Commentari biblici

Isa 58:1-14.

REPROOF OF THE JEWS FOR THEIR DEPENDENCE ON MERE OUTWARD FORMS OF WORSHIP.

1. aloud--Hebrew, "with the throat," that is, with full voice, not merely from the lips

(1Sa 1:13).

Speak loud enough to arrest attention.

my people--the Jews in Isaiah's time, and again in the time of our Lord, more zealous for externals than for inward holiness. ROSENMULLER thinks the reference to be to the Jews in the captivity practising their rites to gain God's favor and a release; and that hence, sacrifices are not mentioned, but only fasting and Sabbath observance, which they could keep though far away from the temple in Jerusalem. The same also applies to their present dispersion, in which they cannot offer sacrifices, but can only show their zeal in fastings, &c. Compare as to our Lord's time,

Mt 6:16, 23; Lu 18:12.

2. Put the stop at "ways"; and connect "as a nation that," &c. with what follows; "As a nation that did righteousness," thus answers to, "they ask of Me just judgments" (that is, as a matter of justice due to them, salvation to themselves, and destruction to their enemies); and "forsook not the ordinance of their God," answers to "they desire the drawing near of God" (that God would draw near to exercise those "just judgments" in behalf of them, and against their enemies) [MAURER]. So JEROME, "In the confidence, as it were, of a good conscience, they demand a just judgment, in the language of the saints: Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in mine integrity." So in

Mal 2:17,

they affect to be scandalized at the impunity of the wicked, and impugn God's justice [HORSLEY]. Thus, "seek Me daily, and desire (English Version not so well, 'delight') to know My ways," refers to their requiring to know why God delayed so long in helping them. English Version gives a good, though different sense; namely, dispelling the delusion that God would be satisfied with outward observances, while the spirit of the law, was violated and the heart unchanged

(Isa 58:3-14; Eze 33:31, 32;

compare

Joh 18:28),

scrupulosity side by side with murder. The prophets were the commentators on the law, as their Magna Charta, in its inward spirit and not the mere letter.

3. Wherefore--the words of the Jews: "Why is it that, when we fast, Thou dost not notice it" (by delivering us)? They think to lay God under obligation to their fasting

(Ps 73:13; Mal 3:14).

afflicted . . . soul--

(Le 16:29).

Behold--God's reply.

pleasure--in antithesis to their boast of having "afflicted their soul"; it was only in outward show they really enjoyed themselves. GESENIUS not so well translates, "business."

exact . . . labours--rather, "oppressive labors" [MAURER]. HORSLEY, with Vulgate, translates, "Exact the whole upon your debtors"; those who owe you labor

(Ne 5:1-5, 8-10,

&c.).

4. ye shall not fast--rather, "ye do not fast at this time, so as to make your voice to be heard on high," that is, in heaven; your aim in fasting is strife, not to gain the ear of God [MAURER]

(1Ki 21:9, 12, 13).

In English Version the sense is, If you wish acceptance with God, ye must not fast as ye now do, to make your voice heard high in strife.

5. for a man to afflict his soul--The pain felt by abstinence is not the end to be sought, as if it were meritorious; it is of value only in so far as it leads us to amend our ways

(Isa 58:6, 7).

bow . . . head . . . sackcloth--to affect the outward tokens, so as to "appear to men to fast"

(Mt 6:17, 18; 1Ki 21:27; Es 4:3).

6. loose . . . bands of wickedness--that is, to dissolve every tie wherewith one has unjustly bound his fellow men

(Le 25:49,

&c.). Servitude, a fraudulent contract, &c.

undo . . . heavy burdens--Hebrew, "loose the bands of the yoke."

oppressed--literally, "the broken." The expression, "to let go free," implies that those "broken" with the yoke of slavery, are meant

(Ne 5:10-12; Jer 34:9-11, 14, 16).

JEROME interprets it, broken with poverty; bankrupt.

7. deal--distribute

(Job 31:16-21).

cast out--rather, reduced [HORSLEY].

naked . . . cover him--

(Mt 25:36).

hide . . . thyself--means to be strange towards them, and not to relieve them in their poverty

(Mt 15:5).

flesh--kindred

(Ge 29:14).

Also brethren in common descent from Adam, and brethren in Christ

(Jas 2:15).

8. light--emblem of prosperity

(Isa 58:10; Job 11:17).

health--literally, a long bandage, applied by surgeons to heal a wound (compare

Isa 1:6).

Hence restoration from all past calamities.

go before thee--Thy conformity to the divine covenant acts as a leader, conducting thee to peace and prosperity.

glory . . . reward--like the pillar of cloud and fire, the symbol of God's "glory," which went behind Israel, separating them from their Egyptian pursuers

(Isa 52:12; Ex 14:19, 20).