ISAIAH 58 COMME�TARYWritten and edited by Glenn Pease

PREFACE

I have put this study up under two names because people will read it for different reasons, and so

if you read it because it is a commentary, do not bother to check it out as Fasting Defined by God,

and vice versa. Most of the commentators I quote are long dead, but a few are contemporary, and

if any of them do not want their quotes in this study, they can let me know and I will remove

them. My e-mail is glenn_p86@yahoo.com In the index you will find all of my books listed if you

are interested in pursuing other things I have written and added to Scribd.

I�TRODUCTIO�

1. Jim Bomkamp, “In Leviticus 16 and 23, we read that under the Old Testament covenant the

people were required to fast once a year, on the Day of Atonement. However, this is the only fast

that was required of them. However, under various special circumstances the people would fast.

The heathens in their worship practiced their rites and perhaps even fasted, but they did so in

order that they might manipulate their god into doing what they wanted him to do. Their

worship was all based upon external observance and rites, and the Israelites had picked up this

practice. This is also what the Pharisees in Jesus’ day were guilty of.”

2. Lev. 16:29-31, “And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the

tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your

own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you: For on that day shall the priest make an

atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. It

shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.”

3. Rich Cathers points out, “The terms “fast” or “fasting” occur 65 times in the Bible. There are

also some occurrences of fasting when the term “fast” is not used (as when Moses didn’t eat for

forty days, Ex. 34:28), but the action happened anyway. A fast typically involves abstaining from

eating solid food. Sometimes it even involved no drinking as well (Ex. 34:28). Sometimes it

involved only a partial abstaining, as from certain foods (Dan. 10:3). Fasts could be for a meal, a

day, or even up to forty days.” He also points out that the reasons people fasted in the Bible was

in a time of grief over a loss of a loved one, a time of grief over sin, when they desperately needed

greater power in prayer, when they needed special guidance, and when they needed a deeper

intimacy with God.

4. Fasting has become quite popular as a method of bringing healing to the body, but there is no

example of this in the Bible. I have done it myself, and I know of friends who have done it, and it

has been very beneficial when done right. In the spiritual real it is also very important that it is

done right. It is possibly the easiest thing to do badly that is a good thing. Rich Cathers gives us

insight again. He wrote, “Fasting can be abused to create a false sense of spirituality. We’ve seen

in Isaiah 58 that people fasted for the wrong reasons and God wasn’t impressed. They were

fasting as an “outward” religious ritual, but “inwardly” their hearts weren’t being affected.This

warning about “false spirituality” is part of what Jesus was dealing with in His concerns over

fasting:(Mat 6:16-18 KJV) Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad

countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say

unto you, They have their reward. {17} But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash

thy face; {18} That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and

thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. Fasting can actually “backfire” on

you. You may start off wanting to fast for the right reasons, and end up further away from the

Lord because of your own spiritual pride. Keep it a secret. Don’t draw attention to yourself.”

Isaiah 58 True Fasting

1 "Shout it aloud, do not hold back.

Raise your voice like a trumpet.

Declare to my people their rebellion

and to the house of Jacob their sins.

Shout it aloud, do not hold back,

Make then feel like they are under attack.

Like a trumpet raise your voice,

So to listen they have no choice.

To my people their rebellion declare,

So the house of Jacob to their sins must stare.

1. Here is a message that God wants heard by all. It is not to be whispered or spoken softly lest it

offend, but to be shouted with all the volume that his voice could produce. �othing was to be held

back. The voice was to be raised to the level of the trumpet if possible so that none would escape

hearing it. The message was not good news, but the bad news that the people of God were being

bad in their sins and rebellion against the will of God. Bad news needs to be proclaimed loudly

just as good news, and the reason is that until the bad news is heard and heeded by change, the

good news will not be made relevant. The bad news is that they were doing good things for the

wrong reasons, and neglecting doing what most pleased God.

2. Sometimes mothers need to scream at their naughty children to warn them that their behavior

is in danger of bringing judgment on them. God's children are just the same, and there are times

when they need to be shouted at to get their full attention to hear the truth about where they

stand with God. In this chapter we see God's children playing religion. They were just like little

children pretending to be what they were not. They seemed on the surface to be truly spiritual by

their actions, but in reality they were not spiritual at all. It was all veneer to cover up their sinful

attitudes and behavior toward the less fortunate. Adam Clarke wrote, “�ever was a louder cry

against the hypocrisy, nor a more cutting reproof of the wickedness, of a people professing a

national established religion, having all the forms of godliness without a particle of its power.”

3. Henry, “�ote, (1.) God sees sin in his people, in the house of Jacob, and is displeased with it.

(2.) They are often unapt and unwilling to see their own sins, and need to have them shown them,

and to be told, Thus and thus thou hast done. 2. He must be vehement and in good earnest herein,

must cry aloud, and not spare, not spare them (not touch them with his reproofs as if he were

afraid of hurting them, but search the wound to the bottom, lay it bare to the bone), not spare

himself or his own pains, but cry as loud as he can; though he spend his strength and waste his

spirits, though he get their ill-will by it and get himself into an ill name, yet he must not spare. He

must lift up his voice like a trumpet, to make those hear of their faults that were apt to be deaf

when admonition was addressed to them. He must give his reproofs in the most powerful and

pressing manner possible, as one who desired to be heeded. The trumpet does not give an

uncertain sound, but, though loud and shrill, is intelligible; so must his alarms be, giving them

warning of the fatal consequences of sin, Eze_33:3.”

4. Kyle, “With a loud voice that must be heard, with the most unsparing publicity, the prophet is

to point out to the people their deep moral wounds, which they may indeed hide from themselves

with hypocritical opus operatum, but cannot conceal from the all-seeing God. The ו of ְואֹוִתי does

not stand for an explanatory particle, but for an adversative one: “their apostasy ... their sins;

and yet (although they are to be punished for these) they approach Jehovah every day” This

message is not to be on the back page, or inside, but on the front page as headlines. It is to

demand the attention of everyone. God has had it with their superficial fasts, and it is time to

change or else.

2 For day after day they seek me out;

they seem eager to know my ways,

as if they were a nation that does what is right

and has not forsaken the commands of its God.

They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for

God to come near them.

They seek me out day after day,

And they seem eager to know the right way.

It is as if they were a people doing what is right,

And living a life that is pleasing in my sight.

Their longing for just decisions seems to be clear,

And they are eager for me to come and draw near.

1. What a paradoxical situation this is. The people seem eager to know God's will, and they pray

for God to give them just decisions, and they are eager for God's presence. They act just like

people should act when they are doing what is right in the eyes of God. On the surface they are

about as good as they can be, and God has much positive to say of them. This sounds like people

to be praised rather than denounced for their sin. How can all this good stuff be sin? I have never

seen a list of sins that included seeking God, being eager to know his ways, and asking him for

just decisions and to come near. This sounds more like holy living until you read the rest of the

context. Even a godly life-style can be sinful if it does not lead to loving behavior toward those

who need love. A great religious life without love is just what Paul said it was, and that is nothing.

Religion without righteousness is of no value to God or man. Here are people who are so heavenly

minded that they are of no earthly good. They have a religion that changes nothing, and that is

why God declares it to be worth nothing.

2. The problem is, it is all superficial because it is a matter of mere religious attitude without

religious action. They were like actors who had learned to practice being spiritual people, but

they did not back it up with a real life of doing the will of God. An actor can play the role of being

a very spiritual person, but then leave the casting scenes and live a godless life. The acting looks

good and convincing to everyone, but it does not impress God when there is no reality to back it

up. God's primary interest is not just in religious activities, but in practical activities where love

for others is conspicuous. You cannot detect a hypocrite by observing his religious practices, for

he is able to be faithful to them all with full sincerity, and not even realize that he is failing to

please God. You need to look at his life apart from his religious practices. How does he treat his

workers and servants? How does he reach out to those in need with any help? Does he care for

people with love and compassion? These are the areas where it can be determined if his religion

has any practical value. If he fails the love test, he is a hypocrite no matter how faithful he is in

his religious activities.

3. From Lambert Dolphin's library, “ False Worship

• Religion that is impersonal, formal turned-inward, purely liturgical, program centered.

• Comes into place by habit and tradition. "This is the way we have always done things

here." Seems logical, reasonable.

• Self-serving (what can God do for us?)

• Isolationist, Escapist (God will save us out of this awful evil world). Country-club

Christianity

• Predictable, comfortable, controlled, orchestrated, no surprises, runs on autopilot

• Passive involvement by most of the members, (ignoring the reality that God is a deeply

personal Being)

"...a religion which assumes a relationship with God while discounting a relationships

with the people."

J Vernon McGee calls this section of Isaiah "playing church."

"Religion that it pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit widows

and orphans in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world." (James)

Ray Stedman says "the ultimate test of faith has always been: does it lead you to

serve, to help somebody in need? Do you feel motivated to act? If you do, your faith is

real. Otherwise, as James says, it is a "dead faith." The acid test is not, "What does

my religion do for me?" but, "What does it make me do for others?"

3 'Why have we fasted,' they say,

'and you have not seen it?

Why have we humbled ourselves,

and you have not noticed?'

"Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please

and exploit all your workers.

Why have we fasted, they say,

And you seem to look the other way?

Why have we before you been humbled,

And upon this devotion you never have stumbled?

Just let me this observation to you declare,

You fast, but for others you don't seem to care.

On your fast days you just do what you please,

And treat your workers like a lowly sleaze.

1. The people complain that God does not recognize their efforts to please him. He does not

respond with favor to their sacrificial fasting, nor does he notice their humbling themselves

before him like lowly servants. We are being so good to God, and he is not being good to us.

Something is wrong with this picture is their complaint, and God agrees, but what is wrong is not

God's response, but their unworthy expectation. They wanted God to be pleased with their fake

obedience, but God points out what he really sees. It is not their fasting or humility, but their

open disrespect for what really matters to Him. They do not honor his day by devoting it to him,

but they devote it to their own purposes, and they have no compassion on the poor workers, but

exploit them for their own selfish benefit. Their religion is all surface rituals and fake behaviors

that might fool people, but God is not taken in by such play acting. People are a priority with

God, and there is nothing you can do, however high sounding it is, that will cover up your abuse

of people for your own benefit.

2. They were fasting as a means of manipulating God to bless them. This is hard for any of us to

escape. When we pray there is a danger that we try to use prayer to do the same thing. We hope

that we can somehow make God see things our way and get on our bandwagon for support. We

need to examine our motives constantly in spiritual matters, for it is just too easy to do right

things with the wrong motive of getting a reward by manipulating God.

