pleasure first every day. Importance attached to keeping the sabbath in Babylon, because it was the most prominent thing in which the people publicly witnessed to their separation from idolatry, and allegiance to Jehovah. Faithful observance of it was the test by which the faithful ones were known. Equal importance attaches to the keeping of the sabbath in our day. It is, as much as ever it was, the searching test that reveals all the humble and faithful followers of God. Still a Christian is known by the Sunday test, "Does he seek his own pleasure on God"s day?" Henderson well says, "The observance of the sabbath has, in all ages, been found essential to the maintenance and prosperity of spiritual religion." Blackstone says, "A corruption of morals usually follows a profanation of the sabbath." It should be carefully noticed that this prophet, who is so stern against forms and ceremonies in religion, is thus severe in demanding loyalty to the day which is not ours, but Gods. So familiar a subject needs no more than an outline of thought; illustrative material will readily be suggested.
I WE MUST KEEP THE DAY. As a separate day. Showing its distinctness from other days in the change made in our life-habits and associations. Some illustrations may be taken from our keeping wedding-days or birthdays. At such times our minds are full of some particular persons the days are kept in their honour. So we should separate Sundays for God.
II WE SHOULD ENJOY THE DAY. Here is a paradox. We are not to do our own pleasure on the day, but we are to find our pleasure in the day. Sunday should be the brightest day of the week.
III WE OUGHT TO HONOUR GOD ALL THE DAY. What precisely, in an age, a town, a community, a family, or a life, the best honouring of God is, the preacher must think out and present in his own way. R.T.
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 Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv13–14If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath
Isa_58:13-14
If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath
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Sabbath observance a Godward duty
If the true fast (Isa_58:3-7) typifies the Israelites duties towards his neighbour, the Sabbath represents his duties towards God.
(Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)
Turning the foot from the Sabbath
If thou turnest thy foot away from the Sabbath is equivalent to saying, If thou dost not tread its holy ground with the foot of week-day work. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
The Sabbath day
We shall consider the words of the text--
I. WITH REGARD TO THE JEWS. With that view we shall state--
1. The reasons for the institution of the Sabbath.
2. The manner in which the prophet required it to be celebrated.
3. The promises made to those who worthily hallow the Sabbath day.
II. WITH REGARD TO CHRISTIANS.
1. Are Christians obliged to observe a day of rest?
2. Is that day celebrated with all the sanctity it requires? (J. Saurin.)
The institution of the Sabbath
Four considerations gave occasion for the institution of the Sabbath day.
1. God was wishful to perpetuate two original truths on which the whole evidence of religion devolves; the first is, that the world had a beginning; the second, that God is its Author.
2. The second reason was to prevent idolatry. This remark claims peculiar attention, many of the Mosaic precepts being founded on the situation in which the Jews were placed. Let this general remark be applied to the subject in hand. The people, on leaving Egypt, were separated, from a nation that worshipped the sun, the moon, and the stars. The ancient
Egyptians, says Diodorus of Sicily, struck with the beauty of the universe, thought it owed its origin to two eternal dignities, that presided over all the others: the one was the sun, to whom they gave the name of Osiris; the other was the moon, to whom they gave the name of Isis. Cod, to preserve His people from these errors, instituted a festival which sapped the whole system, and which avowedly contemplated every creature of the universe as the production of the Supreme Being. And this may be the reason why Moses remarked to the Jews, on leaving Egypt, that God renewed the institution of the Sabbath (Deu_5:15).
3. God was wishful to promote humanity.
4. In a word, the design of God, in the institution of the Sabbath, was to recall to the minds of men the recollection of their original equality: he requires masters and servants alike to abstain from labour, so as in some sort to confound the diversity of their conditions, and to abate that pride, of which superior rank is so common a source. (J. Saurin.)
Sabbath observance
I. THE DUTY is thus stated: If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, etc.
1. This, then, is the first point to be noticed with respect to the observance of the Sabbath. It is, says God, My holy day, the day which I have hallowed for Myself, which I have reserved for My own. We are no more at liberty to determine for ourselves how we will employ the Sabbath, than the Israelites were at liberty to determine for themselves to what uses they would put the tabernacle, or the temple, which had been built and sanctified for God, according to His direction and for His own peculiar service; and, by regarding any of the Sabbath hours as being at our own disposal, we are guilty of the same profanation with which the Jews would have been chargeable, had they determined to do their pleasure with respect to the uses which they would make of Gods holy habitation, respecting which He had said, This is My rest for ever: here will I dwell.
2. Let us suppose, then, that we have turned away our foot from trampling upon Gods day, by consulting our own will and inclination as to the way in which we employ it, and are wishing and waiting to know what is the will of God concerning it. The text thus proceeds: And call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable. To call anything is to give it a name corresponding with its nature, or to describe it by its qualities. We are to call the Sabbath a delight; or are to call the holy of the Lord, i.e the holy day of the Lord, honourable. Here, then, are two properties of the Sabbath, two points of view in which we are to regard it. It should be so distinguished from other days by the peculiar delight which it affords, as well as by the pre-eminent dignity with which it is invested.
3. The honour to be paid to the Sabbath is our part: the delight to be found in the Sabbath is Gods part. And the text proceeds to show that if we honour His day, God will surely keep His promise of making it a delight. Let us, then, carefully consider the way in which we should honour the Sabbath. What is said to be ore own is evidently distinguished from what belongs to the Sabbath. It comprehends whatever we have to do, or to delight in, which appertains to the six days work from which God ceased, and which He had ended on the seventh day, in contradistinction to what appertains to the seventh day which God set apart and sanctified and blessed. There is, therefore, no reference in these words to sinful ways, or to unlawful pleasures; but to the appointed duties and allowed delights of the six days which God has given to us for these purposes. Heaven--the rest which remaineth for the people of God--is described in the Epistle to the Hebrews as a Sabbath-keeping, a Sabbath-rest. The Sabbath is a figure of that blessed and holy state. Our own ways and pleasures, then, are those which belong to this lower creation; and which we shall have done with when we depart out of the world; and for these things six days are given to us. The things of the Sabbath are all such things as shall be perfected and enjoyed for ever in that city of Cod, in those courts above, where Sabbaths never end. These remarks will furnish us with a practical rule for determining what may be done and what may not be done on the Sabbath day. Where there is the single eye, that is, the simple aim, to do the will of God, all doubts will be readily solved and difficulties disappear, and the duty he made plain by asking such questions as these: Is this secular work necessary for the supply of our daily wants, for the relief of suffering nature, for the accomplishing the will and service of God? Is it indispensable to these ends that it should be done, and done on the Sabbath day? If, in the conscientious exercise of an enlightened judgment, we decide in the affirmative, then we may do such necessary things with confidence and comfort. But, even in these things, care must be exercised that they do not interfere, beyond the just and reasonable limits of necessity, and charity, with the appropriate duties and employments of the day. Not finding their own pleasure. Pleasure is here evidently contrasted with business, God has given to us not only our six days labour and work, but also our six days gratifications and sources of enjoyment. There are the delights of earth, as well as the duties of earth. There is Nature, with all her various works. There are also the pleasures of literature, in all their vast and various extent. There is, further, the enjoyment of social intercourse, and an almost countless number of modes of refreshment, for both body and mind, which God would have us to use, as opportunity is given and need may be, to invigorate us for the more serious employments of the head or the hands. But these are our own pleasure; and this we are not to find on Gods holy day. Mark the expression, not finding thine own pleasure. In order to find, we seek. Our own pleasure may casually come in our way; but we must not look for it, endeavour after it, or pursue it as our object, in any manner or measure upon the Sabbath. The pleasures which we must endeavour on this day to find must be such as are not of earthly origin or of mans invention, but such as will endure when the world shall be no more, and will furnish a part of the business and the bliss of the Christians happy and eternal home. Further, not speaking (thine own) words. Thine own, here, is in italics; it is inserted by the translators, and only encumbers the passage. The meaning is, not doing thine own ways, not finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking words; that is, not speaking words concerning thine own ways and thine own pleasure.
II. To such AN OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH A SPECIAL PROMISE IS MADE. Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord. If we make the Sabbath a holy day, God will make it a happy day. In the application of this promise to ourselves, we must suppose and take it for granted that we are reconciled to God. Then, in the very measure in which we honour the Sabbath, God will make the duties and employments of the day channels of joy and peace and sacred pleasure to the soul. And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, etc. This is a promise of national prosperity and temporal advancement, with a confirmation of the blessing pronounced by Isaac upon Jacob and his posterity. And, although these were shadows of better things to the Christian Church, and the fulfilment of this promise is now to be looked for in spiritual and eternal blessings, yet it has frequently been testified, on observation and experience, that a holy Sabbath has been followed by a happy week; and, when we honour Gods holy day, we shall not fail to find that His blessing still rests upon it. (T. Best, M. A.)
Early English law an the Sabbath
In almost the earliest, if not the earliest, code of English law--the laws of Enach, King of Wessex--there was a provision made for the observance of Sunday. According to these laws if a slave was forced by his master to work upon Sunday, he was by that very fact set free, and the lord had to pay a fine. If the slave worked by his own will and without the direction of his lord, he was subjected to corporal chastisement, and if a freeman worked on the Holy Day he became a slave. He lost his freedom, or else he had to pay what, at that time, was the almost impossible fine of sixty shillings. Now that law at the very beginning of English legislation may have had very much to do with the position that the Anglo-Saxon race has taken in the world. According to the promise of this old prophet the word of the Lord has said, I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth if thou keepest the Sabbath day. (R. F. Horton.)
The Sabbath a rest form self
I suppose the essence of this Christian Sabbath was never more perfectly described than in the words of the prophet.
1. The first principle of the Christian Sabbath is that there should be one day in the week on which we are not doing our own ways, nor finding our own pleasure, nor speaking our own words, that is to say, the Christian Sabbath is not to be, like the civic Sunday, rest from work, important as that may be, but it is a rest from self, which is all-important, and is, indeed, the creation and the preservation of the spiritual in man. It is a rest from self, not to speak our own words on that day, not to take our own pleasures, not to adopt our own way. I think we see what is meant if we put it in this way. Our life as men is literally rooted in God, and its health depends on our knowing it and recognizing it.
2. Now, when we have recognized that this is the purpose of the day we still have to consider how that purpose is best accomplished. According to the practice of the Old Testament, and, apparently according to the intention of the New, the sanctuary, the place of public worship, is the means by which that can be accomplished.
3. I think we ought to honestly face the question which is often raised at the present time, whether the life I am describing cannot be maintained without the sanctuary. Men say frequently to-day that they find they can really worship better in their own homes, and still more in the open country, than in the assembly of the house of God. Now, the only danger I see in that position is that by the very necessity of the ease it violates the first requirement of the Sabbath as it is here stated. You stay at home in your house or you go out into the country on Sunday. In doing that you are going your own way, you are seeking your own pleasure, you are following your own bent--that is to say, you are violating the very principle on which this Sabbath rests. And it does not seem very improbable that when you have violated the very principle at the beginning you will succeed in recovering it at the end. (R. F. Horton.)
