Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 58:13

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, [from] doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking [thine own] words:

13, 14. A promise attached to the strict and cheerful observation of the Sabbath. See on ch. Isa 56:2.

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath ] treating it as “holy ground” ( ). The metaphor is translated into literal terms in the following clause.

from doing thy pleasure ] so as not to do thy business (as Isa 58:3).

call the sabbath a delight ] Great stress is laid on heartiness in the observance of this command; for a contrast see Amo 8:5. The next clause must be translated as in R.V. and [sc. call] the holy of the LORD honourable, and shalt honour it. “The holy of Jehovah” is a remarkable designation for the Sabbath, and all the expressions of the clause are peculiar.

not doing thine own ways ] so as not to do after thy wont (Cheyne). For pleasure render, as before, business.

nor speaking thine own words ] Lit. a word, i.e. “idle words”; cf. Hos 10:4.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath – The evident meaning of this is, that they were sacredly to observe the Sabbath, and not to violate or pollute it (see the notes at Isa 56:2). The idea, says Grotius, is, that they were not to travel on the Sabbath day on ordinary journeys. The foot is spoken of as the instrument of motion and travel. Ponder the paths of thy feet Pro 4:26; that is, observe attentively thy goings. Remove thy foot from evil Pro 4:27; that is, abstain from evil, do not go to execute evil. So here, to restrain the foot from the Sabbath, is not to have the foot employed on the Sabbath; not to be engaged in traveling, or in the ordinary active employments of life, either for business or pleasure.

From doing thy pleasure on my holy day – Two things may here be observed:

1. God claims the day as his, and as holy on that account. While all time is his, and while he requires all time to be profitably and usefully employed, he calls the Sabbath especially his own – a day which is to be observed with reference to himself, and which is to be regarded as belonging to him. To take the hours of that day, therefore, for our pleasure, or for work which is not necessary or merciful, is to rob God of that which he claims as his own.

2. We are not to do our own pleasure on that day. That is, we are not to pursue our ordinary plans of amusement; we are not to devote it to feasting, to riot, or to revelry. It is true that they who love the Sabbath as they should will find pleasure in observing it, for they have happiness in the service of God. But the idea is, here, that we are to do the things which God requires, and to consult his will in the observance. It is remarkable that the thing here adverted to, is the very way in which the Sabbath is commonly violated. It is not extensively a day of business, for the propriety of a periodical cessation from toil is so obvious, that people will have such days recurring at moderate intervals. But it is a day of pastime and amusement; a day not merely of relaxation from toil, but also of relaxation from the restraints of temperance and virtue. And while the Sabbath is Gods great ordinance for perpetuating religion and virtue, it is also, by perversion, made Satans great ordinance for perpetuating intemperance, dissipation, and sensuality.

And call the Sabbath a delight – This appropriately expresses the feelings of all who have any just views of the Sabbath. To them it is not wearisome, nor are its hours heavy. They love the day of sweet and holy rest. They esteem it a privilege, not a task, to be permitted once a week to disburden their minds of the cares, and toils, and anxieties of life. It is a delight to them to recall the memory of the institution of the Sabbath, when God rested from his labors; to recall the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, to the memory of which the Christian Sabbath is consecrated; to be permitted to devote a whole day to prayer and praise, to the public and private worship of God, to services that expand the intellect and purify the heart. To the father of a family it is the source of unspeakable delight that he may conduct his children to the house of God, and that he may instruct them in the ways of religion. To the Christian man of business, the farmer, and the professional man, it is a pleasure that he may suspend his cares, and may uninterruptedly think of God and of heaven. To all who have any just feeling, the Sabbath is a delight; and for them to be compelled to forego its sacred rest would be an unspeakable calamity.

The holy of the Lord, honorable – This more properly means, and call the holy of Yahweh honorable. That is, it does not mean that they who observed the Sabbath would call it holy to Yahweh and honorable; but it means that the Sabbath was, in fact, the holy of Yahweh, and that they would regard it as honorable. A slight inspection of the Hebrew will show that this is the sense. They who keep the Sabbath aright will esteem it a day to be honored ( m^ekubad).

And shalt honor him – Or rather, shalt honor it; to wit, the Sabbath. The Hebrew will bear either construction, but the connection seems to require us to understand it of the Sabbath rather than of the Lord.

Not doing thine own ways – This is evidently explanatory of the phrase in the beginning of the verse. if thou turn away thy foot. So the Septuagint understands it: Ouk areis ton poda sou ep’ ergo – And will not lift up thy foot to any work. They were not to engage in secular labor, or in the execution of their own plans, but were to regard the day as belonging to God, and to be employed in his service alone.

Nor finding thine own pleasure – The Chaldee renders this, And shalt not provide on that day those things which are necessary for thee.

Nor speaking thine own words – Lowth and Noyes render this, From speaking vain words. The Septuagint, Nor utter a word in anger from thy mouth. The Chaldee renders it, Words of violence. It is necessary to add some epithet to make out the sense, as the Hebrew is literally, and to speak a word. Probably our common translation has expressed the true sense, as in the previous members of the verse the phrase thine own thrice occurs. And according to this, the sense is, that on the Sabbath our conversation is to be such as becomes a day which belongs to God. It is not less important that our conversation should be right on the Sabbath than it is that our conduct should be.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Isa 58:13-14

If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath

Sabbath observance a Godward duty

If the true fast (Isa 58:3-7) typifies the Israelites duties towards his neighbour, the Sabbath represents his duties towards God.

(Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)

Turning the foot from the Sabbath

If thou turnest thy foot away from the Sabbath is equivalent to saying, If thou dost not tread its holy ground with the foot of week-day work. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)

The Sabbath day

We shall consider the words of the text–

I. WITH REGARD TO THE JEWS. With that view we shall state–

1. The reasons for the institution of the Sabbath.

2. The manner in which the prophet required it to be celebrated.

3. The promises made to those who worthily hallow the Sabbath day.

II. WITH REGARD TO CHRISTIANS.

1. Are Christians obliged to observe a day of rest?

2. Is that day celebrated with all the sanctity it requires? (J. Saurin.)

The institution of the Sabbath

Four considerations gave occasion for the institution of the Sabbath day.

1. God was wishful to perpetuate two original truths on which the whole evidence of religion devolves; the first is, that the world had a beginning; the second, that God is its Author.

2. The second reason was to prevent idolatry. This remark claims peculiar attention, many of the Mosaic precepts being founded on the situation in which the Jews were placed. Let this general remark be applied to the subject in hand. The people, on leaving Egypt, were separated, from a nation that worshipped the sun, the moon, and the stars. The ancient

Egyptians, says Diodorus of Sicily, struck with the beauty of the universe, thought it owed its origin to two eternal dignities, that presided over all the others: the one was the sun, to whom they gave the name of Osiris; the other was the moon, to whom they gave the name of Isis. Cod, to preserve His people from these errors, instituted a festival which sapped the whole system, and which avowedly contemplated every creature of the universe as the production of the Supreme Being. And this may be the reason why Moses remarked to the Jews, on leaving Egypt, that God renewed the institution of the Sabbath (Deu 5:15).

3. God was wishful to promote humanity.

4. In a word, the design of God, in the institution of the Sabbath, was to recall to the minds of men the recollection of their original equality: he requires masters and servants alike to abstain from labour, so as in some sort to confound the diversity of their conditions, and to abate that pride, of which superior rank is so common a source. (J. Saurin.)

Sabbath observance

I. THE DUTY is thus stated: If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, etc.

1. This, then, is the first point to be noticed with respect to the observance of the Sabbath. It is, says God, My holy day, the day which I have hallowed for Myself, which I have reserved for My own. We are no more at liberty to determine for ourselves how we will employ the Sabbath, than the Israelites were at liberty to determine for themselves to what uses they would put the tabernacle, or the temple, which had been built and sanctified for God, according to His direction and for His own peculiar service; and, by regarding any of the Sabbath hours as being at our own disposal, we are guilty of the same profanation with which the Jews would have been chargeable, had they determined to do their pleasure with respect to the uses which they would make of Gods holy habitation, respecting which He had said, This is My rest for ever: here will I dwell.

2. Let us suppose, then, that we have turned away our foot from trampling upon Gods day, by consulting our own will and inclination as to the way in which we employ it, and are wishing and waiting to know what is the will of God concerning it. The text thus proceeds: And call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable. To call anything is to give it a name corresponding with its nature, or to describe it by its qualities. We are to call the Sabbath a delight; or are to call the holy of the Lord, i.e the holy day of the Lord, honourable. Here, then, are two properties of the Sabbath, two points of view in which we are to regard it. It should be so distinguished from other days by the peculiar delight which it affords, as well as by the pre-eminent dignity with which it is invested.

3. The honour to be paid to the Sabbath is our part: the delight to be found in the Sabbath is Gods part. And the text proceeds to show that if we honour His day, God will surely keep His promise of making it a delight. Let us, then, carefully consider the way in which we should honour the Sabbath. What is said to be ore own is evidently distinguished from what belongs to the Sabbath. It comprehends whatever we have to do, or to delight in, which appertains to the six days work from which God ceased, and which He had ended on the seventh day, in contradistinction to what appertains to the seventh day which God set apart and sanctified and blessed. There is, therefore, no reference in these words to sinful ways, or to unlawful pleasures; but to the appointed duties and allowed delights of the six days which God has given to us for these purposes. Heaven–the rest which remaineth for the people of God–is described in the Epistle to the Hebrews as a Sabbath-keeping, a Sabbath-rest. The Sabbath is a figure of that blessed and holy state. Our own ways and pleasures, then, are those which belong to this lower creation; and which we shall have done with when we depart out of the world; and for these things six days are given to us. The things of the Sabbath are all such things as shall be perfected and enjoyed for ever in that city of Cod, in those courts above, where Sabbaths never end. These remarks will furnish us with a practical rule for determining what may be done and what may not be done on the Sabbath day. Where there is the single eye, that is, the simple aim, to do the will of God, all doubts will be readily solved and difficulties disappear, and the duty he made plain by asking such questions as these: Is this secular work necessary for the supply of our daily wants, for the relief of suffering nature, for the accomplishing the will and service of God? Is it indispensable to these ends that it should be done, and done on the Sabbath day? If, in the conscientious exercise of an enlightened judgment, we decide in the affirmative, then we may do such necessary things with confidence and comfort. But, even in these things, care must be exercised that they do not interfere, beyond the just and reasonable limits of necessity, and charity, with the appropriate duties and employments of the day. Not finding their own pleasure. Pleasure is here evidently contrasted with business, God has given to us not only our six days labour and work, but also our six days gratifications and sources of enjoyment. There are the delights of earth, as well as the duties of earth. There is Nature, with all her various works. There are also the pleasures of literature, in all their vast and various extent. There is, further, the enjoyment of social intercourse, and an almost countless number of modes of refreshment, for both body and mind, which God would have us to use, as opportunity is given and need may be, to invigorate us for the more serious employments of the head or the hands. But these are our own pleasure; and this we are not to find on Gods holy day. Mark the expression, not finding thine own pleasure. In order to find, we seek. Our own pleasure may casually come in our way; but we must not look for it, endeavour after it, or pursue it as our object, in any manner or measure upon the Sabbath. The pleasures which we must endeavour on this day to find must be such as are not of earthly origin or of mans invention, but such as will endure when the world shall be no more, and will furnish a part of the business and the bliss of the Christians happy and eternal home. Further, not speaking (thine own) words. Thine own, here, is in italics; it is inserted by the translators, and only encumbers the passage. The meaning is, not doing thine own ways, not finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking words; that is, not speaking words concerning thine own ways and thine own pleasure.

