Isaiah 58

The rejection of Israel as a nation is the just reward of their unfaithfulness, v. 1. Their religious services are hypocritical, V 2. Their mortifications and austerities are nullified by accompanying wickedness, vs. 3-5. They should have been connected with the opposite virtues, vs. 6-7. In that case they would have continued to enjoy the divine favor, vs. 8, 9. They are still invited to make trial of this course, with an ample promise of prosperity and blessing to encourage them, vs. 10-14.

Isaiah 58:1

8:1 “Cry with the throat, spare not, like the trumpet raise thy voice, and tell to my people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.” Although this may be conveniently assigned as the beginning of the third part, according to the theory propounded in the Introduction, it is really a direct continuation of the previous discourse. The object of address is the Prophet himself. ‘Crying with the throat’ or ‘from the lungs’ is here opposed to a simple motion of the lips and tongue. (See 1 Samuel 1:13). The common version (cry aloud) is therefore substantially correct, though somewhat vague. The positive command is enforced by the negative one, ‘spare not’, as in Isaiah 54:2. The comparison with a trumpet is of frequent occurrence in the Book of Revelation. (See e.g. Isaiah 1:10; Isaiah 4:1).

The loudness of the call is intended to suggest the importance of the subject, and perhaps the insensibility of those to be convinced. The Prophet here seems to turn away from avowed apostates to hypocritical professors of the truth. The restriction of the verse to Isaiah’s contemporaries, or to the Jews of the Babylonish exile, is as perfectly gratuitous as its restriction to the Pharisees of Christ’s time, or to the Protestant churches at the decline of the Reformation. The points of similarity with all or any of these periods arise from its being a description of what has often occurred and will occur again. It was important that a phase of human history so real and important should form a part of this prophetic picture, and accordingly it has not been forgotten.

Isaiah 58:2

8:2 “And me day (by) day they will seek, and the knowledge of my ways they will delight in (or desire), like a nation which has done right and the judgment of its God has not forsaken; they will ask of me righteous judgments, the approach to God (or of God) they will delight in (or desire).” The older writers understand this as a description of hypocrisy, as practiced in a formal seeking (i.e., worshipping) of God and a professed desire to know His ways (i.e., the doctrines and duties of the true religion), the external appearance of a just and godly people, who delight in nothing more than in drawing near to God (i.e., in worship and communion with him). But all the later German writers put a very different sense upon the passage They apply it not to hypocritical formality, but to a discontented and incredulous impatience of delay in the fulfillment of God’s promises. According to this view of the matter, ‘seeking God daily’ means importunate solicitation; ‘delight in the knowledge of His ways’ is eager curiosity to know His providential plans and purposes; the ‘judgments of righteousness’ which they demand are either saving judgments for themselves or destroying judgments for their enemies; ‘the approach’ which they desire is not their own approach to God but His approach to them for their deliverance; and the words like a nation etc. are descriptive not of a simulated piety, but of a self-righteous belief that by their outward services they had acquired a meritorious claim to the divine interposition in their favor. It is somewhat remarkable that a sentence of such length should without violence admit of two interpretations so entirely different, and the wonder is enhanced by the fact that both the senses may be reconciled with the ensuing context. The only arguments which seem to be decisive in favor of the first, are its superior simplicity and the greater readiness with which it is suggested to most readers by the language of the text itself, together with the fact that it precludes the necessity of limiting the words to the Babylonish exile, for which limitation there is no ground either in the text or context.

Isaiah 58:3

8:3 “Why have we fasted and thou hast not seen (it), afflicted our soul (or ourselves) and thou wilt not know (it)? Behold, in the day of your fast ye will find pleasure, and all your labors ye will exact.” The two interpretations which have been propounded of the foregoing verse agree in making this a particular exemplification of the people’s self-righteous confidence in the meritorious efficacy of their outward services. The first clause contains their complaint, and the last the prophet’s answer. The structure of the first clause is like that in Isaiah 5:4; Isaiah 50:2. In our idiom the idea would be naturally thus expressed, ‘Why dost thou not see when we fast, or recognize our merit when we mortify ourselves before thee?’ The word ‘soul’ here may either mean the appetite, or the soul as distinguished from the body, or it may supply the place of the reflexive pronoun self which last is entitled to the preference, because the context shows that their mortifications were not of a spiritual but of a corporeal nature. The combination of the preterit (hast not seen) and the future (wilt not know) includes all time.

