Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 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?
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.
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).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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.
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 Taylors 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 ( motah), which in the subsequent member is rendered yoke, and the word which is rendered undo ( hatr from natar), 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 ( vaytyrehu),
Even the ruler of the people, and let him go free.
And let the oppressed go free – Margin, Broken. The Hebrew word retsutsym is from the word ratsats, 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 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 ( chophshym) 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 chophshy (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 fathers 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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 58:6-7
Is not this the fast that I have chosen?
—
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.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
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!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
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.
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 debtors 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 anothers 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.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. loose . . . bands ofwickednessthat is, to dissolve every tie wherewith one hasunjustly bound his fellow men (Le25:49, c.). Servitude, a fraudulent contract, &c.
undo . . . heavyburdensHebrew, “loose the bands of the yoke.”
oppressedliterally,”the broken.” The expression, “to let go free,”implies that those “broken” with the yoke of slavery,are meant (Neh 5:10-12Jer 34:9-11; Jer 34:14;Jer 34:16). JEROMEinterprets it, broken with poverty; bankrupt.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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:
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”, Mt 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.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Vs. 6-9a: THE REWARD OF TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS
1. The fast that the Lord chooses involves opposite characteristics from those manifested in Israel;
It will break every enslaving yoke of wickedness, so that the oppressed may go free, (vs. 6; Isa 1:19; Neh 5:10-12; Jer 34:8-9; comp. Act 8:21-23).
2. Verse 7 sets forth the POSITIVE ACTION of a true fast, (Eze 18:5-9).
a. It will feed the hungry, (vs. 10a; comp. Job 31:19-23).
b. It will provide a home for the outcast, (Heb 13:2; comp. Isa 16:3-4).
c. It will clothe the naked, (Mat 25:34-36; Luk 3:11).
d. Nor will it hide itself from the needs of one’s own flesh and blood, (Deu 22:1-4; comp. 1Ti 5:8).
Vs. 9b-12: MARVELLOUS PROMISES
1. Again, Isaiah reminds the people of God that fellowship with the Most High requires them to renounce and put away such things as are contrary to His holiness, (vs. 9b); specifically, this involves: slavery, bribery and perjury, (Isa 59:13).
2. Then (vs. 10) he reiterates the necessity of unselfish care for others – bestowing on the hungry that which would be a delight to themselves (vs. 7; Deu 15:7-8) – with the promise that their light shall arise in obscurity, and their darkness shall be turned into noon-day brightness, (vs. 8; Isa 42:16; Psa 37:5-6).
3. Thus would they enjoy perpetual blessings from the Almighty, (vs. 11).
a. Jehovah will be their constant guide, (Isa 49:10; Isa 57:18).
b. Their souls will be satisfied – even in the midst of drought and barrenness, (Isa 41:17; Psa 107:9).
c. Divinely strengthened, they will become effective instruments in the accomplishment of God’s purpose, (Isa 66:14).
d. The effect of the Spirit’s being poured out upon them is likened to a watered garden and a fountain of water that never fails, (Isa 27:2-3; Jer 31:12; Joh 4:14; Joh 7:37-38).
e. All this is available NOW – not to Israel only, but to ALL who will trust in the Lord and yield their lives to His service.
4. Great indeed will be the glory of those who restore and rebuild the Holy City, (vs. 12; Isa 49:8; Isa 61:4; Eze 36:10-11; Amo 9:11-12).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
6. Is not this the fast which I have chosen? The Prophet shows what are the real duties of piety, and what God chiefly recommends to us; namely, to relieve those who are wretched and pressed with a heavy burden. But the Prophet appears to abolish fasting universally, when, in place of it, he enumerates those works which are most highly acceptable to God. I reply, fasting is approved when it is accompanied by that love which we owe to our fellowmen; and therefore the Prophet directs that we shall be tried by this principle, that our consciences be entire and pure, that we exercise mutual kindness towards each other; for if this order prevail, then fasting, which shall be added to it, will be pleasing and acceptable to God. But here he does not at all mention purity of heart. I reply, it is described by works, as by its fruits, from which it is easily seen what kind of heart we have. Next, he enumerates the duties of the Second Table, under which, as we have elsewhere seen, by a figure of speech in which a part is taken for the whole, he includes the whole observation of the Law; for it would not be enough to assist our neighbor by kind offices, if at the same time we despised God. But we must observe the Prophet’s design; because the love which we owe to our neighbors cannot be sincerely cultivated, unless when we love them in God. In order to make trial of our fear of God, he demands these as more immediate signs, if we live justly, inoffensively, and kindly with each other. Besides, he was not satisfied with outward appearance; and indeed the love of our neighbor does not thrive where the Spirit of God does not reign; and therefore Paul includes it in the enumeration of “the works of the Spirit.” (Gal 5:22) Thus when the observation of the Law is spoken of, not only outward works, but likewise the dispositions of the heart, must be taken into the account.