II. To such AN OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH A SPECIAL PROMISE IS MADE. Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord. If we make the Sabbath a holy day, God will make it a happy day. In the application of this promise to ourselves, we must suppose and take it for granted that we are reconciled to God. Then, in the very measure in which we honour the Sabbath, God will make the duties and employments of the day channels of joy and peace and sacred pleasure to the soul. And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, etc. This is a promise of national prosperity and temporal advancement, with a confirmation of the blessing pronounced by Isaac upon Jacob and his posterity. And, although these were shadows of better things to the Christian Church, and the fulfilment of this promise is now to be looked for in spiritual and eternal blessings, yet it has frequently been testified, on observation and experience, that a holy Sabbath has been followed by a happy week; and, when we honour Gods holy day, we shall not fail to find that His blessing still rests upon it. (T. Best, M. A.)

Early English law an the Sabbath

In almost the earliest, if not the earliest, code of English law–the laws of Enach, King of Wessex–there was a provision made for the observance of Sunday. According to these laws if a slave was forced by his master to work upon Sunday, he was by that very fact set free, and the lord had to pay a fine. If the slave worked by his own will and without the direction of his lord, he was subjected to corporal chastisement, and if a freeman worked on the Holy Day he became a slave. He lost his freedom, or else he had to pay what, at that time, was the almost impossible fine of sixty shillings. Now that law at the very beginning of English legislation may have had very much to do with the position that the Anglo-Saxon race has taken in the world. According to the promise of this old prophet the word of the Lord has said, I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth if thou keepest the Sabbath day. (R. F. Horton.)

The Sabbath a rest form self

I suppose the essence of this Christian Sabbath was never more perfectly described than in the words of the prophet.

1. The first principle of the Christian Sabbath is that there should be one day in the week on which we are not doing our own ways, nor finding our own pleasure, nor speaking our own words, that is to say, the Christian Sabbath is not to be, like the civic Sunday, rest from work, important as that may be, but it is a rest from self, which is all-important, and is, indeed, the creation and the preservation of the spiritual in man. It is a rest from self, not to speak our own words on that day, not to take our own pleasures, not to adopt our own way. I think we see what is meant if we put it in this way. Our life as men is literally rooted in God, and its health depends on our knowing it and recognizing it.

2. Now, when we have recognized that this is the purpose of the day we still have to consider how that purpose is best accomplished. According to the practice of the Old Testament, and, apparently according to the intention of the New, the sanctuary, the place of public worship, is the means by which that can be accomplished.

3. I think we ought to honestly face the question which is often raised at the present time, whether the life I am describing cannot be maintained without the sanctuary. Men say frequently to-day that they find they can really worship better in their own homes, and still more in the open country, than in the assembly of the house of God. Now, the only danger I see in that position is that by the very necessity of the ease it violates the first requirement of the Sabbath as it is here stated. You stay at home in your house or you go out into the country on Sunday. In doing that you are going your own way, you are seeking your own pleasure, you are following your own bent–that is to say, you are violating the very principle on which this Sabbath rests. And it does not seem very improbable that when you have violated the very principle at the beginning you will succeed in recovering it at the end. (R. F. Horton.)

A Sabbath-week

Common-sense must tell us that no man who is going his own way, finding his own pleasure, and speaking his own words, for six days in the week, will abstain from them on the seventh. The devotion, the obedience, and forgetfulness of self which should mark the devout worshipper on Sunday, must be his companions all the week through. And the exercise of those graces through the week must be our habitual preparation for the Lords Day. So that, in fact, the teaching of the prophet amounts to this–that the true servant of God will at no time do his own ways, find his own pleasure, or speak his own words, where ways, pleasure, or words will not be such as God would love to look upon. The Christian will seek Gods grace, that in all things he may follow the example of his Lord, who declared, I came not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. I appeal to your own hearts and consciences, to what you know of yourselves or have seen in others, whether any good has ever come to any of us, from going our own way, finding our own pleasure, speaking our own words? (R. E. Paget, D. D.)

Thine own ways

His supposed that Isaiah required the Jews to keep what has been called a Puritanical Sabbath. I believe that this is a complete misconception of the prophets meaning. Their own ways, which the people were forbidden to follow on the Sabbath, were the common secular labours of the week. Doing their own pleasure has no reference to recreation or amusement. Some translators render it doing their own business; but it probably means here, as it constantly means elsewhere, doing what they liked. Luther translates it admirably, doing their own will. They were to spend the Sabbath, as God had commanded them, in rest; they were not at liberty to follow their own inclination by carrying on their ordinary trade. Their own words, which they were not to speak on the Sabbath, were the words in which their business was transacted; words which, like the business itself, belonged to the other days of the week. What the prophet forbids on the seventh day is what the Commandment forbids–not pleasure, but work. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

Rabbinical prohibitions

The stricter Rabbinical schools built upon this general prohibition of all work innumerable minute precepts, many of which are so grotesque that to quote them would be to answer no other purpose than to amuse. One ingenious commentator, who happily appears to have had only a very few disciples, insisted that as it was a duty to rest from the beginning to the end of the Sabbath, all muscular exertion was sinful; and that, therefore, strict fidelity to the Commandment required that a man should remain during all the twenty-four hours of the Sabbath in exactly the same position, without moving a limb or a finger, a kind of rest which must have been very much more exhausting than hard work. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

The Sabbath compared to the best room of the house

1. Every house of any consideration has in it a best room. It is usually the largest in the house, and the most comely. It usually is furnished with the choicest things which the owner can afford, and represents the best outward estate of his household. Here is the best carpet. Here are the best colours. Here is the best furniture. Here are hung the best pictures. Here are the chairs burnished and covered. And here, it may be, is the sofa, luxurious with extra springs. The few choice treasures are put upon the mantelpiece, or on some corner shelf. Whatever there is that stands apart from common uses by being a little better the parlour receives. And this room is scrupulously kept–too scrupulously, often. All festive occasions are celebrated in it. It is the room of honour. It is here that we devote ourselves to our company when we would show them hospitality. It stands in the house as a perpetual reminder of beauty–what little beauty we can command; of hospitality–so much as we are able to exercise of it; of superiority. A best room is not simply an emblem of vanity, as cynics would say. To have a room which has in it choice things, is rather the unconscious inspiration of ideality, it is a desire to maintain it in the household; and it is a silent but real influence for refinement and for higher living.

2. It is a sad thing to see a person or a family that makes one day just like another; that does not care to make one day better than any of the others; that regards all things as good enough. On a low level, it is a moral influence that leads one to desire to dress better on some occasions than on others, and to spread a better table on some occasions than on others. It is aspiration in one of its lower forms. How, what the parlour is to the house, the Jewish Sabbath and its substitute, the Christians Lords Day, were meant to be to the week. The week is a house, and Sunday is the best room in it, and it ought to have the best things put into it, and it ought to be kept religiously; and it is to exercise upon all our time just the same unconscious influence, or conscious influence, as the case may be, which a well-prepared and well-kept parlour does invariably exercise upon all the occupants of the house. Every week was to have its parlour day. It was to be a day that should be looked up to by the young and the old as the best day of the week. In other words, it was to be a delight. It was to be honourable, and so, memorable. (H. W. Beecher.)

And call the Sabbath a delight

The luxury of the Sabbath

The word is a strong one, Delight, Delicacy, Luxury. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)

The Sabbath a delight

I. POINT OUT A FEW PARTICULARS WILL THE TRUE BELIEVER ESTEEMS AND CALLS THE SABBATH A DELIGHT; shewing at the same time why the natural man should find no delight, at least no holy delight, in that day.

1. Because it brings with it a cessation and rest from worldly cares.

2. Because on that day he hopes to learn much in the school of Christ.

3. Because of that holy communion which it allows with the people of God.

4. Because of the remembrances which that day brings with it. On the Sabbath God rested from His work. On the Sabbath, how many of our Saviours gracious miracles were wrought! On the Sabbath, how many spiritual miracles doth He still work! On our Sabbath day it was that our Lord burst the bonds of death. Is not here matter of pleasurable meditation? Salvation is finished; and man restored to the favour and presence and image of God I

5. Because it is a type and foretaste of the heavenly rest–of the eternal Sabbath.

II. SHOW HOW WE MAY EMPLOY IT SO AS TO MAKE IT MOST DELIGHTFUL. By giving the whole day to God, so far as possibly can be done, in spiritual exercises. (C. Neale, M. A.)

The brightest of days

We are to find in this day–

1. The joy of healthy repose.

2. The joy of domestic reunion and consecration.

3. The joy of eternal Sabbatism. (T. De W, Talmage, D. D.)

The Sabbath a delight

The day of worship should be a day of gladness.

1. It brings rest from the toils and cares of the week. From the dust; and the sweat, the grime and the languor, I shake myself free for a while. I reach an oasis, with palm-trees and a well, in my pilgrimage through the deserts. I sit down under Gods shadow.

2. It invites to the noblest exercises and employments. Mind and heart, lips and soul and all my nature, unite in prayer, in praise, in the study and contemplation of the things which are unseen and eternal. There is no work on earth to compare with it.