The clause describes Jehovah as indifferent and inattentive to their labored austerities. The reason given is analogous to that for the rejection of their sacrifices in Isaiah 1:11-13, viz. the combination of their formal service with unhallowed practice. The meaning of the next clause is that they made their pretended self-denial a means or an occasion of sinful gratification. The remaining member of the sentence has been variously explained. According to the Septuagint and Vulgate, it charges them with specially oppressing their dependants at such times. Luther supposes a particular allusion to the treatment of debtors.

Some prefer the specific sense of laborers or workmen forced to toil on fast-days as at other times. ‘Ye exact all your labors’, (i.e., all the labor due to you from your dependants).

Isaiah 58:4

8:4 “Behold, for strife and contention ye will fast, and to smite with the fist of wickedness; ye shall not (or ye will not) fast to-day (so as) to make your voice heard on high.” Some understand this as a further reason why their fasts were not acceptable to God; others suppose the same to be continued, and refer what is here said to the maltreatment of the laborers or debtors mentioned in the verse preceding. ‘To smite with the fist of wickedness’ is a periphrasis for ‘fighting’, no doubt borrowed from the provision of the law in Exodus 21:18. Some early writers understand the last clause as a prohibition of noisy quarrels, ‘to make the voice heard on high’ being taken as equivalent to letting it be heard in the street (Isaiah 42:2). The later writers give it a meaning altogether different, by taking in the sense of heaven (Isaiah 57:15), and the whole clause as a declaration that such fasting would not have the desired effect of gaining audience and acceptance for their prayers.

Isaiah 58:5

8:5 “Shall it be like this, the fast that I will choose, the day of man’s humbling himself? Is it to hang his head like a bulrush and make sackcloth and ashes his bed? Wilt thou call this a fast, and a day of acceptance (an acceptable day) to Jehovah?” The general meaning of this verse is clear, although its structure and particular expressions are marked with a strong idiomatic peculiarity which makes exact translation very difficult. The interrogative form, as in many other cases, implies strong negation mingled with surprise. Nothing is gained but something lost by dropping the future forms of the first clause. The second member of the first clause is not part of the contemptuous description of a mere external fast, but belongs to the definition of a true one, as a time for men to practice self-humiliation.

He does not ask whether the fast which he chooses is a day for a man to afflict himself, implying that it is not, which would be destructive of the very essence of a fast; but he asks whether the fast which he has chosen as a time for men to humble and afflict themselves is such as this, (i.e., a mere external self-abasement). The effect of fasting as an outward means and token of sincere humiliation, may be learned from the case of Ahab (1 Kings 21:27-29), and the Ninevites. (Jonah 3:5-9). The use of sackcloth and ashes in connection with fasting is recorded in Esther 9:3.

Isaiah 58:6

8:6 “Is not this the fast that I will choose, to loosen bands of wickedness, to undo the fastenings of the yoke, and to send away the crushed (or broken) free, and every yoke ye shall break?” Most interpreters suppose a particular allusion to the detention of Hebrew servants after the seventh year, contrary to the express provisions of the law (Exodus 21:2; Leviticus 25:39; Leviticus 25:41; Deuteronomy 15:12). It is evident, however, that the terms were so selected as to be descriptive of oppression universally; to make which still more evident, the Prophet adds a general command or exhortation, ‘Ye shall break every yoke’. The change of construction in the last clause from the infinitive to the future, is so common as to be entitled to consideration, not as a solecism but a Hebrew idiom. There is no need therefore of adopting the indirect and foreign construction, ‘that ye break every yoke’. Some understand this passage as expressly condemning and prohibiting all fasts, but most writers still maintain the old opinion, that it merely shows the spirit which is necessary to a true fast.

