Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 58:8
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rearward.
Then shall thy light – (See the notes at Isa 44:7). The idea here is, that if they were faithful in the discharge of their duty to God, he would bless them with abundant prosperity (compare Job 11:17). The image is, that such prosperity would come on the people like the spreading light of the morning.
And thine health – Lowth and Noyes render this, And thy wounds shall be speedily healed over. The authority on which Lowth relies, is the version of Aquila as reported by Jerome, and the Chaldee. The Hebrew word used here, ( ‘arukah), means properly a long bandage (from ‘arak, to make long), such as is applied by surgeons to heal a wound (compare the notes at Isa 1:6). It is then used to denote the healing which is secured by the application of the bandage; and figuratively here means their restoration from all the calamities which had been inflicted on the nation. The word rendered spring forth (from tsamach) properly relates to the manner in which plants germinate (compare the notes at Isa 42:9). Here the sense is, that if they would return to God, they would be delivered from the calamities which their crimes had brought on them, and that peace and prosperity would again visit the nation.
And thy righteousness shall go before thee – Shall be thy leader – as an army is conducted. The idea is that their conformity to the divine laws would serve the purpose of a leader to conduct them in the ways of peace, happiness, and prosperity.
The glory of the Lord – The allusion here is doubtless to the mode in which the children of Israel came out of Egypt (see the notes at Isa 6:5).
Shall be thy rere-ward – Margin, Shall gather thee up. That is, shall bring up the rear (see the notes at Isa 52:12).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 58:8-14
Then shall thy light break forth
The secret of prosperity to nations, churches, and men
(Isa 58:8-10; Isa 58:14, Then, then, then, then ):–
I.
MEN AND CHURCHES CHARGE GOD FOOLISHLY, AND COMPLAIN WITHOUT CAUSE OF THEIR OWN LOW ESTATE.
II. GOD REBUTS THEIR BLASPHEMOUS CHARGE, AND ASSERTS THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF HIS DEALINGS IN AN APPEAL TO THEIR OWN CONSCIENCES AND COMMON-SENSE.
III. GOD RETURNS THE CHARGE AGAINST HIMSELF ON THE SINNERS OWN HEADS, AND REVEALS HIS SECRET, IF MEN WILL HAVE EARS TO HEAR. Then is the secret of light and darkness; of health and sickness, or want of spiritual vigour and vitality; of covenant righteousness in the enjoyment of covenant blessings, or apparent breach of covenant in the withholding of what is good; of glory, such as that of Israel in the wilderness, when the glory of the Lord was their rereward, when the pillar of cloud and fire was in the midst of them by day and night, or shame, as when the ark was in the hands of the Philistines, or the Assyrian or Babylonian invaded Gods heritage and profaned His temple; of prayers answered, or unanswered; of Gods presence manifested in undeniable! tokens, or denied, undiscerned, apparently withdrawn; of power to be Gods witnesses and workmen in doing good to others, or impotence, conscious inability to be fellow-labourers with God and for God, want of spiritual life and energy. Then is the secret–then, and not till then–then, and not otherwise–then certainly-then according to the promise of the covenant, and in the way of the covenant and kingdom. In further application of the text to ourselves learn such lessons as the following–
1. The salvation of the Gospel is salvation from sin itself.
2. In the Gospel, accordingly, blessedness and righteousness go together, and so also sin and misery.
3. There is under the Gospel no substitute for repentance.
4. Man, in all the work of salvation, from beginning to end, must co-operate with God. (R. Paisley.)
God the rewarder
If a person, a family, a people be thus disposed to everything that is good, let them know for their comfort that they shall find God their bountiful rewarder.
1. God shall 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; Isa 58:10). They that arc cheerful in doing good, God will make them cheerful in enjoying good. They that have showed mercy shall find mercy. Those that have helped others out of trouble, God will help them 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 riseth out of obscurity.
3. They shall always be safe under the Divine protection. Thy righteousness shall go before thee, as the 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.
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 Act 10:4).
