“Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?
Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then your light will break out as the morning, and your healing will appear quickly; then your righteousness shall go before you, and Yahweh’s glory will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer. You will cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away from among you the yoke, finger pointing, and speaking wickedly;
and if you pour out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will rise in darkness, and your obscurity will be as the noonday;
and Yahweh will guide you continually, satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones strong. You will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters don’t fail.
Those who will be of you will build the old waste places. You will raise up the foundations of many generations. You will be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Paths with Dwellings.
“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,
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.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13 That you leave off all your extortions.
That you leave off all your extortions.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv6–14 Isa 58:6 [Is] not this the fast that I…
Isa 58:6 [Is] not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Ver. 6. Is not this the fast that I have chosen?] There is a threefold fast, from meat, mirth, sin; this last crowns both the former, and yet we say not (as the Papists falsely say we hold) that fasting is no more but a moral temperance, a fasting from sin, a matter of policy.
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To loose the bands of wickedness,] i.e., Iuramentum, literariam cautionem, vincula, carceres, servitutem; the unjust bonds and obligations of usurers and oppressors, whereby poor non-solvents were imprisoned or embondaged. These are also here further called "heavy burdens" and "yokes," as elsewhere "nets"; {Psa 10:9} that is, saith Chrysostom, bonds, debts, mortgages.
And to let the oppressed go free.] Heb., The bruised or broken, scil., in their estates.
And that ye break every yoke.] Cancel every unjust writing, say the Septuagint. They took twelve in the hundred in Nehemiah’s time; this was a yoke intolerable. "I pray you let us leave off this usury," saith he. {Isa 5:10} At this day the Jews are in all places permitted to strain up their usury to eighteen in the hundred upon the Christians; {a} but then they are used, as the friars, to suck from the meanest, and to be sucked by the greatest.
{a} Specul. Europ.
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 vv6–14 Is not this the fast that I have chosen?…
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? or, approve, as before, Isa 58:5; or, Ought not such a fast to be accompanied with such things as these? where he is now about to show the concomitants of a true fast, with reference to the thing in hand, namely, to exercise works of charity, consisting partly in acts of self-denial, in this verse, and partly in doing good to those in distress, in the next. In this verse he instanceth in some particulars, and closeth with a general.
The bands of wickedness, viz. the cruel obligations of usury and oppression.
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The heavy burdens, Heb. bundles; a metaphor possibly pointing at those many bundles of writings, as bills, bonds, mortgages, and acknowledgments, which the usurers had lying by them: The former may relate to unjust and unlawful obligations extorted by force or fear, which he would have cancelled; this latter to just debts contracted through poverty and necessity, the rigour whereof he would have abated, whether.by reason of loans upon too hard conditions, called a drawing them into a net, Psa 10:9, and so much is implied, Pro 6:5; or under too hard circumstances, whether they were loans of food or money, of which the people so bitterly complained, Neh 5:1-4, and is expressly forbid, Exo 22:25. For debts may be called burdens,
1. Because they lie as a great load upon the debtor’s spirits, under which whoever can walk up and down easily doth not so much excel in fortitude as in folly.
2. Because they usually introduce poverty, slavery, imprisonment, &c.
The oppressed; either in a large sense, viz. any ways grieved or vexed, whether by the gripings of usury, or the bondage of slavery accompanied with cruel usage; or more peculiarly (according to some) relating to their being confined and shut up in prisons, which latter sense the word
free may possibly seem to favour, the former being comprised in that general expression that follows of
breaking every yoke. Heb. broken, i.e. like a bruised reed, so crushed and weakened, that they have no consistency or ability, either to satisfy their creditors, or support themselves; and we usually call such insolvent persons broken that cannot look upon themselves to be sui juris, but wholly at another’s mercy: you have the same kind of oppression, and the same words used, Amo 4:1.
That ye break every yoke, namely, that is grievous, a metaphor; i.e. free them from all sorts of vexation, whatever it is that held them under any bondage. The LXX. refer it to bonds and writings; but it seems more general: the word properly signifies that stick or cord that holds both ends of the yoke, that it spring not out, or fall off from the neck on which it is laid, Exo 25:14, where the same word is used for staves; and called the bands of the yoke, Lev 26:13, I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright; the same thing that God would have them do here.
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 vv8, 13 Here are precious promises for those to feast freely…
Here are precious promises for those to feast freely and cheerfully upon by faith who keep the fast that God has chosen; let them know that God will make it up to them. Here is,
I. A further account of the duty to be done in order to our interest in these promises (Isa 58:9, Isa 58:10); and here, as before, it is required that we both do justly and love mercy, that we cease to do evil and learn to do well. 1. We must abstain from all acts of violence and fraud. "Those must be taken away from the midst of thee, from the midst of thy person, out of thy heart" (so some); "thou must not only refrain from the practice of injury, but mortify in thee all inclination and disposition towards it." Or from the midst of thy people. Those in authority must not only not be oppressive themselves, but must do all they can to prevent and restrain oppression in all within their jurisdiction. They must not only break the yoke (Isa 58:6), but take away the yoke, that those who have been oppressed may never be re-enslaved (as they were Jer 34:10, Jer 34:11); they must likewise forbear threatening (Eph 6:9) and take away the putting forth of the finger, which seems to have been then, as sometimes with us, a sign of displeasure and the indication of a purpose to correct. Let not the finger be put forth to point at those that are poor and in misery, and so to expose them to contempt; such expressions of contumely as are provoking, and the products of ill-nature, ought to be banished from all societies. And let them not speak vanity, flattery or fraud, to one another, but let all conversation be governed by sincerity. Perhaps that dissimulation which is the bane of friendship is meant by the putting forth of the finger (as Pro 6:13 by teaching with the finger), or it is putting forth the finger with the ring on it, which was the badge of authority, and which therefore they produced when they spoke iniquity, that is, gave unrighteous sentences. 2. We must abound in all acts of charity and beneficence. We must not only give alms according as the necessities of the poor require, but, (1.) We must give freely and cheerfully, and from a principle of charity. We must draw out our soul to the hungry (Isa 58:10), not only draw out the money and reach forth the hand, but do this from the heart, heartily, and without grudging, from a principle of compassion and with a tender affection to such as we see to be in misery. Let the heart go along with the gift; for God loves a cheerful giver, and so does a poor man too. When our Lord Jesus healed and fed the multitude it was as having compassion on them. (2.) We must give plentifully and largely, so as not to tantalize, but to satisfy, the afflicted soul: "Do not only feed the hungry, but gratify the desire of the afflicted, and, if it lies in your power, make them easy." What are we born for, and what have we our abilities of body, mind, and estate for, but to do all the good we can in this world with them? And the poor we have always with us.