Isaiah 58:7

8:7 “Is it not to break unto the hungry thy bread? and the afflicted, the homeless, thou shalt bring home; for thou shalt see one naked and shalt clothe him, and from thine own flesh shalt not hide thyself.” The change of construction to the future in the first clause is precisely the same as in the preceding verse. The construction of the second clause is similar to that in v. 2. It is best to retain the form of the original, not only upon general grounds, but because ‘thou shalt see the naked’ seems to be a substantive command corresponding to ‘thou shalt not hide thyself’. For the use of flesh to signify near kindred, see Genesis 29:14; Genesis 37:27; 2 Samuel 5:1. With the general precepts of the verse compare Isaiah 32:6; Job 31:16-22; Ezekiel 18:7; Proverbs 22:9; Psalms 112:9; Matthew 25:36; Romans 12:13; Hebrews 13:2-3; James 2:15-16; and with the last clause, Matthew 15:5-6.

Isaiah 58:8

8:8 “Then shall break forth as the dawn thy light, and thy healing speedily shall spring up; then shall go before thee thy righteousness, and the glory of Jehovah shall be thy reward (or bring up thy rear).” It is evident that the writer has here lost sight of the particular example upon which he had been dwelling so minutely, and is now entirely occupied with the effects which would arise from a conformity to God’s will, not in reference to fasting merely, but to every other part of duty. ‘Then’, (i.e., when this cordial compliance shall have taken place). The verb to ‘break forth’ (literally, to be cleft), elsewhere applied to the hatching of eggs (Isaiah 59:5), and the gushing of water (Isaiah 35:6) is here used in reference to the dawn or break of day, a common figure for relief succeeding deep affliction. (See Isaiah 8:20; Isaiah 9:2; Isaiah 60:1). By a mixture of metaphors, which does not in the least obscure the sense, this healing is here said to sprout or germinate, a figure employed elsewhere to denote the sudden, rapid, and spontaneous growth or rise of anything. (See above, on Isaiah 42:9 and Isaiah 43:19). In the last clause a third distinct figure is employed to express the same idea, viz. that of a march like the journey through the wilderness, with the pillar of cloud, as the symbol of God’s presence, going before and after. (See above, on Isaiah 52:12; and compare Exodus 13:21; Exodus 14:19) Jehovah here assumes the conduct of His people, as their righteousness or justifier. (See Jeremiah 23:6; Jeremiah 33:16; and compare Isaiah 54:17). The parallel term ‘glory’ may then be understood as denoting the manifested glory of Jehovah, or Jehovah Himself in glorious epiphany; just as His presence with His people in the wilderness was manifested by the pillar of cloud and of fire, which sometimes went before them and at other times brought up their rear. (See above, on Isaiah 52:12).

Isaiah 58:9

8:9 “Then shalt thou call and Jehovah will answer, thou shalt cry and He will say, Behold me (here I am), if thou wilt put away from the midst of thee the yoke, the pointing of the finger, and the speaking of vanity.” The ‘then’ may either be connected with what goes before or correspond to ‘if’ in the other clause, like ‘then’, when, in English. The conditional form of the promise implies that it was not so with them now, of which indeed they are themselves represented as complaining in v. 3. The idea of this verse might be expressed in the occidental idiom by saying, ‘when thou callest, Jehovah will answer; when thou criest, he will say, Behold me.’ (See above, on Isaiah 50:2). The yoke is again mentioned as the symbol of oppression. (See v. 6.) The pointing of the finger is a gesture of derision The Arabs have a verb derived from finger and denoting scorn full ridicule. The object of contempt in this case may be the pious or the unfortunate. Words of vanity in Zechariah 10:2 means falsehood, which is here retained by some, while others give it the specific sense of ‘slander, secret and malignant machination, censorious and unnecessary fault-finding, strife and bickerings’. All these may be included in the general sense of evil speech or wicked words.

Isaiah 58:10

:10 “And (if) thou wilt let out thy soul to the hungry, and the afflicted soul wilt satisfy, then shall thy light arise in the darkness, and thy gloom as the (double light or) noon.” The figure in the last clause is a common one for happiness succeeding sorrow. (See Judges 5:31; Psalms 112:4; Job 11:17).