5. God will direct them in all difficult and doubtful cases (verse 11).
6. God will give them abundance of satisfaction in their own minds (verse 11).
7. They and their families shall be public blessings (verse 12). (M. Henry.)
Break forth as the dawn
Break forth is the verb used in IsaGe 7:11; Psa 74:15, of the bursting of waters through a fissure in the earths surface; by a vivid metaphor the dawn was conceived as splitting the heavens and flooding the world with light The same word occurs on the Moaite Stone in the phrase from the splitting of the dawn. (Prof. J. Skinner,D. D.)
Thine health shall spring forth speedily
A healthy Church
I. ESSENTIALS OF A HEALTHY CHURCH.
1. A Scriptural constitution.
2. Nutritious food.
3. Pure air.
4. Regular exercise.
II. CHARACTERISTICS OF A HEALTHY CHURCH
1. Health is sometimes known by outward appearances. The rosy cheeks, the sparkling eyes, the sonorous voice, all testify to health. A healthy Church may be known by its prayer-meetings, contributions, missionary spirit, etc.
2. Health is known by tastes. A sickly mans taste is bad. Unwholesome dainties are preferred to strong meat. So with regard to an unhealthy Church. Silly anecdotes are preferred to good scriptural teaching. Thinks much of forms and ceremonies.
3. Contentment of mind. An unhealthy man is querulous and difficult to please. So an unhealthy Church. It is a fault-finding Church.
4. Work. Sickness disables a man for labour. Health stimulates to work. A healthy Church may be known by its labour.
III. THE DESIRABILITY OF A HEALTHY CHURCH. A healthy Church–
1. Is one of great comfort to itself.
2. Will survive through many trials. The healthy man is heedless of east winds, etc. So a healthy Church survives persecutions, etc.
3. Is attractive. People shun unhealthy Churches as they do fever dens.
4. Is one likely to live.
Lessons:
1. A morally sick Church is a great curse to a neighbourhood.
2. The sooner the better that many a Church should apply to the great Physician for spiritual healing.
3. The Church will by and by become perfectly whole.
4. When perfectly whole, diseased persons will no longer be admitted into its fellowship (Rev 21:27). (J. Williams.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. And thine health shall spring forth speedily – “And thy wounds shall speedily be healed over”] Et cicatrix vulneris tui cito obducetur; “And the scar of thy wounds shall be speedily removed.” Aquila’s Version, as reported by Jerome, with which agrees that of the Chaldee.
The glory – “And the glory”] Sixteen MSS. (five ancient) of Dr. Kennicott’s, and the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate add the conjunction vau, vechabod.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thy light: it is put in general for all happiness and prosperity; as all kind of adversity and calamity is set forth and resembled by darkness: but here more particularly for a comfortable and free estate after their dark and calamitous condition in the Babylonish captivity; for the like reason Josephus tells us, lib. 12. cap. 11., that the Jews instituted a feast to be observed by their posterity, upon the account of the service of the temple being re-established, which they called the feast of lights, because, saith he, so great a happiness broke forth upon them beyond their hope. Break forth as the morning: here is a metaphorical allusion in a metonymical expression, viz. of the efficient, describing the comfortable effect of humbling themselves in a right manner, which like the daylight shall
break forth from the blackness of their night of affliction, and bring with it the joy and comfort of all good things; and he doth not only say this light shall appear, but break forth, dart itself forth, notwithstanding all difficulties, as the sun breaks and pierceth through a cloud, noting how ready God is to help is people when they are rightly humbled, how quickly and how clearly salvation shall break forth upon them.