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II. Here is a full account of the blessings and benefits which attend the performance of this duty. If a person, a family, a people, be thus disposed to every thing that is good, let them know for their comfort that they shall find God their bountiful rewarder and what they lay out in works of charity shall be abundantly made up to them. 1. God will surprise them with the return of mercy after great affliction, which shall be as welcome as the light of the morning after a long and dark night (Isa 58:8): "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning and (Isa 58:10) thy light shall rise in obscurity. Though thou hast been long buried alive thou shalt recover thy eminency; though long overwhelmed with grief, thou shalt again look pleasant as the dawning day." Those that are cheerful in doing good God will make cheerful in enjoying good; and this also is a special gift of God, Ecc 2:24. Those that have shown mercy shall find mercy. Job, who in his prosperity had done a great deal of good, had friends raised up for him by the Lord when he was reduced, who helped him with their substance, so that his light rose in obscurity. "Not only thy light, which is sweet, but thy health too, or the healing of the wounds thou hast long complained of, shall spring forth speedily; all thy grievances shall be redressed, and thou shalt renew thy youth and recover thy vigour." Those that have helped others out of trouble will obtain help of God when it is their turn. 2. God will put honour upon them. Good works shall be recompensed with a good name; this is included in that light which rises out of obscurity. Though a man's extraction be mean, his family obscure, and he has no external advantages to gain him honour, yet, if he do good in his place, that will procure him respect and veneration, and his darkness shall by this means become as the noon-day, that is, he shall become very eminent and shine brightly in his generation. See here what is the surest way for a man to make himself illustrious; let him study to do good. He that would be the greatest of all, and best-loved, let him by humility and industry make himself a servant of all. "Thy righteousness shall answer for thee (as Jacob says, Gen 30:33), that is, it shall silence reproaches, nay, it shall bespeak thee more praises than thy humility can be pleased with." He that has given to the poor, his righteousness (that is, the honour of it) endures for ever, Psa 112:9. 3. They shall always be safe under the divine protection: "Thy righteousness shall go before thee as thy vanguard, to secure thee from enemies that charge thee in the front, and the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward, the gathering host, to bring up those of thee that are weary and are left behind, and to secure thee from the enemies, that, like Amalek, fall upon thy rear." Observe, How good people are safe on all sides. Let them look which way they will, behind them or before them; let them look backward or forward; they see themselves safe, and find themselves easy and quiet from the fear of evil. And observe what it is that is their defence; it is their righteousness, and the glory of the Lord, that is, as some suppose, Christ; for it is by him that we are justified, and God is glorified. He it is that goes before us, and is the captain of our salvation, as he is the Lord our righteousness; he it is that is our rearward, on whom alone we can depend for safety when our sins pursue us and are ready to take hold on us. Or, "God himself in his providence and grace shall both go before thee as thy guide to conduct thee, and attend thee as thy rearward to protect thee, and this shall be the reward of thy righteousness and so shall be for the glory of the Lord as the rewarder of it." 4. God will be always nigh unto them, to hear their prayers, Isa 58:9. As, on the one hand, he that shuts his ears to the cry of the poor shall himself cry and God will not hear him; so, on the other hand, he that is liberal to the poor, his prayers shall come up with his alms for a memorial before God, as Cornelius's did (Act 10:4): "Then shalt thou call, on thy fast-days, which ought to be days of prayer, and the Lord shall answer, shall give thee the things thou callest to him for; thou shalt cry when thou art in any distress or sudden fright, and he shall say, Here I am." This is a very condescending expression of God's readiness to hear prayer. When God calls to us by his word it becomes us to say, Here we are; what saith our Lord unto his servants? But that God should say to us, Behold me, here I am, is strange. When we cry to him, as if he were at a distance, he will let us know that he is near, even at our right hand, nearer than we thought he was. It is I, be not afraid. When danger is near our protector is nearer, a very present help. "Here I am, ready to give you what you want, and do for you what you desire; what have you to say to me?" God is attentive to the prayers of the upright, Psa 130:2. No sooner do they call to him than he answers, Ready, ready. Wherever they are praying, God says, "Here I am hearing; I am in the midst of you." He is nigh unto them in all things, Deu 4:7. 6. God will direct them in all difficult and doubtful cases (Isa 58:11): The Lord shall guide thee continually. While we are here, in the wilderness of this world, we have need of continual direction from heaven; for, if at any time we be left to ourselves, we shall certainly miss our way; and therefore it is to those who are good in God's sight that he gives the wisdom which in all cases is profitable to direct, and he will be to them instead of eyes, Ecc 2:26. His providence will make their way plain to them, both what is their duty and what will be most for their comfort. 6. God will give them abundance of satisfaction in their own minds. As the world is a wilderness in respect of wanderings, so that they need to be guided continually, so also is it in respect of wants, which makes it necessary that they should have continual supplies, as Israel in the wilderness had not only the pillar of cloud to guide them continually, but manna and water out of the rock to satisfy their souls in drought, in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, Psa 63:1. To a good man God gives not only wisdom and knowledge, but joy; he is satisfied in himself with the testimony of his conscience and the assurances of God's favour. "These will satisfy thy soul, will put gladness into thy heart, even in the drought of affliction; these will make fat thy bones, and fill them with marrow, will give thee that pleasure which will be a support to thee as the bones to the body, that joy of the Lord which will be thy strength. He shall give thy bones rest" (so some read it), "rest from the pain and sickness which they have laboured under and been chastened with;" so it agrees with that promise made to the merciful. The Lord will make all his bed in his sickness, Psa 41:3. "Thou shalt be like a watered garden, so flourishing and fruitful in graces and comforts, and like a spring of water, like a garden that has a spring of water in it, whose waters fail not either in droughts or in frosts." The principle of holy love in those that are good shall be a well of living water, Joh 4:14. As a spring of water, though it is continually sending forth its streams, is yet always full, so the charitable man abounds in good as he abounds in doing good and is never the poorer for his liberality. He that waters shall himself be watered. 