3. It introduces to the communion of souls. I go up to Gods house in company with many others. I realize that I am not alone, that I am a member of a brotherhood and family, that all around me are kindred souls. It is a thought that brings me strength, and that satisfies my love.

4. It lifts me into the presence of my Lord–Father, and Son, and Spirit. I dwell in His sanctuary. I hearken to His voice. I feel His quickening and invigorating touch. I receive afresh His baptism and unction. Behold, God is in this place, and it is for me the gate of heaven. (A. Smellie, M. A.)

The Sabbath a delight

If thou tallest the Sabbath a delight, because it leads thee to God; not a burden, because it leads thee from thine everyday life (Amo 8:5). (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)

The Sabbath a festive time

It is a festival time for mans higher nature in communion with the unseen. As the tired eye, which has been strained by long and close application to some work near at hand, rests itself by gazing on the far horizons or the stars, so there is a rest in lifting thought from the near and the lower objects which too often engross us, and fixing it upon the unseen and eternal. This is, perhaps, the grand reason for our Saviours own comment: The Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (A. T. Pierson, D. D.)

Honourable

The Sabbath made honourable

When do we make the Sabbath an honourable, glorious day?

1. When we make honourable preparation for it.

2. When we give it honourable entertainment.

3. When we have a precious esteem of every moment of Sabbath time, and are jealous lest any drop of it should run waste.

4. When we have a singular esteem of all the institutions and ordinances of the day.

5. When it is the grief of our souls that we can keep Sabbaths no better, and we strive cordially and conscientiously to keep the next better than we did the last. (T. Case, M. A.)

Nor speaking thine own words

Sabbath-speaking

Nor speaking thine own words. Talking talk. (J. A. Alexander.)

Useless words,

Useless words, void of meaning, and of needless number: the phrase, as in Hos 10:4, is here applied to unspiritual gossip and bombast. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)

Speech rest on Sunday

Hitzig on this passage remarks that the law regarding the Sabbath has here already received the Jewish addition, that speaking is work. But from the promise that Gods Sabbath-rest was a rest from His speaking the creative words (Psa 33:6), the only conclusion drawn was that one must rest on the Sabbath, in a certain measure, from speaking as well as working; and when Rabbi Simon ben Jochai called to his talkative old mother on the Sabbath, Sabbath-keeping is called silence, this was not meant to be understood as if speaking in itself were working, and all speaking on the Sabbath was therefore forbidden. The Rabbinical explanation of the present passage is as follows: Let not thy speaking on the Sabbath be the same as that on working days. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)

Better for the Sunday rest

Scientists say that telegraph wires are better conductors on Monday than on Saturday, on account of their Sunday rest. The well-proved fact that human beings profit by a weekly rest-day emphasizes the protest of Christian people against the secularization of the Sabbath. (Christian Budget.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 13. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath] The meaning of this seems to be, that they should be careful not to take their pleasure on the Sabbath day, by paying visits, and taking country jaunts; not going, as Kimchi interprets it, more than a Sabbath day’s journey, which was only two thousand cubits beyond the city’s suburbs. How vilely is this rule transgressed by the inhabitants of this land! They seem to think that the Sabbath was made only for their recreation!

From doing thy pleasure] The Septuagint, Syriac, and Chaldee, for asoth, manifestly express measoth. So likewise a MS. has it, but with the omission of the words shabbath raglecha. – L.

The holy of the Lord – “And the holy feast of JEHOVAH”] Twenty-eight MSS. (seven ancient) add the conjunction vau, velikedosh; and so the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate. One of my own has the same reading.

Nor speaking thine own words – “From speaking vain words.”] It is necessary to add some epithet to make out the sense; the Septuagint say, angry words; the Chaldee, words of violence. If any such epithet is lost here, the safest way is to supply it by the prophet’s own expression, Isa 58:9, vedabar aven, vain words; that is, profane, impious, injurious, c.

“The additional epithet seems unnecessary the Vulgate and Syriac have it not; and the sense is good without it; two ways, first by taking vedabar for a noun, and dabur for the participle pahul, and rendering, –

‘From pursuing thy pleasure, and the thing resolved on.’

Or, secondly, by supposing the force of the preposition mem to have been continued from the verb mimmetso to the verb vedabber immediately following; and rendering, –

‘From executing thy pleasure, and from speaking words

concerning it.’ But the first seems the easier rendering.” – Dr. JUBB.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

If thou turn away thy foot: this is taken either properly, i.e. If thou take no unnecessary journeys, or do any servile works, either of hand or foot, that are forbidden on the sabbath day, the instrument being here put for the work; or metaphorically, i.e. If thou keep thy mind and affections clear, and restrain thyself from whatever may profane it, as David did concerning the word, Psa 119:101. Feet are often put for the affections, Ecc 5:1, because the mind is moved by the affections, as the body is by the feet; If we do not let our thoughts be extravagant either upon impertinencies or unlawful things. The sum is, If thou be careful not to break the sabbath.

From the sabbath; or for the sabbaths sake, whether we understand it more largely, of the occasional sabbath in solemn humiliations or otherwise set apart for sacred services, which is called a sabbath, Lev 16:31; 23:32. Days of this nature were set apart before the captivity, Isa 22:12; Jer 36:9, and also in the captivity, Zec 7:5. And thus it may be pertinent to the occasion of this discourse, Isa 58:3. And further, though sabbath be here only mentioned, yet it may take in every institution of God that they were in a capacity of observing during their captivity; thus I conceive it is understood Isa 56:1,2. Or whether we take it more particularly, for the weekly sabbath, such a carriage doth God expect as doth become it. From doing thy pleasure, satisfying thy lusts, and the corruption of thy will, on my holy day, i.e. on my sabbath, which is a holy day. A delight; full of delights in thy judgment, not looking on it as a burden; and practice, performing the duties of it with cheerfulness, delighting in the ordinances of it: and so the sabbath by a metonymy is put for the works of the sabbath, the time being put for the things that ought to be done in that time; therefore calling here is not only a verbal, but affectionate calling, the understanding assenting, the will consenting, and the actions conforming thereto: this delight appears in the saints of God, in their breathings after it, as it did frequently in David, Psa 27:4; 36:8; 42:1, with many more.

The holy of the Lord; or to the Lord, i.e. dedicated to him, consecrated to his service. The Jews had a law that no man might take from the sabbath to add to the profane days but he might on the contrary.

Honourable, viz. the chief of days; worthy of all honour, and therefore honourable, because holy; and so shall honour, either it, i.e. the day; or him, i.e. the Lord, whose day it is. For to sanctify God and to sanctify his day is all one; compare Isa 8:13, with Exo 20:8; thus esteem it an honour as well as a pleasure.

Not doing thine own ways, or works, or course of life; a mans whole course being described by a way or walk, Gen 17:1; Eph 5:8.

Nor speaking thine own words, viz. that are properly thine own, i.e. thine own in opposition to what God commands, proceeding from the corruption of nature, and vanity of the mind; or not speaking words, i.e. vainly, impertinently, and not suitable to the work of the day, tending neither to thy profit nor pleasure; or rather injurious, revengeful, or reproachful words, contrary to rest, quiet, and sedate composedness of the sabbath. And thus it refers to what was their usual practice upon their solemn assemblies or sabbaths towards their poor brethren, which they are charged with, Isa 58:3, and is called speaking vanity, Isa 58:9; see there; and accordingly the LXX. render it, if thou speak not a word in anger.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

13. (Isa 56:2;Neh 13:15-22). The Sabbath,even under the new dispensation, was to be obligatory (Isa66:23).

footthe instrument ofmotion (compare Pr 4:27); menare not to travel for mere pleasure on the Sabbath (Ac1:12). The Jews were forbidden to travel on it farther than thetabernacle or temple. If thou keep thy foot from going on thy ownways and “doing thy pleasure,” c. (Exo 20:10Exo 20:11).

my holy dayGod claimsit as His day; to take it for our pleasure is to rob Him ofHis own. This is the very way in which the Sabbath is mostly broken;it is made a day of carnal pleasure instead of spiritual “delight.”

holy of the Lordnotthe predicate, but the subject; “if thou call the holy (day) ofJehovah honorable”; if thou treat it as a day to be honored.

himor else, it,the Sabbath.

not doing . . . ownwayanswering to, “turn away thy foot from the Sabbath.”

nor finding . . .pleasureanswering to, “doing thy pleasure.” “Tokeep the Sabbath in an idle manner is the sabbath of oxen and asses;to pass it in a jovial manner is the sabbath of the golden calf, whenthe people sat down to eat and drink, and rose again to play; to keepit in surfeiting and wantonness is the sabbath of Satan, the devil’sholiday” [BISHOPANDREWES].

nor speaking . . .wordsanswering to, “call Sabbath a delight . . .honorable.” Man’s “own words” would “call”it a “weariness”; it is the spiritual nature given fromabove which “calls it a delight” (Amo 8:5;Mal 1:13).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath,…. From walking and working on that day; or withdrawest thy mind and affections from all worldly things; the affections being that to the mind as the feet are to the body, which carry it here and there. The time of worship, under the Gospel dispensation, is here expressed in Old Testament language, as the service of it usually is in prophetic writings; though its proper name is the Lord’s day, Re 1:10, and is here instanced in, and put for all religious institutions and services to be attended unto, and which will be with greater strictness in the times referred to:

from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; that is, if thou turnest away, or dost abstain from doing thine own servile work, the business of thy calling; which may be agreeable for the sake of the profit of it; or from recreations and amusements, which may be lawfully indulged on another day:

and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of God, and honourable; take delight and pleasure in the service of it; in all the duties of religion, private and public, to be observed on that day; in reading and hearing the word, and meditation on it; in prayer, and in attendance on all ordinances; and reckon it as separated for holy use and employment, and on that account honourable; and so have it in high esteem, and desire the return of it, and not think the service of it long and tedious, when enjoyed, and wish it was over: or, “for the Holy One of God, and honourable”; that is, for the sake of Christ, the Holy One of God, in both his natures, and honourable in his person and office; accounting the sabbath a delight, in remembrance of the great work of redemption and salvation wrought out by him:

and shall honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; honour the Lord on that day, by not attending to any secular business, or walking abroad in the fields, to the neglect of private duties or public worship; by not seeking the gratification of the fleshly and sensual part, or indulging to those things which are agreeable to it; and by not speaking such words, or talking of such things, as relate to worldly affairs, or the things of civil life, but walking in the ways of the Lord, doing those things which are well pleasing in his sight, and conversing about spiritual and heavenly things; by such means God is honoured on his own day; and the reverse of this is a dishonouring him. The Jews o make this honour to lie chiefly in wearing other clothes on this day than on a weekday, and not walking as on other days, or talking as on them; yet they allow of thoughts, though not of words, about worldly things.