3. �otice, it is on the very day of their fasting that they were abusing their power to exploit their

workers. They were thinking that they were being very spiritual as they gave up eating, and at

the same time they were treating people with disrespect. They separated their spiritual life from

their secular life. They then lived in two different worlds. In the one they were very godly people

doing what godly people do in fasting and prayer. Then they switched over like a different person

and acted ungodly and unloving just as if there was no inconsistency in doing so. They were

comfortable as godly people in doing what was ungodly. They thought that their godliness was

not supposed to have any effect on their secular life. This was business, and we cannot allow our

religion to interfere with our business. If we treat our servants with honesty and love it will lead

to less profit, and that is not good business. We have to see beyond the profit motive if we are

going to do what pleases God.

4. Barnes wrote, “The prophet here proceeds to state the reasons why their fasting s were not

succeeded as they supposed they would be, by the divine favor. The first reason which he states is,

that even when they were fasting, they were giving full indulgence to their depraved appetites

and lusts. The Syriac has well rendered this, ‘In the day of your fasting you indulge your lusts,

and draw near to all your idols.’ This also was evidently the case with the Jews in the time of the

Savior. They were Characterized repeatedly by him as ‘an evil and adulterous generation,’ and

yet no generation perhaps was ever more punctual and strict in the external duties of fasting and

other religious ceremonies.”

5. Hypocrites are so blind to their own folly that they blame God for why they give up on going to

church, or by ceasing to pray and fast, and all other religious activities. They think God has failed

them by not giving them credit for their faithful efforts, even though it is all designed to put God

under obligation to them. When they cannot manipulate God to favor them, they accuse God of

being false to his promises, and they give up trying to please him. They do not see that they are

the ones failing, and not God. They need to wake up and see the folly of their ways, and begin to

add reality to their religious quest. You cannot please God by mere religious ritual and wishful

thinking. Faith without works is not just weak, it is dead. God expects practical acts of love in

your life, and if these never come forth, your faith and rituals are for all practical purposes

worthless.

6. The fact is that we all live in a double world, and we all separate our spiritual and secular life

to some degree. It has a lot to do with the limitations of our awareness, and our ability to be in

two states of mind at the same time. The result is we all spend a lot of our secular life without

even thinking of God and his will for our lives. This is common and God does not expect us be

always in a spiritual state of mind where we are praying, praising, and meditating on His Word.

He just expect us to do these things at some point in the day. Consistency in this will lead us to

know when we are practicing things in our secular life that are not pleasing to God. The people of

God that Isaiah shouted to in this chapter were not striving to carry over their spiritual life into

their secular life. They kept things in two exclusive departments, and did not allow what took

place in their religious department effect what took place in their secular department. This is

what leads the best of God's people to become hypocrites. These people in this text are truly godly

people that God loved, but they messed up and became superficial hypocrites. It can happen to

any of us, and that is why God gives us chapters like this. He knows his people will need this

lesson all through history if they expect to escape being hypocrites.

7. John Piper, “In other words, they are pious, religious, "Bible reading," praying folk – they

even enjoy being this way. They delight in their religious practices. But they don’t enjoy God and

his ways; they enjoy self-justifying religion, while forsaking the judgments of God. O let us take

heed to this frightening specter of private piety without public fruit. God is not pleased with this

piety.”

8. Lambert Dolphin, “The people complain that God has neither seen nor does He know (the

change in the tenses is significant) of their actions, and thus they accuse Him of indifference.

Actually God has seen and does know their action; but He has not seen it with favor, nor does He

know it in the sense of accepting it, inasmuch as their worship did not flow from a heart of

devotion to Him, but was merely external. They were trusting in the outward merit of religious

exercises and not in the living God. The question also reveals pride. "Why," they ask in effect

"should God not be pleased with our worship? Have we not done all that His law prescribes?"

They murmur at God's providence and complain of His not accepting their worship; hence they

are placing more confidence in that worship than in God Himself.

In the second half of the verse the Lord states why He has not seen nor known their worship.

They have combined worship with their own pleasure. On the day of their fast, when the heart

should be directed in meditation toward God, they have found a time for their own pleasure. In

addition they drive on their toilers. The root of the verb is found in the Amharic title of the king

of Ethiopia, the �egus; and the root is used of the oppression of the Israelites in Egypt. These

hypocritical worshipers regarded the day of fast as an ordinary day of work. The service of God

was not going to interfere in any way with the service that they felt was due themselves. They

could worship God and carry on their own pleasure and work at the same time (it is well to note

that Isaiah mentions pleasure before work) . To be noted also is the force of the verb, which

suggests that these employers demanded from their workers all that they could get.”

9. Joseph Raymond, “They would declare a day of fasting to themselves to prompt God to act on

their behalf. They set a time apart to afflict their souls yet God says that they found pleasure.

How so? They made such a show of their fasting to others that they received attention to their

false acts of holiness and humility so that in the eyes of others they appeared to be godly and holy.

Men would praise them for their piety. They thought of this as a bonus reward they received

from their fellows. This is what Jesus said when commenting on their way of fasting matt 6.16

“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they

disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have

their reward. This is the answer to why God does not answer them. They have already received

an answer from men.

When someone goes fasting it implies that they need help. They are overcome or cannot rise

above their current condition. "I am weak oh Lord and need your help." Yet how weak are they

when they go out and force their own workers to perform that which is in their own hearts.

Exploit, to take advantage in a way that is not right in the eyes of God. They pressure others to

carry the largest burden while they display their fasting to all about them. What is this like?

Jesus said: matt 23. 4“For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's

shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5 “But all their

works they do to be seen by men. God does not help those who oppress others. Instead, He judges

them.”

4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,

and in striking each other with wicked fists.

You cannot fast as you do today

and expect your voice to be heard on high.

Your fasting does not add to the quality of life,

For you end up in quarreling and strife.

The goal of fasting you clearly have missed

When you conclude by striking each other with fists.

If this in the only kind of fasting you try,

Your voice will never be heard on high.

1. Your fasting is a joke in heaven, for when you get through pretending to be super spiritual, you

enter into bad relationships with your fellow man. You quarrel and fight over all kinds of things

for your own personal gain, and even end up in literal fist fights in defense of your own opinions

and rights. The concepts of cooperation and peaceful settlements of issues does not enter your

lame brain heads. You pretend to be humble, and as soon as your fasting is over, you enter into

life with all the pride of fallen Lucifer to get you own way in everything, and that regardless of

how many other people get hurt. Love of one another is foreign to your heart and head, and all

that matters is that you win and get your own way.

2. Then after demonstrating your godless and loveless behavior you come to me in prayer and

expect that I will be filled with gratitude that you acknowledge me as your God. I am telling you

straight out that you cannot fast like this and expect your hell inspired voice to be heard in

heaven. God has a filter on prayer, and when the prayer has no right to enter God's presence it is

shut out by this filter, and he will not hear it.

3. Warren Wiersbe writes, “Fasting and fighting do not go together! Yet how many families walk

piously out of church at the close of a Sunday worship service, get in the family car, and proceed

to argue with each other all the way home!”

4. Some authors believe that the fighting was due to the fact that they fasted to the point of being

miserable and out of sorts so that they lost all tolerance for others, even for their own family. �o

spiritual experience is worth the effort if it leads you to be so cranky and grouchy that you end

up fighting with family and friends. Both God and man would hope you never fast if this is the

end product of it all. Some people can do it well, and the end is nothing but good, but others we

should tell, this is one thing to do you never should. If you are not a better person for doing

something, then don't do it.

5. Barnes, “The idea is plain, that ‘even when fasting’ they were guilty of strife and personal

combats. Their passions were unsubdued, and they gave vent to them in disgraceful personal

encounters. This manifests a most extraordinary state of society, and is a most melancholy

instance to show how much people may keep up the forms of religion, and even be punctual and

exact in them, when the most violent and ungovernable passions are raging in their bosoms, and

when they seem to be unconscious of any discrepancy between the religious service and the

unsubdued passions of the soul.”

6. Gill, “Brawling with their servants for not doing work enough; or quarreling with their

debtors for not paying their debts; or the main of their religion lay in contentions and strife about

words, vain hot disputations about rites and ceremonies in worship..”

7. Kyle, “The exiles boast of this fasting here; but it is a heartless, dead work, and therefore

worthless in the sight of God. There is the most glaring contrast between the object of the fast

and their conduct on the fast-day: for they carry on their work-day occupation; they are then,

more than at any other time, true taskmasters to their work-people (lest the service of the master

should suffer form the service of God); and because when fasting they are doubly irritable and

ill-tempered, this leads to quarreling and strife, and even to striking with angry fist.”

5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,

only a day for a man to humble himself?

Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed

and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?

Is that what you call a fast,

a day acceptable to the LORD ?

Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,

Where you in mere tradition are frozen?

You bow your head and lie in sackcloth and ashes,

But this with God's will clearly clashes.

Do you really think this is what God had in mind,

And that this behavior is the best he can find?

1. Do you people really think that all I want out of a fast is for people to go through a bunch of

things like bowing to me, and laying on sackcloth and ashes? What kind of pleasure could I get

out of such nonsense in themselves. This sort of thing is of no value to me if there is no change in

your behavior in being a loving person toward other people. Do you really think that I am so

shallow that I can find such rituals pleasing and acceptable even though you go on being

unloving. It is all a hallow empty show with no substance of value without love for your fellow

man. God is asking a simple question. Do you think this is all I want in a fast? Is it an end in itself

so that all I really care about is what people do with their body before me? �o, �o �o! For

heaven's sake �o! That is no worthy goal at all, and to call that a fast is to miss the mark by a

mile. A fast is meant to make you aware of my will, and then motivate you to do it. The end is

loving service and not dead end ritual. If you think this play acting with props like sackcloth and

ashes is acceptable to me, you are greatly mistaken.

2. We can't help but think of Paul's words in I Cor. 13, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of

angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of

prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move

mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my

body to the flames,but have not love, I gain nothing.” Isaiah is just saying the same thing with

different words. All religious activity without love is empty and worthless ritual.

3. (Mat 23:2-4 �LT) "The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters

of the Scriptures. {3} So practice and obey whatever they say to you, but don't follow their

example. For they don't practice what they teach. {4} They crush you with impossible religious

demands and never lift a finger to help ease the burden.” This is the danger of all churches, for it

can become a place where we do religion, but get content with that and never reach out beyond

the church walls to meet the needs of suffering humanity. You can be the most spiritual church in

your community with everything possible for the best in worship and learning, but if there is no

love that reaches out to those suffering in the community, it is not a church pleasing to God. God

does not need our worship as much as he needs us to be his hands and feet in lovingly serving the

needs of people. If he did, he would be self-centered too, but he is not. He wants his love to be

expressed through the body of his people, and all else that is good is not enough if that goal is not

achieved. It is like building a car, and you get all of the parts assembled and put them all together

in the right way, and it looks perfect, but you do not add fuel to the tank. It lacks the one thing

that makes a car of value to achieve its purpose. All the other parts are good, but all that good

without fuel is to fall short of the goal. So it is with the church, the believer, and the spiritual life.