7. They and their families shall be public blessings. It is a good reward to those that are fruitful and useful to be rendered more so, and especially to have those who descend from them to be so too. This is here promised (Isa 58:12): "Those that now are of thee, thy princes, and nobles, and great men, shall have such authority and influence as they never had;" or, "Those that hereafter shall be of thee, thy posterity, shall be serviceable to their generation, as thou art to thine." It completes the satisfaction of a good man, as to this world, to think that those that come after him shall be doing good when he is gone. 1. They shall re-edify cities that have been long in ruins, shall build the old waste places, which had lain so long desolate that the rebuilding of them was quite despaired of. This was fulfilled when the captives, after their return, repaired the cities of Judah, and dwelt in them, and many of those in Israel too, which had lain waste ever since the carrying away of the ten tribes. 2. They shall carry on and finish that good work which was begun long before, and shall be helped over the obstructions which had retarded the progress of it: They shall raise up to the top that building the foundation of which was laid long since and has been for many generations in the rearing. This was fulfilled when the building of the temple was revived after it had stood still for many years, Ezr 5:2. Or, "They shall raise up foundations which shall continue for many generations yet to come;" they shall do that good which shall be of lasting consequence. 3. They shall have the blessing and praise of all about them: "Thou shalt be called (and it shall be to thy honour) the repairer of the breach, the breach made by the enemy in the wall of a besieged city, which whoso has the courage and dexterity to make up, or make good, gains great applause." Happy are those who make up the breach at which virtue is running out and judgments are breaking in. "Thou shalt be the restorer of paths, safe and quiet paths, not only to travel in, but to dwell in, so safe and quiet that people shall make no difficulty of building their houses by the road-side." The sum is that, if they keep such fasts as God has chosen, he will settle them again in their former peace and prosperity, and there shall be none to make them afraid. See Zac 7:5, Zac 7:9; Zac 8:3-5. It teaches us that those who do justly and love mercy shall have the comfort thereof in this world.
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 vv6–14 Is not this the fast that I have chosen?....…
Is not this the fast that I have chosen?.... Which God has appointed, he approves of, and is well pleasing in his sight; these are works and services more agreeable to him, which follow, without which the rest will be rejected:
to loose the bands of wickedness; which some understand of combinations in courts of judicature to oppress and distress the poor; others of bonds and contracts unjustly made, or rigorously demanded and insisted on, when they cannot be answered; rather of those things with which the consciences of men are bound in religious matters; impositions upon conscience; binding to the use of stinted forms, and to habits in divine worship, which the word of God has not made necessary:
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to undo the heavy burdens. The Septuagint render it, "dissolve the obligations of violent contracts"; such as are obtained by violence; so the Arabic version; or by fraud, as the Syriac version, which translates it, bonds of fraud. The Targum is,
"loose the bonds of writings of a depraved judgment;''
all referring it to unjust bonds and contracts in a civil sense: but rather it regards the loosing or freeing men from all obligation to all human prescriptions and precepts; whatever is after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ; so the traditions of the Scribes and Pharisees are called "heavy burdens, grievous to be borne", Mat 23:4 these should not be laid and bound on men's shoulders, but should be done and taken off of them, as well as all penal laws with which they have been enforced:
and to let the oppressed go free; such as have been broken by oppression, not only in their spirits, but in their purses, by mulcts and fines, and confiscation of goods; and who have been cast into prisons, and detained a long time in filthy dungeons; and where many have perished for the sake of religion, even in Protestant countries:
and that ye break every yoke; of church power and tyranny; everything that is not enjoined and authorized by the word of God; every yoke but the yoke of Christ; all human precepts, and obedience to them; all but the commands of Christ, and obedience to them; no other yoke should be put upon the neck of his disciples but his own.
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 vv6–14 The bands - The cruel obligations of usury and…
The bands - The cruel obligations of usury and oppression.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 Verse 6. Let the oppressed go free] How can…
Verse 6. Let the oppressed go free] How can any nation pretend to fast or worship God at all, or dare to profess that they believe in the existence of such a Being, while they carry on the slave trade, and traffic in the souls, blood, and bodies, of men! O ye most flagitious of knaves, and worst of hypocrites, cast off at once the mask of religion; and deepen not your endless perdition by professing the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, while ye continue in this traffic!
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 vv6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14 Isa 58:6. Is not this the fast that I…
Isa 58:6. Is not this the fast that I have chosen? — Or approve, as before, Isa 58:5. Or ought not such a fast to be accompanied with such things as these? He now proceeds to show the concomitants of a true fast; namely, to exercise works of justice and charity. To loose the bands of wickedness — Namely, the cruel obligations of usury and oppression. To undo the heavy burdens — Hebrew, the bundles of the yoke, as in the margin; by which may possibly be intended bundles of writings, acknowledgments, bonds, mortgages, &c., which the usurers had lying by them. The former are thought to relate to unjust and unlawful obligations, extorted by force or fear, which the prophet would have cancelled: this latter, to just debts contracted through poverty and necessity, the rigour whereof he would have abated. And to let the oppressed go free — Those grieved or vexed, whether by the griping of usury or the bonds of slavery, accompanied with cruel usage; or those confined or shut up in prisons; and that ye break every yoke — Namely, which is grievous; that you free your dependants and servants, and all that are under your power, from all sorts of vexations and oppressions.
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 vv6–14 Is not this the fast that I have chosen?…
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? - Fasting is right and proper; but that which God approves will prompt to, and will be followed by, deeds of justice, kindness, charity. The prophet proceeds to specify very particularly what God required, and when the observance of seasons of fasting would be acceptable to him.