Thine health shall spring forth speedily: another metaphor to express the same thing, unless there may be this difference, the light with reference to their outward state, and health with reference to the inward delight of their minds, in both to describe the complete satisfaction they should have. Deliverances out of great pressures are often in Scripture represented by the recovery of health, as Isa 57:18; Jer 8:22; and this prophet especially delights in this metaphor, because all affliction is as it were a sickness to the soul, altering the heart and countenance; see Neh 2:2,3; and a recovery out of this estate maketh the heart glad, and the countenance cheerful, Est 8:16,17; Jer 33:6; compare Isa 58:10,11. Hence the LXX. render it; medicines. Thy righteousness; either,
1. Thy uprightness and sincerity, Gen 30:33. Or,
2. The reward of thy righteousness, by a metonymy, Isa 48:18; Psa 24:5; and here perhaps it may particularly relate to their works of mercy and charity, it being the thing in hand, and often so called, Psa 112:9, and applied by the apostle to this purpose, 2Co 9:9. It brings temporal, spiritual, and eternal blessings, and all this not of desert, but free grace, as a reward that naturally springs forth from the faithfulness of his promises, as the harvest from the earth, when the seed is sown; see Hos 10:12; so the fruit and reward of our righteousness springs not from our deserts, but from Gods righteousness, Heb 6 10. Or,
3. The witness of thy righteousness; by what thou doest thou wilt appear to be righteous, Psa 37:6. For such a notion as this was vulgarly sucked in, that adversity did never befall a person or people but for their sins, and was strongly urged by way of argument against Jobs integrity by his friends; therefore they being delivered shall be as a testimony of thy righteousness. Or,
4. The fruit and effect of thy righteousness, viz. the due, just, and right order of thy government, which, as Calvin saith, is a sign of Gods fatherly kindness; things that are now in a confusion he will bring into right order again, i.e. justice shall be duly administered, and men shall carry themselves justly all the land over: see Isa 32:16-18. Or,
5. Christs righteousness, Jer 23:6, compared with Isa 33:16. Then the meaning is, He shall go in and out before thee.
Shall go before thee; as it were making way for thy better state, as the break of day or the morning star goes before the sun.
The glory of the Lord, i.e. the glory of his power and providence, or his glorious power, shall be seen in bringing thee up from captivity, and defending thee free from their pursuit; or, as some, a glorious stale shall succeed this thy calamitous condition, and called the glory of the Lord to express the greatness of this glory, as very great mountains are called the mountains of God, and tall cedars the cedars of God. The glorious Lord, by a metonymy of the adjunct.
Shall be thy rereward, Heb. shall gather thee: thus the word is used concerning Dan, who was appointed to bring up the rear, or to. close up the march of the Israelites, when they marched through the wilderness of Sinai, Num 10:25. This office God takes upon himself; for it argues great skill and courage, and makes much for the honour and glory of a commander, both to gather up all the stragglers, that none be picked up by the enemy, which relates to the Hebrew word of gathering, and to secure and cover the rear of his army; thus the angel of his presence secured the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt, Exo 14:19.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. lightemblem of prosperity(Isa 58:10; Job 11:17).
healthliterally, along bandage, applied by surgeons to heal a wound (compare Isa1:6). Hence restoration from all past calamities.
go before theeThyconformity to the divine covenant acts as a leader, conducting theeto peace and prosperity.
glory . . . rewardlikethe pillar of cloud and fire, the symbol of God’s “glory,”which went behind Israel, separating them from their Egyptianpursuers (Isa 52:12; Exo 14:19;Exo 14:20).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning,…. Through thick clouds, or the darkness of the night, suddenly, swiftly, irresistibly, and increase more and more, till it is perfect day. This is to be understood best of temporal and spiritual prosperity, especially the latter, which will attend the churches of the Reformation, when a spirit of persecution is laid aside, and a spirit of love commences, which will be in the Philadelphian church state; and it particularly respects the glorious light of the Gospel, which will break forth very clearly, and shine out in all the world; and the light of joy, peace, and comfort, which will attend it, in the hearts of the Lord’s people; see Isa 60:1:
and thine health shall spring forth speedily; as the herbs and grass out of the earth, by clear shining after rain; by which is meant the healthful and sound state of the church in the latter day, when all divisions shall be healed; contentions and animosities cease; sound doctrine preached; the ordinances administered according to their original institution; true discipline restored; and all the parts of worship performed, according to the rule of the divine word; and so the souls of men, under all these means, be in thriving and flourishing circumstances:
and thy righteousness shall go before thee; not the external righteousness of the saints, or works of righteousness done by them; these do not go before them, at least to prepare the way for them into a future state of happiness, but follow after, Re 14:13, rather the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, and so theirs; or Christ their righteousness, the sun of righteousness, that arises upon them with healing in his wings, and from whom they have the health before mentioned; he goes before his people by way of example, as a guide to direct them, and as the forerunner of them, and whose righteousness will introduce them into the heavenly glory. Though perhaps the meaning here is, that their righteousness, in the latter day glory, shall be very manifest, both their righteousness before God, and before men; which will, as it were, visibly walk before them, make way for them, and protect them; see Isa 60:21,
and the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward, the glorious power and providence of God, preserving his people; or the glorious Lord himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, the brightness of his Father’s glory, he, as the word may be rendered, “shall gather thee” i; he gathers his people to himself; he protects and defends them; he takes care of the weak and feeble, and that are straggling behind; and he brings them up, being the reward, and saves them. The phrase denotes a glorious state of the church in the latter day, when the glory of the Lord will be risen on his church, and abide upon it, and upon all that glory there shall be a defence; see Isa 60:1.