You can have it all, but without love it does not achieve a purpose that pleases God. Love is the

fuel that brings it all to a pleasing conclusion.

4. What they called a fast was not what God called a fast. It was not God's purpose in rejecting

their fast to persuade them to give up fasting. They were in the same boat as the Pharisees who

made it a matter of pride. In Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, He told how the

self-righteous Pharisee made a special point to say, "I fast twice a week" (Luke 18:9-14). Jesus did

not say quit fasting, but quit being superficial like them, and make it more than an empty ritual.

Give meaning to your fast by doing what God wants you to do. Jesus fasted, but he also spent his

life going about doing good in healing and rescuing people from their many sad situations. He

practices secular salvation before he provided spiritual salvation. In other words, he was saving

people from all sorts of temporal problems before he saved men from eternal separation from

God. He was A savior before he became The Savior. Saving people on all levels was his ministry,

and to be like Jesus is to be in that same ministry of saving people from whatever is a hindrance

to their experiencing a life where they are grateful to God.

5. Henry, “It is not enough to do penance, to mortify the body a little, while the body of sin is

untouched. It is not enough for a man to spread sackcloth and ashes under him, which may indeed

give him some uneasiness for the present, but will soon be forgotten when he returns to stretch

himself upon his beds of ivory, Amo_6:4. Wilt thou call this a fast? �o, it is but the shadow and

carcase of a fast. Wilt thou call this an acceptable day to the Lord? �o, it is so far from being so

that the hypocrisy of it is an abomination to him. �ote, The shows of religion, though they show

ever so fair in the eye of the world, will not be accepted of God without the substance of it.”

6. Barnes, “A bulrush is the large reed that grows in marshy places. It is, says Johnson, without

knots or joints. In the midst of water it grows luxuriantly, yet the stalk is not solid or compact like

wood, and, being unsupported by joints, it easily bends over under its own weight. it thus

becomes the emblem of a man bowed down with grief. Here it refers to the sanctimoniousness of

a hypocrite when fasting - a man without real feeling who puts on an air of affected solemnity,

and ‘appears to others to fast.’ Against that the Savior warned his disciples, and directed them,

when they fasted, to do it in their ordinary dress, and to maintain an aspect of cheerfulness

Mat_6:17-18. The hypocrites in the time of Isaiah seemed to have supposed that the object was

gained if they assumed this affected seriousness. How much danger is there of this now! How

often do even Christians assume, on all the more solemn occasions of religious observance, a

forced sanctimoniousness of manner; a demure and dejected air; nay, an appearance of

melancholy - which is often understood by the worm to be misanthropy, and which easily slides

into misanthropy! Against this we should guard. �othing more injures the cause of religion than

sanctimoniousness, gloom, reserve, coldness, and the conduct and deportment which, whether

right or wrong, will be construed by those around us as misanthropy. Be it not forgotten that the

seriousness which religion produces is always consistent with cheerfulness, and is always

accompanied by benevolence; and the moment we feel that our religious acts consist in merely

bowing down the head like a bulrush, that moment we may be sure we shall do injury to all with

whom we come in contact.

The wearing of sackcloth was usually accompanied with ashes Dan_9:3; Est_4:1, Est_4:3.

Penitents, or those in affliction, either sat down on the ground in dust and ashes Job_2:8;

Job_42:6; Jon_3:6; or they put ashes on their head 2Sa_13:19; Lam_3:16; or they mingled ashes

with their food Psa_102:9. The Greeks and the Romans had also the same custom of strewing

themselves with ashes in mourning. Thus Homer (Iliad, xviii. 22), speaking of Achilles bewailing

the death of Patroclus, says:

Cast on the ground, with furious hands he spread

The scorching ashes o’er his graceful head,

His purple garments, and his golden hairs;

Those he deforms, and these he tears.

Laertes (Odys. xxiv. 315), shows his grief in the same manner:

Deep from his soul he sighed, and sorrowing spread

A cloud of ashes on his hoary head.

6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

and break every yoke?

I have chosen a fasting of this kind,

Where those tied up you set loose and unbind.

Set them loose who are in unjustified chains,

Untie the cords of those yoked in pains.

Set the oppressed free for mercies sake,

And every cruel yoke get busy and break.

1. Let me spell it out for you so you see what really pleases me. The fast I love is when you cease

to hold people in the chains of injustice and let them go free. I love it when you stop treating

people like your work animals, and untie the cords of the yoke that oppresses them. I love it when

you care enough about the suffering poor to break the yoke of their slavery and set them free.

Treat them like my children, and not as slaves, and this is the kind of sacrifice that will please me.

If you want to win my favor by giving up something, let it not be just the food you eat, but let it

be the giving up of the unfair treatment you show to people who deserve better. Give up being

mean and selfish. Give up ignoring the sad needs of others for food, shelter and clothing. Give up

seeing life only from your self-centered perspective, and start seeing from mine. Watching you

give up food will not touch my heart like it would be touched by seeing you share that food with

the hungry. God has revised the definition of fasting to mean mean a great deal more than giving

up food. He had defined it as giving up self-centeredness in order that we might have our eyes

open to the opportunities to be a channel of his love in a needy world. True fasting is giving up

anything and everything that blocks your vision to what love should be doing in a world of so

many people with unmet needs.

2. Henry wrote, “It is to undo the heavy burden laid on the back of the poor servant, under which

he is ready to sink. It is to let the oppressed go free from the oppression which makes his life bitter

to him. “Let the prisoner for debt that has nothing to pay be discharged, let the vexatious action

be quashed, let the servant that is forcibly detained beyond the time of his servitude be released,

and thus break every yoke; not only let go those that are wrongfully kept under the yoke, but

break the yoke of slavery itself, that it may not serve again another time nor any by made again

to serve under it.” That we be charitable to those that stand in need of charity.”

3. Kyle, “ During the siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans a general emancipation of the slaves of

Israelitish descent (who were to be set free, according to the law, every three years) was resolved

upon and carried out; but as soon as the Chaldeans were gone, the masters fetched their liberated

slaves back into servitude again (Jer_34:8-22). And as Isa_58:6 shows, they carried the same

selfish and despotic disposition with them into captivity.”

God takes giving slaves their freedom very seriously, and he send severe judgment on his people

for violating his will on this matter in Jer. 34:8-22. “The word came to Jeremiah from the LORD

after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom

for the slaves. 9 Everyone was to free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female; no one was to

hold a fellow Jew in bondage. 10 So all the officials and people who entered into this covenant

agreed that they would free their male and female slaves and no longer hold them in bondage.

They agreed, and set them free. 11 But afterward they changed their minds and took back the

slaves they had freed and enslaved them again.

12 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 13 "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel,

says: I made a covenant with your forefathers when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the land

of slavery. I said, 14 'Every seventh year each of you must free any fellow Hebrew who has sold

himself to you. After he has served you six years, you must let him go free.' [a] Your fathers,

however, did not listen to me or pay attention to me. 15 Recently you repented and did what is

right in my sight: Each of you proclaimed freedom to his countrymen. You even made a covenant

before me in the house that bears my �ame. 16 But now you have turned around and profaned

my name; each of you has taken back the male and female slaves you had set free to go where

they wished. You have forced them to become your slaves again.

17 "Therefore, this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed me; you have not proclaimed

freedom for your fellow countrymen. So I now proclaim 'freedom' for you, declares the LORD

-'freedom' to fall by the sword, plague and famine. I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms

of the earth. 18 The men who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the

covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between

its pieces. 19 The leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests and all the

people of the land who walked between the pieces of the calf, 20 I will hand over to their enemies

who seek their lives. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of

the earth. 21 "I will hand Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials over to their enemies who seek

their lives, to the army of the king of Babylon, which has withdrawn from you. 22 I am going to

give the order, declares the LORD, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against

it, take it and burn it down. And I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there."

4. Barnes, “This is the first thing to be done in order that their fasting might be acceptable to the

Lord. The idea is, that they were to dissolve every tie which unjustly bound their fellowmen. The

Chaldee renders it, ‘Separate the congregation of impiety;’ but the more probable sense is, that if

they were exercising any unjust and cruel authority over others; if they had bound them in any

way contrary to the laws of God and the interests of justice, they were to release them. This might

refer to their compelling others to servitude more rigidly than the law of Moses allowed; or to

holding them to contracts which had been fraudulently made; or to their exacting strict payment

from persons wholly incapacitated to meet their obligations; or it might refer to their subjecting

others to more rigid service than was allowed by the laws of Moses....

It may be applied to those who are treated with violence in any way, or who are broken down by

bard usage. It may refer, therefore, to slaves who are oppressed by bondage and toil; or to

inferiors of any kind who are subjected to hard usage by those who are above them; or to the

subjects of a tyrant groaning under his yoke. The use of the phrase here, ‘go free,’ however, seems

to limit its application in this place to those who were held in bondage. Jerome renders it, ‘Free

those who are broken’ (confracti). The Septuagint Τεθρασµένος Tethrasmenos - ‘Set at liberty

those who are broken down.’ If slavery existed at the time here referred to, this word would be

appropriately understood as including that - at least would be so understood by the slaves

themselves - for if any institution deserves to be called oppression, it is theft of slavery.

This interpretation would be confirmed by the use of the word rendered free. That word (חפׁשים

chophshı̂ym) evidently refers to the act of freeing a slave. The person who had once been a slave,

and who had afterward obtained his freedom, was denominated חפׁשי chophshı̂y (see Jahn, Bib.

Ant. Section 171). This word occurs, and is so used, in the following places; Exo_21:12, ‘And the

seventh (year) he shall go free;’ Exo_21:5, ‘I will not go out free;’ Exo_26:27, ‘He shall let him go

free;’ Deu_15:12, ‘Thou shalt let him go free;’ Deu_15:13, ‘When thou sendest him out free’

Deu_15:18, ‘When thou sendest him away free;’ Job_3:19, ‘The servant is free from his master;’

that is, in the grave, where there is universal emancipation. Compare Jer_34:9-11, Jer_34:14,

Jer_34:16 where the same Hebrew word is used, and is applied expressly to the emancipation of

slaves. The word is used in other places in the Bible except the following: 1Sa_17:25, ‘And make

his father’s house free in Israel,’ referring to the favor which was promised to the one who would

slay Goliath of Gath. Job_39:5 : ‘Who hath sent out the wild donkey free?’ Psa_88:5 : ‘Free

among the dead.’ The usage, therefore, is settled that the word properly refers to deliverance

from servitude. It would be naturally understood by a Hebrew as referring to that, and unless

there was something in the connection which made it necessary to adopt a different

interpretation, a Hebrew would so understand it of course. In the case before us, such an

interpretation would be obvious, and it is difficult to see how a Jew could understand this

direction in any other way, if he was an owner. of slaves, than that be should set them at once at

liberty.”