To loose wicked bindings. Some explain it to mean “sinful thoughts,” by which the hearts of men are entangled. But Isaiah appears to me to have had another object in view, namely, that hypocrites are exceedingly cruel in distressing the poor, and lay heavy burdens upon them. He therefore calls them “bonds,” or “bindings,” or, as we commonly say, “oppressions.” Of the same import is what he adds, to undo the heavy burdens, under the weight of which the poor groan and are overwhelmed. he again adds, “to let the oppressed go free,” and expresses the same thing in a variety of words. Thus the Prophet does not define what is meant by “fasting,” but shows what the Lord requires in the first place and chiefly, and in what manner our obedience can be approved by him, and what ought to be the dispositions of those who endeavor to fast in a right manner.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
A PLEA FOR THE DISTRESSED
Isa. 58:6-7. Is not this the fast that I have chosen? &c.
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 appallingthe 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 claimfrom 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 disprovedthe essential underlying identity of the human race, however chequered by the varieties of clime and of languageone 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 obligationsthe claim of private affection and the claim of universal sympathyare 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 societys requirements, and Gods 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 hearts blood to redeem. There is no man now that can ask the infidel question of Cain, Am I my brothers keeper? God has made man his brothers 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 startledevery one whom plague hath smitten or the curse hath bannedevery 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 Gods benevolent allotment, as well as part of Gods 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 Gods 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 reproachethnot him, buthis 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 Christs 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 tiesInasmuch, &c. And, moreover, the class from which the poor is composed will always be the largest class in societymust 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 serveaye, 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 beforeand I return to it because no appeal can be so inimitable in its tenderness and so omnipotent in its powerChrist 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 mans 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 goconstantly the samethe 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 workuntil 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 strangers 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 orators mighty words. Not to them are the pleasures of sensethe 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 birtha 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 evilsevils to which we are all liablefall 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 poorthe bare maintenancedepends 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 fellowsof 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 mans lot. The poor man must struggle for quiescence when he sees that the crumbs from the rich mans 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 oughtundiminished by any solitary misgiving, waiting to settle apparent discrepancies, or to rail at apparent apathy, or to solve economical problemswaiting 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 werethese 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 couldthat 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 soulon the pathon the condition (Isa. 58:8-12).Dr. Lyth.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
2. HOLINESS
TEXT: Isa. 58:6-12
6
Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
7
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
8
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy healing shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of Jehovah shall be thy rearward.
9
Then shalt thou call, and Jehovah will answer; thou shalt cry, and he will say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedly;
10
and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then shall thy light rise in darkness, and thine obscurity be as the noon-day;
11
and Jehovah will guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in dry places, and make strong thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
12
And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
QUERIES
a.
Why exhort them not to hide from their own flesh?
b.
What is putting forth of the finger?
c.
How would they raise up foundations of many generations?
PARAPHRASE
To the contrary, I do have standards for the kind of fasting that is acceptable to Me. If you will afflict your souls and truly repent, you will cease to oppress your fellow man and make every effort to free the oppressed from any unfair exploitation they may be under. If you will feed those who are hungry, give shelter to the outcast and the needy stranger, clothe those in need of something to wear and remember to minister to the needs of your own family, then you will be repenting as I wish you to do. When you do these things, the glory of Gods goodness will burst on your nation like the suddenness and brilliance of the morning sun. Your land will be cured of its chaos and wickedness rapidly. The glory of the Lord will completely surround you, protecting and sustaining you as in the days of old. Then you will be able to call upon the Lord and He will be able to answer. No longer will you be rebelling against Him and running from Him, but you will find Him and He will come to you.