i “colliget te”, V. L. Munster, Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The prophet now proceeds to point out the reward of divine grace, which would follow such a fast as this, consisting of self-renouncing, self-sacrificing love; and in the midst of the promise he once more reminds of the fact, that this love is the condition of the promise. This divides the promises into two. The middle promise is linked on to the first; the morning dawn giving promise of the “perfect day” (Pro 4:18). The first series of promises we have in Isa 58:8, Isa 58:9. “Then will thy light break forth as the morning dawn, and thy healing will sprout up speedily, and thy righteousness will go before thee, the glory of Jehovah will follow thee. Then wilt thou call and Jehovah will answer; thou wilt beseech, and He will say, Here am I!” The love of God is called “light” in contrast with His wrath; and a quiet cheerful life in God’s love is so called, in contrast with a wild troubled life spent in God’s wrath. This life in God’s love has its dawn and its noon-day. When it is night both within and around a man, and he suffers himself to be awakened by the love of God to a reciprocity of love; then does the love of God, like the rising sun, open for itself a way through the man’s dark night and overcome the darkness of wrath, but so gradually that the sky within is at first only streaked as it were with the red of the morning dawn, the herald of the sun. A second figure of a promising character follows. The man is sick unto death; but when the love of God stimulates him to reciprocal love, he is filled with new vigour, and his recovery springs up suddenly; he feels within him a new life working through with energetic force like a miraculous springing up of verdure from the earth, or of growing and flowering plants. The only other passages in which occurs are in the books of Jeremiah, Chronicles, and Nehemiah. It signifies recovery (lxx here, , an old mistake for , vestimenta ), and hence general prosperity (2Ch 24:13). It always occurs with the predicate (causative , cf., Targ. Psa 147:3, , another reading ) , oritur (for which we have here poetically germinat ) alicui sanitas ; hence Gesenius and others have inferred, that the word originally meant the binding up of a wound, bandage ( impontiru alicui fascia ). But the primary word is = , to set to rights, to restore or put into the right condition (e.g., b. Sabbath 33 b, “he cured his wounded flesh”), connected with , Arab. arak , accommodatus ; so that , after the form , Arab. (though rarely) arika , signifies properly, setting to rights, i.e., restoration.
The third promise is: “thy righteousness will go before thee, the glory of Jehovah will gather thee, or keep thee together,” i.e., be thy rear-guard (lxx , enclose thee with its protection; as in , Isa 52:12). The figure is a significant one: the first of the mercies of God is , and the last . When Israel is diligent in the performance of works of compassionate love, it is like an army on the march or a travelling caravan, for which righteousness clear and shows the way as being the most appropriate gift of God, and whose rear is closed by the glory of God, which so conducts it to its goal that not one is left behind. The fourth promise assures them of the immediate hearing of prayer, of every appeal to God, every cry for help.