5. Clarke expresses indignation at any who profess belief in the God of Scripture who still

maintain slaves. “How can any nation pretend to fast or worship God at all, or dare to profess

that they believe in the existence of such a Being, while they carry on the slave trade, and traffic

in the souls, blood, and bodies, of men! O ye most flagitious of knaves, and worst of hypocrites,

cast off at once the mask of religion; and deepen not your endless perdition by professing the

faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, while ye continue in this traffic!” The Civil War was all about

Christians who supported slavery against those who hated it, and the haters won because they

loved liberty and were willing to pay a price to gain it for others.

6. Gill, “The Septuagint render it, "dissolve the obligations of violent contracts"; such as are

obtained by violence; so the Arabic version; or by fraud, as the Syriac version, which translates

it, bonds of fraud. The Targum is,

"loose the bonds of writings of a depraved judgment;''

all referring it to unjust bonds and contracts in a civil sense: but rather it regards the loosing or

freeing men from all obligation to all human prescriptions and precepts; whatever is after the

tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ; so the traditions of the

Scribes and Pharisees are called "heavy burdens, grievous to be borne", Mat_23:4 these should

not be laid and bound on men's shoulders, but should be done and taken off of them, as well as

all penal laws with which they have been enforced:

and to let the oppressed go free; such as have been broken by oppression, not only in their spirits,

but in their purses, by mulcts and fines, and confiscation of goods; and who have been cast into

prisons, and detained a long time in filthy dungeons; and where many have perished for the sake

of religion, even in Protestant countries:

and that ye break every yoke; of church power and tyranny; everything that is not enjoined and

authorized by the word of God; every yoke but the yoke of Christ; all human precepts, and

obedience to them; all but the commands of Christ, and obedience to them; no other yoke should

be put upon the neck of his disciples but his own.”

7. John Piper, “There is something very close to Jesus' heart in this chapter. You can hear it

coming out in his words in Luke 4:18 ("The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed

Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and

recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden"). And in Matthew 25:35 ("I

was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a

stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I

was in prison, and you came to Me".)”

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe him,

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

The fast that really counts with me

Is sharing food with those who are hungry.

It is providing the wandering poor

With a place of shelter that is indoor.

It is providing clothes to the naked in shame,

And not turning away from those with your name.

Your own flesh and blood should be first on your list,

And caring for their needs I strongly insist.

1. Lets get away from rituals and focus on people. The real fast that I love to see is when you give

up hoarding all the food for yourself and share it with the hungry. I love it when you are willing

to share some of your room with those who have no shelter and have to live out in the elements

because they are homeless. I love it when you see those in rags even to the point of being naked,

and you share some of your clothing with them. The needy may even be a part of your own family

who have gotten down on their luck and are suffering lack of necessities. Maybe you have been in

conflict with your brother, and have had arguments, but when you see he has a need do not turn

away and fail to come to his aid. This is the king of humility and sacrifice that will open the way

for your prayers to enter heaven.

2. This text is telling us the same thing that we see in the �ew Testament.

(James 2:15-16 �LT) Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, {16} and

you say, "Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well"--but then you don't give

that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?

(1 John 3:16-18 �LT) We know what real love is because Christ gave up his life for us. And so we

also ought to give up our lives for our Christian friends. {17} But if one of you has enough money

to live well, and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help--how can God's love be in that

person? {18} Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our

actions.

3. Barnes, “The idea is, that we are to apportion among the poor that which will be needful for

their support, as a father does to his children. This is everywhere enjoined in the Bible, and was

especially regarded among the Orientals as an indispensable duty of religion. Thus Job

Job_31:16-22 beautifully speaks of his own practice:

If I have witheld the poor from his desire,

Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;

Or have eaten my morsel myself alone,

And the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;

If I have seen any perish for want of clothing,

Or any poor without covering; - ...

Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade,

And mine arm be broken from the bone.

4. Henry wrote, “This then is the fast that God has chosen. First, To provide food for those that

want it. This is put first, as the most necessary, and which the poor can but a little while live

without. It is to break thy bread to the hungry. Observe, “It must be thy bread, that which is

honestly got (not that which thou hast robbed others of), the bread which thou thyself hast

occasion for, the bread of thy allowance.” We must deny ourselves, that we may have to give to

him that needeth. “Thy bread which thou hast spared from thyself and thy family, on the fast-

day, if that, or the value of it, be not given to the poor, it is the miser's fast, which he makes a

hand of; it is fasting for the world, not for God. This is the true fast, to break thy bread to the

hungry, not only to give them that which is already broken meat, but to break bread on purpose

for them, to give them loaves and not to put them off with scraps.” Secondly, To provide lodging

for those that want it: It is to take care of the poor that are cast out, that are forced from their

dwelling, turned out of house and harbor, are cast out as rebels (so some critics render it), that are

attainted, and whom therefore it is highly penal to protect. “If they suffer unjustly, make no

difficulty of sheltering them; do not only find out quarters for them and pay for their lodging

elsewhere, but, which is a greater act of kindness, bring them to thy own house, make them thy

own guests. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for though thou mayest not, as some have

done, thereby entertain angels, thou mayest entertain Christ himself, who will recompense it in

the resurrection of the just. I was a stranger and you took me in.” Thirdly, To provide clothing for

those that want it: “When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, both to shelter him from the

injuries of the weather and to enable him to appear decently among his neighbours; give him

clothes to come to church in, and in these and other instances hide not thyself from thy own flesh.”

Some understand it more strictly of a man's own kindred and relations: “If those of thy own

house and family fall into decay, thou art worse than an infidel if thou dost not provide for them.”

1Ti_5:8. Others understand it more generally; all that partake of the human nature are to be

looked upon as our own flesh, for have we not all one Father? And for this reason we must not

hide ourselves from them, not contrive to be out of the way when a poor petitioner enquires for

us, not look another way when a moving object of charity and compassion presents itself; let us

remember that they are flesh of our flesh and therefore we ought to sympathize with them, and in

doing good to them we really do good to our own flesh and spirit too in the issue; for thus we lay

up for ourselves a good foundation, a good bond, for the time to come.”

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,

and your healing will quickly appear;

then your righteousness [a] will go before you,

and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

Fasting like this according to my definition

Will produce power like turning on the ignition.

Your light will break forth like the dawn,

And the darkness of selfishness will be gone.

Your healing will quickly appear,

And for lack of guidance you'll never need fear.

Your righteousness will go before you leading the way,

And the glory of the Lord will at your back ever stay.

1. When you behave like this, you are light in a world of darkness, and you represent the light of

God's love in the world. You light and love going out to others will bring healing to your own life,

for God loves a cheerful giver, and he will respond with giving to the giver. You will be

demonstrating true righteousness then, and it will be conspicuous to all, and God will honor that

kind of love, and he will back you up. He will protect you from behind so that negative

consequences will be avoided by you being such a sacrificial giver. In other words, you can't lose

when you shine forth the light of God's love toward others.

2. Barnes, “The idea here is, that if they were faithful in the discharge of their duty to God, he

would bless them with abundant prosperity (compare Job_11:17). The image is, that such

prosperity would come on the people like the spreading light of the morning.

And thine health - Lowth and �oyes render this, ‘And thy wounds shall be speedily healed over.’

The authority on which Lowth relies, is the version of Aquila as reported by Jerome, and the

Chaldee. The Hebrew word used here, (ארּוכה 'ărûkâh), means properly “a long bandage” (from

ârak, “to make long”), such as is applied by surgeons to heal a wound (compare the notes at' ארך

Isa_1:6). It is then used to denote the healing which is secured by the application of the bandage;

and figuratively here means their restoration from all the calamities which had been inflicted on

the nation. The word rendered ‘spring forth’ (from צמח tsâmach) properly relates to the manner

in which plants germinate (compare the notes at Isa_42:9). Here the sense is, that if they would

return to God, they would be delivered from the calamities which their crimes had brought on

them, and that peace and prosperity would again visit the nation. And thy righteousness shall go

before thee - Shall be thy leader - as an army is conducted. The idea is that their conformity to

the divine laws would serve the purpose of a leader to conduct them in the ways of peace,

happiness, and prosperity.”

3. Henry, ““Thy righteousness shall go before thee as thy vanguard, to secure thee from enemies

that charge thee in the front, and the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward, the gathering host, to

bring up those of thee that are weary and are left behind, and to secure thee from the enemies,

that, like Amalek, fall upon thy rear.” Observe, How good people are safe on all sides. Let them

look which way they will, behind them or before them; let them look backward or forward; they

see themselves safe, and find themselves easy and quiet from the fear of evil. And observe what it

is that is their defense; it is their righteousness, and the glory of the Lord, that is, as some

suppose, Christ; for it is by him that we are justified, and God is glorified. He it is that goes

before us, and is the captain of our salvation, as he is the Lord our righteousness; he it is that is

our rearward, on whom alone we can depend for safety when our sins pursue us and are ready to

take hold on us. Or, “God himself in his providence and grace shall both go before thee as thy

guide to conduct thee, and attend thee as thy rearward to protect thee, and this shall be the

reward of thy righteousness and so shall be for the glory of the Lord as the rewarder of it.”

9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;

you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,

with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

Then you will call, and the Lord will respond,

For proper fasting with God builds a bond.

�ow to heaven you can lift up your cry,

And the Lord of love will say, “Here am I.”

If you meet what the Lord makes as a condition

You will open his ears to hear any petition.

Just do away with every oppressive yoke,

And stop treating people like a nasty joke.

Put away that angry finger of scorn,

That has the self esteem of other torn.

Quiet your tongue from that talk so malicious,

And be loving with your words rather than vicious.

1. �ow you are in a state where God hears your every word. Your prayers no longer fall short

and get blocked out of heaven. They have the power to penetrate any filter God has established to

prevent unworthy prayers from entering his mind. You can cry for help now, and God will be at

your service. God humbles himself to become your servant by saying “Here am I.” This kind of

special treatment from God comes because you release your servants from the yoke of

oppression, and you stop treating them with the disrespect of pointed fingers and degrading talk

about them. In other words, when you treat people with love and respect, God will treat you with

love and respect, and he will gladly give heed to you call for help.

When you throw dirt you are losing ground

But when you give love, God will be found.

You can abuse people and damage their self esteem by both verbal and symbolic means. The

pointed finger of scorn can be as damaging as the verbal abuse. Even today we talk about giving

someone the finger, and we mean that we have symbolically blasted them with abusive sign

language. We can curse and swear with the finger as well as the tongue, and this king of attack

will cut off your success in prayer.