Let Me repeat for emphasis, If you put an end to all the oppression, stop making contemptuous gestures and slanderous words toward peopleand if you turn in sympathy to the hungry and feed them and help all who are in need, then the darkness around you now will turn to goodness and truth as bright as the noon-day sun. The Lord will guide such a people every day and will bring life and health to them. Such a people will blossom with righteousness and produce the fruit of justice and give life to all about them like an ever flowing spring in an oasis. If you people will do this you will produce offspring that will build back the messianic nation that was once founded and is now in ruins. What you build, as a result of such repentance, will lay a foundation upon which many generations of the future may be able to build the messianic kingdom. You will be known as the people who repaired the ruined walls of Gods redemptive city and as the people who restored the way that leads to mans salvation.
COMMENTS
Isa. 58:6-9 a REPENTANCE: God promises wholeness to those who will keep His covenant. But Judah needs to repent before it can meet Gods standards of holiness. That is, the nation must change its direction theologically (repenting of idolatry) and morally (repenting of social transgressions). This has to be done individually, of course. If Judah will keep her covenant with the Lord as He wishes her to she will loose the bonds of wickedness, unto the . . . yoke . . ., feed the hungry, clothe the naked, etc. The word fast in verse six may be used generically to mean the total relationship of man toward God which would be covenant relationship. Micahs prophecy gives an excellent parallel to Isaiah; they were, after all, contemporaries. Micah, chapters 13, document the atrocious sins of the powerful against the weak; chapters 45 promise the messianic destiny of the Jews; chapters 67 announce to the people of Micahs day what they must do to cooperate with Jehovah in that destiny. The essence of covenant-keeping, according to Micah, is not spectacular religious ritual or sacrifice but simply being Godlike in the everyday, mundane relationships with both God and man. Micah puts it this way, He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God (Mic. 6:8).
It should not be strange to the people of Judah that one of their prophets would exhort them to care for the poor. The Law of Moses was very clear on caring for the poor (cf. Deu. 14:28 to Deu. 15:18). The Law of Moses was also explicit as to responsibilities toward ones own flesh and blood (family relationships). In such areas as training and discipline of children, levirate law of provision for in-laws, divorce, inheritance laws, etc., the Law is plain. It seems almost incredible that people should have to be reminded to take care of their families, yet even in the New covenant scriptures Christians are admonished, if any one does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his own family, he has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever (1Ti. 5:8). The Pharisees, rather than honoring their fathers and mothers by financial support in their old age, declared their assets Corban (devoted to God and unavailable for social security support). And the Pharisees were very religious people who were certain that they, above every one else, were covenant people of Jehovah!
If the people will repent (change) and turn back to the instructions of God in the Law of Moses, God promises three distinct changes will take place in their society: (a) Healing of the wounds and sicknesses of society will take place suddenly and brilliantly like the morning sun. In the land of Palestine, the sun seems to come up instantaneously, not gradually, as in lands with an abundance of trees and other things to block the horizon. (b) The righteousness they practice will be a source of safety and security for life and at the same time Jehovah will give His glorious providential safety and security. Judah will be surrounded by a security of righteousness. (c) Repentance will also bring renewed access to God. Jehovah cannot countenance a kingdom in rebellion. Man is created with a free will and the freedom to choose his spiritual Sovereign. If man wishes God to be his Sovereign, man must conform to the Sovereigns rule. As long as man rebels against the sovereignty of God, he cannot (because he does not want) have access to God. Jehovah will answer all who surrender to His sovereignty and call upon Him.
Isa. 58:9 b Isa. 58:12 RESULTS: There are grander and more gratifying results to add to the nation if it repents. The qualification is restated, but still the same: repentance. Evidently the putting forth of the finger was a kind of derisive, contemptuous pointing of the finger (cf. Pro. 6:13). It is listed here in connection with speaking wickedly and must have reference to slander or unjust accusations. God says men must repent of that. It is graphic evidence of a hateful heartone that would despise the hungry and have no compassion on the afflicted.