But before the prophet brings his promises up to their culminating point, he once more lays down the condition upon which they rest. “If thou put away from the midst of thee the yoke, the pointing of the finger, and speaking of evil, and offerest up thy gluttony to the hungry, and satisfiest the soul that is bowed down: thy light will stream out in the darkness, and thy darkness become like the brightness of noon-day. And Jehovah will guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in droughts, and refresh thy bones; and thou wilt become like a well-watered garden, and like a fountain, whose waters never deceive. And thy people will build ruins of the olden time, foundations of earlier generations wilt thou erect; and men will call thee repairers of breaches, restorers of habitable streets.” , a yoke, is here equivalent to yoking or oppression, as in Isa 58:6, where it stands by the side of . (only met with here, for , Ges. 65, 1, a), the stretching out of the finger, signifies a scornful pointing with the fingers (Pro 6:13, ) at humbler men, and especially at such as are godly (Isa 57:4). , the utterance of things which are wicked in themselves and injurious to one’s neighbour, hence sinful conversation in general. The early commentators looked for more under , than is really meant (and so does even Stier: “they soul, thy heart, all thy sympathetic feelings,” etc.). The name of the soul, which is regarded here as greedily longing (Isa 56:11), is used in Deu 24:6 for that which nourishes it, and here for that which it longs for; the longing itself ( appetitus ) for the object of the longing ( Psychol. p. 204). We may see this very clearly from the choice of the verb (a voluntative in a conditional clause, Ges. 128, 2), which, starting from the primary meaning educere (related to , Arabic anfaqa , to give out, distribute, nafaqa , distribution, especially of alms), signifies both to work out, acquire, carry off (Pro 3:13; Pro 8:35, etc.), and also to take out, deliver, offer, expromere (as in this instance and Psa 140:9; Psa 144:13). The soul “bowed down” is bowed down in this instance through abstinence. The apodoses commence with the perf. cons. . is the darkness caused by the utter absence of light (Arab. afalat esh – shemsu , “the sun has become invisible”); see at Job 10:22. This, as the substantive clause affirms, is like the noon-day, which is called , because at that point the daylight of both the forenoon and afternoon, the rising and setting light, is divided as it were into two by the climax which it has attained. A new promise points to the fat, that such a man may enjoy without intermission the mild and safe guidance of divine grace, for which ( , syn. ) is the word commonly employed; and another to the communication of the most copious supply of strength. The does not state with what God will satisfy the soul, as Hahn supposes (after Jerome, “ splendoribus ”), but according to (Psa 68:7) and such promises as Isa 43:20; Isa 48:21; Isa 49:10, the kind of satisfaction and the circumstances under which it occurs, viz., in extreme droughts (Targ. “years of drought”). In the place of the perf. cons. we have then the future, which facilitates the elevation of the object: “and thy bones will He make strong,” , for which Hupfeld would read , “will He rejuvenate.” is a denom. of , expeditus ; it may, however, be directly derived from a verb , presupposed by , not, however, in the meaning “to be fat” (lxx , and so also Kimchi), but “to be strong,” lit., to be loose or ready for action; and b. Jebamoth 102 b has the very suitable gloss (making the bones strong). This idea of invigorating is then unfolded in two different figures, of which that of a well-watered garden sets forth the abundance received, that of a spring the abundance possessed. Natural objects are promised, but as a gift of grace; for this is the difference between the two testaments, that in the Old Testament the natural is ever striving to reach the spiritual, whereas in the New Testament the spiritual lifts up the natural to its own level. The Old Testament is ever striving to give inwardness to what was outward; in the New Testament this object is attained, and the further object now is to make the outward conformed to the inward, the natural life to the spiritual.
The last promise (whether the seventh or eighth, depends upon whether we include the growing of the morning light into the light of noon, or not) takes its form from the pining of the exiles for their home: “and thy people ( ) build” (Ewald, 295, c); and Bttcher would read ; but with a passive, although more admissible in Hebrew than in Arabic, is very rarely met with, and then more frequently in the sense of than in that of , and followed by a plural of the thing would be more exact than customary. Moreover, there is no force in the objection that with the active can only signify “some of thee,” since it is equivalent to , those who sprang from thee and belong to thee by kindred descent. The members born to the congregation in exile will begin, as soon as they return to their home, to build up again the ruins of olden time, the foundations of earlier generations, i.e., houses and cities of which only the foundations are left (Isa 61:4); therefore Israel restored to its fatherland receives the honourable title of “builder of breaches,” “restorer of streets (i.e., of places much frequented once) ” (for inhabiting), i.e., so that, although so desolate now (Isa 33:8), they become habitable and populous once more.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| A Charge against the People; Encouragement to Israelites Indeed. | B. C. 706. |
8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward. 9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; 10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: 11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat 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.