o T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 113. 1, 2. & 119. 1. & 150. 1.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The third part of the prophecy now adds to the duties of human love the duty of keeping the Sabbath, together with equally great promises; i.e., it adds the duties of the first table to those of the second, for the service of works is sanctified by the service of worship. “If thou hold back thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy business on my holy day, and callest the Sabbath a delight, the holy of Jehovah, reverer, and honourest it, not doing thine own ways, not pursuing thy business and speaking words: then wilt thou have delight in Jehovah, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the land, and make thee enjoy the inheritance of Jacob thy forefather, for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.” The duty of keeping the Sabbath is also enforced by Jeremiah (Jer 17:19.) and Ezekiel (Eze 20:12., Eze 22:8, Eze 22:26), and the neglect of this duty severely condemned. Chapter 56 has already shown the importance attached to it by our prophet. The Sabbath, above all other institutions appointed by the law, was the true means of uniting and sustaining Israel as a religious community, more especially in exile, where a great part of the worship necessarily feel into abeyance on account of its intimate connection with Jerusalem and the holy land; but whilst it was a Mosaic institution so far as its legal appointments were concerned, it rested, in a way which reached even beyond the rite of circumcision, upon a basis much older than that of the law, being a ceremonial copy of the Sabbath of creation, which was the divine rest established by God as the true object of all motion; for God entered into Himself again after He had created the world out of Himself, that all created things might enter into Him. In order that this, the great end set before all creation, and especially before mankind, viz., entrance into the rest of God, might be secured, the keeping of the Sabbath prescribed by the law was a divine method of education, which put an end every week to the ordinary avocations of the people, with their secular influence and their tendency to fix the mind on outward things, and was designed by the strict prohibition of all work to force them to enter into themselves and occupy their minds with God and His word. The prophet does not hedge round this commandment to keep the Sabbath with any new precepts, but merely demands for its observance full truth answering to the spirit of the letter. “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath” is equivalent to, if thou do not tread upon its holy ground with a foot occupied with its everyday work.

which follows is not elliptical (= answering to , an unnecessary and mistaken assumption), but an explanatory permutative of the object “thy foot:” “turn away thy foot,” viz., from attending to thy business (a defective plural) on my holy day. Again, if thou call (i.e., from inward contemplation and esteem) the Sabbath a pleasure ( oneg , because it leads thee to God, and not a burden because it leads thee away from thine everyday life; cf., Amo 8:5) and the holy one of Jehovah (on this masculine personification of the Sabbath, see Isa 56:2), “ m e khubbad ,” honoured = honourable, honorandus , and if thou truly honourest him, whom Jehovah has invested with the splendour of His own glory (Gen 2:3: “and sanctified it”), “not” ( = ) “to perform thy ways” (the ordinary ways which relate to self-preservation, not to God), “not to attend to thine own business’ (see at Isa 58:3) “and make words,” viz., words of vain useless character and needless multitude ( as in Hos 10:4, denoting unspiritual gossip and boasting);

(Note: Hitzig observes, that “the law of the Sabbath has already received the Jewish addition, ‘speaking is work.’ “ But from the premiss that the sabbatical rest of God was rest from speaking His creating word (Psa 33:6), all the conclusion that tradition has ever drawn is, that on the Sabbath men must to a certain extent rest as well as ; and when R. Simon b. Jochai exclaimed to his loquacious old mother on the Sabbath, “Keeping the Sabbath means keeping silence,” his meaning was not that talking in itself was working and therefore all conversation was forbidden on the Sabbath. Tradition never went as far as this. The rabbinical exposition of the passage before us is the following: “Let not thy talking on the Sabbath be the same as that on working days;” and when it is stated once in the Jerusalem Talmud that the Rabbins could hardly bring themselves to allow of friendly greetings on the Sabbath, it certainly follows from this, that they did not forbid them. Even the author of the ( ) with its excessive ceremonial stringency goes no further than this, that on the Sabbath men must abstain from . And is it possible that our prophet can have been more stringent than the strictest traditionalists, and wished to make the keeper of the Sabbath a Carthusian monk? There could not be a more thorough perversion of the spirit of prophecy than this.)

then, just as the Sabbath is thy pleasure, so wilt thou have thy pleasure in Jehovah, i.e., enjoy His delightful fellowship ( , a promise as in Job 22:26), and He will reward thee for thy renunciation of earthly advantages with a victorious reign, with an unapproachable possession of the high places of the land – i.e., chiefly, though not exclusively, of the promised land, which shall then be restored to thee – and with the free and undisputed usufruct of the inheritance promised to thy forefather Jacob (Psa 105:10-11; Deu 32:13 and Deu 33:29) – this will be thy glorious reward, for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it. Thus does Isaiah confirm the predictions of Isa 1:20 and Isa 40:25 (compare Isa 24:3).

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

The Sanctification of the Sabbath.

B. C. 706.

      13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:   14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

      Great stress was always laid upon the due observance of the sabbath day, and it was particularly required from the Jews when they were captives in Babylon, because by keeping that day, in honour of the Creator, they distinguished themselves from the worshippers of the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth. See Isa 56:1; Isa 56:2, where keeping the sabbath is joined, as here, with keeping judgment and doing justice. Some, indeed, understand this of the day of atonement, which they think is the fast spoken of in the former part of the chapter, and which is called a sabbath of rest, Lev. xxiii. 32. But, as the fasts before spoken of seem to be those that were occasional, so this sabbath is doubtless the weekly sabbath, that great sign between God and his professing people–his appointing it a sign of his favour to them and their observing it a sign of their obedience to him. Now observe here,

      I. How the sabbath is to be sanctified (v. 13); and, there remaining still a sabbatism for the people of God, this law of the sabbath is still binding to us on our Lord’s day.

      1. Nothing must be done that puts contempt upon the sabbath day, or looks like having mean thoughts of it, when God has so highly dignified it. We must turn away our foot from the sabbath, from trampling upon it, as profane atheistical people do, from travelling on that day (so some); we must turn away our foot from doing out pleasure on that holy day, that is, from living at large, and taking a liberty to do what we please on sabbath days, without the control and restraint of conscience, or from indulging ourselves in the pleasures of sense, in which the modern Jews wickedly place the sanctification of the sabbath, though it is as great a profanation of it as any thing. On sabbath days we must not walk in our own ways (that is, not follow our callings), not find our own pleasure (that is, not follow our sports and recreations); nay, we must not speak our own words, words that concern either our callings or our pleasures; we must not allow ourselves a liberty of speech on that day as on other days, for we must then mind God’s ways, make religion the business of the day; we must choose the things that please him; and speak his words, speak of divine things as we sit in the house and walk by the way. In all we say and do we must put a difference between this day and other days.

      2. Every thing must be done that puts an honour on the day and is expressive of our high thoughts of it. We must call it a delight, not a task and a burden; we must delight ourselves in it, in the restraints it lays upon us and the services it obliges us to. We must be in our element when we are worshipping God, and in communion with him. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! We must not only count it a delight, but call it so, must openly profess the complacency we take in the day and the duties of it. We must call it so to God, in thanksgiving for it and earnest desire of his grace to enable us to do the work of the day in its day, because we delight in it. We must call it so to others, to invite them to come and share in the pleasure of it; and we must call it so to ourselves, that we may not entertain the least thought of wishing the sabbath gone that we may sell corn. We must call it the Lord’s holy day, and honourable. We must call it holy, separated from common use and devoted to God and to his service, must call it the holy of the Lord, the day which he has sanctified to himself. Even in Old-Testament times the sabbath was called the Lord’s day, and therefore it is fitly called so still, and for a further reason, because it is the Lord Christ’s day, Rev. i. 10. It is holy because it is the Lord’s day, and upon both accounts it is honourable. It is a beauty of holiness that is upon it; it is ancient, and its antiquity is its honour; and we must make it appear that we look upon it as honourable by honouring God on that day. We put honour upon the day when we give honour to him that instituted it, and to whose honour it is dedicated.

      II. What the reward is of the sabbath–sanctification, v. 14. If we thus remember the sabbath day to keep it holy,

      1. We shall have the comfort of it; the work will be its own wages. If we call the sabbath a delight, then shall we delight ourselves in the Lord; he will more and more manifest himself to us as the delightful subject of our thoughts and meditations and the delightful object of our best affections. Note, The more pleasure we take in serving God the more pleasure we shall find in it. If we go about duty with cheerfulness, we shall go from it with satisfaction and shall have reason to say, “It is good to be here, good to draw near to God.”

      2. We shall have the honour of it: I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, which denotes not only a great security (as that, ch. xxxii. 16, He shall dwell on high), but great dignity and advancement. “Thou shalt ride in state, shalt appear conspicuous, and the eyes of all thy neighbours shall be upon thee.” It was said of Israel, when God led them triumphantly out of Egypt, that he made them to ride on the high places of the earth,Deu 32:12; Deu 32:13. Those that honour God and his sabbath he will thus honour. If God by his grace enable us to live above the world, and so to manage it as not only not to be hindered by it, but to be furthered and carried on by it in our journey towards heaven, then he makes us to ride on the high places of the earth.