A Sabbath-week
Common-sense must tell us that no man who is going his own way, finding his own pleasure, and speaking his own words, for six days in the week, will abstain from them on the seventh. The devotion, the obedience, and forgetfulness of self which should mark the devout worshipper on Sunday, must be his companions all the week through. And the exercise of those graces through the week must be our habitual preparation for the Lords Day. So that, in fact, the teaching of the prophet amounts to this--that the true servant of God will at no time do his own ways, find his own pleasure, or speak his own words, where ways, pleasure, or words will not be such as God would love to look upon. The Christian will seek Gods grace, that in all things he may follow the example of his Lord, who declared, I came not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. I appeal to your own hearts and consciences, to what you know of yourselves or have seen in others, whether any good has ever come to any of us, from going our own way, finding our own pleasure, speaking our own words? (R. E. Paget, D. D.)
Thine own ways
His supposed that Isaiah required the Jews to keep what has been called a Puritanical Sabbath. I believe that this is a complete misconception of the prophets meaning. Their own ways, which the people were forbidden to follow on the Sabbath, were the common secular labours of the week. Doing their own pleasure has no reference to recreation or amusement. Some translators render it doing their own business; but it probably means here, as it constantly means elsewhere, doing what they liked. Luther translates it admirably, doing their own will. They were to spend the Sabbath, as God had commanded them, in rest; they were not at liberty to follow their own inclination by carrying on their ordinary trade. Their own words, which they were not to speak on the Sabbath, were the words in which their business was transacted; words which, like the business itself, belonged to the other days of the week. What the prophet forbids on the seventh day is what the Commandment forbids--not pleasure, but work. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)
Rabbinical prohibitions
The stricter Rabbinical schools built upon this general prohibition of all work innumerable minute precepts, many of which are so grotesque that to quote them would be to answer no other purpose than to amuse. One ingenious commentator, who happily appears to have had only a very few disciples, insisted that as it was a duty to rest from the beginning to the end of the Sabbath, all muscular exertion was sinful; and that, therefore, strict fidelity to the Commandment required that a man should remain during all the twenty-four hours of the Sabbath in exactly the same position, without moving a limb or a finger, a kind of rest which must have been very much more exhausting than hard work. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)
The Sabbath compared to the best room of the house
1. Every house of any consideration has in it a best room. It is usually the largest in the house, and the most comely. It usually is furnished with the choicest things which the owner can afford, and represents the best outward estate of his household. Here is the best carpet. Here are the best colours. Here is the best furniture. Here are hung the best pictures. Here are the chairs burnished and covered. And here, it may be, is the sofa, luxurious with extra springs. The few choice treasures are put upon the mantelpiece, or on some corner shelf. Whatever there is that stands apart from common uses by being a little better the parlour receives. And this room is scrupulously kept--too scrupulously, often. All festive occasions are celebrated in it. It is the room of honour. It is here that we devote ourselves to our company when we would show them hospitality. It stands in the house as a perpetual reminder of beauty--what little beauty we can command; of hospitality--so much as we are able to exercise of it; of superiority. A best room is not simply an emblem of vanity, as cynics would say. To have a room which has in it choice things, is rather the unconscious inspiration of ideality, it is a desire to maintain it in the household; and it is a silent but real influence for refinement and for higher living.
2. It is a sad thing to see a person or a family that makes one day just like another; that does not care to make one day better than any of the others; that regards all things as good enough. On a low level, it is a moral influence that leads one to desire to dress better on some occasions than on others, and to spread a better table on some occasions than on others. It is aspiration in one of its lower forms. How, what the parlour is to the house, the Jewish Sabbath and its substitute, the Christians Lords Day, were meant to be to the week. The week is a house, and Sunday is the best room in it, and it ought to have the best things put into it, and it ought to be kept religiously; and it is to exercise upon all our time just the same unconscious influence, or conscious influence, as the case may be, which a well-prepared and well-kept parlour does invariably exercise upon all the occupants of the house. Every week was to have its parlour day. It was to be a day that should be looked up to by the young and the old as the best day of the week. In other words, it was to be a delight. It was to be honourable, and so, memorable. (H. W. Beecher.)
And call the Sabbath a delight
The luxury of the Sabbath
The word is a strong one, Delight, Delicacy, Luxury. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)
The Sabbath a delight
I. POINT OUT A FEW PARTICULARS WILL THE TRUE BELIEVER ESTEEMS AND CALLS THE SABBATH A DELIGHT; shewing at the same time why the natural man should find no delight, at least no holy delight, in that day.
1. Because it brings with it a cessation and rest from worldly cares.
2. Because on that day he hopes to learn much in the school of Christ.
3. Because of that holy communion which it allows with the people of God.
4. Because of the remembrances which that day brings with it. On the Sabbath God rested from His work. On the Sabbath, how many of our Saviours gracious miracles were wrought! On the Sabbath, how many spiritual miracles doth He still work! On our Sabbath day it was that our Lord burst the bonds of death. Is not here matter of pleasurable meditation? Salvation is finished; and man restored to the favour and presence and image of God I
5. Because it is a type and foretaste of the heavenly rest--of the eternal Sabbath.
II. SHOW HOW WE MAY EMPLOY IT SO AS TO MAKE IT MOST DELIGHTFUL. By giving the whole day to God, so far as possibly can be done, in spiritual exercises. (C. Neale, M. A.)
The brightest of days
We are to find in this day--
1. The joy of healthy repose.
2. The joy of domestic reunion and consecration.
3. The joy of eternal Sabbatism. (T. De W, Talmage, D. D.)
The Sabbath a delight
The day of worship should be a day of gladness.
1. It brings rest from the toils and cares of the week. From the dust; and the sweat, the grime and the languor, I shake myself free for a while. I reach an oasis, with palm-trees and a well, in my pilgrimage through the deserts. I sit down under Gods shadow.
2. It invites to the noblest exercises and employments. Mind and heart, lips and soul and all my nature, unite in prayer, in praise, in the study and contemplation of the things which are unseen and eternal. There is no work on earth to compare with it.
3. It introduces to the communion of souls. I go up to Gods house in company with many others. I realize that I am not alone, that I am a member of a brotherhood and family, that all around me are kindred souls. It is a thought that brings me strength, and that satisfies my love.
4. It lifts me into the presence of my Lord--Father, and Son, and Spirit. I dwell in His sanctuary. I hearken to His voice. I feel His quickening and invigorating touch. I receive afresh His baptism and unction. Behold, God is in this place, and it is for me the gate of heaven. (A. Smellie, M. A.)
The Sabbath a delight
If thou tallest the Sabbath a delight, because it leads thee to God; not a burden, because it leads thee from thine everyday life (Amo_8:5). (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
The Sabbath a festive time
It is a festival time for mans higher nature in communion with the unseen. As the tired eye, which has been strained by long and close application to some work near at hand, rests itself by gazing on the far horizons or the stars, so there is a rest in lifting thought from the near and the lower objects which too often engross us, and fixing it upon the unseen and eternal. This is, perhaps, the grand reason for our Saviours own comment: The Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (A. T. Pierson, D. D.)
Honourable
The Sabbath made honourable
When do we make the Sabbath an honourable, glorious day?
1. When we make honourable preparation for it.
2. When we give it honourable entertainment.
3. When we have a precious esteem of every moment of Sabbath time, and are jealous lest any drop of it should run waste.
4. When we have a singular esteem of all the institutions and ordinances of the day.
5. When it is the grief of our souls that we can keep Sabbaths no better, and we strive cordially and conscientiously to keep the next better than we did the last. (T. Case, M. A.)
Nor speaking thine own words
Sabbath-speaking
Nor speaking thine own words. Talking talk. (J. A. Alexander.)
Useless words,
Useless words, void of meaning, and of needless number: the phrase, as in Hos_10:4, is here applied to unspiritual gossip and bombast. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
Speech rest on Sunday
Hitzig on this passage remarks that the law regarding the Sabbath has here already received the Jewish addition, that speaking is work. But from the promise that Gods Sabbath-rest was a rest from His speaking the creative words (Psa_33:6), the only conclusion drawn was that one must rest on the Sabbath, in a certain measure, from speaking as well as working; and when Rabbi Simon ben Jochai called to his talkative old mother on the Sabbath, Sabbath-keeping is called silence, this was not meant to be understood as if speaking in itself were working, and all speaking on the Sabbath was therefore forbidden. The Rabbinical explanation of the present passage is as follows: Let not thy speaking on the Sabbath be the same as that on working days. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
Better for the Sunday rest
Scientists say that telegraph wires are better conductors on Monday than on Saturday, on account of their Sunday rest. The well-proved fact that human beings profit by a weekly rest-day emphasizes the protest of Christian people against the secularization of the Sabbath. (Christian Budget.)
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 Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v13[1737] See outlines on Isa_56:2; Isa_56:6; and Dr. Barnes’…
THE SABBATH [1737]
[1737] See outlines on Isa_56:2; Isa_56:6; and Dr. Barnes’ Commentary in loco.
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Isa_58:13-14. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, &c.
The first religious ordinance instituted by God in this new created earth was the Sabbath; the day of rest after six days work. Most remarkable was the manner of the institution—by the example of Almighty God Himself (Gen_2:1-3). Instituted by God between two and three thousand years before the law was given upon Mount Sinai as an ordinance for the Jews, it was designed to promote man’s temporal as well as his spiritual good; on its due observance man’s welfare, both here and hereafter, very mainly depends; by its neglect God is dishonoured, and man is wounded and hurt.
I. How THE LORD’S DAY IS TO BE SANCTIFIED.
1. By public worship. On that day especially we are to pay unto Him the worship due unto His name. Public worship is a debt we owe to God (Psa_29:2; Psa_96:8); and we should be as careful to pay it as we are the debts we owe our fellow-men.
2. By private meditation and prayer. We are to regard it as a day of rest and cessation from the common business and occupation of life, as a season dedicated to God. Our conversation and our thoughts are to be directed, not to temporal, but to spiritual concerns. Let us reflect upon the things of which it reminds us—the creation of the world, the resurrection of Christ; and of that which it foreshadows—the everlasting rest which remaineth for the people of God.
II. THE BLESSINGS WHICH FOLLOW UPON A DUE OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD’S DAY.
1. We shall grow in wisdom and grace.
2. Even in this imperfect and troublesome world, we shall learn to delight ourselves in the Lord.
3. When the number of earthly Sabbaths is complete, we shall be found, by God’s grace, meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.
III. THE EVIL EFFECTS WHICH ALWAYS FOLLOW PROFANED AND NEGLECTED SABBATHS.
1. The world, with its drying, withering influence, will take entire possession of the heart. Even when the Lord’s Day is only occasionally neglected, the natural result does not fail to follow—religion is at a stand-still. But where it is habitually profaned, irreligion, hardness of heart, utter indifference and carelessness about the soul, about God, and about eternity, inevitably ensue.
2. The natural faults and corruptions of our nature, being never checked by the wholesome bridle of God’s Word, will run away with us, and never stop until they have urged us into perdition. Sabbaths spent in idleness and bad company have often to young men and women, in the highest as well as the lowest walks of life, been the first links of a chain, of which the middle were vice, crime, shame, death; and the last link, the tormenting flame!
3. We shall find unbroken toil a sore burden.
4. Death, instead of bringing us rest, will increase our burden a thousandfold in the kingdom of darkness.—Bishop Hervey: Sermons for the Sundays and Principal Holydays throughout the Year, vol. i. 122–133.
