Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible · 이사야 58장

Isaiah 58:2. Yet they—that did righteousness, and forsook not— But they—as a nation that doeth righteousness, and forsaketh not.

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Isaiah 58:3. Behold, &c.— "You gratify your passions, especially your covetousness: you oppress the poor, and therefore are defective in the duties of justice and charity." By labours are meant those riches which are gotten by the toil and fatigue of ourselves or others; and by exacting our labours, in the style of the Mosaic law, is meant, the rigorous insisting upon payment, where the debtor is unable to make it. The next verse fully explains this clause; and no reader can fail to admire the subsequent part of this chapter, wherein the prophet sets forth, in the fullest manner possible, the vanity of all external and formal professions in religion, unaccompanied by genuine holiness, virtue, and undissembled love and charity.

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Isaiah 58:4. Ye shall not fast, &c.— Ye fast not this day, so as to make your voice [or prayers] to be heard above. Isaiah 58:5. Is it such a fast as I should choose, a day, &c.

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Isaiah 58:8. Then shall thy light, &c.— Then [that is to say, if thou shalt join these, acts of love and beneficence to thy fasting and religious worship] thy light, &c. that is to say, "Thou shalt in a short time obtain the happy state which thou hast desired, and shalt also be delivered from the evils which oppress thee, and be entirely restored. Thou shalt have God for thy defender and protector, and in all thy prayers and vows, (Isaiah 58:9.) shalt find him propitious, and ready to hear thee." Instead of, ארכתךֶ arukatheka, thy health, Vitringa reads, thy recovery. The idea at the end of the verse is taken from an army, the rear of which is particularly guarded and defended from any attack; or perhaps the allusion may be to the pillar of fire which attended the Israelites in their march through the wilderness.

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Isaiah 58:9. The putting forth of the finger— That is, says Grotius, "If thou shalt cease with the finger of contempt to mark out good men, and to mock and despise their simplicity and sincerity." In this and the subsequent verses, the prophet elegantly repeats and enlarges upon what he had delivered in the former period.

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Isaiah 58:12. And they—shall build, &c.— The meaning is, (for the whole of this and the preceding verse is metaphorical,) that from the city of God, flourishing in the manner above described, should go forth those who should renew and restore the churches long laid waste, as immersed in thick darkness and superstition, and governed by faithless pastors, and so unworthy, the name of the churches of God; and who should collect together, erect, and build anew the foundations of those churches; that is to say, the heads of Christian doctrine delivered by the prophets and apostles, which, though they had retained them in the confession of their faith, they had mixed with heterogeneous doctrines; so that they might be esteemed as wholly subverted and overthrown. And thou shalt be called, says the prophet, the repairer of the breach, &c. as much as to say, "Thou shalt be truly called, or become a reformed church." See ch. Isa 60:14 and compare ch. Isa 49:8 and Isaiah 54:3.

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

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