      3. We shall have the profit of it: I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father, that is, with all the blessings of the covenant and all the precious products of Canaan (which was a type of heaven), for these were the heritage of Jacob. Observe, The heritage of believers is what they shall not only be portioned with hereafter, but fed with now, fed with the hopes of it, and not flattered, fed with the earnests and foretastes of it; and those that are so fed have reason to say that they are well fed. In order that we may depend upon it, it is added, “The mouth of the Lord has spoken it; you may take God’s word for it, for he cannot lie nor deceive; what his mouth has spoken his hand will give, his hand will do, and not one iota or tittle of his good promise shall fall to the ground.” Blessed, therefore, thrice blessed, is he that doeth this, and lays hold on it, that keeps the sabbath from polluting it.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Vs. 13-14: RESPECT FOR THE SABBATH ESSENTIAL TO ISRAEL’S PROSPERITY

1. The fourth commandment (Exo 20:8) was always an important cornerstone in the life of Israel – whether they remembered it or not.

a. The Sabbath was designed for man’s good – physical and spiritual, (Mar 2:27; Exo 23:12; Deu 5:14-15).

b. Judah’s failure to observe certain sabbath-responsibilities was a basic factor leading to her 70-year captivity in Babylon, (2Ch Isa 36:20-21).

c. One’s attitude toward the sabbath, which God ordained, manifests his real attitude toward God Himself!

d. The true “rest” of New Testament saints is found in a Person – Jesus Christ, the Son of God, (Heb 4:9; Mat 11:28-29).

2. If Israel would truly seek to honor the Lord (with regard to His appointed sabbaths), instead of seeking her own pleasure, then the Lord would marvelously bless her, (vs. 13-14).

a. She would learn the blessedness of joying IN THE LORD HIMSELF! (vs. 14a; comp. Rom 5:2-3; Rom 5:11).

b. The Lord would then exalt her in the earth – enabling her to feast on the convenanted heritage of her father Jacob, (vs. 14b; Gen 27:28-29; Gen 28:13-15).

c. Such is the word of Jehovah Himself – whose promise NEVER FAILS! (vs. 14c; comp. Isa 1:20; Isa 40:5; Jos 23:14).

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

13. If thou shalt turn away thy foot from the sabbath. Some think that the Prophet alludes to the external observation of the Sabbath, because it was not lawful to perform a journey on that day. (Exo 20:8) Though I do not reject that opinion, yet I think that the meaning is far more extensive; for by a figure of speech, ill which a part is taken for the whole, he denotes the whole course of human life; as it is very customary to employ the word “going” or “walking” to denote our life. He says, therefore, “If thou cease to advance in thy course, if thou shut up thy path, walk not according to thine own will,”’ etc. For this is to “turn away the foot from the Sabbath,” when we lay ourselves under the necessity of wandering freely and without restraint in our own sinful desires. As he formerly included under the class of fasting all ceremonies and outward masks, in which they made their holiness to consist, and showed that they were vain and unprofitable; so in this passage he points out the true observation of the Sabbath, that they may not think that it consists in external idleness but in true self­denial, so as to abstain from every act of injustice and wickedness, and from all lusts and wicked thoughts. First, by the word “foot” he denotes actions; because the Jews, though they did not venture to perform a journey, or to cook flesh on a Sabbath­day, yet did not scruple to harass their neighbors and to mock at the afflicted. Yet he immediately passes on to the will and to speeches, so as to include every part of the obedience which we owe to God.

And shalt call the Sabbath a delight This word, “delight,” must be viewed as referring to God, and not to men; because nothing can be more pleasing or acceptable to God, titan the observation of the Sabbath, and sincere worship. He carefully inculcates this, that men do wrong, if, laying aside the commandments of God, they esteem highly those things which are of no value; and he warns them that they ought to form their judgment from his will alone. Certain classes of duties are again enumerated by him, by which he shows clearly that the true observation of the Sabbath consists in self­denial and thorough conversion. And thus he pronounces the foundation to be the will, from which proceed speeches, and next actions; for we speak what we have conceived in our heart, and by speech we make known our will, and afterwards carry it into effect. Whoever then wishes to serve God in a proper manner, must altogether renounce his flesh and his will. And hence we see the reason why God so highly recommends, in the whole Scripture, the observation of the Sabbath; for he contemplated something higher than the outward ceremony, that is, indolence and repose, in which the Jews thought that the greatest holiness consisted. On the contrary, he commanded the Jews to renounce the desires of the flesh, to give up their sinful inclinations, and to yield obedience to him; as no man can meditate on the heavenly life, unless he be dead to the world and to himself. Now, although that ceremony has been abolished, nevertheless the truth remains; because Christ died and rose again, so that we have a continual sabbath; that is, we are released from our works, that the Spirit of God may work mightily in us.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

THE SABBATH [1737]

[1737] See outlines on Isa. 56:2; Isa. 56:6; and Dr. Barnes Commentary in loco.

Isa. 58:13-14. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, &c.

The first religious ordinance instituted by God in this new created earth was the Sabbath; the day of rest after six days work. Most remarkable was the manner of the institutionby the example of Almighty God Himself (Gen. 2:1-3). Instituted by God between two and three thousand years before the law was given upon Mount Sinai as an ordinance for the Jews, it was designed to promote mans temporal as well as his spiritual good; on its due observance mans welfare, both here and hereafter, very mainly depends; by its neglect God is dishonoured, and man is wounded and hurt.

I. How THE LORDS DAY IS TO BE SANCTIFIED.

1. By public worship. On that day especially we are to pay unto Him the worship due unto His name. Public worship is a debt we owe to God (Psa. 29:2; Psa. 96:8); and we should be as careful to pay it as we are the debts we owe our fellow-men.

2. By private meditation and prayer. We are to regard it as a day of rest and cessation from the common business and occupation of life, as a season dedicated to God. Our conversation and our thoughts are to be directed, not to temporal, but to spiritual concerns. Let us reflect upon the things of which it reminds usthe creation of the world, the resurrection of Christ; and of that which it foreshadowsthe everlasting rest which remaineth for the people of God.

II. THE BLESSINGS WHICH FOLLOW UPON A DUE OBSERVANCE OF THE LORDS DAY.

1. We shall grow in wisdom and grace.
2. Even in this imperfect and troublesome world, we shall learn to delight ourselves in the Lord.
3. When the number of earthly Sabbaths is complete, we shall be found, by Gods grace, meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.

III. THE EVIL EFFECTS WHICH ALWAYS FOLLOW PROFANED AND NEGLECTED SABBATHS.

1. The world, with its drying, withering influence, will take entire possession of the heart. Even when the Lords Day is only occasionally neglected, the natural result does not fail to followreligion is at a stand-still. But where it is habitually profaned, irreligion, hardness of heart, utter indifference and carelessness about the soul, about God, and about eternity, inevitably ensue.

2. The natural faults and corruptions of our nature, being never checked by the wholesome bridle of Gods Word, will run away with us, and never stop until they have urged us into perdition. Sabbaths spent in idleness and bad company have often to young men and women, in the highest as well as the lowest walks of life, been the first links of a chain, of which the middle were vice, crime, shame, death; and the last link, the tormenting flame!

3. We shall find unbroken toil a sore burden.
4. Death, instead of bringing us rest, will increase our burden a thousandfold in the kingdom of darkness.Bishop Hervey: Sermons for the Sundays and Principal Holydays throughout the Year, vol. i. 122133.

The law of the Sabbath, as instituted at the creation, and subsequently inserted in the Decalogue, instead of being repealed, retains its full authority. The sacredness of the obligation of its observance is now transferred, with undiminished force, from the seventh day of the week to the first. The sanctification of the Sabbath is still required on the same principles, in the same spirit, and for the same purposes. The only difference is, that the motives which impel to its due observance have acquired an accession of strength. Most important, therefore, is the inquiry on which we are now about to enter: In what manner should the Sabbath be observed?

The due sanctification of the Sabbath requires,
I. A cessation from the ordinary labours and occupations of life.

II. A consecration of the entire day to the spiritual engagements and delights which peculiarly belong to it. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; that is, let the entire day be separated from the occupations of other days, and consecrated to the service and enjoyment of God.

III. The public acknowledgment and adoration of our God and Saviour, in acts of social worship.

IV. The conscientious and diligent discharge of the domestic duties of religion. With much prayer, tenderness, perseverance, and ingenuity, let Sabbath opportunities be used for the purposes of Christian education (H. E. I., 803806). Let not your servants be neglected. They have many claims on your Christian regard. Let them have reason to bless God for entering your family. Consult and adopt the best means of promoting their eternal interests.

V. The performance of the works of charity and mercy.H. P. Burder, D.D.: Sermons, pp. 426448.

I. Our first object must be to see what Gods Word tells us respecting the origin, meaning, and importance of the primitive Sabbath. I. How far do these things apply to us? Is it Gods will that we should still set apart one day in seven as a season of holy rest? III. What are some of the purposes of the institution of the Lords Day?C. J. Vaughan, D.D.: Sermons, pp. 255291.

I. The true Sabbath. II. Its obligation. III. Advantage.
I. In what light we should regard the Sabbath. II. How we should employ it. III. The benefits arising from its proper observance.
I. The proper observance of the Sabbath. Its rest, pleasures, occupations, conversation. II. The consequent blessings.

1. Delight in the Lord.

2. Exaltationvictory over enemies, freedom from all false systems of worship (2Ch. 34:3; Eph. 6:12).

3. Prosperityabundance of spiritual food (Deu. 32:13-14; Isa. 49:9); assurance of final security (Psa. 28:9). III. The confirmation. God is faithful, cannot deceive; He will do as He has said (Num. 23:19; Psa. 22:5; Job. 23:13).J. Lyth, D.D.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

3. HERITAGE

TEXT: Isa. 58:13-14

13

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, and the holy of Jehovah honorable; and shalt honor it, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

14

then shalt thou delight thyself in Jehovah; and I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth; and I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken-it.

QUERIES

a.

Why is the sabbath so important?

b.

How will they ride upon the high places?

PARAPHRASE

You people must stop kicking around My sabbath day and wiping your feet on it as something that can be desecrated by exploiting it for your own greedy gain. You must cherish My sabbath as that which is exquisitely precious, that which you delight in and honor. You must honor My sabbath by ceasing to take the day to concentrate on your own indulgence and talking of everything but Me. If you will take this attitude toward My sabbath and cherish Me, then I will exalt you and make you conquerors. I will give you the spiritual birthright which I promised to your ancestor Jacob. That will sustain you for all eternity. These are the words of Jehovah the omnipotent God!

COMMENTS

Isa. 58:13 DEVOTION: The Hebrew word oneg (Isa. 58:13) or te annag (Isa. 58:14) is translated delight but means literally, delicate, exquisite, luxurious. The Lord is insisting that His people cherish His sabbath. They are presently trampling it under foot, so to speak, as of no more value than something to wipe their feet on. It is being used as a day for planning self-indulgence. They are gathering on Gods holy day, a day set aside to think and talk of Him, to talk of making money and plan ways to circumvent His Law (Amo. 8:5).