The law of the Sabbath, as instituted at the creation, and subsequently inserted in the Decalogue, instead of being repealed, retains its full authority. The sacredness of the obligation of its observance is now transferred, with undiminished force, from the seventh day of the week to the first. The sanctification of the Sabbath is still required on the same principles, in the same spirit, and for the same purposes. The only difference is, that the motives which impel to its due observance have acquired an accession of strength. Most important, therefore, is the inquiry on which we are now about to enter: In what manner should the Sabbath be observed?
The due sanctification of the Sabbath requires,—
I. A cessation from the ordinary labours and occupations of life.
II. A consecration of the entire day to the spiritual engagements and delights which peculiarly belong to it. “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy;” that is, let the entire day be separated from the occupations of other days, and consecrated to the service and enjoyment of God.
III. The public acknowledgment and adoration of our God and Saviour, in acts of social worship.
IV. The conscientious and diligent discharge of the domestic duties of religion. With much prayer, tenderness, perseverance, and ingenuity, let Sabbath opportunities be used for the purposes of Christian education (H. E. I., 803–806). Let not your servants be neglected. They have many claims on your Christian regard. Let them have reason to bless God for entering your family. Consult and adopt the best means of promoting their eternal interests.
V. The performance of the works of charity and mercy.—H. P. Burder, D.D.: Sermons, pp. 426–448.
I. Our first object must be to see what God’s Word tells us respecting the origin, meaning, and importance of the primitive Sabbath. I. How far do these things apply to us? Is it God’s will that we should still set apart one day in seven as a season of holy rest? III. What are some of the purposes of the institution of the Lord’s Day?—C. J. Vaughan, D.D.: Sermons, pp. 255–291.
I. The true Sabbath. II. Its obligation. III. Advantage.
I. In what light we should regard the Sabbath. II. How we should employ it. III. The benefits arising from its proper observance.
I. The proper observance of the Sabbath. Its rest, pleasures, occupations, conversation. II. The consequent blessings.
1. Delight in the Lord.
2. Exaltation—victory over enemies, freedom from all false systems of worship (2Ch_34:3; Eph_6:12).
3. Prosperity—abundance of spiritual food (Deu_32:13-14; Isa_49:9); assurance of final security (Psa_28:9). III. The confirmation. God is faithful, cannot deceive; He will do as He has said (Num_23:19; Psa_22:5; Job_23:13).—J. Lyth, D.D.
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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv13–14General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues speaking to the people of Israel.
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you turn back your feet from traveling on the Sabbath day, and from doing your own pleasure on my holy day
Here the people are represented by their "feet." God did not allow long travels or work on the day of rest. AT: "you stop traveling and doing what you want to do on the Sabbath, my holy day" (See: Synecdoche)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv13–1458:13 Like the practice of fasting, the Sabbath was…
58:13 Like the practice of fasting, the Sabbath was intended to be an expression of self-denial and worship. It consists of delighting in the Lord, trusting him to provide for one’s needs while abstaining from work, and living in obedience to his will.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v13 If thou refrain thyself from thy wicked works.
If thou refrain thyself from thy wicked works.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv13–14 Isa 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from…
Isa 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, [from] doing thy pleasure 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:
Ver. 13. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath.] If thou abstain from journeys and all secular businesses as much as may be. {Eze 22:26} Otherwise God will sue thee upon an action of waste; and the superstitious Jew will rise up and condemn thee, who if in his journey he be overtaken by the Sabbath he must stay, though in the midst of a field or wood, though in danger of thieves, storms, or hunger, he may not budge.
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From doing thy pleasure on mine holy day.] Plutarch thought Sabbath was from Sabbos a name of Bacchus, that signifieth to live jocundly and jovially. The Sabbath that many pleasure mongers keep may well have such a derivation, and their Dies dominicus the Lord’s day, be called Dies daemoniaeus; the Devil’s day, for they make it as Bacchus’ orgies rather than God’s holy solemnity, as doing thereon things no day lawful, but then most abominable.
And call the Sabbath a delight.] Counting it so, and making it so. The Jews call it Desiderium dierum, the desirable day. They meet it with these words, Veni sponsa mea, Come, my spouse. Of old, they blessed God for it, {Neh 9:14} and gave the whole week the denomination from it; {Luk 18:12} they strictly and spiritually kept it: but now they think the Sabbath is not sufficiently observed except they eat and drink largely, and give themselves to other sensual delights. {a} After dinner, the most of their discourse is about their usuary, and other worldly businesses, &c. They pray indeed, but it is that Elias would hasten his coming, even the next Sabbath if he please, that he might give them notice of the Messiah’s coming, &c. Let us take heed of being weary of the Sabbath, and wishing it over, as they did. {Amo 8:5 Mal 1:12-13} Walk into God’s garden, taste how good the Lord is in his ordinances, feel a continual increase of sweetness in the pleasure and dainties of holy duties, whereof we have such variety that we cannot easily be sated: so little need is there that we should, with the Rabbis, expound this delight in the text, of dainty and delightful meats to be eaten on this day.
The holy of the Lord, honourable.] And therefore "honourable" because "holy"; as it is said also of the "Lord of the Sabbath" - "Holy and reverend is his name." {Psa 111:9} "A holy convocation" the Sabbath is called. {Lev 23:3} See Lev 19:30; Lev 26:2. Let us sanctify this holy rest, else it will degenerate into idleness, which is a sin any day (one of Sodom’s sins), but on the Lord’s day a double sin. Better not do our own work any day, than not God’s work on his day. Debet tutus dies festivus a Christiano expendi operibus sanctis, saith Rob. Grosthead, Bishop of Lincoln: {b} The whole Sabbath should be spent in holy duties. Debemus die Dominico solummodo spiritualibus gaudiis repleri; we should be in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and be filled with spiritual delights only, saith the Council of Paris, held A.D. 829. Christ hath for this purpose made us a "holy nation, and a kingdom of priests" {Exo 19:6} - that is, holy and honourable; and God hath sanctified it for a day of blessing to those that sanctify it. {Exo 20:11 Eze 20:12} He hath called it "an everlasting covenant" by way of eminence, {Exo 31:16} as if nothing of God’s covenant were kept if this were not kept holy.
Not doing thine own ways.] Ea tantum facias quae ad animae salutem pertinent, saith Jerome, Those things only are then to be done that pertain to thy soul’s health - works of piety, of charity, and of necessity, none else. Tantum divinis cultibus serviamus, saith Augustine. What meant, then, that good King Edward VI - and where were those that should have better instructed him, Cranmer, Ridley, &c. - to deliver to his council these articles following: - That upon Sundays they intend public affairs of the realm, despatch answers to letters for good order of the state, and make full despatches of all things concluded in the week before; provided that they be present at common prayer, &c. {c}
Nor speaking thine own words.] These words of vanity or vexation, {Isa 58:9} but words of wisdom and sobriety suitable to the holiness of the day.
{a} Buxt., Synog.
{b} In Decalog. praec. 3.
{c} Life of Edward VI, by Sir J. Heywood.
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 On vv13–14 If thou turn away thy foot: this is taken…
If thou turn away thy foot: this is taken either properly, i.e. If thou take no unnecessary journeys, or do any servile works, either of hand or foot, that are forbidden on the sabbath day, the instrument being here put for the work; or metaphorically, i.e. If thou keep thy mind and affections clear, and restrain thyself from whatever may profane it, as David did concerning the word, Psa 119:101. Feet are often put for the affections, Ecc 5:1, because the mind is moved by the affections, as the body is by the feet; If we do not let our thoughts be extravagant either upon impertinencies or unlawful things. The sum is, If thou be careful not to break the sabbath.
From the sabbath; or for the sabbath’s sake, whether we understand it more largely, of the occasional sabbath in solemn humiliations or otherwise set apart for sacred services, which is called a sabbath, Lev 16:31; 23:32. Days of this nature were set apart before the captivity, Isa 22:12; Jer 36:9, and also in the captivity, Zec 7:5. And thus it may be pertinent to the occasion of this discourse, Isa 58:3. And further, though sabbath be here only mentioned, yet it may take in every institution of God that they were in a capacity of observing during their captivity; thus I conceive it is understood Isa 56:1,2. Or whether we take it more particularly, for the weekly sabbath, such a carriage doth God expect as doth become it. From doing thy pleasure, satisfying thy lusts, and the corruption of thy will, on my holy day, i.e. on my sabbath, which is a holy day. A delight; full of delights in thy judgment, not looking on it as a burden; and practice, performing the duties of it with cheerfulness, delighting in the ordinances of it: and so the sabbath by a metonymy is put for the works of the sabbath, the time being put for the things that ought to be done in that time; therefore calling here is not only a verbal, but affectionate calling, the understanding assenting, the will consenting, and the actions conforming thereto: this delight appears in the saints of God, in their breathings after it, as it did frequently in David, Psa 27:4; 36:8; 42:1, with many more.
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The holy of the Lord; or to the Lord, i.e. dedicated to him, consecrated to his service. The Jews had a law that no man might take from the sabbath to add to the profane days but he might on the contrary.
Honourable, viz. the chief of days; worthy of all honour, and therefore honourable, because holy; and so shall honour, either it, i.e. the day; or him, i.e. the Lord, whose day it is. For to sanctify God and to sanctify his day is all one; compare Isa 8:13, with Exo 20:8; thus esteem it an honour as well as a pleasure.
Not doing thine own ways, or works, or course of life; a man’s whole course being described by a way or walk, Gen 17:1; Eph 5:8.
Nor speaking thine own words, viz. that are properly thine own, i.e. thine own in opposition to what God commands, proceeding from the corruption of nature, and vanity of the mind; or not speaking words, i.e. vainly, impertinently, and not suitable to the work of the day, tending neither to thy profit nor pleasure; or rather injurious, revengeful, or reproachful words, contrary to rest, quiet, and sedate composedness of the sabbath. And thus it refers to what was their usual practice upon their solemn assemblies or sabbaths towards their poor brethren, which they are charged with, Isa 58:3, and is called speaking vanity, Isa 58:9; see there; and accordingly the LXX. render it, if thou speak not a word in anger.
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 On v13 Great stress was always laid upon the due observance…
Great stress was always laid upon the due observance of the sabbath day, and it was particularly required from the Jews when they were captives in Babylon, because by keeping that day, in honour of the Creator, they distinguished themselves from the worshippers of the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth. See Isa 56:1, Isa 56:2, where keeping the sabbath is joined, as here, with keeping judgment and doing justice. Some, indeed, understand this of the day of atonement, which they think is the fast spoken of in the former part of the chapter, and which is called a sabbath of rest, Lev 23:32. But, as the fasts before spoken of seem to be those that were occasional, so this sabbath is doubtless the weekly sabbath, that great sign between God and his professing people - his appointing it a sign of his favour to them and their observing it a sign of their obedience to him. Now observe here,
I. How the sabbath is to be sanctified (Isa 58:13); and, there remaining still a sabbatism for the people of God, this law of the sabbath is still binding to us on our Lord's day.