To loose the bands of wickedness - This is the first thing to be done in order that their fasting might be acceptable to the Lord. The idea is, that they were to dissolve every tie which unjustly bound their fellowmen. The Chaldee renders it, ‘Separate the congregation of impiety;’ but the more probable sense is, that if they were exercising any unjust and cruel authority over others; if they had bound them in any way contrary to the laws of God and the interests of justice, they were to release them. This might refer to their compelling others to servitude more rigidly than the law of Moses allowed; or to holding them to contracts which had been fraudulently made; or to their exacting strict payment from persons wholly incapacitated to meet their obligations; or it might refer to their subjecting others to more rigid service than was allowed by the laws of Moses, but it would not require a very ardent imagination for anyone to see, that if he held slaves at all, that this came fairly under the description of the prophet. A man with a tender conscience who held slaves would have been likely to suppose that this part of the injunction applied to himself.
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To undo the heavy burdens - Margin, ‘Bundles of the yoke.’ The Septuagint renders it, ‘Dissolve the obligations of onerous contracts.’ The Chaldee, ‘Loose the obligations of the writings of unjust judgment.’ The Hebrew means, ‘Loose the bands of the yoke,’ a figure taken from the yoke which was borne by oxen, and which seems to have been attached to the neck by cords or bands (see Fragments to Taylor’s Calmer. No. xxviii.) The yoke, in the Scripture, is usually regarded as an emblem of oppression, or compulsory toil, and is undoubtedy so used here. The same word is used to denote ‘burden’ (מוטה môṭâh), which in the subsequent member is rendered ‘yoke,’ and the word which is rendered ‘undo (התר hatı̂r from נתי nātar), is elsewhere employed to denote emancipation from servitude. The phrase here employed would properly denote the release of captives or slaves, and would doubtless be so understood by those whom the prophet addressed. Thus, in Psa 105:17-20 :
He sent a man before them, even Joseph,
Who was sold for a servant;
Whose feet they hurt with fetters;
He was laid in iron:
Until the time when his word came,
The word of the Lord tried him.
The king sent and loosed him (ויתירהוּ vaytı̂yrēhû),
Even the ruler of the people, and let him go free.
And let the oppressed go free - Margin, ‘Broken.’ The Hebrew word רצוצים retsûtsı̂ym is from the word רצץ rātsats, meaning “to break, to break down” (see the notes at Isa 42:3); to treat with violence, to oppress. It may be applied to those who are treated with violence in any way, or who are broken down by bard usage. It may refer, therefore, to slaves who are oppressed by bondage and toil; or to inferiors of any kind who are subjected to hard usage by those who are above them; or to the subjects of a tyrant groaning under his yoke. The use of the phrase here, ‘go free,’ however, seems to limit its application in this place to those who were held in bondage. Jerome renders it, ‘Free those who are broken’ (confracti). The Septuagint Τεθρασμένος Tethrasmenos - ‘Set at liberty those who are broken down.’ If slavery existed at the time here referred to, this word would be appropriately understood as including that - at least would be so understood by the slaves themselves - for if any institution deserves to be called oppression, it is theft of slavery.
This interpretation would be confirmed by the use of the word rendered free. That word (חפשׁים chophshı̂ym) evidently refers to the act of freeing a slave. The person who had once been a slave, and who had afterward obtained his freedom, was denominated חפשׁי chophshı̂y (see Jahn, Bib. Ant. Section 171). This word occurs, and is so used, in the following places; Exo 21:12, ‘And the seventh (year) he shall go free;’ Exo 21:5, ‘I will not go out free;’ Exo 26:27, ‘He shall let him go free;’ Deu 15:12, ‘Thou shalt let him go free;’ Deu 15:13, ‘When thou sendest him out free’ Deu 15:18, ‘When thou sendest him away free;’ Job 3:19, ‘The servant is free from his master;’ that is, in the grave, where there is universal emancipation. Compare Jer 34:9-11, Jer 34:14, Jer 34:16 where the same Hebrew word is used, and is applied expressly to the emancipation of slaves. The word is used in other places in the Bible except the following: 1Sa 17:25, ‘And make his father’s house free in Israel,’ referring to the favor which was promised to the one who would slay Goliath of Gath. Job 39:5 : ‘Who hath sent out the wild donkey free?’ Psa 88:5 : ‘Free among the dead.’ The usage, therefore, is settled that the word properly refers to deliverance from servitude. It would be naturally understood by a Hebrew as referring to that, and unless there was something in the connection which made it necessary to adopt a different interpretation, a Hebrew would so understand it of course. In the case before us, such an interpretation would be obvious, and it is difficult to see how a Jew could understand this direction in any other way, if he was an owner. of slaves, than that be should set them at once at liberty.
And that ye break every yoke - A yoke, in the Scriptures, is a symbol of oppression, and the idea here is, that they were to cease all oppressions, and to restore all to their lust and equal rights. The prophet demanded, in order that there might be an acceptable ‘fast,’ that everything which could properly be described as a ‘yoke’ should be broken. How could this command be complied with by a Hebrew if he continued to retain his fellow-men in bondage? Would not its fair application be to lead him to emancipate those who were held as slaves? Could it be true, whatever else he might do, that he would fully comply with this injunction, unless this were done? If now this whole injunction were fairly complied with in his land, who can doubt that it would lead to the emancipation of the slaves? The language is such that it cannot well be misunderstood. The prophet undoubtedly specifies those things which properly denote slavery, and demands that they should all be abandoned in order to an acceptable ‘fast to the Lord,’ and the fair application of this injunction would soon extinguish slavery throughout the world.
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 vv6–14 Bands. Contracts of usury, &c. (Calmet)
Bands. Contracts of usury, &c. (Calmet)
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 vv6–14 loose . . . bands of wickedness--that is, to…
loose . . . bands of wickedness--that is, to dissolve every tie wherewith one has unjustly bound his fellow men (Lev 25:49, &c.). Servitude, a fraudulent contract, &c.
undo . . . heavy burdens--Hebrew, "loose the bands of the yoke."
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oppressed--literally, "the broken." The expression, "to let go free," implies that those "broken" with the yoke of slavery, are meant (Neh 5:10-12; Jer 34:9-11, Jer 34:14, Jer 34:16). JEROME interprets it, broken with poverty; bankrupt.