2. Barnes, “The sense is, that if we go before God renouncing all our sins, and desirous of doing

our duty, then we have a right to expect that he will hear us. But if we go indulging still in sin; if

we are false and hollow and hypocritical in our worship; or if, while we keep up the regular forms

of devotion, we are nevertheless guilty of oppression, cruelty, and dishonesty, we have no right to

expect that he will hear us.” Scripture supports this: Isa 1:15 “And when ye spread forth your

hands,I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear:” The

same sentiment is elsewhere expressed; Psa_66:18 : ‘If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord

will not hear me;’ Pro_28:9 : ‘He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer

shall be abomination;’ Jer_16:10-12; Zec_7:11-12; Pro_1:28-29.”

3. Henry, “God will be always nigh unto them, to hear their prayers, Isa_58:9. As, on the one

hand, he that shuts his ears to the cry of the poor shall himself cry and God will not hear him; so,

on the other hand, he that is liberal to the poor, his prayers shall come up with his alms for a

memorial before God, as Cornelius's did (Act_10:4): “Then shalt thou call, on thy fast-days,

which ought to be days of prayer, and the Lord shall answer, shall give thee the things thou callest

to him for; thou shalt cry when thou art in any distress or sudden fright, and he shall say, Here I

am.” This is a very condescending expression of God's readiness to hear prayer. When God calls

to us by his word it becomes us to say, Here we are; what saith our Lord unto his servants? But

that God should say to us, Behold me, here I am, is strange. When we cry to him, as if he were at a

distance, he will let us know that he is near, even at our right hand, nearer than we thought he

was. It is I, be not afraid. When danger is near our protector is nearer, a very present help. “Here I

am, ready to give you what you want, and do for you what you desire; what have you to say to

me?” God is attentive to the prayers of the upright, Psa_130:2. �o sooner do they call to him than

he answers, Ready, ready. Wherever they are praying, God says, “Here I am hearing; I am in the

midst of you.” He is nigh unto them in all things, Deu_4:7.”

A further account of the duty to be done in order to our interest in these promises (Isa_58:9,

Isa_58:10); and here, as before, it is required that we both do justly and love mercy, that we cease

to do evil and learn to do well. 1. We must abstain from all acts of violence and fraud. “Those

must be taken away from the midst of thee, from the midst of thy person, out of thy heart” (so

some); “thou must not only refrain from the practice of injury, but mortify in thee all inclination

and disposition towards it.” Or from the midst of thy people. Those in authority must not only not

be oppressive themselves, but must do all they can to prevent and restrain oppression in all

within their jurisdiction. They must not only break the yoke (Isa_58:6), but take away the yoke,

that those who have been oppressed may never be re-enslaved (as they were Jer_34:10,

Jer_34:11); they must likewise forbear threatening (Eph_6:9) and take away the putting forth of

the finger, which seems to have been then, as sometimes with us, a sign of displeasure and the

indication of a purpose to correct. Let not the finger be put forth to point at those that are poor

and in misery, and so to expose them to contempt; such expressions of contumely as are

provoking, and the products of ill-nature, ought to be banished from all societies. And let them

not speak vanity, flattery or fraud, to one another, but let all conversation be governed by

sincerity. Perhaps that dissimulation which is the bane of friendship is meant by the putting forth

of the finger (as Pro_6:13 by teaching with the finger), or it is putting forth the finger with the

ring on it, which was the badge of authority, and which therefore they produced when they spoke

iniquity, that is, gave unrighteous sentences. 2. We must abound in all acts of charity and

beneficence.”

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,

then your light will rise in the darkness,

and your night will become like the noonday.

If on behalf of the hungry yourselves you spend,

You will not only have man, but God as your friend.

If of the oppressed you satisfy needs,

It will be of far more valued than satisfying your greed s.

Then in the darkness your light will rise,

And you will be righteous in God's eyes.

Your night will become like the noonday

With a glory that will not fade away.

1. Give yourself to meeting the needs of others by sharing the blessings God has given to you, and

even greater blessing will come back to you. Your light will rise in the darkness and reveal the

power of love to chase away the darkness of poverty and oppression. You will light up the lives of

others by your generosity, and the result will be your own darkness will vanish in the light of the

noonday sun of God's glorious favor. The greatest thing you can do for yourself is not to be selfish

and grabbing all you can get, but to be generous in helping others be satisfied, for then you will

have the greatest reward, which is God's favor. This is true religion that pleases God and blesses

man. Everyone is a winner when we do things God's way, just as everyone loses when we do

things in the self-centered way of being religious but not loving.

2. Henry, “We must not only give alms according as the necessities of the poor require, but, (1.)

We must give freely and cheerfully, and from a principle of charity. We must draw out our soul to

the hungry (Isa_58:10), not only draw out the money and reach forth the hand, but do this from

the heart, heartily, and without grudging, from a principle of compassion and with a tender

affection to such as we see to be in misery. Let the heart go along with the gift; for God loves a

cheerful giver, and so does a poor man too. When our Lord Jesus healed and fed the multitude it

was as having compassion on them. (2.) We must give plentifully and largely, so as not to

tantalize, but to satisfy, the afflicted soul: “Do not only feed the hungry, but gratify the desire of

the afflicted, and, if it lies in your power, make them easy.” What are we born for, and what have

we our abilities of body, mind, and estate for, but to do all the good we can in this world with

them? And the poor we have always with us.

Those that are cheerful in doing good God will make cheerful in enjoying good; and this also is a

special gift of God, Ecc_2:24. Those that have shown mercy shall find mercy. Job, who in his

prosperity had done a great deal of good, had friends raised up for him by the Lord when he was

reduced, who helped him with their substance, so that his light rose in obscurity. “�ot only thy

light, which is sweet, but thy health too, or the healing of the wounds thou hast long complained

of, shall spring forth speedily; all thy grievances shall be redressed, and thou shalt renew thy

youth and recover thy vigor.” Those that have helped others out of trouble will obtain help of

God when it is their turn. 2. God will put honor upon them. Good works shall be recompensed

with a good name; this is included in that light which rises out of obscurity. Though a man's

extraction be mean, his family obscure, and he has no external advantages to gain him honor, yet,

if he do good in his place, that will procure him respect and veneration, and his darkness shall by

this means become as the noon-day, that is, he shall become very eminent and shine brightly in

his generation. See here what is the surest way for a man to make himself illustrious; let him

study to do good. He that would be the greatest of all, and best-loved, let him by humility and

industry make himself a servant of all.”

11 The LORD will guide you always;

he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land

and will strengthen your frame.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

like a spring whose waters never fail.

The Lord then will always be your guide,

And be ever present at your side.

He will satisfy your needs even when nature says no,

For he will give you the strength to go and go.

You will end up with a garden, and you will be so proud,

For it will flourish even if you don't see a cloud.

You will have water on the grandest scale,

For God will provide a spring whose waters never fail.

1. God is so pleased with true religion that he will be your unfailing guide, and will satisfy all

your needs in spite of your environment being so unproductive because of the harsh weather

conditions. He will give you strength to manage so that you will be as productive as one who lives

in a well watered garden with an unfailing spring. The best way to get God's blessing is to be a

blessing to others. Be a spring supplying the water of life to the thirsty, and God will be a spring

supply what you need to live the abundant life.

“Karl Menninger, the famous psychiatrist, once gave a lecture on medical health and answered

questions from the audience. Someone asked, “What would you advise a person to do if that

person felt a nervous breakdown coming on?” Most people thought he would say “Go see a

psychiatrist immediately,” but he didn’t. To their astonishment, Dr. Menninger replied, “Lock up

your house, go across the railroad tracks, find somebody in need, and help that person.”

Dr. Menniger had a firm grasp on the fact that helping others is, oftentimes, the best way to help

oneself. And in today’s passage Isaiah gave a similar message to the people of Israel: if you want

to be blessed by God, be a blessing to others. This is true worship.” TODAY I� THE WORD

DEVOTIO�AL

The acid test is not, "What does my religion do for me?" but, "What does it make me do for

others?

2. Henry, “God will direct them in all difficult and doubtful cases (Isa_58:11): The Lord shall

guide thee continually. While we are here, in the wilderness of this world, we have need of

continual direction from heaven; for, if at any time we be left to ourselves, we shall certainly miss

our way; and therefore it is to those who are good in God's sight that he gives the wisdom which

in all cases is profitable to direct, and he will be to them instead of eyes, Ecc_2:26. His providence

will make their way plain to them, both what is their duty and what will be most for their

comfort. 6. God will give them abundance of satisfaction in their own minds. As the world is a

wilderness in respect of wanderings, so that they need to be guided continually, so also is it in

respect of wants, which makes it necessary that they should have continual supplies, as Israel in

the wilderness had not only the pillar of cloud to guide them continually, but manna and water

out of the rock to satisfy their souls in drought, in a dry and thirsty land where no water is,

Psa_63:1. To a good man God gives not only wisdom and knowledge, but joy; he is satisfied in

himself with the testimony of his conscience and the assurances of God's favor. “These will satisfy

thy soul, will put gladness into thy heart, even in the drought of affliction; these will make fat thy

bones, and fill them with marrow, will give thee that pleasure which will be a support to thee as

the bones to the body, that joy of the Lord which will be thy strength. He shall give thy bones rest”

(so some read it), “rest from the pain and sickness which they have labored under and been

chastened with;” so it agrees with that promise made to the merciful. The Lord will make all his

bed in his sickness, Psa_41:3. “Thou shalt be like a watered garden, so flourishing and fruitful in

graces and comforts, and like a spring of water, like a garden that has a spring of water in it,

whose waters fail not either in droughts or in frosts.” The principle of holy love in those that are

good shall be a well of living water, Joh_4:14. As a spring of water, though it is continually

sending forth its streams, is yet always full, so the charitable man abounds in good as he abounds

in doing good and is never the poorer for his liberality. He that waters shall himself be watered.”

3. Barnes, “Syriac, ‘Like paradise.’ This is a most beautiful image to denote continued prosperity

and blessedness - an image that would be particularly striking in the East. The ideas of happiness

in the Oriental world consisted much in pleasant gardens, running streams, and ever-flowing

fountains, and nothing can more beautifully express the blessedness of the continued favor of the

Almighty. Waters or springs lie or deceive when they become dried up, or fail in the dry seasons

of the year. They deceive the shepherd who expected to obtain water there for himself or his

flock; they deceive the caravan which had traveled to the well-known fountain where it had been

often refreshed, and where, it is now found, its waters are dried up, or lost in the sand. Hence,

such a brook or fountain becomes an emblem of a false and deceitful friend Job_6:15 :

My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook,

As the stream of brooks they pass away.

But in the supplies which God makes for his people there is no such deception. The fountains of

pardon, peace, and joy are ever open and ever full. The streams of salvation are always flowing.

The weary pilgrim may go there at any season of the year, and from any part of a desolate world,

and find them always full, refreshing, and free. However far may be the pilgrimage to them from

amidst the waste and burning climes of sin, however many come to slake their thirst, and

however frequently they come, they find them always the same. They never fail; and they will

continue to flow on to the end of time.”