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1. Nothing must be done that puts contempt upon the sabbath day, or looks like having mean thoughts of it, when God has so highly dignified it. We must turn away our foot from the sabbath, from trampling upon it, as profane atheistical people do, from travelling on that day (so some); we must turn away our foot from doing out pleasure on that holy day, that is, from living at large, and taking a liberty to do what we please on sabbath days, without the control and restraint of conscience, or from indulging ourselves in the pleasures of sense, in which the modern Jews wickedly place the sanctification of the sabbath, though it is as great a profanation of it as any thing. On sabbath days we must not walk in our own ways (that is, not follow our callings), not find our own pleasure (that is, not follow our sports and recreations); nay, we must not speak our own words, words that concern either our callings or our pleasures; we must not allow ourselves a liberty of speech on that day as on other days, for we must then mind God's ways, make religion the business of the day; we must choose the things that please him; and speak his words, speak of divine things as we sit in the house and walk by the way. In all we say and do we must put a difference between this day and other days.
2. Every thing must be done that puts an honour on the day and is expressive of our high thoughts of it. We must call it a delight, not a task and a burden; we must delight ourselves in it, in the restraints it lays upon us and the services it obliges us to. We must be in our element when we are worshipping God, and in communion with him. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! We must not only count it a delight, but call it so, must openly profess the complacency we take in the day and the duties of it. We must call it so to God, in thanksgiving for it and earnest desire of his grace to enable us to do the work of the day in its day, because we delight in it. We must call it so to others, to invite them to come and share in the pleasure of it; and we must call it so to ourselves, that we may not entertain the least thought of wishing the sabbath gone that we may sell corn. We must call it the Lord's holy day, and honourable. We must call it holy, separated from common use and devoted to God and to his service, must call it the holy of the Lord, the day which he has sanctified to himself. Even in Old Testament times the sabbath was called the Lord's day, and therefore it is fitly called so still, and for a further reason, because it is the Lord Christ's day, Rev 1:10. It is holy because it is the Lord's day, and upon both accounts it is honourable. It is a beauty of holiness that is upon it; it is ancient, and its antiquity is its honour; and we must make it appear that we look upon it as honourable by honouring God on that day. We put honour upon the day when we give honour to him that instituted it, and to whose honour it is dedicated.
II. What the reward is of the sabbath - sanctification, Isa 58:14. If we thus remember the sabbath day to keep it holy,
1. We shall have the comfort of it; the work will be its own wages. If we call the sabbath a delight, then shall we delight ourselves in the Lord; he will more and more manifest himself to us as the delightful subject of our thoughts and meditations and the delightful object of our best affections. Note, The more pleasure we take in serving God the more pleasure we shall find in it. If we go about duty with cheerfulness, we shall go from it with satisfaction and shall have reason to say, "It is good to be here, good to draw near to God."
2. We shall have the honour of it: I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, which denotes not only a great security (as that, Isa 32:16, He shall dwell on high), but great dignity and advancement. "Thou shalt ride in state, shalt appear conspicuous, and the eyes of all thy neighbours shall be upon thee." It was said of Israel, when God led them triumphantly out of Egypt, that he made them to ride on the high places of the earth, Deu 32:12, Deu 32:13. Those that honour God and his sabbath he will thus honour. If God by his grace enable us to live above the world, and so to manage it as not only not to be hindered by it, but to be furthered and carried on by it in our journey towards heaven, then he makes us to ride on the high places of the earth.
3. We shall have the profit of it: I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father, that is, with all the blessings of the covenant and all the precious products of Canaan (which was a type of heaven), for these were the heritage of Jacob. Observe, The heritage of believers is what they shall not only be portioned with hereafter, but fed with now, fed with the hopes of it, and not flattered, fed with the earnests and foretastes of it; and those that are so fed have reason to say that they are well fed. In order that we may depend upon it, it is added, "The mouth of the Lord has spoken it; you may take God's word for it, for he cannot lie nor deceive; what his mouth has spoken his hand will give, his hand will do, and not one iota or tittle of his good promise shall fall to the ground." Blessed, therefore, thrice blessed, is he that doeth this, and lays hold on it, that keeps the sabbath from polluting it.
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 On vv13–14 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath,....…
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath,.... From walking and working on that day; or withdrawest thy mind and affections from all worldly things; the affections being that to the mind as the feet are to the body, which carry it here and there. The time of worship, under the Gospel dispensation, is here expressed in Old Testament language, as the service of it usually is in prophetic writings; though its proper name is the Lord's day, Rev 1:10, and is here instanced in, and put for all religious institutions and services to be attended unto, and which will be with greater strictness in the times referred to:
from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; that is, if thou turnest away, or dost abstain from doing thine own servile work, the business of thy calling; which may be agreeable for the sake of the profit of it; or from recreations and amusements, which may be lawfully indulged on another day:
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and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of God, and honourable; take delight and pleasure in the service of it; in all the duties of religion, private and public, to be observed on that day; in reading and hearing the word, and meditation on it; in prayer, and in attendance on all ordinances; and reckon it as separated for holy use and employment, and on that account honourable; and so have it in high esteem, and desire the return of it, and not think the service of it long and tedious, when enjoyed, and wish it was over: or, "for the Holy One of God, and honourable"; that is, for the sake of Christ, the Holy One of God, in both his natures, and honourable in his person and office; accounting the sabbath a delight, in remembrance of the great work of redemption and salvation wrought out by him:
and shall honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; honour the Lord on that day, by not attending to any secular business, or walking abroad in the fields, to the neglect of private duties or public worship; by not seeking the gratification of the fleshly and sensual part, or indulging to those things which are agreeable to it; and by not speaking such words, or talking of such things, as relate to worldly affairs, or the things of civil life, but walking in the ways of the Lord, doing those things which are well pleasing in his sight, and conversing about spiritual and heavenly things; by such means God is honoured on his own day; and the reverse of this is a dishonouring him. The Jews (o) make this honour to lie chiefly in wearing other clothes on this day than on a weekday, and not walking as on other days, or talking as on them; yet they allow of thoughts, though not of words, about worldly things.
(o) T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 113. 1, 2. & 119. 1. & 150. 1.
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 On vv13–14 If - If thou take no unnecessary journeys, or…
If - If thou take no unnecessary journeys, or do any servile works on the sabbath-day. A delight - Performing the duties of it with chearfulness, delighting in the ordinances of it. Holy - Dedicated to God, consecrated to his service.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv13–14 Verse 13. If thou turn away thy foot from…
Verse 13. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath] The meaning of this seems to be, that they should be careful not to take their pleasure on the Sabbath day, by paying visits, and taking country jaunts; not going, as Kimchi interprets it, more than a Sabbath day's journey, which was only two thousand cubits beyond the city's suburbs. How vilely is this rule transgressed by the inhabitants of this land! They seem to think that the Sabbath was made only for their recreation!
From doing thy pleasure] The Septuagint, Syriac, and Chaldee, for עשות asoth, manifestly express מעשות measoth. So likewise a MS. has it, but with the omission of the words שבת רגלך shabbath raglecha. - L.
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The holy of the Lord - "And the holy feast of JEHOVAH"] Twenty-eight MSS. (seven ancient) add the conjunction ו vau, ולקדוש velikedosh; and so the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate. One of my own has the same reading.
Nor speaking thine own words - "From speaking vain words."] It is necessary to add some epithet to make out the sense; the Septuagint say, angry words; the Chaldee, words of violence. If any such epithet is lost here, the safest way is to supply it by the prophet's own expression, Isa 58:9, ודבר און vedabar aven, vain words; that is, profane, impious, injurious, c.
"The additional epithet seems unnecessary the Vulgate and Syriac have it not; and the sense is good without it; two ways, first by taking ודבר vedabar for a noun, and דבר dabur for the participle pahul, and rendering, -
'From pursuing thy pleasure, and the thing resolved on.'
Or, secondly, by supposing the force of the preposition מ mem to have been continued from the verb ממצוא mimmetso to the verb ודבר vedabber immediately following; and rendering, -
'From executing thy pleasure, and from speaking words
concerning it.' But the first seems the easier rendering." - Dr. JUBB.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv13–14 Isa 58:13. If thou turn away — If thou…
Isa 58:13. If thou turn away — If thou take no unnecessary journeys, nor do any servile works on the sabbath day; or, metaphorically, if thou keep thy mind and affections disengaged, and free from secular cares and concerns, and restrain thyself from whatever might profane it; from doing thy pleasure on my holy day — From taking the liberty of doing what thou pleasest, without the control and restraint of conscience and the law of God; or from indulging thyself in the pleasures of sense and carnal delights; and call the sabbath a delight — Not looking on the duties of it as a burden and drudgery, but performing them with cheerfulness, and delighting in all its ordinances and services; the holy of the Lord — Or, to the Lord, that is, dedicated to him, consecrated to his service; honourable — Namely, the chief of days, worthy of all honour, and therefore honourable because holy: and shalt honour him — That is, The Lord, whose day it is; not doing thine own ways — Or works, or pursuing thy usual course of life, or thy worldly business; nor speaking thine own words — The words that are thine own, in opposition to what God commands to be spoken; words proceeding from the corruption of human nature, or the vanity of the human mind; or, not speaking words unsuitable to the work of the day, tending neither to thy edification nor comfort.
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 On vv13–14 If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath…
If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath - The evident meaning of this is, that they were sacredly to observe the Sabbath, and not to violate or pollute it (see the notes at Isa 56:2). The idea, says Grotius, is, that they were not to travel on the Sabbath day on ordinary journeys. The ‘foot’ is spoken of as the instrument of motion and travel. ‘Ponder the paths of thy feet’ Pro 4:26; that is, observe attentively thy goings. ‘Remove thy foot from evil’ Pro 4:27; that is, abstain from evil, do not go to execute evil. So here, to restrain the foot from the Sabbath, is not to have the foot employed on the Sabbath; not to be engaged in traveling, or in the ordinary active employments of life, either for business or pleasure.
From doing thy pleasure on my holy day - Two things may here be observed:
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1. God claims the day as his, and as holy on that account. While all time is his, and while he requires all time to be profitably and usefully employed, he calls the Sabbath especially his own - a day which is to be observed with reference to himself, and which is to be regarded as belonging to him. To take the hours of that day, therefore, for our pleasure, or for work which is not necessary or merciful, is to rob God of that which he claims as his own.
2. We are not to do our own pleasure on that day. That is, we are not to pursue our ordinary plans of amusement; we are not to devote it to feasting, to riot, or to revelry. It is true that they who love the Sabbath as they should will find ‘pleasure’ in observing it, for they have happiness in the service of God. But the idea is, here, that we are to do the things which God requires, and to consult his will in the observance. It is remarkable that the thing here adverted to, is the very way in which the Sabbath is commonly violated. It is not extensively a day of business, for the propriety of a periodical cessation from toil is so obvious, that people will have such days recurring at moderate intervals. But it is a day of pastime and amusement; a day not merely of relaxation from toil, but also of relaxation from the restraints of temperance and virtue. And while the Sabbath is God’s great ordinance for perpetuating religion and virtue, it is also, by perversion, made Satan’s great ordinance for perpetuating intemperance, dissipation, and sensuality.