Why is the Sabbath so significant? It was the one condition or requirement that could provide a covenant-keeping relationship that would bring the Hebrew closer to Jehovah than any other. The Sabbath was instituted and set aside as holy unto the Lord long before the Mosaic law. It was consecrated from the beginning of creation. It was given as a type and symbol of the cessation from labor (or rest) into which one enters when entering into covenant relationship provided by Christ. In other words, the old sabbath was an experience symbolic of the Christian experience. The sabbath rest remaining in Heb. 4:9-10 was being entered by the ones believing (Gr. oi pisteusantes, present tense) of Heb. 4:3. In other words, the one who believes Christ and becomes a Christian does (present tense) enter the rest God symbolized by the old sabbath day (cf. also Mat. 11:28-30). Of course, the Christians present rest will some day be finally and ultimately consummated in the new heaven and new earth when he will cease from his labors (cf. Rev. 14:13, etc.). That is why proper relationship to God for those of Isaiahs day be expressed by proper attitude toward Gods sabbath day! It had to do with all that God was going to do in salvation and redemption in the Messiah and His kingdom.

Isa. 58:14 DOMINION: Proper attitude and action toward Gods revealed will (in this case the Sabbath law) logically results in proper attitude and action toward the personhood of God. If a man cherishes Gods laws (Psa. 119:1 ff), he will cherish God. Actually the relationship is cyclical. We must first cherish God in order to cherish His law, But the more we cherish His law, the more we will cherish Him! The more we luxuriate in God and His will, the higher we will ride! The phrase,. . . make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth . . . symbolizes victory, conquest, dominion. If we have faith as a grain of mustard seed (cf. Luk. 17:5-6) we can do mighty, victorious, conquering things. The mustard seed means qualitative, not quantitative. It is not a small or big faith that counts but a living, producing, working faith (like a seed has life and production in it). To that kind of faith God will fulfill His promises of victory. It may not be the kind of victory measured by worldly standards; it may not be physical victory or dominion in this life. Physical victory in this life was what the majority of the Jews anticipated from the glorious promises of their prophets (e.g., Isa. ch. 6066). But God intended to give those who were faithful victory and dominion over sin and death through the Messiah. The heritage of Jacob was, of course, the birthright. The birthright was a physical thing that had to do with perpetuation of the Hebrew familys inheritance of land and goods through the eldest son. But it had as its ultimate goal the preservation of a people whose destiny was messianic! The birthright was really a spiritual thing. It was to result in the redemption of the whole human race through a human family from a particular human nation.

The promises of Isa. 58:14 may find a temporary fulfillment in the return of the Jews from the captivities, but like all other promises concerning the Jewish people and their land and their nation, the ultimate fulfillment was in the seed (singular) (cf. Gal. 3:16 ff), the Christ and the New Israel (Gal. 6:16). The redemption of man will be consummated when God restores man to the dominion man was given at creation which Christ earned for man (cf. Heb. 2:5-18).

QUIZ

1.

What attitude does God want the people to take toward His sabbath?

2.

Why?

3.

What does ones attitude toward the law of God have to do with ones attitude toward God?

4.

How will God give man dominion?

5.

What is the heritage of Jacob?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(13) If thou turn away thy foot.The teaching of Isa. 56:4-7, as to the Sabbath is resumed. The form of the phrase implies the idea that the Sabbath is as holy ground, on which no profane foot must tread (Exo. 3:5).

Thy pleasure.Better, thy business.

Nor speaking thine own words.Literally, speak words, as in Hos. 10:4, for idle unprofitable talk (Pro. 10:19, Ecc. 5:3).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

13, 14. To the foregoing duties of love is added the duty of sabbath observance. See Isa 54:2; Isa 54:4. For preserving the unity of a theocratic nation this was a vital duty. It is singled out here from other commands (Exodus 20) to represent the whole first table of the decalogue.

If thou turn away thy foot Namely, from walking in its usual paths from pursuing its customary avocations.

From doing thy pleasure That in which thou usually delightest, and lovest. A lesson of self-denial for God’s sake.

And call the sabbath a delight Under the Old Testament dispensation, the holy observance of the weekly “sabbath” was one of the most significant marks of a God-fearing people. Such, and none else, would term the “sabbath a delight.” To the irreligious it would, because of its largely enforced abstinence from mere secular pursuits, be a day of weariness rather than of delight.

Cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth “High places” stand for security: hence, fortresses were usually built on elevated ground. Metaphorically, then, the expression denotes a position of safety and honour. To such exaltation would God raise his people, if trustful in him, and honouring his holy laws.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Isa 58:13. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, &c. Vitringa renders this, If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, so as not to study thy pleasure on my holy day, but callest, &c. The meaning is, “If on the sabbath thou shalt abstain from running up and down, from the ordinary occupation and business of human life, in search of profit or pleasure, &c. Isa 58:14. Then, &c.” For the observation of the sabbath requires rest and spiritual exercise, as the prophet finely teaches us in the subsequent part of this verse; in which he sets forth, in the strongest and most explicit terms, the manner wherein the sabbath-day should be honoured. The foot in Scripture is frequently used for all the labour and business of men: see Pro 4:26-27. Psa 119:101 and chap. Isa 56:2.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

DISCOURSE: 994
OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH ENJOINED

Isa 58:13-14. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, The holy of the Lord, Honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause then to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

THAT the observance of the Sabbath was intended to be of universal and perpetual obligation, does not admit of any reasonable doubt. It was enjoined to man in Paradise: and the commandment relating to it, when renewed to man at Mount Sinai, was, like all the other moral commandments, written by God himself on tables of stone. The Jewish prophets spake of it as to be continued under the Gospel dispensation [Note: See Isa 56:1; Isa 56:4; Isa 56:6.]: and the Apostles evidently continued the observance of it, transferring it only from the last day of the week to the first, in commemoration of our Lords resurrection from the dead, and of the work of redemption which was thereby completed [Note: See Joh 20:19; Joh 20:26. Act 20:7. 1Co 16:2.]. The ceremonial laws relating to it are abrogated; but the moral part of it is as much in force as ever.

In the passage before us we may see,

I.

In what light we should view the Sabbath

The estimation in which it should be held is here variously expressed: we are taught to account that day,

1.

Holy

[Whatever was consecrated to God under the law was accounted holy: it was separated from all profane or common use, and was employed solely for the ends and purposes for which it had been thus set apart. Thus the Sabbath, being consecrated to the especial service of God, is called in our text Gods holy day; and, The holy of the Lord. In the New Testament also it is called, The Lords day [Note: Rev 1:10.]. Hence it is obvious, that every part of it is to be regarded as the Lords property, and to be improved for him alone. We should feel a veneration for it, precisely as we should for any thing else that had been dedicated to the Lord: and, as we shudder at the impiety of Belshazzar in using, at a feast, the sacred vessels which he had taken from Jerusalem, though he himself was not a worshipper of Jehovah; much more must we, who acknowledge the sanctity of the Sabbath, shudder at the thought of alienating any portion of it from Him, to whom it exclusively belongs.]

2.

Honourable

[If any man, under the Law, had regarded the Temple, the sacrifices, and the vessels of the sanctuary, in no other light than as a common house, or common utensils, or common food, he would have been considered as greatly dishonouring God. Thus the very sanctity of the Sabbath should render it honourable in our estimation; and we should labour to honour it by every possible expression of our regard.]

3.

Delightful

[The arrival of that day should be greeted by us with holy joy: we should say, This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. If we could suppose an angel sent down to this lower world to labour in some common occupation, and permitted every seventh day to return to his heavenly abodes, and spend that day in the employments suited to his taste, with what delight would he look forward to the stated returns of that day! So should it be with us; and so it will be, in proportion as we have attained to the views and dispositions of those blessed spirits. Not that we should delight in it merely as a day of rest to the body, but as a day wherein God calls us, like Moses, to come up and commune with him on his holy mount: and, instead of abridging it, or complaining of it as long and wearisome, we should rather say, with Peter, It is good for us to be here; and should almost regret the arrival of the period when we must descend from the mount, to the less-pleasing occupations of time and sense.]

But we will proceed to state more particularly,

II.

In what manner we should employ it

In what manner we should not employ it, is here distinctly told us

[Worldly business, and carnal pleasure, and unprofitable conversation, are all expressly proscribed: we must not do our own ways, nor find our own pleasure, nor speak our own words. On all the other days of the week we may find time for these things; but on the Sabbath-day they are to be excluded altogether. It is a grievous mistake to imagine, that after the public services of the day we are at liberty to engage in vain pursuits, invented only to beguile the time, which otherwise would be a burthen upon our hands: there are pursuits proper to the day; and in them exclusively should our time be occupied. We do not mean to say, that such things as can neither be anticipated nor postponed may not be done with innocence: for even under the Law, a latitude was allowed in relation to what every man must eat [Note: Exo 12:16.]. In reference to such things as are really necessary, we are authorized to say, that God will have mercy, and not sacrifice: but it becomes all to be on their guard, that they do not deceive their own souls; for God can easily distinguish the hidden motives of the heart; and will surely judge our actions as good or evil, according as their quality shall be found in his eyes. If the infringement of the Sabbath be reluctant, as in the extinguishing of a fire, or in the exercise of compassion to man or beast, it is well; but if we be actuated by considerations of ease, or interest, or pleasure, to alienate from God any of that time which ought to be consecrated to his service, we may be assured that we must answer for it in the day of judgment.]

Our one aim on that day must be, to honour God
[The services which we are to render to our God on that day are various, and all compatible with each other. The first undoubtedly are private: we should give ourselves in a more peculiar manner to reading, to meditation, to prayer. On every day we should search the Scriptures, but more especially on that day; applying them to our own hearts, examining ourselves by them, and entreating God to make them effectual for the conversion and salvation of our souls. From our closets we should go to worship God in public, and to testify before all, our regard for his authority, and our delight in his service. Whilst engaged in the various offices of prayer, or hearing of the word, or of communicating at the table of the Lord, we should be particularly careful that the frame of our minds be suited to the employment in which we are engaged; lest, whilst we profess to be serving God, we be found only mocking and insulting him by hypocritical professions. In the intervals, when we are disengaged from private or public duties, we may relieve our minds, and improve our time, in such as are of a social nature. The visiting of the sick, the comforting of the afflicted, the instructing of the rising generation, and, above all, the endeavouring to teach our children and servants, and to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, are services well pleasing to God, and admirably suited to the sanctity of that holy day. It is much to be feared that this latter duty in particular is sadly neglected, even in religious families; and that the great predilection that has been manifested by the religious world for public services, has brought into disuse those more self-denying offices which formerly occupied a considerable portion of the Sabbath-day. But, in whichever of these duties we are occupied, our great aim must be, to honour God; demeaning ourselves as in his more immediate presence, and endeavouring to approve ourselves to him as faithful servants.]