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 (v. 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. vi. 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 Prov. vi. 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 (v. 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.
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 (v. 8): “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning and (v. 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, Eccl. ii. 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. xxx. 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, Ps. cxii. 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, v. 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 (Acts x. 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, Ps. cxxx. 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, Deut. iv. 7. 6. God will direct them in all difficult and doubtful cases (v. 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, Eccl. ii. 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, Ps. lxiii. 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, Ps. xli. 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, John iv. 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 (v. 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, Ezra v. 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 Zec 7:5; Zec 7:9; Zec 8:3-5. It teaches us that those who do justly and love mercy shall have the comfort thereof in this world.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
8. Then shall break forth as the dawn (123) thy light. The Prophet shows that God is not too rigorous, and does not demand from us more than what is proper; and that hypocrites complain of him without cause, when they accuse him of excessive severity. When their works are condemned, they murmur, and reply that God can never be satisfied, that they do not know what they should do, or what course they should follow. He replies that he demands nothing else than a pure and honest heart, that is, an upright conscience; that if they have this, God will graciously receive them, and will bear testimony to their holiness, and will bestow every kind of blessing on those whose faults he justly chastises; and lastly, that there is no reason why they should murmur at him as excessively stern and harsh, because they will find him to be kind and bountiful when they shall lay down all hypocrisy, and devote themselves sincerely to his service.
We should observe the particle then; for it means that hypocrites, on the contrary, are very far from the true worship of God, though they wish to be reckoned very holy persons. But he holds them to be fully convicted, when he shows from their works that they neither worship nor fear God. By the word light he means prosperity, as by the word “darkness” is meant a wretched and afflicted life; and this mode of expression occurs frequently in Scripture.
And thy health. By “health” he means prosperity and safety, as we shall afterwards see in another passage, because the wounds inflicted by the hand of God on account of their sins had brought the people so low that they wasted away like a sick man under terrible disease. No kind of disease is more severe than to be pursued by God’s righteous vengeance, or consumed under his curse.
Righteousness shall go before thy face. “Righteousness” may be taken in two senses, either for the testimony of “righteousness,” or for good order; because God will put an end to the confusion, and will restore everything to its proper place. Thus the former meaning amounts to this, “When God shall be pacified towards thee, the testimony of thy righteousness shall be visible before God and men, as if some herald went before thee.” There are some who prefer to expound the word “righteousness” as meaning just government, which is the gift of God, and a token of his kindness as a Father; and we have seen that this word is sometimes used in that sense by Hebrew writers. But the latter clause which follows, And the glory of Jehovah will gather thee, leads me to prefer the former exposition, “Thy righteousness shall go forth;“ that is, “All shall acknowledge thee to be holy and righteous, though formerly thou wast guilty and convicted. So shalt thou also be adorned with the glory of the Lord, though formerly thou wast loaded with reproaches.” For we are reproached and disgraced, while we suffer the punishment of our sins.
(123) “As the pillar of the dawn bursts through the clouds.” Jarchi.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
A HEALTHY CHURCH
Isa. 58:8. And thine health shall spring forth speedily
I. ESSENTIALS OF A HEALTHY CHURCH.
1. A scriptural constitution. As Noah built the ark, Moses the tabernacle, and Solomon the temple, according to the Divine instructions; so a healthy church is formed according to the teaching of the New Testament and pattern of the churches planted by the apostles. The foundation must be well laid, otherwise the superstructure cannot but fall.
2. Nutritious food. As the body requires to be fed with a sufficient amount of wholesome food, so the soul must be fed with the bread which came down from heaven. Truth in its purity, without any adulteration, should be the souls spiritual diet (1Pe. 2:2).
3. Pure air. The man who breathes in a polluted atmosphere sows the seed of disease and death in the human body. So the soul which lives in an impure moral atmosphere greatly injures itself. The spirit of worldliness, and the society of evil companions, should be most carefully avoided.
4. Regular exercise. Physical exercise is one of the conditions of health, and is the means of saving many a doctors bill. In like manner, Christian work and the faithful discharge of religious duties is conducive to sound spiritual health.