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 vv8, 9, 10, 12, 13 8. The blessings here mentioned follow true obedience.
8. The blessings here mentioned follow true obedience.
Thy light — Spiritual light, in which the obedient walk, is as the hopeful morning dawn.
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Health… spring forth — Thy spiritual growth shall be rapid.
Thy righteousness — Abstract for the concrete, much as St. Paul uses the word in Romans; sometimes a moral rightness of character, leading one to do what pleases God; sometimes, thy Righteous One, who justifies, shall go before thee.
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 vv6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 6, 7. Description of the true fast in which…
6, 7. Description of the true fast in which Jehovah delights. The duties enjoined fall under two heads: (1) abstinence from every form of oppression (Isa_58:6), and (2) the exercise of positive beneficence towards the destitute (Isa_58:7). In naming these things as the moral essence of fasting, the prophet may be guided by the principle so often inculcated by our Lord, that he who would obtain mercy from God must shew a merciful disposition towards his fellow-men (Mat_5:7; Mat_6:12; Mat_18:35 &c.). Or the idea may be that the spirit of self-denial possesses no value before God unless it be carried into the sphere of social duty.
the bands (R.V. bonds) of wickedness] i.e. unjust and oppressive obligations.
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to undo the heavy burdens] Lit. to untie the Bands of the yoke.
the oppressed is literally the “broken” (Deu_28:33; ch. Isa_42:3),—bankrupts, whose liberty had been forfeited to their creditors (cf. Neh_5:5).
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 vv6–14 (6) To loose the bands of wickedness.—The words do…
(6) To loose the bands of wickedness.—The words do not exclude abstinence from food as an act of discipline and victory over self-indulgence, but declare its insufficiency by itself. So in the practice of the ancient Church fasting and almsgiving were closely connected, as indeed they are in Mat_6:1; Mat_6:16. The history of the emancipation of the slaves and of their subsequent return to bondage presents a curious illustration of the prophet’s words (Jer_34:8-22). The truth which he proclaimed was recognised in the hour of danger and forgotten in that of safety. Comp. Joe_2:13.
To undo the heavy burdens.—Literally, the thongs of the yoke, the leather straps which fastened the yoke on the head of the oxen as they ploughed. Again we trace an echo of the thought and almost of the phraseology in our Lord’s teaching (Mat_11:29-30; Mat_23:4). The Pharisees who fasted laid heavy burdens on men’s shoulders. He, who was thought not to fast, relieved them of their two-fold yoke of evil selfishness and ceremonial formalism.
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 vv6–14 Is not this the fast that I have chosen?…
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? This passage, as Dr. Kay observes, "stands like a homily for the Day of Atonement." Such homilies are found in the uninspired Jewish writings ("Taanith," 2:1; "Nedarim babli," p. 10, a, etc.), and are conceived very much in the same spirit. The Jews call the true fast "the fasting of the heart." To loose the bands of wickedness. To set free those whom wicked persons have wrongfully imprisoned or entangled. To undo the heavy burdens; literally, to untie the thongs of the yoke. The liberation of a man"s slaves, or of Jews captive among the heathen, (Neh_5:8) is probably intended. To let the oppressed (literally, the bruised) go free. Remission of debts and restoration of pledges (Neh_10:31 Eze_18:7) are, perhaps, the acts pointed at.
A religious fast.
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"Is not this the fast that I have chosen?" Which? The contrast is seen in the inclusive words from the fourth to the ninth verses. God does not delight in outwardness. The mere mannerism of religion, or the head bowed as a bulrush, with sackcloth and ashes beneath, is hateful to the Most High.
I FASTING IS TO BE REALLY RELIGIOUS. It is to "loose the bands of wickedness to free one"s own soul from the last shackles of lust and selfishness, and to aid in liberating the souls of others. Religious effort is to deal directly with character, and not with the countenance; with the habits of evil, and not the ritual of ceremonies.
II FASTING IS TO BE DEEPLY HUMAN. It is to care for our brethren in the world.
1. Many are heavily burdened. Care writes its lines on the anxious brow, and often the heart is grey while the hair is yet black.
2. Many are oppressed. Justice is the subject of bribery, and wealth lords it over poverty; moreover, slavery existed then, and has done till recent years, and the war against slavery has come from religious men.
3. Many are under varied yokes. Yokes of intemperance and pernicious habit of selfishness in its worst forms of cruelty to others.
4. Many are helplessly poor. Not through crime, or faults of their own, such as indolence and inebriety, but through sudden calamities and severe illnesses. We must feed the hungry and cover the naked.
5. Many are neglected by their own. The workhouse has received to its dull shelter those connected with the well-to-do and the well-born; or "relatives" have never been inquired after, sympathized with, or succoured. "And that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh.
These words in Isaiah teach us that the ancient Law was not simply legal and ceremonial, and outwardly sacrificial, but social, moral, and religious in the highest degree. Such Law Christ came not to destroy, but to fulfil. W.M.S.
Vers. 6, 7. God"s idea of fasting.
It should be noticed, as giving special point to this reference to fasting, that, besides the regular fasts of the Jewish religion, there were, during the Captivity in Babylon, special fasts appointed as days of repentance and prayer for Israel. God complains that these fasts did not say to him exactly what those who fasted intended them to say, because he looked at the whole conduct of the men to see if it was in harmony with the fasting. The important principle is here illustrated that, if a man be right with God, he will be right also with his fellow-men. If a man does not forgive his brother his trespasses, he cannot be in such a state of mind as makes it any use to him for God to forgive his trespasses. If a man is harsh, exacting, violent, in his dealings with his fellow-creatures, God will take no notice of his sad countenance, fasting, and fine pretences of penitence. God is never deceived by the excellent appearance of our Sunday ways. He judges us by the records of all the week.
I GOD"S IDEA OF FASTING IS NOT A FINE OUTWARD SHOW OF HUMILIATION. (Ver. 5.) Bowed head. Starved body. Sackcloth dress. Ashes for a seat. That rooks fine, and men may be deceived by it, but not God. Compare our Lord"s teaching in the sermon on the mount. "Be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast." "The prophet finds fault with the fasting of the Jews in two respects.