Isaiah 58:11

:11 “And Jehovah will guide thee ever, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and thy bones will He invigorate, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters shall not fail.” The promise of guidance had already been given in Isaiah 57:18. (Compare Psalms 73:24; Psalms 78:14). The common version of the next clause (and make fat thy bones) is sanctioned by the Septuagint, but the version ‘strengthen’ is adopted by most modern writers. Similar allusions to the bones as the seat of strength occur in Psalms 51:8 and Job 21:24. The figure in the last clause is the converse of that in Isaiah 1:30. There is here a climax. Not content with the image of a well-watered garden, he substitutes that of the stream, or rather of the spring itself.

The general idea is a favorite with Isaiah. (See above, Isaiah 30:25; Isaiah 33:21; Isaiah 35:6-7; Isaiah 41:17; Isaiah 43:20; Isaiah 44:4; Isaiah 48:21; Isaiah 49:10). The exodus from Egypt had already made these images familiar and appropriate to any great deliverance.

Isaiah 58:12

:12 “And they shall build from thee the ruins of antiquity (or perpetuity), foundations of age and age (i.e., of ages) shalt thou raise up; and it shall be called to thee (or thou shalt be plea) Repairer of the breach, Restorer of paths for dwelling.” ‘From thee’ denotes something more than mere connection or descent, and, unless forbidden by something in the context, must be taken to signify a going forth from Israel into other lands. Thus understood, the clause agrees exactly with the work assigned to Israel in these prophecies, viz. that of reclaiming the apostate nations, and building the wastes of a desolated world. As ‘olam’ (antiquity) obviously refers to past time, this is the only natural interpretation of the corresponding phrase, ‘generation and generation’. Foundations which have lain bare, or buildings whose foundations have lain bare, for ages. For this metaphor, compare Amos 9:11; for that of a highway, Isaiah 19:23; Isaiah 35:8; and for that of the breach, Ezekiel 13:5; Ezekiel 22:30. ‘For dwelling’, (i.e., that the land may be inhabited).

Isaiah 58:13

:13 “If thou wilt turn away thy foot from the Sabbath to do thy pleasure on my holy day, and wilt call the Sabbath a delight, (and) the holy (day) of Jehovah honorable, and wilt honor it by not doing thy own ways, by not finding thy pleasure and talking talk.” The version of which some give, ‘turn away thy foot on the Sabbath’, is inconsistent with the form of the original, as well as with the figure, which is that of something trodden down and trampled, or at least encroached upon. The mere outward observance was of no avail, unless the institution were regarded with reverence, as of God; nay more, with complacency, as in itself delightful. To call it ‘a delight’ is to acknowledge it to be such. As the construction of this Hebrew verb is foreign from our idiom, it may be best explained by a paraphrase. ‘If thou wilt give to the Sabbath the name of a delight, and to the holy day or ordinance of Jehovah that of honorable.’ But mere acknowledgment is not enough; it must not only be admitted to deserve honor, but in fact receive it. Hence he adds, ‘and if thou wilt honor it thyself, by not doing’, literally, ‘away from doing, so as not to do’. (See Isaiah 5:6; Isaiah 49:15). ‘Doing thy own ways’, although not a usual combination, is rendered intelligible by the constant use of way in Hebrew to denote a course of conduct. ‘Speaking speech’ or ‘talking talk’ is by some regarded as equivalent to speaking vanity, in v. 9. The modern writers, for the most part, are in favor of the explanation, ‘speaking mere words, idle talk’. (Compare Matthew 12:36). As to the importance here attached to the Sabbath, see above, on Isaiah 56:2.

Isaiah 58:14

:14 “Then shalt thou be happy in Jehovah, and I will make thee ride upon the heights of the earth, and I will make thee eat the heritage of Jacob thy father, for Jehovah’s mouth hath spoken it.” The first verb is combined with the divine name elsewhere to express both a duty and a privilege. (Compare Psalms 37:4 with Job 22:26; Job 27:10). The next phrase is descriptive of conquest and triumphant possession, as in Deuteronomy 32:13, from which the expression is derived by all the later writers who employ it. To ‘eat the heritage’ is to enjoy it and derive subsistence from it. It is called ‘the heritage of Jacob’, as distinct from that of Ishmael and Esau, although equally descended from the Father of the Faithful. The last clause is added to ensure the certainty of the event as resting not on human but divine authority. See above, on Isaiah 1:2.