4. Gill, “and thou shalt be like a watered garden; like a "garden", the church of Christ is

separated from others, by electing, redeeming, and efficacious grace; and like a "watered" one,

watered by the Lord himself, and the dews of his grace, and by the ministry of the word; whereby

the plants that are planted in it thrive and flourish, lift up their heads, shoot up and grow, and

bring forth fruit:

and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not; as there is in every believer a well of living water

springing up unto everlasting life, not of themselves, but from Christ, and which is very

abundant, and never fails; so there is in the church a spring of the living waters of Gospel

doctrines, and of Gospel ordinances; here runs the river of divine love, which makes glad the city

of God; here Christ is the fountain of gardens; and here the Spirit and his graces are

communicated; all which remain, and never fail.”

12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins

and will raise up the age-old foundations;

you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,

Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

The ancient ruins your people will rebuild,

For God will provide those who are skilled.

The age-old foundations you will raise,

Leading your people to rejoice and praise.

You will gain reputations for repairing broken walls,

And for restoring streets with dwellings due to previous falls.

1. Your people will have the strength and the resources to rebuild the ancient ruins and restore

the old foundations. There will be a new beginning, and you will be called Repairer of Broken

Walls, and Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. In other words, all that has been destroyed because

of sin will be restored because of repentance and restoration of righteous and loving living where

true worship and service to God thrives. All things become new because of true obedience to the

revealed will of God.

2. Henry, “This is here promised (Isa_58:12): “Those that now are of thee, thy princes, and

nobles, and great men, shall have such authority and influence as they never had;” or, “Those

that hereafter shall be of thee, thy posterity, shall be serviceable to their generation, as thou art to

thine.” It completes the satisfaction of a good man, as to this world, to think that those that come

after him shall be doing good when he is gone. 1. They shall re-edify cities that have been long in

ruins, shall build the old waste places, which had lain so long desolate that the rebuilding of them

was quite despaired of. This was fulfilled when the captives, after their return, repaired the cities

of Judah, and dwelt in them, and many of those in Israel too, which had lain waste ever since the

carrying away of the ten tribes. 2. They shall carry on and finish that good work which was

begun long before, and shall be helped over the obstructions which had retarded the progress of

it: They shall raise up to the top that building the foundation of which was laid long since and has

been for many generations in the rearing. This was fulfilled when the building of the temple was

revived after it had stood still for many years, Ezr_5:2. Or, “They shall raise up foundations

which shall continue for many generations yet to come;” they shall do that good which shall be of

lasting consequence. 3. They shall have the blessing and praise of all about them: “Thou shalt be

called (and it shall be to thy honor) the repairer of the breach, the breach made by the enemy in

the wall of a besieged city, which whoso has the courage and dexterity to make up, or make good,

gains great applause.” Happy are those who make up the breach at which virtue is running out

and judgments are breaking in. “Thou shalt be the restorer of paths, safe and quiet paths, not only

to travel in, but to dwell in, so safe and quiet that people shall make no difficulty of building their

houses by the road-side.” The sum is that, if they keep such fasts as God has chosen, he will settle

them again in their former peace and prosperity, and there shall be none to make them afraid.

See Zec_7:5, Zec_7:9; Zec_8:3-5. It teaches us that those who do justly and love mercy shall have

the comfort thereof in this world.”

3. Barnes, “Shall build the old waste places - Shall repair the old ruins, and restore the desolate

cities and fields to their former beauty. This language is taken from the condition of Judea during

the long captivity at Babylon. The land would have been desolated by the Chaldeans, and lain

waste for a period of seventy years. Of course all the remains of their former prosperity would

have gone to decay, and the whole country would be filled with ruins. But all this, says the

prophet, would be restored if they were obedient to God. and would keep his law. Their

descendants would be so numerous that the land would be entirely occupied and cultivated again,

and cities and towns would rise with their former beauty and magnificence.

Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations - That is, the foundations which had

endured for generations. The word ‘foundations’ here ( מוסד môsâd), means properly the

foundation of a building, that is, on which a building rests. Here it means the foundation when

that alone remains; and is equivalent to ruins. The Hebrew phrase translated ‘of many

generational’ (דור־ודור dôr-vâdôr, generation and generation), is equivalent to one generation

after another, and is the usual form of the superlative degree. The exact amount of time is not

designated; but the phrase is equivalent to a long time - while one generation passes away after

another. Vitringa applies this to the gospel, and supposes that it means that the church, after long

decay and desolation, would rise to its former beauty and glory. The promise is indeed general;

and though the language is taken from the recovery of Palestine from its ruins after the captivity,

yet there can be no objection to applying it in a more general sense, as teaching that the people of

God, if they are faithful in keeping his commandments, and in manifesting the spirit which

becomes the church, will repair the ruins which sin has made in the world, and rebuild the wastes

and the desolations of many ages.

Sin has spread its desolations far and wide. Scarce the foundations of righteousness remain in the

earth. Where they do remain, they are often covered over with ruined fragments, and are

surrounded by frightful wastes. The world is full of the ruins which sin has caused; and there

could be no more striking illustration of the effects of sin on all that is good, than the ruins of

Judea during the seventy years of exile, or than those of Palmyra, of Baalbec, of Tyre, of Ephesus,

and of Persepolis, at present. It is for the church of God to rebuild these wastes, and to cause the

beauties of cultivated fields, and the glories of cities rebuilt, to revisit the desolate earth; in other

words, to extend the blessings of that religion which will yet clothe the earth with moral

loveliness, as though sin had not spread its gloomy and revolting monuments over the world.

And thou shalt be called - The name which shall appropriately designate what you will do.

The repairer of the breach - Lowth, ‘The repairer of the broken mound.’ The phrase properly

means, ‘the fortifier of the breach;’ i. e:, the one who shall build up the breach that is made in a

wall of a city, either by the lapse of time, or by a siege.

The restorer of paths to dwell in - Lowth and �oves render this, ‘The restorer of paths to be

frequented by inhabitants.’ The Septuagint renders it, ‘And thou shalt cause thy paths to rest in

the midst of thee;’ and Jerome. Avertens semitas in quietem - ‘Turning the paths into rest,’ which

the Jewish exposition explains to mean, ‘Thou shalt build walls so high that no enemy can enter

them.’ So Grotius renders it, ‘Turning thy paths to rest;’ that is, thou shalt leave no way of access

to robbers. The Chaldee renders it, ‘Converting the wicked to the law.’ The common English

version has probably expressed correctly the sense. The idea is, that they would repair the public

highways which had long lain desolate, by which access was had to their dwelling-places. It does

not mean, however, that the paths or ways were to be places in which to dwell, but that the ways

which led to their dwelling-places were to be restored, or repaired. These roads, of course, in the

long desolations would be ruined. Thorns, and brambles, and trees would have grown upon

them; and having been long neglected, they would be impassable. But the advantages of a free

contact from one dwelling and one city to another, and throughout the land, would be again

enjoyed. Spiritually applied, it means the same as the previous expression, that the church of God

would remove the ruins which sin has caused, and diffuse comfort and happiness around the

world. The obstructed and overrun paths to a quiet and peaceable dwelling on earth would be

cleared away, and the blessings of’ the true religion would be like giving free and easy access

from one tranquil and prosperous dwelling-place to another.”

4. Gill, “And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places,.... As the cities in Israel

and Judea, which had been long laid waste by the Assyrians and Chaldeans, were rebuilt by those

of the Jewish nation, who returned from the captivity of Babylon, to which there is at least an

allusion; and as the church of God, the tabernacle of David, which was fallen down, and had lain

long in ruins, through corruptions in doctrine and worship, to the times of Christ, when the

apostles, who were of the Jews, those wise masterbuilders, were instruments of raising it up

again, and repairing its ruins: so, in the latter day, "the waste places of the world" (n), as the

words may be rendered, shall be built by a set of men, that shall be of the church of God, who

shall be instruments in his hand of converting many souls, and so of peopling it with Christians;

such places as before were desolate, where before there was no preaching of the word, no

administration of ordinances, nor any Gospel churches:

thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; either such foundations as have been

razed up, and lay so for ages past; or raise up such as shall continue for generations to come. It

may allude to the raising the foundations of the city and temple of Jerusalem; but rather refers to

the founding of churches in Gospel times, which, as it was done in the first times of it by the

apostles in the Gentile world, so shall be again in the latter day, which will continue for many

ages:

and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, and the restorer of paths to dwell in; that is,

the church and her builders, that shall be of her, shall be so called; the Jews and Gentiles will be

converted in great numbers, and coalesce in the same Gospel church state, and so the breach

between them will be repaired. Christians of various denominations, who now break off and

separate one from another, will be of the same sentiment and judgment in doctrine and

discipline; they shall see eye to eye, and cement together, and all breaches will be made up, and

there will be no schism in the body; and they shall dwell together in unity, and walk in the same

paths of faith and duty, of truth and holiness; and such who will be the happy instruments of all

this will have much honour, and be called by these names.

The Targum is,

"they shall call thee one that confirms the right way, and converts, the ungodly to the law.''

13 "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath

and from doing as you please on my holy day,

if you call the Sabbath a delight

and the LORD's holy day honorable,

and if you honor it by not going your own way

and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

If from breaking the Sabbath you keep your feet,

And if from self pleasing you cease to repeat,

But instead call the Sabbath my holy day of delight,

And treat it as the Lords holy day in my sight,

And if you honor it by not going your own way,

And not doing as you please, or idle words say,

1. The glorious hope of a new beginning with all things restored better than ever has a clear

condition attached. It his to be preceded by an honest obedience to the Sabbath laws. It has to

become a truly holy day with a focus on God and not on getting your own will done. The self-

centered focus needs to change and get back to a God centered focus where you truly honor God

with worship, prayer, learning, and service. It has to be kept as a day of selflessness rather than a

day of selfishness. Forsake doing your own thing, and speaking idle words of no value. Speak

instead of the glory of God, and sing his praises, and grow in your understanding of God. Use the

day to develop love for God's Word so you can carry out its loving concepts through the rest of

the week.

2. Jamison, “God claims it as His day; to take it for our pleasure is to rob Him of His own. This is

the very way in which the Sabbath is mostly broken; it is made a day of carnal pleasure instead

of spiritual “delight.”

3. Barnes, “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 God’s great ordinance for perpetuating religion and virtue, it is also, by

perversion, made Satan’s great ordinance for perpetuating intemperance, dissipation, and

sensuality.

