Isaiah 58:1

Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet,.... These words are directed to the prophet; and so the Targum expresses it, "O prophet, cry with thy throat;'' and so it is in the original,

Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

ISAIAH CHAPTER 58 The Jews’ hypocrisy in their fasts, . A true fast described, ,7. Promises to godliness, ; to the keeping of the sabbath, ,14. The prophet having in the foregoing chapter noted and censured divers gross miscarriages of the Jews, proceeds upon the same subject in this chapter, and in God’ s name expostulates with them for other misdemeanours. Spare not; forbear not to speak whatsoever I command thee for the conviction of this people.

Isaiah 58:1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.Ver. 1. Cry aloud.] Heb., Cry with the throat, or, With full throat. Plenis faucibus, voce sonora, et quasi tubali: Set up thy note; not only say to the wicked, "It shall be ill with him," there is no peace to him, but cry it aloud. Spare not.] Singulae particulae habent emphasin; use utmost intention of spirit and contention of speech. Thou hast to do with a hypocritical nation, than which kind of people nothing is more stupid, more uncounsellable, or impenitent; for how should such repent as have converted conversion itself into a form, yea, into sin? Bestir thee therefore against these deaf sea monsters. Sic clames ut stentora vincere possis. If a man’ s house be on fire, we must not speak softly, as loath to awaken him: Sir, your house is on fire. Lift thy voice like a trumpet.] Non ut tibia, sed ut tuba; not as a pipe for delight, but as a trumpet alarm against sin and Satan. As all the country was filled with the sound of that trumpet at the giving of the law, and as all the world shall hear the sound of that trumpet of God when the law shall be required, so let the preacher’ s voice be a summons to speedy repentance, or else to unavoidable judgment. There is one that descanteth thus upon the words: Various things there are, saith he, that sound louder than a trumpet - the sea, the thunder, or such like - yet he saith not, lift up thy voice as the sea, or as the thunder, but as "a trumpet"; because a trumpeter, when he sounds his trumpet, he winds it with his mouth, and holds it with his hands; and so a preacher, which is a spiritual trumpeter, must not only, by preaching well, sound forth the word of truth with his mouth, but also, by doing well, he must support and hold it up with his hands, and then doth he "lift up his voice as a trumpet." And show my people their transgressions.] Let God’ s watchmen cast away the inverse trumpets of Furius Fulvius, which sounded a retreat when they should have sounded an alarm; but deal freely and faithfully with men’ s souls, taking the same liberty to cry down sin that men take to commit sin. Ne frigide arguas, et in aenigmatibus ac obscure. - Oecol. Ne parcas guttari et voci, - A Lap. Dr Playfair on Matthew 5:19.

LVIII. (1) Cry aloud . . .—Literally, with the throat, i.e., with no faint whisper as from stammering lips, but with full strength of voice. The work of the preacher of repentance is not to be done slightly or by speaking smooth things (comp. Ezekiel 13:10-15). The “trumpet” of the next clause emphasises the thought yet further.

CHAPTER LVIII This elegant chapter contains a severe reproof of the Jews on account of their vices, particularly their hypocrisy in practising and relying on outward ceremonies, such as fasting and bodily humiliation, without true repentance, 1-5. It then lays down a clear and comprehensive summary of the duties they owed to their fellow creatures, 6, 7. Large promises of happiness and prosperity are likewise annexed to the performance of these duties in a variety of the most beautiful and striking images, 8-12. Great temporal and spiritual blessedness of those who keep holy the Sabbath day, 13, 14. NOTES ON CHAP. LVIII Verse 1. Cry aloud, spare not] Never 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. This chapter has been often appointed to be read on political fast days for the success of wars carried on for - God knows what purposes, and originating in - God knows what motives. Politically speaking, was ever any thing more injudicious?

1. Cry aloud] lit. Cry with the throat, with the full power of the voice. shew my people their transgression &c.] The function of the true prophet as distinguished from the false; see Micah 3:8, a verse which seems to have been in the prophet’s mind.

Cry aloud - Margin, ‘With the throat;’ that is, says Gesenius, with open throat, with full voice coming from the throat and breast; while one who speaks low uses only the lips and tongue 1 Samuel 1:13.

1, 2. Cry aloud — Literally, with open, full throat. It is an alarm-cry that is called for, against sins common, indeed, in the prophet’s time, but peculiarly common just as the Messiah’s advent approaches.