And shall the Sabbath, in this view of it, be accounted a day of gloom? No; we shall have far other sentiments of it, if we consider,

III.

The benefits we may expect from a due observance of it

Whatever reference there may be in our text to the return of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon, we cannot doubt but that the promises here made have a higher and more spiritual import. In them we are assured, that, if we really keep the Sabbath as we ought, we shall be blessed with,

1.

Delight in God

[There is not any thing which God more delights to honour than a due observance of the Sabbath. We may perform the outward duties of that day, and reap no material benefit: but if we truly and earnestly endeavour to honour God in the way before described, God will draw nigh to us, and reveal himself to us, and fill us with joy and peace in believing. And here we confidently make our appeal to all who have ever laboured to spend a Sabbath to the Lord, whether they have not found such a measure of grace and peace flowing into their souls, as has abundantly recompensed their utmost exertions? Who must not acknowledge that one day thus spent in the courts and in the service of Jehovah, is better than a thousand passed amongst the vain delights of this world [Note: Psa 84:4; Psa 84:10.]? And where the Sabbath is thus habitually honoured, we will venture to say, that such happiness will at times flow into the soul, as David experienced, when he said, My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, whilst my mouth praiseth thee with joyful lips [Note: Psa 63:5.]: yes, they shall be satisfied with the fatness of Gods house; and he will make them drink of the river of his pleasures [Note: Psa 36:8.].]

2.

Victory over our spiritual enemies

[This seems to be the import of that expression, I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth [Note: Compare Deu 32:13; Deu 33:29.]: and it shall be fulfilled to all who conscientiously improve their Sabbaths to the glory of their God. Too many of those who profess religion, are, it must be confessed, scarcely, if at all, advancing in the divine life: their evil dispositions still retain such an ascendant over them, as to make them go on heavily all their days. But, if we were to inquire how they spent their Sabbaths, and what efforts they made to glorify God in their public, private, and social duties, we should soon find the reason of their slow progress. As our Lord said of some particular evil spirits, These go not out, but by prayer and tasting, so we may say of the evils which are predominant in many professors of religion, They do not give way, because such slight efforts are made upon the Sabbath to subdue them. If that day were truly and entirely devoted to the Lord, Satan would no longer retain the ungodly as his vassals, nor be able to exert so much influence over those who have professedly cast off his yoke.]

3.

The full possession of the heavenly Canaan

[That land which was given to Jacob for his inheritance, was typical of the Canaan that is above, which truly floweth with milk and honey. And it may be safely affirmed, that no person who has conscientiously employed his Sabbaths here, ever did, or ever can, fall short of the heavenly rest. Thousands who have perished by the hand of the public executioner, have traced their shame and misery to a neglect of the Sabbath: but never was an instance known of one who duly improved his Sabbaths being left to die under the dominion of his sins. Indeed the services of the Sabbath cannot possibly consist with indulged and wilful sin: on the contrary, they are both a preparation for heaven, and a foretaste of it: on earth the saints behold their God by faith; but in heaven they will behold him face to face: on earth they, as it were, learn and rehearse their parts; but in heaven they will join the full chorus of saints and angels in everlasting hallelujahs to God and to the Lamb.]

See hence,
1.

How reasonable are the requirements of God in his Gospel!

[Had God required six days out of the seven to be spent in such exercises, it would have been highly reasonable that we should obey him: how much more when he gives us six for earthly business, and requires only one to be consecrated entirely unto him! If the services of that day were ever so painful, they might well be claimed by Him who has done such great things for us: and how much more when they are so delightful and so profitable! Grudge him not then that day, nor any portion of it; but let it be wholly and unreservedly devoted to his service.]

2.

How just will be the condemnation of those who disobey them!

[A person who has attained to fifty years of age, has had above seven years of Sabbaths. O what blessings might not have been secured in that time, if all those Sabbaths had been sanctified to the Lord! and what judgments does not he merit, who has wasted all of them in a wilful neglect of God! Little as we think of Sabbaths now, we shall find ere long, that the profaning of them has greatly increased our guilt and misery. The Lord grant that this day may not pass away as so many others have done, unprofitably to our souls; but let it be to every one of us a preparation for our eternal rest!]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

I beg the Reader to pause over this passage, and mark the several expressions enjoined to the people of God, for the due and proper solemnization of the sabbath; and surely he will immediately conclude with me, that if in the Jewish Church, which was but a type and shadow of good things to come, this holy day was commanded to be observed with such sacredness; how much more ought the observance of the sabbath to be regarded in the Christian, when the whole sum and substance of the law is in Christ, and Jesus himself is the very sabbath of his redeemed, formed In their heart the hope of glory? The turning away the foot from all pleasure, may perhaps have an allusion to what Moses was commanded at the bush: intimating that in the sabbath we see Christ; and all approaches to God in Christ must be made in sanctity. See those scriptures, Exo 3:4-5 ; Lev 10:3 . Not doing our own ways, and the like, means that over and above all sacredness of soul, there must be accompanied with it a conscious sense of sin, and a total renunciation of all self-righteousness. Oh! how precious is Jesus, in his sabbaths, in his ordinances, and in all the means of grace and salvation, when the soul is once conscious of wants and pollutions. How little do these men know even the very nature of the sabbath, who spend the smallest portion of these hallowed seasons, these blessed golden opportunities, in any pursuit but that of the one thing needful! How do all faithful souls mourn in secret in the view of those troops of sabbath-breakers of our poor bleeding land, for which the nation mourns, and which come forth every Lord’s day to their sport and pleasures!

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Isa 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, [from] doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking [thine own] words:

Ver. 13. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath. ] If thou abstain from journeys and all secular businesses as much as may be. Eze 22:26 Otherwise God will sue thee upon an action of waste; and the superstitious Jew will rise up and condemn thee, who if in his journey he be overtaken by the Sabbath he must stay, though in the midst of a field or wood, though in danger of thieves, storms, or hunger, he may not budge.

From doing thy pleasure on mine holy day. ] Plutarch thought Sabbath was from Sabbos a name of Bacchus, that signifieth to live jocundly and jovially. The Sabbath that many pleasure mongers keep may well have such a derivation, and their Dies dominicus the Lord’s day, be called Dies daemoniaeus; the Devil’s day, for they make it as Bacchus’ orgies rather than God’s holy solemnity, as doing thereon things no day lawful, but then most abominable.

And call the Sabbath a delight. ] Counting it so, and making it so. The Jews call it Desiderium dierum, the desirable day. They meet it with these words, Veni sponsa mea, Come, my spouse. Of old, they blessed God for it, Neh 9:14 and gave the whole week the denomination from it; Luk 18:12 they strictly and spiritually kept it: but now they think the Sabbath is not sufficiently observed except they eat and drink largely, and give themselves to other sensual delights. a After dinner, the most of their discourse is about their usuary, and other worldly businesses, &c. They pray indeed, but it is that Elias would hasten his coming, even the next Sabbath if he please, that he might give them notice of the Messiah’s coming, &c. Let us take heed of being weary of the Sabbath, and wishing it over, as they did. Amo 8:5 Mal 1:12-13 Walk into God’s garden, taste how good the Lord is in his ordinances, feel a continual increase of sweetness in the pleasure and dainties of holy duties, whereof we have such variety that we cannot easily be sated: so little need is there that we should, with the Rabbis, expound this delight in the text, of dainty and delightful meats to be eaten on this day.

The holy of the Lord, honourable. ] And therefore “honourable” because “holy”; as it is said also of the “Lord of the Sabbath” – “Holy and reverend is his name.” Psa 111:9 “A holy convocation” the Sabbath is called. Lev 23:3 See Lev 19:30 ; Lev 26:2 . Let us sanctify this holy rest, else it will degenerate into idleness, which is a sin any day (one of Sodom’s sins), but on the Lord’s day a double sin. Better not do our own work any day, than not God’s work on his day. Debet tutus dies festivus a Christiano expendi operibus sanctis, saith Rob. Grosthead, Bishop of Lincoln: b The whole Sabbath should be spent in holy duties. Debemus die Dominico solummodo spiritualibus gaudiis repleri; we should be in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and be filled with spiritual delights only, saith the Council of Paris, held A.D. 829. Christ hath for this purpose made us a “holy nation, and a kingdom of priests” Exo 19:6 – that is, holy and honourable; and God hath sanctified it for a day of blessing to those that sanctify it. Exo 20:11 Eze 20:12 He hath called it “an everlasting covenant” by way of eminence, Exo 31:16 as if nothing of God’s covenant were kept if this were not kept holy.

Not doing thine own ways. ] Ea tantum facias quae ad animae salutem pertinent, saith Jerome, Those things only are then to be done that pertain to thy soul’s health – works of piety, of charity, and of necessity, none else. Tantum divinis cultibus serviamus, saith Augustine. What meant, then, that good King Edward VI – and where were those that should have better instructed him, Cranmer, Ridley, &c. – to deliver to his council these articles following: – That upon Sundays they intend public affairs of the realm, despatch answers to letters for good order of the state, and make full despatches of all things concluded in the week before; provided that they be present at common prayer, &c. c

Nor speaking thine own words. ] These words of vanity or vexation, Isa 58:9 but words of wisdom and sobriety suitable to the holiness of the day.

a Buxt., Synog.

b In Decalog. praec. 3.

c Life of Edward VI, by Sir J. Heywood.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 58:13-14

13If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot

From doing your own pleasure on My holy day,

And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable,

And honor it, desisting from your own ways,

From seeking your own pleasure

And speaking your own word,

14Then you will take delight in the LORD ,

And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;

And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Isa 58:13-14 This strophe uses obedience to the Sabbath requirements as a way to know a person’s attitude and faithfulness.