And call the Sabbath a delight - This appropriately expresses the feelings of all who have any

just views of the Sabbath. To them it is not wearisome, nor are its hours heavy. They love the day

of sweet and holy rest. They esteem it a privilege, not a task, to be permitted once a week to

disburden their minds of the cares, and toils, and anxieties of life. It is a ‘delight’ to them to recall

the memory of the institution of the Sabbath, when God rested from his labors; to recall the

resurrection of the Lord Jesus, to the memory of which the Christian Sabbath is consecrated; to

be permitted to devote a whole day to prayer and praise, to the public and private worship of

God, to services that expand the intellect and purify the heart. To the father of a family it is the

source of unspeakable delight that he may conduct his children to the house of God, and that he

may instruct them in the ways of religion. To the Christian man of business, the farmer, and the

professional man, it is a pleasure that he may suspend his cares, and may uninterruptedly think

of God and of heaven. To all who have any just feeling, the Sabbath is a ‘delight;’ and for them to

be compelled to forego its sacred rest would be an unspeakable calamity.

The holy of the Lord, honorable - This more properly means, ‘and call the holy of Yahweh

honorable.’ That is, it does not mean that they who observed the Sabbath would call it ‘holy to

Yahweh and honorable;’ but it means that the Sabbath was, in fact, ‘the holy of Yahweh,’ and

that they would regard it as ‘honorable.’ A slight inspection of the Hebrew will show that this is

the sense. They who keep the Sabbath aright will esteem it a day “to be honored” (מכבד

mekubâd).

And shalt honor him - Or rather, shalt honor it; to wit, the Sabbath. The Hebrew will bear

either construction, but the connection seems to require us to understand it of the Sabbath rather

than of the Lord.

�ot doing thine own ways - This is evidently explanatory of the phrase in the beginning of the

verse. ‘if thou turn away thy foot.’ So the Septuagint understands it: Οὐκ άρεῖς τὸς πόδα σου ἐπ ̓

ἔργῳ Ouk areis ton poda sou ep' ergō - ‘And will not lift up thy foot to any work.’ They were not

to engage in secular labor, or in the execution of their own plans, but were to regard the day as

belonging to God, and to be employed in his service alone.

�or finding thine own pleasure - The Chaldee renders this, ‘And shalt not provide on that day

those things which are necessary for thee.’

�or speaking thine own words - Lowth and �oyes render this, ‘From speaking vain words.’

The Septuagint, ‘�or 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.”

4. Gill, “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath,.... From walking and working on that day;

or withdrawest thy mind and affections from all worldly things; the affections being that to the

mind as the feet are to the body, which carry it here and there. The time of worship, under the

Gospel dispensation, is here expressed in Old Testament language, as the service of it usually is in

prophetic writings; though its proper name is the Lord's day, Rev_1:10, and is here instanced in,

and put for all religious institutions and services to be attended unto, and which will be with

greater strictness in the times referred to:

from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; that is, if thou turnest away, or dost abstain from doing

thine own servile work, the business of thy calling; which may be agreeable for the sake of the

profit of it; or from recreations and amusements, which may be lawfully indulged on another

day:

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.”

5. Gill, “We must call it holy, separated from common use and devoted to God and to his service,

must call it the holy of the Lord, the day which he has sanctified to himself. Even in Old

Testament times the sabbath was called the Lord's day, and therefore it is fitly called so still, and

for a further reason, because it is the Lord Christ's day, Rev_1:10. It is holy because it is the

Lord's day, and upon both accounts it is honourable. It is a beauty of holiness that is upon it; it is

ancient, and its antiquity is its honour; and we must make it appear that we look upon it as

honourable by honouring God on that day. We put honour upon the day when we give honour to

him that instituted it, and to whose honour it is dedicated.”

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. �ote, The more pleasure we take in serving God the more pleasure we shall find in it.

If we go about duty with cheerfulness, we shall go from it with satisfaction and shall have reason

to say, “It is good to be here, good to draw near to God.”

2. We shall have the honour of it: I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth,

which denotes not only a great security (as that, Isa_32:16, He shall dwell on high), but great

dignity and advancement. “Thou shalt ride in state, shalt appear conspicuous, and the eyes of all

thy neighbours shall be upon thee.” It was said of Israel, when God led them triumphantly out of

Egypt, that he made them to ride on the high places of the earth, Deu_32:12, Deu_32:13. Those

that honour God and his sabbath he will thus honour. If God by his grace enable us to live above

the world, and so to manage it as not only not to be hindered by it, but to be furthered and

carried on by it in our journey towards heaven, then he makes us to ride on the high places of the

earth.

3. We shall have the profit of it: I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father, that is, with

all the blessings of the covenant and all the precious products of Canaan (which was a type of

heaven), for these were the heritage of Jacob. Observe, The heritage of believers is what they

shall not only be portioned with hereafter, but fed with now, fed with the hopes of it, and not

flattered, fed with the earnests and foretastes of it; and those that are so fed have reason to say

that they are well fed. In order that we may depend upon it, it is added, “The mouth of the Lord

has spoken it; you may take God's word for it, for he cannot lie nor deceive; what his mouth has

spoken his hand will give, his hand will do, and not one iota or tittle of his good promise shall fall

to the ground.” Blessed, therefore, thrice blessed, is he that doeth this, and lays hold on it, that

keeps the sabbath from polluting it.”

6. Lambert Dolphin, “Why, however, is there mention of the Sabbath at this point? Is it not that

the Sabbath was a unifying ordinance which at all times (and particularly in times of apostasy

and the exile) would bind the people together as no other ordinance would do? For the Sabbath

was not merely a Mosaic ordinance; it was far more. It was instituted at the creation, and is a

pattern of the heavenly Sabbath rest which the redeemed are to enjoy in the presence of their

eternal God. In the great calamity of the exile that was to come upon them, Isaiah stresses the

Sabbath as in a sense the heart of true devotion to God. He who keeps the Sabbath as it is

intended to be kept will be happy in the Lord of the Sabbath.”

14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,

and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land

and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."

The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Then, and only then, will you find your joy in the Lord,

And bring an end to your religion where all are just bored.

I will cause you then on the heights of the land to ride,

And you will feel like your right by my side.

On the inheritance of your father Jacob you will feast,

And all needs will be met from the great to the least.

Let none of the conditions of fasting be broken,

For the mouth of the Lord has here been spoken.

1. Joy in the Lord comes at a price. You have to be willing to please the Lord by obedience to his

will before you can be filled with the spirit of joy. Joy is a reward that is earned by obedience,

and when you get it you will experience a high that no drug can give you. You will ride on the

heights of the land. You will be like one floating over the mountains in ecstasy, and you will feast

on the inheritance of your father Jacob. In other words all that God promised Jacob will be

fulfilled in your lives. This is not just speculation, for the mouth of God himself has given this

promise and assurance. It is a sure thing if the conditions are met.

2. Humble yourself to share with those in need, and God will raise you up to stand on mountains,

and raise you up to be more than you can be, just as the song says. If you want to be king of the

mountain you need to be a servant in the valley of human need.

3. I like the way David Guzik concludes, “In this chapter, God exposed the emptiness of two

religious rituals as practiced in Isaiah's day: fasting and Sabbath keeping. Both of these are

expressions of not doing things. In fasting, you don't eat. In Sabbath keeping, you don't work. An

important aspect to this chapter is showing us that what we don't do isn't enough to make us right

before God. Our walk with God shouldn't only be defined by what we don't do. What do we do

for the LORD?”

4. Barnes, “Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord - That is, as a consequence of properly

observing the Sabbath, thou shalt find pleasure in Yahweh. It will be a pleasure to draw near to

him, and you shall no longer be left to barren ordinances and to unanswered prayers. The delight

or pleasure which God’s people have in him is a direct and necessary consequence of the proper

observance of the Sabbath. It is on that day set apart by his own authority, for his own service,

that he chooses to meet with his people, and to commune with them and bless them; and no one

ever properly observed the Sabbath who did not find, as a consequence, that he had augmented

pleasure in the existence, the character, and the service of Yahweh. Compare Job_22:21-26,

where the principle stated here - that the observance of the law of God will lead to happiness in

the Almighty - is beautifully illustrated (see also Psa_37:4).

And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth - A phrase like this occurs in

Deu_32:13 : ‘He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of

fields.’ In Hab_3:19, the phrase also occurs: ‘He will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will

make me to walk upon mine high places.’ So also Psa_18:33 : ‘He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet,

and setteth me upon my high places.’ In Amo_4:13, it is applied to God: ‘He maketh the morning

darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth.’ Kimchi, Calvin, and Grotius suppose

that the idea here is, that God would restore the exiled Jews to their own land - a land of

mountains and elevated places, more lofty than the surrounding regions. Vitringa says that the

phrase is taken from a conqueror, who on his horse or in his chariot, occupies mountains, hills,

towers, and monuments, and subjects them to himself. Rosenmuller supposes it means, ‘I will

place you in lofty and inaccessible places, where you will be safe from all your enemies.’ Gesenius

also supposes that the word ‘high places’ here means fastnesses or strongholds, and that to walk

over those strongholds, or to ride over them, is equivalent to possessing them, and that he who

has possession of the fastnesses has possession of the whole country (see his Lexicon on the word

bâmâh, �o. 2). I give these views of the most distinguished commentators on the passage, not במה

being able to determine satisfactorily to myself what is the true signification. �either of the above

expositions seems to me to be entirely free from difficulty. The general idea of prosperity and

security is undoubtedly the main thing intended; but what is the specific sense couched under the

phrase ‘to ride on the high places of the earth,’ does not seem to me to be sufficiently explained.

And feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father - That is, thou shalt possess the land

promised to Jacob as an inheritance.

For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it - This formula often occurs when an important

promise is made, and it is regarded as ample security for the fulfillment that Yahweh has

promised it. What more ample security can be required, or conceived, than the promise of the

eternal God?”

From the closing portion of this chapter Isa_58:13-14, we may derive the following important

inferences respecting the Sabbath:

1. It is to be of perpetual obligation. The whole chapter occurs in the midst of statements that

relate to the times of the Messiah. There is no intimation that the Sabbath was to be abolished,

but it is fairly implied that its observance was to be attended with most happy results in those

future times. At all events, Isaiah regarded it as of binding obligation, and felt that its proper

observance was identified with the national welfare.

2. We may see the manner in which the Sabbath is to be observed. In no place in the Bible is

there a more full account of the proper mode of keeping that holy day. We are to refrain from

ordinary traveling and employments; we are not to engage in doing our own pleasure; we are to

regard it with delight, and to esteem it a day worthy to be honored; and we are to show respect to

it by not performing our own ordinary works, or pursuing pleasures, or engaging in the common

topics of conversation. In this description there occurs nothing of unique Jewish ceremony, and

nothing which indicates that it is not to be observed in this manner at all times. Under the gospel,

assuredly, it is as proper to celebrate the Sabbath in this way, as it was in the times of Isaiah, and

God doubtless intended that it should be perpetually observed in this manner.

3. Important benefits result from the right observance of the Sabbath. In the passage before us,

these are said to be, that they who thus observed it would find pleasure in Yahweh, and would be

signally prospered and be safe. But those benefits are by no means confined to the Jewish people.

