Isaiah 58:7

Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry?.... Or "to break" (f) it, divide it, and communicate it to them; that which is "bread", food fit to eat, wholesome and nourishing; which is thine, and not

Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

Is it, viz. the fast that pleaseth me, supplied from the former verse. Having showed the evil they are to abstain from in order to an acceptable fast, viz. cruelty, he here speaks of the duty that is required, viz. mercy, as a manifestation of repentance, . For there are two parts of justice, one to do no man wrong, the other to do good to all; which two ought always to accompany each other, and cannot be parted, especially in acts of humiliation: and as by those evils mentioned he understands all other evil whatsoever, that they are to be abstained from as the consequence of a day of humiliation, so under these duties mentioned are comprised all the duties that we are to set upon as the effect of true repentance; and he instanceth rather in those of the second table than those of the first, not that they are to be neglected, but because cheerful performance of external duties to our neighbour is the clearest discovery and indication of our inward piety towards God, . To deal: the word properly signifies to divide, or break into parts, for the more equal and expeditious doing whereof they were wont of old to bake their loaves with cuts or clefts in them, more or fewer according to the bigness of the loaf, not much unlike that which we ordinarily call buns. It implies, that as none is obliged to give away all, so none is exempted from giving some, but a distribution to be made according to the abilities of rich and poor; or the meaning is, What thou sparest on thy fasting day from thine own belly, thou give it to refresh the bowels of the hungry; what thou takest from thyself give to another, that thy poor neighbour’ s body may be refreshed by that from the abstinence whereof thine own is afflicted. Thy bread: bread is taken for all necessaries for the support of human life, and here for all kind of food; and it is here limited by a term of propriety, thy, which may seem to have some emphasis in it: See Poole "". Speaking of their grinding and oppressing the poor, he would have them be sure to give of their own, not that which of right is another’ s, and thou hast, it may be, unjustly gotten. For to refresh some poor with that which thou hast gotten by the oppressing of others, and thereby possibly made them poor, will turn but to a bad account; it will bring a curse upon thy house, or family, , or will transfer thy estate over to such strangers that will manage it as thou shouldst have done, . That thou bring, i.e. voluntarily, without pressing. Invite, encourage, freely accommodate. The poor, viz. that are not only needy and necessitous as to their present condition, but helpless and shiftless as to the means of getting out of it.

Isaiah 58:7 [Is it] not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?Ver. 7. Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry?] Thine "own bread" it must be, and that especially whereof thou hast on the fast day abridged thyself; for what the rich spare on such a day the poor should spend. Hereby (1.) Men’ s prayers shall speed the better; (2.) They shall make God their debtor; (3.) That is best and most pleasing alms to God that is given in Church assemblies; for (1.) It is an ordinance of God, and a Sabbath duty; (2.) Christ there sitteth, and seeth the gift and mind of every almsgiver, setting it down in his book of remembrance. And that thou briny the poor that are cast out.] Scilicet tanquam rebelles, as those poor Albigenses were in France, and their posterity lately in Piedmont; the Protestant Lorainers, proscribed for religion by their duke, and entertained by the state of Strasburg, at the earnest suit of the ministers there, till they could be conveniently provided for elsewhere, there being some thousands of them, which, till then, were forced to feed upon hips, haws, leaves of trees, and grass of the field. That thou cover him.] Duties of the second table only are here enjoined, because they are excellent evidences of true piety and pure religion. And that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh.] Thy poor brother, who is of the same nature with thee, and is as capable of grace and glory as thyself. Learn to see Christ in thy poor petitioner, and thou wilt the sooner yield. Consider also what is said of him that "shutteth up his bowels of compassion" from his necessitous brother. Scultet. Annal.

(7) To deal thy bread.—Literally, to break bread, as in the familiar phrase of the New Testament (Matthew 26:26; Acts 20:11; Acts 27:34). The bread of the Jews seems to have been made always in the thin oval cakes, which were naturally broken rather than cut. The poor that are cast out.—The words include all forms of homelessness—tenants evicted by their landlords, debtors by their creditors, slaves fleeing from their masters’ cruelty, the persecuted for righteousness’ sake, perhaps even political refugees. Note the parallelism with Matthew 25:35-36. From thine own flesh.—Usage, as in Genesis 29:14; Nehemiah 5:5, leads us to refer the words primarily to suffering Israelites, but those who have learnt that “God hath made of one blood all the nations of the earth” (Acts 17:26) will extend its range to every form of suffering humanity.

Verse 7. Deal thy bread to the hungry] But this thou canst not do, if thou eat it thyself. When a man fasts, suppose he do it through a religious motive, he should give the food of that day, from which he abstains, to the poor and hungry, who, in the course of providence, are called to sustain many involuntary fasts, besides suffering general privations. Wo to him who saves a day's victuals by his religious fast! He should either give them or their value in money to the poor. See Isaiah 58:6. That thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house - "To bring the wandering poor into thy house"] πτωχουςαστεγους, Septuagint; egenos vagosque, Vulgate; and מטלטלין metaltelin, Chaldee. They read, instead of מרודים merudim, הנודים hanudim. מר mer is upon a rasure in the Bodleian MS. The same MS. reads ביתה bayethah, in domum, "into the house." - L.

6, 7. Description of the true fast in which Jehovah delights. The duties enjoined fall under two heads: (1) abstinence from every form of oppression (Isaiah 58:6), and (2) the exercise of positive beneficence towards the destitute (Isaiah 58:7). In naming these things as the moral essence of fasting, the prophet may be guided by the principle so often inculcated by our Lord, that he who would obtain mercy from God must shew a merciful disposition towards his fellow-men (Matthew 5:7; Matthew 6:12; Matthew 18:35 &c.). Or the idea may be that the spirit of self-denial possesses no value before God unless it be carried into the sphere of social duty. the bands (R.V. bonds) of wickedness] i.e. unjust and oppressive obligations. to undo the heavy burdens] Lit. to untie the Bands of the yoke. the oppressed is literally the “broken” (Deuteronomy 28:33; ch. Isaiah 42:3),—bankrupts, whose liberty had been forfeited to their creditors (cf. Nehemiah 5:5).

Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry? - The word renderd ‘deal’ (פרס pâras), means to divide, to distribute.

5-7. Is it such a fast — That is, the one chosen fast which I have appointed through my servant Moses? Only the fast connected with the day of atonement had been thus duly appointed.