II. CHARACTERISTICS OF A HEALTHY CHURCH.
1. Health is sometimes known by outward appearances. The rosy cheeks, the sparkling eyes, the sonorous voice, all testify to health. One invalid in a family puts everything out of sorts. A healthy church may be known by its prayer-meetings, contributions, missionary spirit, &c.
2. Health is known by tastes. A sickly mans taste is bad. Unwholesome dainties are preferred to strong meat. So with regard to an unhealthy church. Its taste is bad. Silly anecdotes are preferred to good scriptural teachingthinks much of forms and ceremonies, &c.
3. Contentment of mind. An unhealthy man is peevish, querulous, and difficult to please. So an unhealthy church. It is a fault-finding church. Never pleased with its ministry, with its officers, with its choir, &c. It fancies that matters are managed better everywhere than at home.
4. Work. Sickness disables a man for labour. Health stimulates to work. A healthy man cannot be idle. A healthy church may be known by its labour. It teaches the young, visits the sick and needy, supports the missions, &c.
III. THE DESIRABILITY OF A HEALTHY CHURCH.
1. A healthy church is one of great comfort to itself. Though a man has wide estates, baronial castles, chariots innumerable, and though he be rolling in wealth, if health fails, his chief comfort departs. So with a church. Though it may have a beautiful chapel, a crowded congregation, a large endowment; if lacking in spiritual health, its consolations are indeed small.
2. A healthy church will survive through many trials. The healthy man is heedless of easterly winds, and furious hurricanes. So a healthy church. It survives through persecutions, imprisonments, and martyrdom. Like the bush of old fires cannot destroy it.
3. A healthy church is attractive. Healthy neighbourhoods entice visitors. So healthy churches attract men into their communion, and make all who come better and holier. People shun unhealthy churches as they do fever dens.
4. A healthy church is one likely to live. Sickness is the precursor of death. When a church becomes morally sick, people will begin to speak of its death, funeral, and grave. But a healthy church will live. Its chapel may become dilapidated, its members may die, but the healthy church lives on.
LESSONS.
1. A morally sick church is a great curse to a neighbourhood.
2. The sooner the better that many a church should apply to the great Physician for spiritual healing.
3. The church will by and by become perfectly whole.
4. When perfectly whole, diseased persons will no longer be admitted into its fellowship (Rev. 21:27).J. Williams, Newcastle-Emlyn: Cofiant.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(8) Then shall thy light . . .The dawning of a new day, as in 2Sa. 23:4; the growth as of new and healthy flesh after long illness; righteousness, i.e., the sentence of acquittal in the eyes of all the world, as leading the van of a triumphant march, the glory of Jehovah following in the rear as a protection; all these images are heaped together to paint the fulness of blessing that follows on that true renunciation of the old evil selfishness of which fasting is but a symbol and a part.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. The blessings here mentioned follow true obedience.
Thy light Spiritual light, in which the obedient walk, is as the hopeful morning dawn.
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.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Blessings Following True Repentance
v. 8. Then, v. 9. Then, v. 10. and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, v. 11. and the Lord shall guide thee continually, v. 12. And they that shall be of thee, v. 13. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, v. 14. then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Isa 58:8. Then shall thy light, &c. Then [that is to say, if thou shalt join these, acts of love and beneficence to thy fasting and religious worship] thy light, &c. that is to say, “Thou shalt in a short time obtain the happy state which thou hast desired, and shalt also be delivered from the evils which oppress thee, and be entirely restored. Thou shalt have God for thy defender and protector, and in all thy prayers and vows, (Isa 58:9.) shalt find him propitious, and ready to hear thee.” Instead of, arukatheka, thy health, Vitringa reads, thy recovery. The idea at the end of the verse is taken from an army, the rear of which is particularly guarded and defended from any attack; or perhaps the allusion may be to the pillar of fire which attended the Israelites in their march through the wilderness.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
If we read these sweet promises with an eye to the gospel of Jesus, and interpret what is here said by this rule, they will appear most blessed. Jesus is himself the light of the morning, yea, of the morning without a cloud. Health and salvation, righteousness and peace, in him, union and communion, with all the blessings of the covenant, in Christ, will then appear to be what the Prophet hath described; and such blessed intercourse will be kept up, in prayer and praise, on our part, and gifts and graces bestowed, on the part of God, as may well come up to the character here given, that Christ is the repairer of the breach, and the restorer of paths to dwell in. So that it forms a lovely view of Christ. Psa 69:4 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 58:8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.