And call the Sabbath a delight - This appropriately expresses the feelings of all who have any just views of the Sabbath. To them it is not wearisome, nor are its hours heavy. They love the day of sweet and holy rest. They esteem it a privilege, not a task, to be permitted once a week to disburden their minds of the cares, and toils, and anxieties of life. It is a ‘delight’ to them to recall the memory of the institution of the Sabbath, when God rested from his labors; to recall the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, to the memory of which the Christian Sabbath is consecrated; to be permitted to devote a whole day to prayer and praise, to the public and private worship of God, to services that expand the intellect and purify the heart. To the father of a family it is the source of unspeakable delight that he may conduct his children to the house of God, and that he may instruct them in the ways of religion. To the Christian man of business, the farmer, and the professional man, it is a pleasure that he may suspend his cares, and may uninterruptedly think of God and of heaven. To all who have any just feeling, the Sabbath is a ‘delight;’ and for them to be compelled to forego its sacred rest would be an unspeakable calamity.
The holy of the Lord, honorable - This more properly means, ‘and call the holy of Yahweh honorable.’ That is, it does not mean that they who observed the Sabbath would call it ‘holy to Yahweh and honorable;’ but it means that the Sabbath was, in fact, ‘the holy of Yahweh,’ and that they would regard it as ‘honorable.’ A slight inspection of the Hebrew will show that this is the sense. They who keep the Sabbath aright will esteem it a day “to be honored” (מכבד mekubâd).
And shalt honor him - Or rather, shalt honor it; to wit, the Sabbath. The Hebrew will bear either construction, but the connection seems to require us to understand it of the Sabbath rather than of the Lord.
Not doing thine own ways - This is evidently explanatory of the phrase in the beginning of the verse. ‘if thou turn away thy foot.’ So the Septuagint understands it: Οὐκ άρεῖς τὸς πόδα σου ἐπ ̓ ἔργῳ Ouk areis ton poda sou ep' ergō - ‘And will not lift up thy foot to any work.’ They were not to engage in secular labor, or in the execution of their own plans, but were to regard the day as belonging to God, and to be employed in his service alone.
Nor finding thine own pleasure - The Chaldee renders this, ‘And shalt not provide on that day those things which are necessary for thee.’
Nor speaking thine own words - Lowth and Noyes render this, ‘From speaking vain words.’ The Septuagint, ‘Nor utter a word in anger from thy mouth.’ The Chaldee renders it, ‘Words of violence.’ It is necessary to add some epithet to make out the sense, as the Hebrew is literally, ‘and to speak a word.’ Probably our common translation has expressed the true sense, as in the previous members of the verse the phrase ‘thine own’ thrice occurs. And according to this, the sense is, that on the Sabbath our conversation is to be such as becomes a day which belongs to God. It is not less important that our conversation should be right on the Sabbath than it is that our conduct should be.
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 On vv13–14 Sabbath, doing no work, or refraining from the violation…
Sabbath, doing no work, or refraining from the violation of festivals. --- Delightful. We must not think the sabbath of the Lord a loss: (Amos viii. 5.) but rejoice in praising him, Psalm xlv. 11. (Calmet) --- A word, or to apply to God’s word. (Grotius) --- Pious reading on holidays is the duty of all who have an opportunity. (Haydock)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv13–14 (Isa 56:2; Neh 13:15-22). The Sabbath, even under the…
(Isa 56:2; Neh 13:15-22). The Sabbath, even under the new dispensation, was to be obligatory (Isa 66:23).
foot--the instrument of motion (compare Pro 4:27); men are not to travel for mere pleasure on the Sabbath (Act 1:12). The Jews were forbidden to travel on it farther than the tabernacle or temple. If thou keep thy foot from going on thy own ways and "doing thy pleasure," &c. (Exo 20:10-11).
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my holy day--God claims it as His day; to take it for our pleasure is to rob Him of His own. This is the very way in which the Sabbath is mostly broken; it is made a day of carnal pleasure instead of spiritual "delight."
holy of the Lord--not the predicate, but the subject; "if thou call the holy (day) of Jehovah honorable"; if thou treat it as a day to be honored.
him--or else, it, the Sabbath.
not doing . . . own way--answering to, "turn away thy foot from the Sabbath."
nor finding . . . pleasure--answering to, "doing thy pleasure." "To keep the Sabbath in an idle manner is the sabbath of oxen and asses; to pass it in a jovial manner is the sabbath of the golden calf, when the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose again to play; to keep it in surfeiting and wantonness is the sabbath of Satan, the devil's holiday" [BISHOP ANDREWES].
nor speaking . . . words--answering to, "call Sabbath a delight . . . honorable." Man's "own words" would "call" it a "weariness"; it is the spiritual nature given from above which "calls it a delight" (Amo 8:5; Mal 1:13).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v13 13, 14. To the foregoing duties of love is…
13, 14. To the foregoing duties of love is added the duty of sabbath observance. See Isa_54:2; Isa_54:4. For preserving the unity of a theocratic nation this was a vital duty. It is singled out here from other commands (Exodus 20) to represent the whole first table of the decalogue.
If thou turn away thy foot — Namely, from walking in its usual paths — from pursuing its customary avocations.
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From doing thy pleasure — That in which thou usually delightest, and lovest. A lesson of self-denial for God’s sake.
And call the sabbath a delight — Under the Old Testament dispensation, the holy observance of the weekly “sabbath” was one of the most significant marks of a God-fearing people. Such, and none else, would term the “sabbath a delight.” To the irreligious it would, because of its largely enforced abstinence from mere secular pursuits, be a day of weariness rather than of delight.
Cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth — “High places” stand for security: hence, fortresses were usually built on elevated ground. Metaphorically, then, the expression denotes a position of safety and honour. To such exaltation would God raise his people, if trustful in him, and honouring his holy laws.
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 On vv13–14 13, 14. A promise attached to the strict and…
13, 14. A promise attached to the strict and cheerful observation of the Sabbath. See on ch. Isa_56:2.
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath] treating it as “holy ground” (ἄβατος). The metaphor is translated into literal terms in the following clause.
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from doing thy pleasure] so as not to do thy business (as Isa_58:3).
call the sabbath a delight] Great stress is laid on heartiness in the observance of this command; for a contrast see Amo_8:5. The next clause must be translated as in R.V. and [sc. call] the holy of the LORD honourable, and shalt honour it. “The holy of Jehovah” is a remarkable designation for the Sabbath, and all the expressions of the clause are peculiar.
not doing thine own ways] so as not to do after thy wont (Cheyne). For pleasure render, as before, business.
nor speaking thine own words] Lit. a word, i.e. “idle words”; cf. Hos_10:4.
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 On vv13–14 (13) If thou turn away thy foot.—The teaching of…
(13) If thou turn away thy foot.—The teaching of Isa_56:4-7, as to the Sabbath is resumed. The form of the phrase implies the idea that the Sabbath is as holy ground, on which no profane foot must tread (Exo_3:5).
Thy pleasure.—Better, thy business.
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Nor speaking thine own words.—Literally, speak words, as in Hos_10:4, for idle unprofitable talk (Pro_10:19, Ecc_5:3).
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 On vv13–14 Vers. 13, 14. A STRICT OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH…
Vers. 13, 14. A STRICT OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH ENJOINED. While the fasting of the day only required to be spiritualized, the sabbath observance needed both spiritualizing and increased strictness. 2Ch_36:21 we learn that the sabbatical years had been little observed during the later Jewish kingdom; and it would Seem from the present passage (comp. Jer_17:21-23) that even the observance of the sabbath itself had been neglected. Not that the neglect was total. The sacrifices proper to the sabbath were duly offered the "solemn assembly" was duly called and attended; (Isa_1:13) but during the rest of the day business flowed in its usual course the complete sanctification of the entire day was set aside. We find a similar laxity prevalent after the return from the Captivity. (Neh_10:31 Neh_13:15, Neh_13:16)
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath; i.e. treat it with reverence, as if it were "holy ground". (Exo_3:5 Pro_4:27) From doing thy pleasure; rather, from doing thy business the same expression as in ver. 3. It is by "business," not by pleasure, that the sabbath was polluted both in the time of Jeremiah (Jer_17:21-23) and of Nehemiah. (Neh_10:31, etc.) And call the sabbath a delight. This is the spiritualization of the sabbath call" and feel it "a delight," a real satisfaction to the soul, not a weariness, (Amo_8:5) as it was to many. And shalt honour him; rather, and shalt honour it; i.e. the sabbath, which is made masculine here, as in Isa_56:2. The sabbath was to be honoured by men not pursuing their own ordinary ways, or engaging in their regular business, or even carrying on their ordinary everyday talk. Literally, the command is, not to "speak words;" but no Jews were ever such strict sabbatarians as to understand this as prohibiting all speech on the sabbath. Some have held that sabbatical talk should be scanty, limited, restrained as much as possible; but even for this there is no warrant. It is the quality, rather than the quantity, of the words uttered that is of real importance.
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Rightful and wrongful keeping of the sabbath need to be distinguished.
I The more worldly among the Jews were inclined to a mere perfunctory keeping of the sabbath. They shut up men"s religious duties on the day within the corners of the Levitical enactments; and considered that, if the legal sacrifices were offered, and the "holy convocation" held and duly attended, the rest of the day might be employed exactly as they pleased. They pursued their secular occupations on the sabbath day with all freedom bought and sold, carried their corn, trod the wine-press, conveyed commodities from place to place, and engaged in every form of traffic and merchandise. (Neh_13:15, Neh_13:16) This was the lowest theory of sabbath-observance propounded by any, and it received direct and severe condemnation from Jeremiah (Jer_17:21-23) and Nehemiah. (Neh_13:15, Neh_13:16)
II A second form of observance added to the Levitical enactments with respect to sacrifices and the "holy convocation," an abstinence during the rest of the day from work of every sort an abstinence which was sometimes pushed to excess, as when it was interpreted to forbid self-defence in war. (RAPC 1Ma 2:34-38) These religionists were content to remain in a negation, and, so long as they preserved the sabbatical rest unimpaired, were fully satisfied in their consciences. Something of the same spirit, it is to be feared, still pervades certain parts of Christendom. Mere abstinence from work a negative "folding of the hands" appears to be thought acceptable to God; and the sabbath is given a morose aspect by the disallowance of occupations which are innocent, which conduce to cheerfulness, and which are in no way at variance with piety.
III The third and only rightful form of observance, here touched by Isaiah, and more fully taught by our Lord, (Mat_12:3-13) consists, in the first place, in "making the sabbath a delight." It should be made a delight, both to ourselves and to others. God"s people should look forward to their sabbaths as times of refreshment and of "joy in the Lord oases in the wilderness of life, glimpses and foretastes of heaven. Music should]end its charm to them, intensifying and elevating devotion; the aid of other arts should be called in; churches should be aglow with floral beauty; preaching should be warm and heart-stirring; and the highest act of Christian worship should be viewed as the crowning perfection of the feast-day. In the next place, our Lord"s example should be followed, and his words remembered, "It is lawful to do good on the sabbath day." Acts of mercy and loving-kindness to our fellow-men are pointed out by him as our best employment on the sabbath; it is the special day on which to visit the sick, to clothe the naked, to give our bread to the hungry, to relieve the oppressed, to carry the glad tidings of the gospel to the poor and ignorant. It is also a day part of which may well be devoted to the strengthening of family affection by oral or written communications with relations from whom the business of life commonly separates us, and also for kindly talk with our neighbours and friends. Without in any way secularizing the sabbath, we may give it a cheerful, kindly, friendly aspect, and cause it to be regarded in our families, not as a "dull time," with difficulty to be "got through," but, as it was intended to be, the crown of the week the special "day which the Lord hath made," to the end that we should "rejoice and be glad in it". (Psa_118:24)
Vers. 13, 14. The claims of the sabbath.