But look at the promised results of repentance: (a) continual guidance of Jehovah who is absolute truth, absolute justice, absolute righteousness. To the individual who repents will come a personal satisfaction of the soul like the desert nomads thirst is satisfied when he finds a cool, shady, bubbling spring of water. There will come personal wholeness and spiritual integration like a man feels physically when he is young and strong and in the prime of health. (b) The man who repents and keeps Gods covenant will also produce something for the benefit of others. He will become like a watered garden and a spring of water, whose waters fail not. Jesus said His disciples would become rivers of living water (cf. Joh. 7:37-39). The disciples of Jesus are to become salt of the earth and light of the world (cf. Mat. 5:13-16). (c) The man who repents will build the kingdom of God. Obviously, the rebuilding work of those who repent here is the rebuilding of the peoples covenant relationship to Jehovah in order that they may fulfill their messianic destiny and form the kingdom of God on earth (the church). Repairing literal walls and building literal foundations can in no way be the goal of this prophecy. Its only goal is to encourage the people of Isaiahs day to be instruments of Jehovah as He reaches toward the establishment of New Israel. And the church was founded on a generation of covenant-keeping Hebrews in the first century A.D. when the gospel was obeyed first in Jerusalem, then in Judea, then in Samaria and then in the uttermost parts of the earth.
QUIZ
1.
What is the word fast used for generically in verse six?
2.
What does the Law of Moses have to say about treatment of the poor?
3.
What does God promise to do for the nation and the individual who repents?
4.
How does covenant-keeping enter into this section?
5.
What may the individual enjoy personally as a result of his repentance?
6.
What may the individual produce for the benefit of others by repentance?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(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 prophets 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 Lords teaching (Mat. 11:29-30; Mat. 23:4). The Pharisees who fasted laid heavy burdens on mens shoulders. He, who was thought not to fast, relieved them of their two-fold yoke of evil selfishness and ceremonial formalism.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
The Call To Covenant Righteousness ( Isa 58:6-14 ).
Isa 58:6-7
“Is not this the fast that I have chosen,
To loose the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke?
Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry,
And that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house?
When you see the naked that you cover him,
And that you do not hide yourself from your own flesh?”
This is rather God’s approved way of fasting. Helping men to free themselves from their sins, working for social justice, obtaining freedom for the oppressed, breaking every yoke that binds men, feeding the hungry, caring for the homeless, clothing the poor, and being available to comfort and succour others.
‘Loose the bonds of wickedness.’ ‘Bonds of wickedness’ could refer to ‘bonds which are evil’, such as men being tied in by unfair business contracts, or harsh work contracts, or by the misuse of authority, or it may apply literally to wickedness seen as something that binds men. Either way it concerns the giving of freedom for those who are bound (see Isa 61:1).
‘Undo the bands of the yoke.’ The yoke was put on oxen in order for them to work together. It meant that they were under control, and submissive, that their every movement was determined. But applying the same principle to men was to put on them an excessive burden and was a restriction of freedom. The thought here is therefore of releasing men from burdens of life, from oppression and from being treated like animals (see Lev 26:13; Eze 34:27)
‘To let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke.’ This would literally indicate the freeing of bondmen unfairly held, and of prisoners put in prison by oppressive action, who were undeserving of such punishment. And also possibly of releasing men from onerous debts. It could include the delivery of men by wise judges from oppressive action. To ‘break every yoke’ includes the thought of delivering men from anything that prevents them from living in freedom and blessing. The whole emphasis is on compassion and freedom.
Providing food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless and clothing for those with insufficient is ever seen as the responsibility of God’s people. ‘Own flesh’ probably has relatives in mind and indicates the responsibility of a family to ensure that relatives do not go in need or without comfort.
Isa 58:8
“Then will your light break forth as the morning,
And your healing will spring forth speedily,
And your Righteousness will go before you,
The glory of Yahweh will be your rearguard.”