1. Because they did not combine fasting with works of righteousness.
2. Because they held the bodily exercise to be the chief thing." Outward appearances may speak for us to God, only we must take care that they have something sincere and true and worthy to say to him, from our hearts. "Rend your hearts, and not your garments;" "The Lord searcheth the heart.
II GOD"S IDEA OF FASTING IS SELF-RESTRAINT IN ORDER TO GAIN HIGHER EFFICIENCY FOR SERVICE. And such fasting needs to make no show. The man who fasts in this sense may anoint his head, wash his face," and look cheerful. The best signs of fasting are the good works which we can accomplish, which we gain power, through our self-restraints, to accomplish loosing bands, freeing the oppressed, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, blessing all. Fasting, in the sense of a refusal of all food, belongs to ceremonial religion and had its origin in Eastern lands. Fasting in its most spiritual form, as personal self-restraint, will-mastery over habits and preferences, must ever be binding upon all Christians. As explained by an apostle, it is "knowing how to possess the vessel of the body in sanctification and honour. 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 vv6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14 Is not this the fast that I have chosen?
Isa_58:6-7
Is not this the fast that I have chosen?
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--
Practical fasting
In reply to the question, how the acts here mentioned could be described as fasting, J. D. Michaelis says that they are all to be considered as involving acts of conscientious self-denial, which he illustrates by the case of an American slaveholder brought by stress of conscience to emancipate his slaves. (J. A. Alexander.)
Oppression
People may be oppressed in their reputation by unmerited reproaches. (R. Macculloch.)
A foretokening of Gospel morality
This passage is one of those in which the holiness peculiar to the Gospel seems to be foretokened in the morality of the prophetic canon. The twilight clouds were red with the coming Sun.
1. Isaiah and his brother-prophets were holier and heavenlier and richer in the works of love upon an anticipated Christ than we are in a Christ already our crucified Example. These men of God knew no divorce between belief and love, between living perpetually in the presence of a benevolent Lord and imitating His benevolence to their fellow-creatures. As it is the spirit of truth that has solemnized the union of the principle of faith with the works of charity, so it is, and in all ages has been, the master policy of the spirit of evil to effect their separation.
2. The whole religious providence towards man in every age has been a system operating by the combined influence of faith and love--both directed towards His own perfect essence. In our existing condition, what is faith but love relying on support? What is love but faith forgetting the support in the Supporter? Every progressive step in attaining habits of compassion and kindness upon earth must necessarily be a step towards estimating and loving Him who is the essential Spirit of benevolence. The love of man is the type and shadow of the love of God. The people of God are here engaged with the rudiments and images of those affections which are to be the duty and happiness of their eternity. (W. Archer Butler.)
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 vv6, 8, 10, 11, 13 Isa_58:6-7. Is not this the fast that I have…
A PLEA FOR THE DISTRESSED
Isa_58:6-7. Is not this the fast that I have chosen? &c.
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In the former verses of this chapter we have a description of the state of heart of the Jewish people in the course of their mysterious preparation for destruction.… They are in a condition of all others the most appalling—the condition of the self-deceived (Isa_58:2, &c.). The Lord therefore defines in His own vindication what is the sort of humiliation which alone He will accept and honour. There is no contradiction here of the doctrine that is taught in other passages of Scripture, in which the fast is divinely decreed, and the solemn assembly ordered by Divine command. There are occasions which justify, nay, which even require national prostration and sorrow; and there is no sublimer spectacle than the spectacle of a great people moved as by one common impulse to peniteuce and prayer. But in the case before us there was both a lie in the mouth and a reserve in the consecration; there was self-righteous satisfaction in the act, and there was a dependence upon it for the recompense of the reward. There is nothing new in the occasion which has brought us together. We meet under the shadow of a great calamity. There is something in the magnitude of the calamity for which we plead which removes it altogether out of the routine of ordinary charity.… Only once in a lifetime is it possible that such a crisis as this will occur. It is the cry of thousands stricken with the blight of famine from no fault of their own, &c. The present, therefore, is an occasion of national calamity and concern and sympathy; and they especially who have learned at the feet of Jesus are bound to be helpful in their measure, in order that their good may not be evil spoken of, and in order that their religion, in its very comeliest development, may shine forth before the observation of men.
The one point I want especially, without any sort of formal or elaborate treatment, to impress upon you now, is the point which lurks in the last verse of the text; there is my claim—“from thine own flesh.”
God has made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell upon the face of the whole earth. This is the announcement of a grand fact which has never yet been successfully disproved—the essential underlying identity of the human race, however chequered by the varieties of clime and of language—one deep, constant, ineradicable identity which links man to man all over the world. The old Roman could say, “I am a man: nothing, therefore, that is human can be foreign to me.” And Christianity takes that sentiment and exalts it into a surpassing obligation, and stamps upon it the royal seal of heaven. Of course this general law must be modified by minor and smaller varieties, or it will be practically useless. The sympathy that goes out after the world gets lost in the magnitude of the area over which it has to travel; and the very vastness and vagueness of the object will of itself tend to fritter away the intenseness of the feeling. That is a very suspicious attachment which clings to nobody in particular, which rejoices no heart with its affection, which brightens no hearthstone by its light. Hence private affections are recognised and hallowed and commended as the sources from which all public virtues are to spring. There is nothing in them inconsistent with the love of the entire race; they prepare for it, and they lead to it, and they scoop out the channels through which its tributaries are to flow. Who shall sympathise so well with the oppressed people as the man who rejoices in his own roof-tree sacred, and in his own altar-home? &c. Now, these two obligations—the claim of private affection and the claim of universal sympathy—are not incompatible; but they fulfil mutually the highest uses of each other. God has taught in the Scripture the lesson of universal brotherhood, and men may not gainsay the teaching. I cannot love all men equally; my own instincts, and society’s requirements, and God’s commands, all unite in reprobation of that. My wealth of affection must go out after home, and friends, and children, and kindred, and country; but my pity must not lock itself in them; my regard must not confine itself within those narrow limits merely; my pity must go out farther. Wherever there is human need, and human peril, my regard must fasten upon the man, although he may have flung from him the crown of his manhood in anger. I dare not despise him, because, in his filth and in his sin, as he lies before me prostrate and dishonoured, there is that spark of heavenly flame which God the Father kindled, over which God the Spirit yearns with intensest yearning, and which God the Eternal Son spilt His own heart’s blood to redeem. There is no man now that can ask the infidel question of Cain, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” God has made man his brother’s keeper; we are to love our neighbours as ourselves; and if, in the contractedness of some narrow Hebrew spirit, we ask the question, “Who is my neighbour?” there comes the full pressure of utterance to enforce, and to authenticate the answer, “Man is thy neighbour; every one whom penury has rasped or sorrow startled—every one whom plague hath smitten or the curse hath banned—every one from whose home the dearlings have vanished, or around whose heart the pall has been drawn” (P. D. 2387).