I THE HOLINESS OF THE SABBATH. "The prophet regards the fast-days as forms without authority and significance. All the more strict is his view of the claims of the sabbath" (Cheyne). It is emphatically a con secrated day, and the foot is to be turned aside from it as if it were holy ground, like that where Moses put the shoes from his feet. (Exo_3:5) The foot, as instrument of travel, is to be "removed from evil", (Pro_4:27) and its "path is to be pondered". (Pro_4:2-9) Selfish, merely human business, is not to be done on that day, which may be viewed as a part of that great duty of sacrifice which runs through the Law. The day was to be peculiarly Jehovah"s own. A particular temperance and modesty of the tongue was suitable to its observance. Falsehood (Hos_10:4 Job_15:13) would especially desecrate it. Scripture is especially strong on the significance of words. For they express the soul, and reflect in their expression influences of good or evil on the soul again. There should be reserve and economy of speech (a lesson disregarded too much in modern times), for an element of sin is certain to find its way into excessive loquacity. (Pro_10:19 Ecc_5:3) A "tonguey man" almost means the same as a malicious talker. (Psa_140:11) The regulation of the tongue may, therefore, in great part, be taken as the measure of spiritual self-control and sobriety, as the expression of the living sacrifice of the heart.
II THE BLESSING ATTACHED SPIRITUAL DELIGHT. Joy in Jehovah, the Eternal, is manifested to men in grace, in proportion as they approach him in obedience. "You shall no longer be left to barren ordinances and to unanswered prayers. No one has ever properly observed the sabbath who did not find as a consequence that he had increased pleasure in the existence, character, and service of Jehovah". (cf. Job_22:21-26 Psa_37:4, for the illustration of the principle involved) Triumphant possession of the land of promise. (For the phrase, see Deu_32:13; cf. Hab_3:19 Psa_18:33 Amo_4:13. For the idea, see Isa_65:9 Eze_34:13, 14 36:1-12) The hills and fortresses of Palestine, so greatly beloved by the patriot-hearts of the prophets, shall be recovered by the people, once following the righteous moral lead of Jehovah. J.
The sabbath ideal.
"Call the sabbath a delight." It cannot be a holy day unless it is a happy day. For only souls that joy in God are really devout. Unless religious exercises have a charm for the soul, they are only routine; they are not religious.
I A SEEMING CONTRADICTION. "Turn away thy foot....from doing thy pleasure." And again, "Not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure." But there is no real contradiction. Many things are rightly enough pleasant to us in daily occupation and association; but things right in themselves may be wrong if indulged in under improper conditions; and the sabbath is to be holy unto the Lord and in the Christian dispensation it is called "the Lord"s day." This is to dominate everything. Those who seek worldly pleasure upon this day hinder others from fellowship with God, and keep from that constancy of vision on heavenly things by which alone they can be indelibly impressed on the mind and the heart.
II A SOLEMN OBLIGATION. It is a day that should be made pleasant, not merry nor mirthful, but full of all the highest and best enjoyments. Praise is pleasant it awakens a remembrance of mercy. Fellowship is pleasant it nerves the fainting soldier"s heart to look at his companions in arms, and it cheers the weary to hear of "the rest that remaineth." Christian parents should take heed to this. Dulness and moroseness are not religion. Literature is none the less Christian that is well illustrated, and written with all the charm of an attractive style; and the church of God is none the less the house of the Lord and the gate of heaven, that the service is in itself cheerful and bright. There is no memory more potent for good than the remembrance of the happy sabbaths of our childhood. And service for others helps our joy; to call the sabbath a delight, we must be, if possible, givers as well as receivers like Nehemiah, "cup-bearer of the King," handing the living water to others. W.M.S.
Vers. 13, 14. The day of sacred rest.
The institution of the weekly sabbath is certainly one of the "water-marks" of revelation. It is not possible to conceive of anything more wise and beneficent than this provision for our bodily and spiritual well-being. Who can calculate the material or the moral benefit which it has conferred on the human race? Who can estimate the blessing it will have proved to humanity when time has run its course? Whether we regard it in the lower or in the higher aspect of the question, its value is simply inestimable. We may look at
I THE GROUND OF ITS OBSERVANCE. The Jews had special reasons for honouring the day. Its observance was part of their statute law. (Exo_20:8-11) But all mankind have reason enough for giving it a conspicuous place in their custom and their commandment.
1. It has its commencement at the very dawn of human history. (Gen_2:2, Gen_2:3)
2. It was inculcated in the most solemn form, and enforced by the weightiest sanctions on the Hebrew people; and although it is not, on that account, binding on us as a Divine enactment, yet the fact that it was made of so much consequence in the judgment of the Divine Legislator, and had so large a part in the training of the healthiest and purest people the world has ever known, is a very strong argument in favour of its perpetuity: we may surely elect to continue that which we are not formally bound to adopt. We find a powerful reason for so doing in the text anal in similar passages, where we have the significant fact that:
3. It finds a prominent place in prophetic utterance. Inasmuch as the prophets were the strong and even vehement opponents of ceremonialism, and (as in the previous verses of this chapter) made everything of the moral and the spiritual, their testimony concerning the sabbath day has peculiar value. It points to a Divine intention that it should not pass away with the local, the rudimentary, the temporary, but hold its ground with the abiding and the permanent.
4. It was stated by our Lord to have been "made for man". (Mar_2:27)
5. In the new form of the "Lord"s day," commemorating the crowning work not of creation but of redemption, it was honoured by the apostles of our Lord. We may, therefore, conclude, in the exercise of our reason, that it is the will of Christ that we should observe one day in seven as a day of sacred rest.
II THE TRUE SPIRIT OF OBEDIENCE.
1. The spirit of self-renunciation. The Hebrew saint was to "turn away his foot from the sabbath, from doing his pleasure on God"s holy day;" i.e. he was to lay aside his customary labours, and to refrain from ordinary amusements on a day on which God asked for contemplation and worship. As Christians, we come to the conclusion that it is the will of our Saviour that we should give to him our homage, our docility, our sacred zeal; we therefore gladly forego the common engagements and enjoyments of our life, "not doing our own ways," in order that we may do his will and gain his good pleasure.
2. The spirit of devotion. The corollary of the cheerful renouncement of our own business is the adoption of God"s worship and service as the appropriate engagement of the day. Quitting our home and shunning the mart and the place of amusement, whither should we go but to the house of the Lord, to the field of sacred usefulness? And how can we better spend our time or occupy our powers than in the manly, the lofty, the elevating engagements of devotion and sacred service? Then do we reach our highest mark, and most nearly attain the true standard of our manhood, the richest heritage of our race. Then do we "delight ourselves in the Lord;" then is God what he was to Abraham, and what he will be to us all when we receive the fulness of our inheritance our "exceeding great Reward.
3. The spirit of sacred joy. We shall "call the sabbath a delight," shall find it so, and shall do our best to make it so to the children, to the employed, to the lonely and the confined, who can be visited and cheered in the quiet home, in the sick-chamber.
III ITS LARGE REWARD.
1. In immediate spiritual enjoyment; in the gladness of heart with which the worship of God is anticipated; (Psa_122:1) in the joy of holy fellowship and sacred song; in the happiness of domestic piety.
2. In the continuous spiritual blessedness to which it leads; for a true use of Christian privileges ends in the reconciliation of the soul to God, and in the possession of his abiding favour, in the lifelong friendship of Jesus Christ; there is daily, continual "delight in the Lord.
3. In the realization of the kindest promises of God. To Israel was offered the excellency of "riding on the high places of the earth," and being "fed with the heritage of Jacob." To us, if we truly seek God"s face until we find his favour, is offered
(1) the guidance of an unerring finger and the protection of an almighty arm along all the path of life, whether along higher or lower levels;
(2) the exercise of a benign and gracious influence on human hearts an influence which will live when we are gone;
(3) entrance into the heavenly kingdom. C.
The universal sabbath-law.
"Not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words." The peculiarity of the day, the essential thing about the day, is that it is Gods day, not ours. We only keep it aright when we keep it for God. We misuse it when we fill it with any ends of our own. The one sabbath-work is a special effort to honour and obey God, and we shall surely find that the one-day effort helps us in establishing and confirming the everyday habit. Do only God"s pleasure on the sabbaths, and it will be easy to put God"s will and pleasure first every day. Importance attached to keeping the sabbath in Babylon, because it was the most prominent thing in which the people publicly witnessed to their separation from idolatry, and allegiance to Jehovah. Faithful observance of it was the test by which the faithful ones were known. Equal importance attaches to the keeping of the sabbath in our day. It is, as much as ever it was, the searching test that reveals all the humble and faithful followers of God. Still a Christian is known by the Sunday test, "Does he seek his own pleasure on God"s day?" Henderson well says, "The observance of the sabbath has, in all ages, been found essential to the maintenance and prosperity of spiritual religion." Blackstone says, "A corruption of morals usually follows a profanation of the sabbath." It should be carefully noticed that this prophet, who is so stern against forms and ceremonies in religion, is thus severe in demanding loyalty to the day which is not ours, but Gods. So familiar a subject needs no more than an outline of thought; illustrative material will readily be suggested.
I WE MUST KEEP THE DAY. As a separate day. Showing its distinctness from other days in the change made in our life-habits and associations. Some illustrations may be taken from our keeping wedding-days or birthdays. At such times our minds are full of some particular persons the days are kept in their honour. So we should separate Sundays for God.
II WE SHOULD ENJOY THE DAY. Here is a paradox. We are not to do our own pleasure on the day, but we are to find our pleasure in the day. Sunday should be the brightest day of the week.
III WE OUGHT TO HONOUR GOD ALL THE DAY. What precisely, in an age, a town, a community, a family, or a life, the best honouring of God is, the preacher must think out and present in his own way. R.T.
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 On vv13–14 If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath
Isa_58:13-14
If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath
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Sabbath observance a Godward duty
If the true fast (Isa_58:3-7) typifies the Israelites duties towards his neighbour, the Sabbath represents his duties towards God.
(Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)
Turning the foot from the Sabbath
If thou turnest thy foot away from the Sabbath is equivalent to saying, If thou dost not tread its holy ground with the foot of week-day work. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
The Sabbath day
We shall consider the words of the text--
I. WITH REGARD TO THE JEWS. With that view we shall state--
1. The reasons for the institution of the Sabbath.
2. The manner in which the prophet required it to be celebrated.
3. The promises made to those who worthily hallow the Sabbath day.
II. WITH REGARD TO CHRISTIANS.
1. Are Christians obliged to observe a day of rest?
2. Is that day celebrated with all the sanctity it requires? (J. Saurin.)
The institution of the Sabbath
Four considerations gave occasion for the institution of the Sabbath day.
1. God was wishful to perpetuate two original truths on which the whole evidence of religion devolves; the first is, that the world had a beginning; the second, that God is its Author.
