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.”
God here commands His servant Isaiah to denounce Israel’s wickedness in
unequivocal language; and it is with the same boldness that we are to preach
the gospel, warning men to forsake sin and flee from the wrath to come.
Two groups were to be warned: “my people” and “the house of Jacob.” Since
however, Jacob invariably speaks of the flesh, the term “my people” may
refer to those who were true believers, while Jacob may portray the nation
as consisting of believers and unbelievers alike.
“... transgression” here is related to the thought of revolt from God, while
“sins” describe the product of such revolt.
58:2. “Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my
ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of
their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in
approaching to God.”
TAYLOR’S translation of this verse makes clear the hypocrisy of the people,
“Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and are so
delighted to hear the reading of My laws - just as though they would obey
them - just as though they don’t despise the commandments of God! How
anxious they are to worship correctly; oh, how they love the Temple
services.”
The description is as relevant to apostate Christendom as to hypocritical
Israel. An apostate church has the same delight in an ornate empty ritual,
while refusing to acknowledge its sinfulness and need of cleansing in the
precious blood of Christ.
58:3. “Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou
seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no
knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all
your labors.”
They couldn’t understand God’s rejection of their religious forms, and
apostate Christendom would be equally astounded were its members to be told
that He found their “worship” equally worthless and offensive.
Taylor’s translation of the last sentence renders any additional comment
redundant, “Because you are living in evil pleasure even while you are
fasting, and you keep right on oppressing your workers.”
58:4. “Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to
smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to
make your voice to be heard on high.”
The Jerusalem Bible translates this verse, “Look, you quarrel and squabble
when you fast, and strike the poor man with your fist. Fasting like yours
will never make your voice heard on high,” and the NEB version reads, “Since
your fasting leads only to wrangling and strife, and dealing vicious blows
with the fist, on such a day you are keeping no fast that will carry your
cry to heaven.”
The emphasis continues to be on the futility of mere religious forms.
58:5. “Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for
a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to
spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an
acceptable day to the Lord?”
God here declares His scathing denunciation of hypocritical religion that
busies itself with mere ritual while being far in heart from Him, and only
the spiritually blind will fail to see that much of what passes for worship
in Christendom today merits this same condemnation, see 1 Sa 15:22, “Hath
the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying
the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to
hearken than the fat of rams.”
58:6. “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To
loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the
oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?”
Taylor translates this verse, “No, the kind of fast I want is that you stop
oppressing those who work for you and treat them fairly and give them what
they earn.”
Observance of a religious ritual divorced from love that expresses itself in
conduct towards others is an anathema to God, as the Lord Himself declared,
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have
loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye
are my disciples, if ye have love one to another,” John 13:34-35, see also 1
Thess 3:12, “And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward
another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you.”
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?
The NEB translation of this verse reads, “Is it not sharing your food with
the hungry, taking the homeless poor into your house, clothing the naked
when you meet them, and never evading duty to your kinsfolk?”
The emphasis continues to be upon the need to express love not just in words
but in deeds.
58:8. “Then shall thy light break forth as the
morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness
shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward.”
“Then shall your light break forth like the dawn and soon you will grow
healthy like a wound newly healed,” is the NEB translation of this verse,
while Taylor renders it, “If you do these things, God will shed His own
glorious light upon you. He will heal you.”
The literal reference is to the pillars of cloud and fire that accompanied
Israel during their wilderness wanderings, see Ex 14:19-20,
“And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and
went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face,
and stood behind them: and it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the
camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light
by night to these (the Israelites): so that the one came not near the other
all the night.”
Relative to health and healing however, it is to be noted that this is not
to be taken literally but spiritually, for it is apparent that many of God’s
choicest saints suffer life-long physical maladies, as for example Paul who
is believed to have been afflicted with myopia, relative to which it is
recorded that, “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might
depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my
strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather
gory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me,” 2 Cor
12:8-9, see also 1 Tim 5:23 where Paul tells Timothy, “Drink no longer
water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake, and thine often
infirmities.”
“... thy righteousness shall go before thee” is not our own, but that of
Christ which clothes every believer, see Phil 3:9, “Not having my own
righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, even the righteousness which is of God by faith.”
58:9. “Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall
answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from
the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking
vanity;”
The last sentence of this verse is also translated, “All you need to do is
stop oppressing the weak, and to stop making false accusations, and
spreading vicious rumors,” Taylor. “If you cease to pervert justice, to
point the accusing finger and lay false charges,” NEB.
All that is needed to secure God’s peace and blessing is to demonstrate our
obedience by displaying love towards others, that love being simply a
reflection of our love for Him.
58:10. “And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry,
and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and
thy darkness be as the noon day:”
Moffatt’s translation of this verse reads, “ If you bestow your bread upon
the hungry, and relieve men in misery, then light shall dawn for you in
darkness, your dull hour shall be bright as noon.”
Again, this may not be taken to mean that righteousness will necessarily
have its reward here on earth. It is rather the assurance of eternal
recompense in heaven.
58:11. “And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and
satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like
a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”
The Jerusalem Bible translates the latter half of this verse, “And you shall
be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never run
dry.”
It is the metaphoric description of the blessing enjoyed by every obedient
believer.
58:12. “And they that shall be of thee shall build the
old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations;
and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths
to dwell in.”
This is the assurance that the descendants of those addressed would be known
as “The People Who Rebuild Their Walls and Cities,” Taylor, and the ultimate
fulfillment awaits the Millennium.
58:13. “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath,
from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the
holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways,
nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:”
58:14. “Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee
to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage
of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
The Jerusalem Bible translates these verses, “If thou refrain from trampling
the sabbath, and doing business on the holy day, if you call the sabbath
‘Delightful’, and the day sacred to Yahweh ‘Honorable’, if you honor it by
abstaining from travel, from doing business and from gossip (idle talk):
then you shall find your happiness in Yahweh, and I will lead you triumphant
over the heights of the land. I will feed you on the heritage of Jacob your
father. For the mouth of Jahweh has spoken.”
The sabbath (the seventh day of the week) was for Israel. They worked for
six days, and then rested on the seventh. Their rest was earned in the age
of law. It is different however, for believers of this present dispensation
of grace: we rest on the first day of the week (that rest being based on
Christ’s finished work, not on “works of righteousness which we have
done,”), and then we go out to serve for six days. On the seventh, under
law, but now the first day of the week under grace, we rest, and come in to
worship at the Lord’s Table as we remember His death that has finished the
work of redemption and that has brought us pardon for all our sins, and
God’s gift of eternal life.
Israel’s riding “upon the high places of the earth,” and their being fed
“with the heritage of Jacob thy father” is God’s assurance of Israel’s
millennial supremacy. During that era, and for all eternity, we shall reign
with Christ, see 2 Tim 2:12, “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him
....”
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