1. turn your foot from doing your own pleasure, to YHWH’s sabbath (cf. Isa 58:13)

2. delight in the sabbath by calling it honorable (the VERB , BDB 457, KB 455, is used twice in Isa 58:13)

Notice again the conditional covenant (if. . .then). The benefits are listed in Isa 58:14 b,c.

Isa 58:13 the sabbath See Exo 20:8-11 and Isaiah 56. See Special Topic below.

SPECIAL TOPIC: SABBATH

Isa 58:14 For the mouth of the Lord has spoken This expresses the trustworthiness and power of God’s promises (cf. Isa 55:11)!

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.

1. What is the difference between biblical faith and religiosity?

2. How is ethics related to theology?

3. What is the purpose of fasting?

4. What is the purpose of the Sabbath? Is it valid in our day?

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

thy foot. Some codices, with one early printed edition, read “thy feet” (plural)

from the sabbath. Reference to Pentateuch, as in Isa 56:2.

pleasure. Some codices, with three early printed editions, read “pleasures” (pl).

holy. See note on Exo 3:5.

thine own words = vain words: or, keep making talk,

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Isa 58:13-14

Isa 58:13-14

“If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, and the holy of Jehovah honorable, and shall honor it, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in Jehovah; and I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth; and I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father, for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.”

Again, notice that all-important IF standing at the head of Isa 58:13. The multiple requirement is (1) that Israel must stop doing “their own thing” on the sabbath day; (2) they must stop teaching and parroting the words of men (their own words) and begin honoring God’s Word; (3) they are commanded to call the sabbath day honorable, and a delight; (4) they must actually honor the sabbath, not merely refer to it as honorable; and (5) they must actually do the things God commanded on that day.

This mention of the sabbath day positively identifies this chapter as directed to the pre-exilic generations from Isaiah and to the captivity; because Israel “could not have observed the sabbath” during the captivity. In fact the whole captivity was considered as a “sabbath” replacing the 490 years that the Israelites had skipped the observance of the sabbatical years. This recurrence of the “sabbath theme” in Isaiah is also absolutely Isaianic, being fully in accord with the plan of his prophecy, “here a little, there a little, line upon line, line upon line,” etc. (Isa 28:10; Isa 28:13). See Isa 56:2; Isa 56:4; Isa 56:6 for my comments there.

“I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth …” (Isa 58:14). This has not happened to the Israelites in subsequent generations from this prophecy; and the answer lies totally in the two IF’s in Isa 58:9 :b and Isa 58:13. On the other hand, the Jews have suffered more terrible persecutions than any other people who ever lived on earth, even down to the current century.

From 2Ch 36:21, we learn that the sabbatical years had not been observed during the period of the later monarchy; and it would appear from Isaiah’s commandments here that even the observance of the weekly sabbath had been neglected.

None of the Old Testament references to the sabbath should be understood as binding upon Christians; however, it appears to us that it would be in keeping with the Word of God for the Lord’s Day to be honored with the same love, devotion, and worship which was supposed in the Old Testament to have been given to the sabbath day. The necessity for providing rest for man and beast, as well as the weekly observance of worship and devotion were a much better condition than that provided by the mad pursuit of pleasure, sports, and so-called recreation on the part of the current godless generation. The people of this generation have legislated the Lord’s Day into a day of work instead of a day of worship, apparently ignorant of how it required three centuries of Christian fidelity to God’s law of worship on Sundays to win, under Constantine, the right of assembly on that day, at any other hour, than before daylight! We are very sure that future generations will pay dearly for this lack of responsibility on the part of our own.

Bishop Andrews once commented on the proper observance of the sabbath day, and applied it to the Lord’s Day, which he erroneously called, “the Christian Sabbath.” The application, however, we believe to be appropriate.

“To keep the sabbath in an idle manner is the sabbath of oxen and asses; to keep the sabbath in joviality (pleasure, sports, etc) is the sabbath of the golden calf; and to keep it in immorality, drunkenness, and licentiousness is the sabbath of Satan, the devil’s holiday.

Isa 58:13 DEVOTION: The Hebrew word oneg (Isa 58:13) or te annag (Isa 58:14) is translated delight but means literally, delicate, exquisite, luxurious. The Lord is insisting that His people cherish His sabbath. They are presently trampling it under foot, so to speak, as of no more value than something to wipe their feet on. It is being used as a day for planning self-indulgence. They are gathering on Gods holy day, a day set aside to think and talk of Him, to talk of making money and plan ways to circumvent His Law (Amo 8:5).

Why is the Sabbath so significant? It was the one condition or requirement that could provide a covenant-keeping relationship that would bring the Hebrew closer to Jehovah than any other. The Sabbath was instituted and set aside as holy unto the Lord long before the Mosaic law. It was consecrated from the beginning of creation. It was given as a type and symbol of the cessation from labor (or rest) into which one enters when entering into covenant relationship provided by Christ. In other words, the old sabbath was an experience symbolic of the Christian experience. The sabbath rest remaining in Heb 4:9-10 was being entered by the ones believing (Gr. oi pisteusantes, present tense) of Heb 4:3. In other words, the one who believes Christ and becomes a Christian does (present tense) enter the rest God symbolized by the old sabbath day (cf. also Mat 11:28-30). Of course, the Christians present rest will some day be finally and ultimately consummated in the new heaven and new earth when he will cease from his labors (cf. Rev 14:13, etc.). That is why proper relationship to God for those of Isaiahs day be expressed by proper attitude toward Gods sabbath day! It had to do with all that God was going to do in salvation and redemption in the Messiah and His kingdom.

Isa 58:14 DOMINION: Proper attitude and action toward Gods revealed will (in this case the Sabbath law) logically results in proper attitude and action toward the personhood of God. If a man cherishes Gods laws (Psa 119:1 ff), he will cherish God. Actually the relationship is cyclical. We must first cherish God in order to cherish His law, But the more we cherish His law, the more we will cherish Him! The more we luxuriate in God and His will, the higher we will ride! The phrase,. . . make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth . . . symbolizes victory, conquest, dominion. If we have faith as a grain of mustard seed (cf. Luk 17:5-6) we can do mighty, victorious, conquering things. The mustard seed means qualitative, not quantitative. It is not a small or big faith that counts but a living, producing, working faith (like a seed has life and production in it). To that kind of faith God will fulfill His promises of victory. It may not be the kind of victory measured by worldly standards; it may not be physical victory or dominion in this life. Physical victory in this life was what the majority of the Jews anticipated from the glorious promises of their prophets (e.g., Isa. ch. 60-66). But God intended to give those who were faithful victory and dominion over sin and death through the Messiah. The heritage of Jacob was, of course, the birthright. The birthright was a physical thing that had to do with perpetuation of the Hebrew familys inheritance of land and goods through the eldest son. But it had as its ultimate goal the preservation of a people whose destiny was messianic! The birthright was really a spiritual thing. It was to result in the redemption of the whole human race through a human family from a particular human nation.

The promises of Isa 58:14 may find a temporary fulfillment in the return of the Jews from the captivities, but like all other promises concerning the Jewish people and their land and their nation, the ultimate fulfillment was in the seed (singular) (cf. Gal 3:16 ff), the Christ and the New Israel (Gal 6:16). The redemption of man will be consummated when God restores man to the dominion man was given at creation which Christ earned for man (cf. Heb 2:5-18).

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

turn: Isa 56:2-6, Exo 20:8-11, Exo 31:13-17, Exo 36:2, Exo 36:3, Deu 5:12-15, Neh 13:15-22, Jer 17:21-27

call: Psa 27:4, Psa 42:4, Psa 84:2, Psa 84:10, Psa 92:1, Psa 92:2, *title Psa 122:1, Rev 1:10

Reciprocal: Gen 2:2 – And on Gen 2:3 – blessed Exo 16:29 – hath given Exo 31:14 – keep Exo 35:3 – General Lev 16:29 – do no Lev 19:3 – keep Lev 23:3 – General Num 28:9 – General Neh 10:31 – the people Psa 118:24 – we will Psa 119:35 – therein Isa 56:6 – every Jer 17:22 – neither do Jer 17:24 – but hallow Eze 20:20 – General Eze 44:24 – and they shall hallow Amo 8:5 – and the Mat 12:2 – Behold Mar 2:24 – that Mar 2:27 – General Luk 6:2 – not Luk 23:56 – rested Joh 5:10 – it is not

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Isa 58:13. If thou turn away If thou take no unnecessary journeys, nor do any servile works on the sabbath day; or, metaphorically, if thou keep thy mind and affections disengaged, and free from secular cares and concerns, and restrain thyself from whatever might profane it; from doing thy pleasure on my holy day From taking the liberty of doing what thou pleasest, without the control and restraint of conscience and the law of God; or from indulging thyself in the pleasures of sense and carnal delights; and call the sabbath a delight Not looking on the duties of it as a burden and drudgery, but performing them with cheerfulness, and delighting in all its ordinances and services; the holy of the Lord Or, to the Lord, that is, dedicated to him, consecrated to his service; honourable Namely, the chief of days, worthy of all honour, and therefore honourable because holy: and shalt honour him That is, The Lord, whose day it is; not doing thine own ways Or works, or pursuing thy usual course of life, or thy worldly business; nor speaking thine own words The words that are thine own, in opposition to what God commands to be spoken; words proceeding from the corruption of human nature, or the vanity of the human mind; or, not speaking words unsuitable to the work of the day, tending neither to thy edification nor comfort.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

58:13 If thou shalt {o} turn away thy foot from the sabbath, [from] doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thy own ways, nor finding thy own pleasure, nor speaking [thy own] words:

(o) If you refrain yourself from your wicked works.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

If the Israelites practiced the Mosaic legislation with the right attitude and applied it properly to their lives, God would be pleased. Isaiah was not saying the Mosaic legislation was wrong, only that the legislation as his audience was practicing it was not pleasing to God. They were obeying to further their own selfish purposes. They should have obeyed to further God’s purposes out of love for Him (cf. Mat 6:10). For the Israelites, Sabbath observance was best suited to teach this lesson. The Sabbath day provided an opportunity for them to reorient themselves to spiritual reality once a week. It was not a fast but a feast day.

"The Lord is more interested in enjoyment of his blessings through obedience than in self-imposed deprivations." [Note: Motyer, p. 483.]

"Turn your foot" means walk away from.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)