2. The second reason was to prevent idolatry. This remark claims peculiar attention, many of the Mosaic precepts being founded on the situation in which the Jews were placed. Let this general remark be applied to the subject in hand. The people, on leaving Egypt, were separated, from a nation that worshipped the sun, the moon, and the stars. The ancient
Egyptians, says Diodorus of Sicily, struck with the beauty of the universe, thought it owed its origin to two eternal dignities, that presided over all the others: the one was the sun, to whom they gave the name of Osiris; the other was the moon, to whom they gave the name of Isis. Cod, to preserve His people from these errors, instituted a festival which sapped the whole system, and which avowedly contemplated every creature of the universe as the production of the Supreme Being. And this may be the reason why Moses remarked to the Jews, on leaving Egypt, that God renewed the institution of the Sabbath (Deu_5:15).
3. God was wishful to promote humanity.
4. In a word, the design of God, in the institution of the Sabbath, was to recall to the minds of men the recollection of their original equality: he requires masters and servants alike to abstain from labour, so as in some sort to confound the diversity of their conditions, and to abate that pride, of which superior rank is so common a source. (J. Saurin.)
Sabbath observance
I. THE DUTY is thus stated: If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, etc.
1. This, then, is the first point to be noticed with respect to the observance of the Sabbath. It is, says God, My holy day, the day which I have hallowed for Myself, which I have reserved for My own. We are no more at liberty to determine for ourselves how we will employ the Sabbath, than the Israelites were at liberty to determine for themselves to what uses they would put the tabernacle, or the temple, which had been built and sanctified for God, according to His direction and for His own peculiar service; and, by regarding any of the Sabbath hours as being at our own disposal, we are guilty of the same profanation with which the Jews would have been chargeable, had they determined to do their pleasure with respect to the uses which they would make of Gods holy habitation, respecting which He had said, This is My rest for ever: here will I dwell.
2. Let us suppose, then, that we have turned away our foot from trampling upon Gods day, by consulting our own will and inclination as to the way in which we employ it, and are wishing and waiting to know what is the will of God concerning it. The text thus proceeds: And call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable. To call anything is to give it a name corresponding with its nature, or to describe it by its qualities. We are to call the Sabbath a delight; or are to call the holy of the Lord, i.e the holy day of the Lord, honourable. Here, then, are two properties of the Sabbath, two points of view in which we are to regard it. It should be so distinguished from other days by the peculiar delight which it affords, as well as by the pre-eminent dignity with which it is invested.
3. The honour to be paid to the Sabbath is our part: the delight to be found in the Sabbath is Gods part. And the text proceeds to show that if we honour His day, God will surely keep His promise of making it a delight. Let us, then, carefully consider the way in which we should honour the Sabbath. What is said to be ore own is evidently distinguished from what belongs to the Sabbath. It comprehends whatever we have to do, or to delight in, which appertains to the six days work from which God ceased, and which He had ended on the seventh day, in contradistinction to what appertains to the seventh day which God set apart and sanctified and blessed. There is, therefore, no reference in these words to sinful ways, or to unlawful pleasures; but to the appointed duties and allowed delights of the six days which God has given to us for these purposes. Heaven--the rest which remaineth for the people of God--is described in the Epistle to the Hebrews as a Sabbath-keeping, a Sabbath-rest. The Sabbath is a figure of that blessed and holy state. Our own ways and pleasures, then, are those which belong to this lower creation; and which we shall have done with when we depart out of the world; and for these things six days are given to us. The things of the Sabbath are all such things as shall be perfected and enjoyed for ever in that city of Cod, in those courts above, where Sabbaths never end. These remarks will furnish us with a practical rule for determining what may be done and what may not be done on the Sabbath day. Where there is the single eye, that is, the simple aim, to do the will of God, all doubts will be readily solved and difficulties disappear, and the duty he made plain by asking such questions as these: Is this secular work necessary for the supply of our daily wants, for the relief of suffering nature, for the accomplishing the will and service of God? Is it indispensable to these ends that it should be done, and done on the Sabbath day? If, in the conscientious exercise of an enlightened judgment, we decide in the affirmative, then we may do such necessary things with confidence and comfort. But, even in these things, care must be exercised that they do not interfere, beyond the just and reasonable limits of necessity, and charity, with the appropriate duties and employments of the day. Not finding their own pleasure. Pleasure is here evidently contrasted with business, God has given to us not only our six days labour and work, but also our six days gratifications and sources of enjoyment. There are the delights of earth, as well as the duties of earth. There is Nature, with all her various works. There are also the pleasures of literature, in all their vast and various extent. There is, further, the enjoyment of social intercourse, and an almost countless number of modes of refreshment, for both body and mind, which God would have us to use, as opportunity is given and need may be, to invigorate us for the more serious employments of the head or the hands. But these are our own pleasure; and this we are not to find on Gods holy day. Mark the expression, not finding thine own pleasure. In order to find, we seek. Our own pleasure may casually come in our way; but we must not look for it, endeavour after it, or pursue it as our object, in any manner or measure upon the Sabbath. The pleasures which we must endeavour on this day to find must be such as are not of earthly origin or of mans invention, but such as will endure when the world shall be no more, and will furnish a part of the business and the bliss of the Christians happy and eternal home. Further, not speaking (thine own) words. Thine own, here, is in italics; it is inserted by the translators, and only encumbers the passage. The meaning is, not doing thine own ways, not finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking words; that is, not speaking words concerning thine own ways and thine own pleasure.
II. To such AN OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH A SPECIAL PROMISE IS MADE. Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord. If we make the Sabbath a holy day, God will make it a happy day. In the application of this promise to ourselves, we must suppose and take it for granted that we are reconciled to God. Then, in the very measure in which we honour the Sabbath, God will make the duties and employments of the day channels of joy and peace and sacred pleasure to the soul. And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, etc. This is a promise of national prosperity and temporal advancement, with a confirmation of the blessing pronounced by Isaac upon Jacob and his posterity. And, although these were shadows of better things to the Christian Church, and the fulfilment of this promise is now to be looked for in spiritual and eternal blessings, yet it has frequently been testified, on observation and experience, that a holy Sabbath has been followed by a happy week; and, when we honour Gods holy day, we shall not fail to find that His blessing still rests upon it. (T. Best, M. A.)
Early English law an the Sabbath
In almost the earliest, if not the earliest, code of English law--the laws of Enach, King of Wessex--there was a provision made for the observance of Sunday. According to these laws if a slave was forced by his master to work upon Sunday, he was by that very fact set free, and the lord had to pay a fine. If the slave worked by his own will and without the direction of his lord, he was subjected to corporal chastisement, and if a freeman worked on the Holy Day he became a slave. He lost his freedom, or else he had to pay what, at that time, was the almost impossible fine of sixty shillings. Now that law at the very beginning of English legislation may have had very much to do with the position that the Anglo-Saxon race has taken in the world. According to the promise of this old prophet the word of the Lord has said, I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth if thou keepest the Sabbath day. (R. F. Horton.)
The Sabbath a rest form self
I suppose the essence of this Christian Sabbath was never more perfectly described than in the words of the prophet.
1. The first principle of the Christian Sabbath is that there should be one day in the week on which we are not doing our own ways, nor finding our own pleasure, nor speaking our own words, that is to say, the Christian Sabbath is not to be, like the civic Sunday, rest from work, important as that may be, but it is a rest from self, which is all-important, and is, indeed, the creation and the preservation of the spiritual in man. It is a rest from self, not to speak our own words on that day, not to take our own pleasures, not to adopt our own way. I think we see what is meant if we put it in this way. Our life as men is literally rooted in God, and its health depends on our knowing it and recognizing it.
2. Now, when we have recognized that this is the purpose of the day we still have to consider how that purpose is best accomplished. According to the practice of the Old Testament, and, apparently according to the intention of the New, the sanctuary, the place of public worship, is the means by which that can be accomplished.
3. I think we ought to honestly face the question which is often raised at the present time, whether the life I am describing cannot be maintained without the sanctuary. Men say frequently to-day that they find they can really worship better in their own homes, and still more in the open country, than in the assembly of the house of God. Now, the only danger I see in that position is that by the very necessity of the ease it violates the first requirement of the Sabbath as it is here stated. You stay at home in your house or you go out into the country on Sunday. In doing that you are going your own way, you are seeking your own pleasure, you are following your own bent--that is to say, you are violating the very principle on which this Sabbath rests. And it does not seem very improbable that when you have violated the very principle at the beginning you will succeed in recovering it at the end. (R. F. Horton.)
A Sabbath-week
Common-sense must tell us that no man who is going his own way, finding his own pleasure, and speaking his own words, for six days in the week, will abstain from them on the seventh. The devotion, the obedience, and forgetfulness of self which should mark the devout worshipper on Sunday, must be his companions all the week through. And the exercise of those graces through the week must be our habitual preparation for the Lords Day. So that, in fact, the teaching of the prophet amounts to this--that the true servant of God will at no time do his own ways, find his own pleasure, or speak his own words, where ways, pleasure, or words will not be such as God would love to look upon. The Christian will seek Gods grace, that in all things he may follow the example of his Lord, who declared, I came not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. I appeal to your own hearts and consciences, to what you know of yourselves or have seen in others, whether any good has ever come to any of us, from going our own way, finding our own pleasure, speaking our own words? (R. E. Paget, D. D.)
Thine own ways
His supposed that Isaiah required the Jews to keep what has been called a Puritanical Sabbath. I believe that this is a complete misconception of the prophets meaning. Their own ways, which the people were forbidden to follow on the Sabbath, were the common secular labours of the week. Doing their own pleasure has no reference to recreation or amusement. Some translators render it doing their own business; but it probably means here, as it constantly means elsewhere, doing what they liked. Luther translates it admirably, doing their own will. They were to spend the Sabbath, as God had commanded them, in rest; they were not at liberty to follow their own inclination by carrying on their ordinary trade. Their own words, which they were not to speak on the Sabbath, were the words in which their business was transacted; words which, like the business itself, belonged to the other days of the week. What the prophet forbids on the seventh day is what the Commandment forbids--not pleasure, but work. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)
Rabbinical prohibitions
The stricter Rabbinical schools built upon this general prohibition of all work innumerable minute precepts, many of which are so grotesque that to quote them would be to answer no other purpose than to amuse. One ingenious commentator, who happily appears to have had only a very few disciples, insisted that as it was a duty to rest from the beginning to the end of the Sabbath, all muscular exertion was sinful; and that, therefore, strict fidelity to the Commandment required that a man should remain during all the twenty-four hours of the Sabbath in exactly the same position, without moving a limb or a finger, a kind of rest which must have been very much more exhausting than hard work. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)
The Sabbath compared to the best room of the house
1. Every house of any consideration has in it a best room. It is usually the largest in the house, and the most comely. It usually is furnished with the choicest things which the owner can afford, and represents the best outward estate of his household. Here is the best carpet. Here are the best colours. Here is the best furniture. Here are hung the best pictures. Here are the chairs burnished and covered. And here, it may be, is the sofa, luxurious with extra springs. The few choice treasures are put upon the mantelpiece, or on some corner shelf. Whatever there is that stands apart from common uses by being a little better the parlour receives. And this room is scrupulously kept--too scrupulously, often. All festive occasions are celebrated in it. It is the room of honour. It is here that we devote ourselves to our company when we would show them hospitality. It stands in the house as a perpetual reminder of beauty--what little beauty we can command; of hospitality--so much as we are able to exercise of it; of superiority. A best room is not simply an emblem of vanity, as cynics would say. To have a room which has in it choice things, is rather the unconscious inspiration of ideality, it is a desire to maintain it in the household; and it is a silent but real influence for refinement and for higher living.