It is if they do these things that God will hear them and respond, with the result that light will break in on them, they will enjoy full well-being, and they will be protected to the rear (from those acting behind their backs) by His glory .
Reference to light breaking forth probably has in mind the coming deliverance which will be hastened by godly response (Isa 60:1), but also includes the idea of blessing in the shorter term (Isa 2:5; Isa 8:20). Jesus would tell His disciples that they must let their light shine before men, that they may see their good works and glorify their Father Who was in heaven (Mat 5:16). Reference to healing springing forth refers to the same. Such light and healing is always the product of godly and truly charitable living. The reference to righteousness going before, and Yahweh taking up the rear, probably has in mind the pillar of fire and cloud which during the journey through the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt represented the presence and protection of Yahweh over His people (compare Isa 4:5; Isa 52:12). Those who walk in God’s ways will enjoy a new Exodus, and their righteousness, and the righteousness imputed to them (Isa 53:11), will go before them as their guide and protector, while Yahweh Himself will protect the rear. Every generation can enjoy a new Exodus.
It may be that in this context ‘your Righteousness’, portrayed as an active person, is intended to be an indicator of the Servant, the One Who provided righteousness for them (Isa 53:11). He Who was their righteousness went before them. For elsewhere it is Yahweh Who goes before and behind (Isa 52:12).
As we recognise that Isaiah’s vision of the future was of a wide scope, including all God’s saving activity through the centuries, all seen as one, so do we see these promises as applying to the Old Testament elect, and then to the true church of Jesus Christ and then to the final acceptance into glory. Light will continually break forth for the righteous; healing, especially of the soul, will be their lot; they will be protected by the righteousness of God and of Christ, and God will watch over their backs.
Light is the opposite of darkness (Isa 5:20), and includes the idea of life as a light (Psa 27:1; Psa 36:9). They will enjoy God’s life at work within them. The days of darkness will pass from His own, and the way before them become illuminated by God’s illumination (Isa 42:16; Isa 51:4). Light will come to them through the Davidic king and the Servant (Isa 9:2; Isa 42:6; Isa 49:6).
Righteousness here gains its meaning from deliverance in righteousness (e.g. Isa 45:24-25; Isa 46:13; Isa 51:5; Isa 53:11; Isa 56:1), and stresses that the man who experiences God’s righteous deliverance and thus becomes righteous (Isa 48:18) will be protected by that righteousness, the very righteousness of God (Isa 54:17), a righteousness provided by the Servant (Isa 53:11), which goes before men, protecting and guiding them (Isa 52:12). It is very much an active, protecting righteousness, indicating the presence of the Righteous One and the Redeemer (Isa 52:12).
Isa 58:9
“Then will you call, and Yahweh will answer,
You will cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am’.”
The one who lives righteously as in Isa 58:6-7 will find that Yahweh will hear His prayer and will be available to him. God will respond to his every cry. And the same is true of the nation. Let them but become truly righteous and their cry will reach the ear of God. Once again we discover that there is no promise in Scripture that God will answer men’s prayers in general, but only that He will hear the cry of the truly righteous and of the truly repentant (Jon 3:5-10). But to them comes the assurance that His ear is always open to their cry when it is genuinely for what is pleasing to Yahweh. He will say to them, ‘Here I am’.
Isa 58:9-12
“If you take away from the midst of you the yoke,
The putting forth of the finger and speaking wickedly,
And if you draw out your soul to the hungry,
And satisfy the afflicted soul,
Then will your light rise in darkness,
And your obscurity be as the noonday,
And Yahweh will guide you continually,
And satisfy your soul in sun-scorched lands, and make strong your bones,
And you will be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water whose waters fail not.
And those who are of you will build the old waste places,
You will raise up the foundations of many generations,
And you will be called, the Repairer of the Breach,
The Restorer of paths to dwell in.”