I observe further that, as it is now, so in every age since the earliest, there have been distinctions of society in the world. It must be so in the nature of things; it is part of God’s benevolent allotment, as well as part of God’s original economy. A level creation, if you ever come upon it, is not the creation of God, &c. And so it is in society. It is of necessity a union of unequals; there could be no mutual cohesion, or mutual dependence, if we were one perpetual level. God has never made it so; in the nature of things, it could never continue so; and if by the frenzy of some revolutionary deluge all the world were submerged into one level of waters today, you may be sure that some aspiring mountain tops would come struggling through the billows to-morrow. It must be so; it is perfectly impossible, in accordance with God’s known laws, and in accordance with the nature of things, that there should be equality of society in the world. “God hath set the poor in his place,” as well as the rich, for He has said expressly, “He that despiseth the poor reproacheth”—not him, but—“his Maker.” And the announcement of the Saviour, “The poor ye have always with you,” is not only the averment of a fact, but it is a commendation of them, as Christ’s clients, to the succour and to the help of His Church. This benevolence, moreover, is claimed for them, specially enjoined on their behalf, because of their abiding existence as a class of the community (Deu_15:11). Hence the Saviour has especially commended them unto those who bear His name and who feel His affection shed abroad within their hearts, and He has commended them by the tenderest of all possible ties—“Inasmuch,” &c. And, moreover, the class from which the poor is composed will always be the largest class in society—must be so. The poor compose the army, gather the harvest, plough the waters, construct and work the machinery, and are the stalwart purveyors for all the necessity and comfort of life. Who shall say that they have not a claim upon the resources of the state they serve—aye, and in seasons of special need and in special emergency, upon the charity and upon the justice of the many who are enriched by their toil? Once recognise the relationship, and the claim inevitably follows. A sense of service rendered, and of obligation thereby, will deepen that claim into a closer and closer compass; and religion, attaching to it her holiest sanctions, lifts the recognition of the claim into a duty which the Christian cannot violate without sin. “I will have mercy and not sacrifice.” “Whosoever seeth his brother in need,” &c. Nay, as I said before—and I return to it because no appeal can be so inimitable in its tenderness and so omnipotent in its power—Christ Himself, once poor in the travail of His own incarnate life, and touched therefore with the feeling of their infirmities, adopts them as His own peculiar care, and, pointing to them as they shiver in rags or perish with hunger, gives them to the care of His Church, that they may be warmed and fed, pronouncing at the same time the benediction which in itself is heaven, “Inasmuch,” &c.
I just want to remind you for a moment or two of some of the peculiar circumstances which make this claim more pressing in connection with the liberality of the Churches now. You may meditate, if you please, for a moment upon some of the circumstances of the poor man’s lot, in order to enforce the appeal which Scripture and which reason unite to announce and to commend. I might remind you, for example, of the nature of the occupation in which so many are obliged to pass their lives. Their life is for the most part one dreary monotony of labour. His condition is like that of a traveller in the desert, going on and on through the stifling and interminable sand, with hardly an oasis breaking the wilderness, with hardly an Elim in which to quench his thirst. Day after day, through a cheerless round of drudging duties, must the poor man go—constantly the same—the mouth always demanding the labour of the hands. The family grow up around him, and the children are clamorous for bread. The task must be performed. Ceaselessly the wheel goes round. A strange failing comes upon the heart, but he must work; the lion limbs lose their suppleness, but he must work; the eyes get dim. and troubled with a confusion of age, but he must work—until at last, perhaps, a strange paralysis seizes him, and he reels and dies, leaving his wife to the cold bufferings of the world, and his children to the stranger’s charity, or perhaps to an early and a welcome grave. And then I might remind you of the circumscriptions of the poor from many of the sources of human enjoyment. They do not start fairly with their fellows in the world of intellectual acquirement. To them the sciences are sealed. Rarely can they kindle before a great picture, or travel to a sunny landscape, or be thrilled beneath the spell of an orator’s mighty words. Not to them are the pleasures of sense—the ample board, the convenient dwelling, the gathered friends, and all the appearances of comfort, with which wealth has carpeted its own pathway to the tomb. Theirs is a perpetual struggle between the winner and the spender, and unless they are blest at home, and happy in the consolations of religion, life will be to them a joyless birth—a weariness that ceases not; or if their does come a brief respite, it will be one that gives no leisure for love or hope, but only time for tears. Then I would remind you, too, of the pressure with which ordinary evils—evils to which we are all liable—fall upon the circumstances of the poor. There is no part of the world where the curse has not penetrated. Man is born to trouble everywhere, but all these common ills of life fall with heavier penalties upon the poor. They have to bear the penalties in their condition as well as in their experience. They cannot purchase the skill of many healers, the comforts which soothe the sickness, the delicacies which restore the health; and when the wasting sickness seizes them, they have no time to recover thoroughly. And then the maintenance of the poor—the bare maintenance—depends often upon contingencies which he can neither foresee nor control. If labour fails, bread fails, and homes fail. The more provident and thrifty may struggle against the coming calamity for a while, and live upon the results of their thrift and their care; but you can trace, as you may this day if that famine is protracted, the inevitable progress downwards. One by one the comforts are obliged to be parted with, until there is extremity of desolation. And then that is not all. The sickness comes. The fever follows hard upon the famine; through the noisome court the hot blast sweeps, and the pure air flees away at his presence. Comfort has gone; strength has gone; hope has gone. Death has nothing to do but take possession. And this is no fancy; it is no picture. There are thousands of the homes of your fellows—of “your own flesh,” where this ruin is enacting to-day. And then I might remind you again, of the temptations which come especially and more fiercely in connection with the poor man’s lot. The poor man must struggle for quiescence when he sees that the crumbs “from the rich man’s table” wasted, would furnish him not only with a meal but with a banquet. The poor man must have a stern fight to be contented when he sees, striving