2. It is a sad thing to see a person or a family that makes one day just like another; that does not care to make one day better than any of the others; that regards all things as good enough. On a low level, it is a moral influence that leads one to desire to dress better on some occasions than on others, and to spread a better table on some occasions than on others. It is aspiration in one of its lower forms. How, what the parlour is to the house, the Jewish Sabbath and its substitute, the Christians Lords Day, were meant to be to the week. The week is a house, and Sunday is the best room in it, and it ought to have the best things put into it, and it ought to be kept religiously; and it is to exercise upon all our time just the same unconscious influence, or conscious influence, as the case may be, which a well-prepared and well-kept parlour does invariably exercise upon all the occupants of the house. Every week was to have its parlour day. It was to be a day that should be looked up to by the young and the old as the best day of the week. In other words, it was to be a delight. It was to be honourable, and so, memorable. (H. W. Beecher.)
And call the Sabbath a delight
The luxury of the Sabbath
The word is a strong one, Delight, Delicacy, Luxury. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)
The Sabbath a delight
I. POINT OUT A FEW PARTICULARS WILL THE TRUE BELIEVER ESTEEMS AND CALLS THE SABBATH A DELIGHT; shewing at the same time why the natural man should find no delight, at least no holy delight, in that day.
1. Because it brings with it a cessation and rest from worldly cares.
2. Because on that day he hopes to learn much in the school of Christ.
3. Because of that holy communion which it allows with the people of God.
4. Because of the remembrances which that day brings with it. On the Sabbath God rested from His work. On the Sabbath, how many of our Saviours gracious miracles were wrought! On the Sabbath, how many spiritual miracles doth He still work! On our Sabbath day it was that our Lord burst the bonds of death. Is not here matter of pleasurable meditation? Salvation is finished; and man restored to the favour and presence and image of God I
5. Because it is a type and foretaste of the heavenly rest--of the eternal Sabbath.
II. SHOW HOW WE MAY EMPLOY IT SO AS TO MAKE IT MOST DELIGHTFUL. By giving the whole day to God, so far as possibly can be done, in spiritual exercises. (C. Neale, M. A.)
The brightest of days
We are to find in this day--
1. The joy of healthy repose.
2. The joy of domestic reunion and consecration.
3. The joy of eternal Sabbatism. (T. De W, Talmage, D. D.)
The Sabbath a delight
The day of worship should be a day of gladness.
1. It brings rest from the toils and cares of the week. From the dust; and the sweat, the grime and the languor, I shake myself free for a while. I reach an oasis, with palm-trees and a well, in my pilgrimage through the deserts. I sit down under Gods shadow.
2. It invites to the noblest exercises and employments. Mind and heart, lips and soul and all my nature, unite in prayer, in praise, in the study and contemplation of the things which are unseen and eternal. There is no work on earth to compare with it.
3. It introduces to the communion of souls. I go up to Gods house in company with many others. I realize that I am not alone, that I am a member of a brotherhood and family, that all around me are kindred souls. It is a thought that brings me strength, and that satisfies my love.
4. It lifts me into the presence of my Lord--Father, and Son, and Spirit. I dwell in His sanctuary. I hearken to His voice. I feel His quickening and invigorating touch. I receive afresh His baptism and unction. Behold, God is in this place, and it is for me the gate of heaven. (A. Smellie, M. A.)
The Sabbath a delight
If thou tallest the Sabbath a delight, because it leads thee to God; not a burden, because it leads thee from thine everyday life (Amo_8:5). (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
The Sabbath a festive time
It is a festival time for mans higher nature in communion with the unseen. As the tired eye, which has been strained by long and close application to some work near at hand, rests itself by gazing on the far horizons or the stars, so there is a rest in lifting thought from the near and the lower objects which too often engross us, and fixing it upon the unseen and eternal. This is, perhaps, the grand reason for our Saviours own comment: The Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (A. T. Pierson, D. D.)
Honourable
The Sabbath made honourable
When do we make the Sabbath an honourable, glorious day?
1. When we make honourable preparation for it.
2. When we give it honourable entertainment.
3. When we have a precious esteem of every moment of Sabbath time, and are jealous lest any drop of it should run waste.
4. When we have a singular esteem of all the institutions and ordinances of the day.
5. When it is the grief of our souls that we can keep Sabbaths no better, and we strive cordially and conscientiously to keep the next better than we did the last. (T. Case, M. A.)
Nor speaking thine own words
Sabbath-speaking
Nor speaking thine own words. Talking talk. (J. A. Alexander.)
Useless words,
Useless words, void of meaning, and of needless number: the phrase, as in Hos_10:4, is here applied to unspiritual gossip and bombast. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
Speech rest on Sunday
Hitzig on this passage remarks that the law regarding the Sabbath has here already received the Jewish addition, that speaking is work. But from the promise that Gods Sabbath-rest was a rest from His speaking the creative words (Psa_33:6), the only conclusion drawn was that one must rest on the Sabbath, in a certain measure, from speaking as well as working; and when Rabbi Simon ben Jochai called to his talkative old mother on the Sabbath, Sabbath-keeping is called silence, this was not meant to be understood as if speaking in itself were working, and all speaking on the Sabbath was therefore forbidden. The Rabbinical explanation of the present passage is as follows: Let not thy speaking on the Sabbath be the same as that on working days. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
Better for the Sunday rest
Scientists say that telegraph wires are better conductors on Monday than on Saturday, on account of their Sunday rest. The well-proved fact that human beings profit by a weekly rest-day emphasizes the protest of Christian people against the secularization of the Sabbath. (Christian Budget.)
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 On v13 [1737] See outlines on Isa_56:2; Isa_56:6; and Dr. Barnes’…
THE SABBATH [1737]
[1737] See outlines on Isa_56:2; Isa_56:6; and Dr. Barnes’ Commentary in loco.
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Isa_58:13-14. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, &c.
The first religious ordinance instituted by God in this new created earth was the Sabbath; the day of rest after six days work. Most remarkable was the manner of the institution—by the example of Almighty God Himself (Gen_2:1-3). Instituted by God between two and three thousand years before the law was given upon Mount Sinai as an ordinance for the Jews, it was designed to promote man’s temporal as well as his spiritual good; on its due observance man’s welfare, both here and hereafter, very mainly depends; by its neglect God is dishonoured, and man is wounded and hurt.
I. How THE LORD’S DAY IS TO BE SANCTIFIED.
1. By public worship. On that day especially we are to pay unto Him the worship due unto His name. Public worship is a debt we owe to God (Psa_29:2; Psa_96:8); and we should be as careful to pay it as we are the debts we owe our fellow-men.
2. By private meditation and prayer. We are to regard it as a day of rest and cessation from the common business and occupation of life, as a season dedicated to God. Our conversation and our thoughts are to be directed, not to temporal, but to spiritual concerns. Let us reflect upon the things of which it reminds us—the creation of the world, the resurrection of Christ; and of that which it foreshadows—the everlasting rest which remaineth for the people of God.
II. THE BLESSINGS WHICH FOLLOW UPON A DUE OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD’S DAY.
1. We shall grow in wisdom and grace.
2. Even in this imperfect and troublesome world, we shall learn to delight ourselves in the Lord.
3. When the number of earthly Sabbaths is complete, we shall be found, by God’s grace, meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.
III. THE EVIL EFFECTS WHICH ALWAYS FOLLOW PROFANED AND NEGLECTED SABBATHS.
1. The world, with its drying, withering influence, will take entire possession of the heart. Even when the Lord’s Day is only occasionally neglected, the natural result does not fail to follow—religion is at a stand-still. But where it is habitually profaned, irreligion, hardness of heart, utter indifference and carelessness about the soul, about God, and about eternity, inevitably ensue.
2. The natural faults and corruptions of our nature, being never checked by the wholesome bridle of God’s Word, will run away with us, and never stop until they have urged us into perdition. Sabbaths spent in idleness and bad company have often to young men and women, in the highest as well as the lowest walks of life, been the first links of a chain, of which the middle were vice, crime, shame, death; and the last link, the tormenting flame!
3. We shall find unbroken toil a sore burden.
4. Death, instead of bringing us rest, will increase our burden a thousandfold in the kingdom of darkness.—Bishop Hervey: Sermons for the Sundays and Principal Holydays throughout the Year, vol. i. 122–133.
The law of the Sabbath, as instituted at the creation, and subsequently inserted in the Decalogue, instead of being repealed, retains its full authority. The sacredness of the obligation of its observance is now transferred, with undiminished force, from the seventh day of the week to the first. The sanctification of the Sabbath is still required on the same principles, in the same spirit, and for the same purposes. The only difference is, that the motives which impel to its due observance have acquired an accession of strength. Most important, therefore, is the inquiry on which we are now about to enter: In what manner should the Sabbath be observed?
The due sanctification of the Sabbath requires,—
I. A cessation from the ordinary labours and occupations of life.
II. A consecration of the entire day to the spiritual engagements and delights which peculiarly belong to it. “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy;” that is, let the entire day be separated from the occupations of other days, and consecrated to the service and enjoyment of God.
III. The public acknowledgment and adoration of our God and Saviour, in acts of social worship.
IV. The conscientious and diligent discharge of the domestic duties of religion. With much prayer, tenderness, perseverance, and ingenuity, let Sabbath opportunities be used for the purposes of Christian education (H. E. I., 803–806). Let not your servants be neglected. They have many claims on your Christian regard. Let them have reason to bless God for entering your family. Consult and adopt the best means of promoting their eternal interests.
V. The performance of the works of charity and mercy.—H. P. Burder, D.D.: Sermons, pp. 426–448.
I. Our first object must be to see what God’s Word tells us respecting the origin, meaning, and importance of the primitive Sabbath. I. How far do these things apply to us? Is it God’s will that we should still set apart one day in seven as a season of holy rest? III. What are some of the purposes of the institution of the Lord’s Day?—C. J. Vaughan, D.D.: Sermons, pp. 255–291.
I. The true Sabbath. II. Its obligation. III. Advantage.
I. In what light we should regard the Sabbath. II. How we should employ it. III. The benefits arising from its proper observance.
I. The proper observance of the Sabbath. Its rest, pleasures, occupations, conversation. II. The consequent blessings.
1. Delight in the Lord.
2. Exaltation—victory over enemies, freedom from all false systems of worship (2Ch_34:3; Eph_6:12).
3. Prosperity—abundance of spiritual food (Deu_32:13-14; Isa_49:9); assurance of final security (Psa_28:9). III. The confirmation. God is faithful, cannot deceive; He will do as He has said (Num_23:19; Psa_22:5; Job_23:13).—J. Lyth, D.D.
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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv13–14 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues speaking to the people of Israel.
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you turn back your feet from traveling on the Sabbath day, and from doing your own pleasure on my holy day
Here the people are represented by their "feet." God did not allow long travels or work on the day of rest. AT: "you stop traveling and doing what you want to do on the Sabbath, my holy day" (See: Synecdoche)
translationWords
Sabbath
holy
Yahweh
honor
word
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 On vv13–14 58:13 Like the practice of fasting, the Sabbath was…
58:13 Like the practice of fasting, the Sabbath was intended to be an expression of self-denial and worship. It consists of delighting in the Lord, trusting him to provide for one’s needs while abstaining from work, and living in obedience to his will.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.