These verses split into two halves, the condition and the result. The condition describes what God requires of those who serve Him. They are to seek to free men from burdens, they must never point the finger unjustly or unnecessarily or in contempt, they must never distort the truth. They are to reach out to the hungry, and to bring comfort to the afflicted, meeting their deepest needs. The ‘pointing finger’ refers to any method of making suggestions about others to diminish their reputations unfairly, whether by word, action or innuendo. It can also signify pointing in contempt. Speaking wickedly refers to lies, half-truths, gossip and unfounded accusations, or deliberately seeking to cause trouble by malicious words.
‘Draw out your soul to the hungry’ includes more than just charity. ‘Drawing out’ indicates an active concern and a willingness to give of oneself in order to satisfy their needs. ‘Satisfying the afflicted soul’ means going out of your way to ensure that such needy souls are comforted and provided for in every way. Both thoughts have a stress on self-giving.
The result of such living to God will be that light will come in the darkness, and the equivalent of the removal of mist by the noonday sun will result. Such people will enjoy His light and His blessing, and darkness and obscurity will be removed. When men begin to find faith difficult, and the light dims, the cause can usually be traced to deliberate sin.
‘And Yahweh will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in sun-scorched places, and make strong your bones, and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.’ God will also guide such people continually. Even when they go through arid and dry patches their souls will be satisfied from an inner spring. The word used for ‘sun-scorched’ is used only here . Its base meaning is ‘white’. So it is probably literally ‘sun-scorched (excessively white) lands’, i.e. the desert. He will ‘make their bones strong’. The bones represent the whole man. They are a man’s frame, they are what holds him together (Psa 51:8).
And they will be like a watered garden, continually refreshed and fruitful, and filled with flowers and fruit, and like a perennial spring that never fails, thus constantly refreshed and someone from whom others can drink.
So the truly righteous man will find light in the darkness, satisfaction in the deserts of life, strength in his bones and continual spiritual refreshment, and will be a source of refreshment to others.
‘And those who are of you will build the old waste places, you will raise up the foundations of many generations.’ The final blessing for the righteous man is continuation into the future and the production of a seed who will continue to bring blessing to mankind. These will build the old waste places, those places which have been wasted through God’s judgments. For they will be of the remnant who survive, and will be holy (Isa 4:3). There is no reason for seeing this as applying only to Jerusalem (compare Isa 1:7). The emphasis is on restoration of all that has been devastated. ‘The foundations of many generations’ may be another way of describing the ‘old waste places’, that is they are what many generations in the past have founded. These will be raised up by his seed. Or it may indicate the foundations of cities for future generations.
‘And you will be called, the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of paths to dwell in.’ ‘Repairing the breach’ meant building up the walls, ‘restoring the paths for dwellings’ referred to making the cities habitable. They will be responsible for the new beginning as thought of in Old Testament terms.
It is a good thing for a man to be seen as one who repairs breaches, who makes life secure for others, who restores for them the possibility of good living conditions, both literally and spiritually.
As ever this prophecy covered the whole future. Isaiah is enunciating a principle. Such righteous men of faith restored broken down cities in the time of Josiah, and later rebuilt Jerusalem and the other cities of the land, establishing Israel as a power in the land. The New Testament church rebuilt Israel anew, formed of both Jews and Gentiles, resulting in a spiritual city to which men could come to find life, peace and security (Isa 26:1-4). For the stress is on the fact that these people made a way for all the people of God, and helped to build them up and make them strong. The righteous are still building today.
Isa 58:13-14
“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, honourable,
And you will honour 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 cause you to feed with the heritage of Jacob your father,
For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”
Three things are directly described by Yahweh as holy. In Isa 56:7 we have had God’s holy mountain which was connected with His house of prayer, in Isa 57:15 we have the high and holy place where Yahweh, Whose name is Holy, dwells with those who are of a contrite spirit. Here now we have Yahweh’s holy day. Note that they are called holy by Yahweh and all bring about a connection between heaven and earth. They are the sacred means on earth by which His people can contact Him in Heaven (1Ki 8:27-49). All this connects with Isaiah’s vision of the threefold holy God in Isaiah 6, and with His constant use of the title The Holy One of Israel.