all his life as he does to be honest, that he is splashed with the mud from the carriage where fraud and profligacy ride. Hence it is that in times of distress, in times of discontentment, grievances are multiplied; there is a cry that is difficult to repress against those above them; they are denounced as selfish, tyrannical, proud. What more shall I say? It remains now surely that you address yourselves to the duty. Your pity, your philanthropy, your patriotism, and your religion have opportunities of charity to-day which they have very rarely had before. Let that charity flow as it ought—undiminished by any solitary misgiving, waiting to settle apparent discrepancies, or to rail at apparent apathy, or to solve economical problems—waiting to do all that until the famine is driven off from the heart of the hungry, and until the strickeu and sorrowful can again look up and smile. The duty is one from which none are exempt. God forbid that it should be an offering of the rich alone! Desolate homes, starving children, patient women from whose hollow eyes the worm looks out already, men smitten from their manhood into feebleness until they have lost almost all remembrance of the bold and brave beings they were—these are our clients. “Inasmuch,” &c.—that is our never-failing argument. “Ye know the grace,” &c.—that is our example. “She hath done what she could”—that is our measure. “Light breaking forth as the morning, health springing forth speedily, righteousness going before you, the glory of the Lord your reward, light rising in obscurity, darkness as the noonday, the satisfaction of the soul in drought, the land like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not,”—there, Divinely spoken, is our “exceeding great reward.”—W. M. Punshoa, LL.D. (in aid of the Fund for the Relief of the Lancashire Distress): Sermons.
Isa_58:7; Isa_58:10-11. BENEVOLENCE.
I. Is a Christian duty.
II. Has its seat in the soul. Is the expression of the soul. Finds its demonstration in practical fruits.
III. Must be associated with humility.
IV. Is specially acceptable to God.
V. Its reward.
Light in the soul—on the path—on the condition (Isa_58:8-12).—Dr. Lyth.
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.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v8 The Blessings Following True Repentance
The Blessings Following True Repentance
v. 8. Then, namely, when a person acts in accordance with the suggestion made in the first part of the chapter, shall thy light break forth as the morning, like the dawn of the Orient, which speedily covers the sky, and thine health shall spring forth speedily, the spiritual healing going on with great rapidity; and thy righteousness, the deliverance promised in the covenant, shall go before thee, as the pillar of Jehovah did at the time of the wilderness journey; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward, to protect him against any attack from that quarter. This is nothing else than the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the Messiah Himself. Cf 2Co 4:6; 1Co 10:4.
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v. 9. Then, namely, when this wonderful fellowship obtains, shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer, with a ready assistance; thou shalt cry, appealing to Him for help, and He shall say, Here I am, indicating His presence and readiness to help with the customary answer. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, removing every form of oppression, the putting forth of the finger, in a threatening gesture, and speaking vanity, things which would prove harmful to the neighbor;
v. 10. and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, opening his heart in true mercy, and satisfy the afflicted soul, offering it the desired relief, then shall thy light rise in obscurity, in the midst of the darkness of this vale of tears, and thy darkness, what seems to be the worst form of affliction, be as the noonday, filled with the glorious light of God’s kindness and mercy;
v. 11. and the Lord shall guide thee continually, throughout life, and satisfy thy soul in drought, whenever a time of spiritual want comes, and make fat thy bones, strengthening a man’s frame for endurance; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, a park with luxuriant growth, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not, such as do not disappoint the traveler by being dried up at the crucial time.
v. 12. And they that shall be of thee, their descendants, the members of their nation, shall build the old waste places, changing ruins into inhabited dwellings; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, all the cities of the Holy Land, but especially Jerusalem; and thou shalt be called The Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Paths to Dwell In, both activities making the dwelling in the Promised Land possible once more.
v. 13. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, the Sabbath being regarded as holy ground, which no unholy foot dared touch, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day, whatever pleases the natural heart of man, and call the Sabbath a delight, refreshment for the soul, the holy of the Lord, honorable, keeping it sacred in the manner commanded by the Lord, and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, in vanity and foolishness:
v. 14. then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, finding the soul’s true refreshment in Him; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, once more to occupy the hills of their homeland, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob, thy father, enjoying all the blessings promised to that patriarch; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it, a solemn formula to assure men of the fulfillment of God’s promises. Even as Israel, the Church of the Old Testament, could come to the enjoyment of Jehovah’s heritage only by true repentance, so the believers of the New Testament fitly keep the admonition of the Lord before their eyes, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. "
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues speaking to the people of Israel.
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Is not this the fast that I choose ... break every yoke?
Yahweh uses a question to teach the people about the kind of fast that pleases him. AT: "This is the fast that I choose ... break every yoke." (See: Rhetorical Question)
To release wicked bonds, to undo the ropes of the yoke, to set the crushed ones free, and to break every yoke
All of these phrases mean they should help those people whom the wicked are hurting and oppressing. (See: Metonymy and Parallelism)
Is it not to ... your house?
Yahweh uses another question to teach the people. AT: "It is to ... your house." (See: Rhetorical Question)
break your bread
This phrase represents starting the meal by the host tearing the loaf of bread apart. (See: Idiom)
translationWords
fast
evil
bind
yoke
free
bread
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 vv6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14 58:6-7 True fasting creates an awareness of injustice and…
58:6-7 True fasting creates an awareness of injustice and oppression and prompts the practitioner to reach out to help the needy in their struggles (see 42:7; Matt 25:35-36; Jas 1:27).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.