Ver. 8. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning. ] He saith not “shall appear,” but “shall break forth,” ut velocitatem et copiam dantis exprimeret, saith Chrysostom, that he might express the swiftness and bountifulness of God the giver of it.
And thy health shall spring forth speedily.
And thy righteousness shall go before thee.
And the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward,
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
thine health. Hebrew thy healing. Referring to the healing of wounds.
be = bring up.
rereward = rearguard. Reference to Pentateuch (Exo 14:19, Exo 14:20). Compare Isa 52:12.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
thy light: Isa 58:10, Isa 58:11, Job 11:17, Psa 37:6, Psa 97:11, Psa 112:4, Pro 4:18, Hos 6:3, Mal 4:2
and thine: Isa 57:18, Jer 33:6, Hos 6:2, Hos 14:4, Mat 13:15
and thy: Psa 85:13, Act 10:4, Act 10:31, Act 10:35
the glory: Isa 52:12, Exo 14:19
be thy rereward: Heb. gather thee up
Reciprocal: Lev 23:22 – General Num 10:25 – the rereward Deu 24:13 – shall be Jos 6:9 – and the rereward Job 30:25 – was Psa 18:25 – With the Psa 73:24 – Thou Son 6:10 – looketh Isa 33:24 – the inhabitant Mat 5:16 – your light Luk 16:9 – Make Joh 4:23 – true Joh 15:7 – ye shall Act 10:2 – which
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE DIVINELY GUARDED LIFE
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee: the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.
Isa 58:8
I. That the word prophet should so early in our language have come to be used as a synonym for a predictor is only an instance of the prevailing error which consists in looking for signs and wonders as evidence of Divine power.If a man possesses a superhuman commission he must be able to do superhuman acts. The true seer is not the magician, but the pleader for the righteousness of God.
II. The attitude of the prophet Isaiah is that of the forward-looking man.His eye is not so much lifted to heaven, or bent downwards upon the people, as it is turned ever towards the horizon, waiting for the dawn. It is for all nations that he looks forward with hope. The prophet was a predicter. He could not fail to be. The firmer his faith in God, the farther a man sees. The seer owes his power to faith. The believer sees and knows what the unbeliever cannot see or know. These are the two notes of the prophetic characterits hopefulness and its catholicity.
Canon Ainger.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Isa 58:8. Then shall thy light Matter or cause of rejoicing, break forth as the morning Arise as certainly and speedily as in the morning the light arises out of darkness. It shall not only appear, but break, or dart itself forth, notwithstanding all obstructions, as the sun breaks and pierces through a cloud. So ready is God to help his people when they are truly humbled! Thus quickly and clearly does salvation break forth upon them! And thy health shall spring forth speedily The recovery of thy former prosperous condition. Another metaphor to express the same thing. And thy righteousness shall go before thee To prepare thy way to safety and happiness; ensuring to thee, O my church, the peculiar direction and care of thy God, and the favour and approbation of wise and good men; see Rom 14:17-18. Or manifold blessings shall be bestowed upon thee, upon all occasions, as the reward of thy righteousness. The glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward The glorious presence, power, and providence of God shall protect and secure thee. Thus the angel of his presence secured the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt. Or, the meaning may be, A glorious state shall succeed this thy present calamitous condition.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
58:8 Then shall thy (h) light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall spring forth speedily: and thy {i} righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rear guard.
(h) That is, the prosperous estate with which God will bless you.
(i) The testimony of your goodness will appear before God and man.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
This type of reality would produce many good consequences. Light would dispel the Israelites’ darkness. They would recover their spiritual wholeness quickly. Their righteousness (God Himself) and their right conduct (cf. Isa 56:1) would precede them, and God’s glory would protect them. The piling up of blessings for repentance is clear in the "then . . . and" lists in Isa 58:8; Isa 58:10-12; Isa 58:14.