It is as true now as it was then, that they who observe the Sabbath in a proper manner find

happiness in the Lord - in his existence, perfections, promises, law, and in communion with him -

which is to be found nowhere else. Of this fact there are abundant witnesses now in every

Christian church, and they will continue to be multiplied in every coming age. And it is as true

that the proper observance of the Sabbath contributes to the prosperity and safety of a nation

now, as it ever did among the Jewish people. It is not merely from the fact that God promises to

bless the people who keep his holy day; though this is of more value to a nation than all its armies

and fleets; but it is, that there is in the institution itself much that tends to the welfare and

prosperity of a country.

It is a time when worldliness is broken in upon by a periodical season of rest, and when the

thoughts are left free to contemplate higher and purer objects. It is a time when more instruction

is imparted on moral and religious subjects, than on all the other days of the week put together.

The public worship of God tends to enlarge the intellect, and purify the heart. �o institution has

ever been originated that has contributed so much to elevate the common mind; to diffuse order,

peace, neatness, decency among people, and thus to perpetuate and extend all that is valuable in

society, as the Sabbath. Anyone may be convinced of this, who will be at the pains to compare a

neighborhood, a village, or a city where the Sabbath is not observed with one where it is; and the

difference will convince him at once, that society owes more to the Sabbath than to any single

institution besides, and that in no way possible can one-seventh portion of the time be so well

employed as in the manner contemplated by the Christian day of rest.

4. Society will have seasons of cessation from labor, and when they are not made occasions for

the promotion of virtue, they will be for the promotion of vice. Thus among the Romans an

annual Saturnalia was granted to all, as a season of relaxation from toil, and even from the

restraints of morality, besides many other days of periodical rest from labor. Extensively among

pagan nations also, the seventh day of the week, or a seventh portion of the time, has been

devoted to such relaxation. Thus, Hesiod says, Ἑβδοµον ἱερον ἡµαρ Hebdomon hieron hēmera -

The seventh day ‘is holy.’ Homer and Callimachus give it the same title. Philo says of the seventh

any. Ἐόρτη γὰρ ου ̓ µιας πολέως η χώρας ἐστὶν ἀλλὰ τοῦ πακτὸς Heortē gar ou mias poleōs ē

chōras estin alla tou pantos - ‘It is a feast, not of one city or one country only, but of all.’ Josephus

(Contra Apion. ii.), says, ‘There is no city, however barbarous, where the custom of observing the

seventh day which prevails among the Jews is not also observed.’ Theophilus of Antioch (ii.), says,

‘Concerning the seventh day, which all people celebrate.’ Eusebius says, ‘Almost all the

philosophers and poets acknowledge the seventh day as holy.’ See Grotius, De Veritate, i.

It is evident that this custom did not originate by chance, nor was it kept up by chance. It must

have been originated by far-spreading tradition, and must have been observed either because the

day was esteemed to be holy, or because it was found to be convenient or advantageous to observe

such a periodical season of rest. In accordance with this feeling, even the French nation during

the Revolution, while they abolished the Christain Sabbath, felt so deeply the necessity of a

periodical rest from labor, that they appointed the decade - or one day in ten, to be observed as a

day of relaxation and amusement. Whatever, therefore, may have been the origin of the Sabbath,

and whatever may be the views which may be entertained of its sacredness, it is now reduced to a

moral certainty that people will have a periodical season of cessation from labor. The only

question is, In what way shall it be observed? Shall it be devoted to amusement, pleasure, and

vice; or shall it be employed in the ways of intelligence, virtue, and religion? It is evident that

such a periodical relaxation may be made the occasion of immense good to any community; and

it is not less evident that it may be the occasion of extending far the evils of intemperance,

profaneness, licentiousness, and crime. It is vain to attempt to blot out wholly the observance of

the Christian Sabbath; and since it will and must be observed as a day of cessation from toil, all

that remains is for society to avail itself of the advantages which may be derived from its proper

observance, and to make it the handmaid of temperance, intelligence, social order, and pure

religion.

5. It is deeply, therefore, to be regretted that this sacred institution has been, and is so widely

abused in Christian lands. As it is, it is extensively a day of feasting, amusement, dissipation, and

revelry. And while its observance is, more decidedly than anything else, the means of

perpetuating virtue and religion on earth, it is perhaps not too much to say that it is the occasion

of more intemperance, vice, and crime than all the other days of the week put together. This is

particularly the case in our large cities and towns. A community cannot be disbanded from the

restraints of labor one-seventh part of the time without manifest evil, unless there are salutary

checks and restraints. The merchant cannot safely close his counting-room; the clerk and

apprentice cannot safely be discharged; the common laborer cannot safely be dismissed from toil,

unless there is something that shall be adapted on that day to enlarge the understanding, elevate

the morals, and purify the heart. The welfare of the community demands that; and nowhere

more than in this country. Who can doubt that a proper observance at the holy Sabbath would

contribute to the prosperity of this nation? Who can doubt that the worship of God; the

cultivation of the heart; the contemplation of moral and religious truth; and the active duties of

benevolence, would contribute more to the welfare of the nation, than to devote the day to

idleness, amusement, dissipation, and sin?

6. While the friends of religion, therefore, mourn over the desecration of the Christian Sabbath,

let them remember that their example may contribute much to secure a proper observance of

that day. On the friends of the Redeemer it devolves to rescue the day from desecration; and by

the divine blessing it may be done. The happiness of every Christian is indissolubly connected

with the proper observance of the Sabbath. The perpetuity of the true religion, and its extension

throughout the earth, is identified with the observance of the Sabbath. And every true friend of

God the Savior, as he values his own peace, and as he prizes the religion which he professes to

love, is bound to restrain his foot on the Sabbath; to cease to find his own pleasure, and to speak

his own words on that holy day; and to show that the Sabbath is to him a delight, and that he

esteems it as a day to be honored and to be loved.”

5. Gill, “ Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord,.... In his perfections; in his omnipotence,

omniscience, omnipresence, eternity, immutability, holiness, justice, truth, and faithfulness; in his

wisdom, love, grace, and mercy, especially as displayed in Christ, and salvation by him; in the

relations he stands in to his people, as their covenant God and Father, and in what he is to them,

their shield and exceeding great reward, their portion and inheritance; in his works of creation,

providence, and grace; in his word, the Gospel, the truths, doctrines, and promises of it; in his

ways and worship: in his ordinances and commandments; in communion with him, and with his

people; in all which, abundance of delight, pleasure, and satisfaction, is found by those who know

him in Christ, have tasted that he is gracious; who have some likeness to him, love him, and are

the objects of his love and delight:

and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth; to live above the world, and to

have their conversation in heaven; to be in the utmost safety, and enjoy the greatest plenty,

especially of spiritual things: or to be superior to the men of the world, even the highest of them;

to have power and authority in the earth, as the saints will have in the latter day; particularly this

will be true when the mountain of the Lord's house is established upon the top of the mountains,

Isa_2:2,

and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: the Jewish writers inquire why Jacob is

mentioned, and not Abraham nor Isaac; and answer, as in the Talmud (p), not Abraham, of

whom it is written, "arise, walk through the land in the length of it", &c. Gen_13:17, nor Isaac,

of whom it is written, "for unto thee, and to thy seed, will I give all these countries", &c.

Gen_26:3, but Jacob, of whom it is written, "and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the

east, and to the north, and to the south", &c. Gen_28:14 expressing the larger extent of the

inheritance; so Jarchi and Samson account for it; but Kimchi gives a better reason, because the

sons of Jacob, and not Ishmael the son of Abraham, nor Esau the son of Isaac, inherited the land

of Canaan: but rather the reason is, because he is the father of all true Israelites, who are, as he

was, wrestling and prevailing; these the Lord feeds with spiritual provisions here, and glory

hereafter; which the good things of the land of Canaan, the inheritance of Jacob and his sons,

were a type of: and perhaps this may have respect to the conversion of the Jews, when they shall

return to their own land, and enjoy the good things of it, as well as all spiritual blessings:

for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it; who is faithful to his covenant, true to his word; cannot

lie, will never deceive; performs whatsoever he has promised, being able to do it; and therefore it

may be depended upon that all this shall be as he has said.”

6. Kyle, “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.”

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CHRISTMAS WITH DR. LUKE

CHRISTMAS TREASURES

BIBLE PARADOXES

PARADOXES OF PAUL

LOVE IS THE GREATEST

THE GLORY OF EASTER

LOOKI�G AT JESUS

U�USUAL BIBLE TOPICS

BEHOLD THE GLORY OF GOD

SUCCESSFUL CHRISTIA� LIVI�G

THE BEAUTY OF THE CROSS

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

THE PASSIO� EXPOU�DED

Being-Thankful-People

JESUS THE GREATEST

JESUS THE GREATEST VOL. 2

ISSUES OF SUFFERI�G, DEATH A�D EVIL

A STUDY OF GOD’S CREATIO�

FAMOUS BIBLE CHARACTERS

ME�-I�-THE-LIFE-OF-JESUS

THE SECO�D COMI�G

THE TE� COMMA�DME�TS

HAPPI�ESS THE JESUS WAY

WOME� I� THE LIFE OF JESUS

STUDIES I� GALATIA�S

STUDIES I� I PETER

STUDIES I� II PETER

STUDIES I� JAMES

STUDIES I� JO�AH

STUDIES I� MARK

STUDIES I� LUKE

STUDIES I� ROMA�S

WI�DOWS I�TO HEAVE�

ISSUES WORTH THI�KI�G ABOUT

THE ABC’S OF A HAPPY MARRIAGE

LOVE A�D ROMA�CE I� THE BIBLE

MESSAGES TO I�SPIRE MOTHERS

STUDIES I� I CORI�THIA�S

STUDIES I� II CORI�THIA�S

THE LORD’S PRAYER

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

JESUS TEACHES US

FAMOUS FATHERS OF FAITH

MESSAGES O� PRAISE

MESSAGES O� PRAYER

FAMOUS BIBLE CHARACTERS

STUDIES I� ACTS

STUDIES I� DA�IEL

STUDIES I� ESTHER

STUDIES I� GALATIA�S

STUDIES I� GE�ESIS

STUDIES I� JOH�’S GOSPEL

STUDIES I� JOH�’S LETTERS

STUDIES I� LUKE

STUDIES I� MARK

STUDIES I� ROMA�S

STUDIES I� I A�D II THESSALO�IA�S

STUDIES I� PHILIPPIA�S

STUDIES I� I PETER

STUDIES I� TITUS

STUDIES I� II PETER

STUDIES I� I TIMOTHY

STUDIES I� JOB

STUDIES I� PROVERBS

STUDIES I� JO�AH

STUDIES I� RUTH

STUDIES I� THE PSALMS

STUDIES I� REVELATIO