This is Isaiah’s third item in his list of ‘if you’ clauses (see also Isa 58:9-10). It reiterates the special importance of the Sabbath in God’s scheme of things, re-emphasising what has been said in Isa 56:2; Isa 56:4; Isa 56:6. But again the emphasis is on a positive view of the Sabbath. It is a day to delight in, it is honourable, and the emphasis seems to be not so much on avoiding work on the Sabbath, but as on doing God’s ways, seeking God’s pleasure and using our words positively for God, possibly in prayer, song, worship and teaching the Scriptures. This is expressed by negating the doing of their own ways, finding their own pleasure, and speaking their own words. This will result in their delighting themselves in Yahweh, and in riding on the high places of the earth, and in enjoying the heritage of Jacob. (Note the Isaianic trilogies).
It is true, of course, that the negatives could be interpreted as saying ‘don’t do these three things, do nothing’, but such an idea is not stated and the movements from ‘not doing your own pleasure’ to ‘calling the Sabbath a delight’, and from ‘not finding your own pleasure’ to ‘delighting in Yahweh’ and ‘riding on the high places of the earth’ suggest that a genuine positive movement is to be detected. The reason for revealing the idea by using negatives would seem to be in order to avoid the suggestion of concurring with the doing of something physical, which men could then use as an excuse for all kinds of things. It would also save Isaiah from criticism by extremists. It would seem that it was this positive aspect which was partly in Jesus’ mind when He performed His healings on the Sabbath day.
‘If you turn away your foot from the sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day.’ The first stage is to turn the foot way from ‘doing your own pleasure’. This is because it is a day separated to Yahweh, not just ‘a holy day’ but ‘My holy day’. It is His personal concern and is holy to Him, and therefore not for profane use. Thus all done in it should be concerned with Yahweh’s pleasure, and that alone.
‘And call the sabbath a delight, and the holy (day) of Yahweh honourable.’ The second stage is to see it as a delight and as honourable. To be a delight there must be something positive intended from it. It was a feast day and not a fast day (although the food had to be prepared the day before), and it was a day when men and women should delight themselves in Yahweh (Isa 58:14). It is honourable because it is worthy of honour precisely because it is Yahweh’s holy day.
‘And you will honour it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words.’ The day was to be honoured as His holy day by nothing profane being done in it. All self-indulgence and self-will was to be excluded from it, and there was to be no idle chit-chat, discussions on business matters, or gossip. Conversations were to be centred on the things of God. The exclusions, however, point to the inclusions. That what was honouring to Yahweh, or pleasant to Yahweh or words involved in the worship of Yahweh, were all to be permitted seems to be understood. But to put that too positively might have been seen as encouraging people to find a way round the Sabbath law and that could not be allowed. God was determined to preserve total rest for all servants, women, and slaves. (The great boon to all such of the Sabbath day must never be overlooked).
‘Then you will delight yourself in Yahweh, and I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth, and I will cause you to feed with the heritage of Jacob your father.’ Three positives contrast with the three negatives. The first is that they might delight themselves in Yahweh. This would seem to include worship and prayer and the singing of holy songs. It would also seem to allow the reading of the Law and probably teaching on it. And probably also helpful and spiritual homilies. It ensured that time was give for the education of the spirit.
The second is that they will be caused to ride on the high places of the earth. A similar phrase is found in Deu 32:13 (see also Deu 33:29; Eze 36:2). Amo 4:13; Mic 1:3 have ‘tread upon the high places of the earth’ speaking of Yahweh. The reference in Deu 32:13 seems to indicate Israel taking triumphant possession of the mountains of Israel (compare Amo 4:13; Mic 1:3 where it is Yahweh confirming His possession of the high places of the earth). Thus this seems to be saying that those who truly honour the Sabbath and the Lord of the Sabbath will triumph over God’s inheritance. They will inherit the promises and possess the fruitful mountains (Eze 36:8). In other words they will possess their God-promised inheritance in peace and safety.
(Those who insist on pedantically literalising these promises about the land on the basis that God must do be tied down to doing exactly what He has promised, ignoring intention, fail to recognise that if we promise our children a ride on the swings and then instead take them to Disney land, we are more than fulfilling our promise, for we have fulfilled the spirit of it. God’s promised inheritance was in terms they could understand at the time. Its literal finalisation will be in terms beyond their wildest imagination. Note how this fact is illustrated in Heb 11:10-14)
The third is that Yahweh will cause them to feed on the heritage of Jacob their father. So they will not only possess the mountains but will feed on the heritage passed down to them by promise. They will be amply supplied by God.
As before we can recognise that there is a threefold fulfilment. This happened literally in the centuries after the exile, it happened spiritually through the ministry of Jesus, and it will happen over-abundantly in the new heaven and the new earth when God brings all to conclusion.
‘For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.’ This will all surely happen because God has said it and will bring it about.
Note on Israel.
It will be noted that Israel is now no longer called ‘Israel’ but is continually described in terms of ‘Jacob’ or of ‘Zion’. In fact once the Servant has been called ‘Israel’ (Isa 49:3) and it is affirmed that He as Israel will bring ‘the preserved of Israel’ back to Him, to become a part of the Servant (Isa 49:5-6), the name ‘Israel’ only appears in 50-66 genitivally except for the reference in Isa 63:16 where Israel the Patriarch is in mind. See on that passage. This may be seen as confirming that once ‘Israel’ had come to its culmination in the One Who represented it as only He could (Isa 49:3; Mat 2:15), Isaiah wished to draw attention to this by ceasing to use the name. In Him Israel has come to its fulfilment in the Servant.
End of note.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Isa 58:6
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.
To loose the bands of wickedness,
And to let the oppressed go free.
And that ye break every yoke.
a Specul. Europ.
bands = pangs. See note on Psa 73:4.
to loose: Neh 5:10-12, Jer 34:8-11, Mic 3:2-4
heavy burdens: Heb. bundles of the yoke
oppressed: Heb. broken. ye break. 1Ti 6:1
Reciprocal: Exo 1:14 – was with rigour Exo 2:11 – burdens Lev 6:5 – restore Lev 25:14 – General Jdg 9:7 – Hearken 1Ki 12:11 – I will add 2Ch 10:11 – I will put 2Ch 28:11 – deliver Neh 5:11 – Restore Neh 10:31 – debt Psa 80:4 – how long Psa 103:6 – executeth Pro 21:13 – at Pro 24:11 – General Isa 5:7 – he looked Isa 14:17 – opened not the house of his prisoners Isa 58:9 – the yoke Jer 34:14 – At the Jer 50:33 – they refused Lam 5:13 – fell Eze 18:7 – hath not Hos 6:6 – I desired Hos 12:6 – keep Amo 4:1 – which oppress Jon 3:8 – let Mic 6:8 – to do Zec 7:9 – saying Mat 5:7 – are Mat 5:42 – General Luk 11:46 – ye yourselves Act 16:30 – brought Gal 6:2 – Bear Jam 1:27 – To visit
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.
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 {f} yoke?
(f) That you leave off all your extortions.
True worship 58:6-14
Isaiah contrasted God’s conception of fasting with that of His people (cf. Mat 6:16-18).
The type of fasting that pleases God is: giving up wickedness, oppression, enslavement, and binding of other people-not just food. Isaiah did not mean, of course, that God had no concern about His people going without food (cf. Lev 16:31). The prophet was going to the opposite extreme to make a point (cf. Isa 1:10-20; Amo 5:25-27; Mic 6:6-8; Luk 14:26).
"If they want to deprive themselves, let them do it for the sake of the oppressed, the needy, and the helpless, not for the sake of their own religiosity. God’s nature is to give himself away to those who can never repay him. There is no clearer evidence of the presence of God in a person’s life than a replication of that same behavior." [Note: Oswalt, The Book . . . 40-66, p. 503.]
God wants people to be free. That is why He sent the Servant, and that is why He liberated the Israelites from Egypt and Babylon. He wants His people to set others free, too.
"To loose the chains of injustice/’fetters of wickedness’ points to the need to labour for the abolition of every way in which wrong social structures, or wrongdoers in society, destroy or diminish the due liberty of others. To untie the cords of the yoke refers to the need to eliminate every way in which people are treated like animals." [Note: Motyer, p. 481.]
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)