---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Isaiah 58"
description: "CHAPTER 58   :-. REPROOF OF THE
JEWS FOR THEIR
DEPENDENCE ON MERE
OUTWARD FORMS
OF WORSHIP. 1. aloud—Hebrew, \"with
the throat,\" that is, with full voice,"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/isaiah/58"
---

CHAPTER 58

. REPROOF OF THE
JEWS FOR THEIR
DEPENDENCE ON MERE
OUTWARD FORMS
OF WORSHIP.

**1. aloud**—*Hebrew,* "with
the throat," that is, with full voice, not merely from the lips
([1 Samuel 1:13](../../../kjv/1-samuel/1/13)). Speak loud enough to
arrest attention.
**my people**—the Jews in
Isaiah's time, and again in the time of our Lord, more zealous for
externals than for inward holiness. ROSENMULLER
thinks the reference to be to the Jews in the captivity practising
their rites to gain God's favor and a release; and that hence,
*sacrifices* are not mentioned, but only *fasting* and
*Sabbath observance,* which they could keep though far away from
the temple in Jerusalem. The same also applies to their present
dispersion, in which they cannot offer *sacrifices,* but can
only show their zeal in *fastings,* c. Compare as to our Lord's
time, [Matthew 6:16](../../../kjv/matthew/6/16) [Matthew 6:23](../../../kjv/matthew/6/23);
[Luke 18:12](../../../kjv/luke/18/12).

**2.** Put the stop at "ways";
and connect "as a nation that," c. with what follows "As
a nation that did righteousness," thus answers to, "they
ask of Me *just judgments*" (that is, as a matter of
justice *due to them,* salvation to themselves, and destruction
to their enemies); and "forsook not the ordinance of their God,"
answers to "they desire the drawing near of God" (that *God
would draw near* to exercise those "just judgments" in
behalf of them, and against their enemies) [MAURER].
So JEROME, "In the
confidence, as it were, of a good conscience, they demand a just
judgment, in the language of the saints: Judge me, O Lord, for I have
walked in mine integrity." So in , they affect to be scandalized at the impunity of the
wicked, and impugn God's *justice* [HORSLEY].
Thus, "seek Me daily, and desire (*English Version* not so
well, 'delight') to know My ways," refers to their requiring to
know why God delayed so long in helping them. *English Version*
gives a good, though different sense; namely, dispelling the delusion
that God would be satisfied with outward observances, while the
*spirit* of the law, was violated and the heart unchanged
([Isaiah 58:3-14](../../../kjv/isaiah/58/3-14); [Ezekiel 33:31](../../../kjv/ezekiel/33/31);
[Ezekiel 33:32](../../../kjv/ezekiel/33/32); compare [Ezekiel 33:32](../../../kjv/ezekiel/33/32)), scrupulosity side by side with murder. The prophets were
the commentators on the law, as their *Magna Charta,* in its
inward spirit and not the mere letter.

**3. Wherefore**—the words of the
Jews: "Why is it that, when we fast, Thou dost not notice it"
(by delivering us)? They think to lay God under *obligation* to
their fasting ([Psalms 73:13](../../../kjv/psalms/73/13);
[Malachi 3:14](../../../kjv/malachi/3/14)).
**afflicted . . . soul**—
([Leviticus 16:29](../../../kjv/leviticus/16/29)).
**Behold**—God's reply.
**pleasure**—in antithesis
to their boast of having "*afflicted* their soul"; it
was only in outward show they really *enjoyed* themselves.
GESENIUS not so well
translates, "business."
**exact . . . labours**—rather,
"*oppressive* labors" [MAURER].
HORSLEY, with *Vulgate,*
translates, "Exact the whole upon your *debtors*";
those who owe you labor ([Nehemiah 5:1-5](../../../kjv/nehemiah/5/1-5);
[Nehemiah 5:8-10](../../../kjv/nehemiah/5/8-10), &c.).

**4. ye shall not fast**—rather,
"ye do not fast at this time, so as to make your voice to be
heard on high," that is, in heaven; your aim in fasting is
strife, not to gain the ear of God [MAURER]
([1 Kings 21:9](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/9); [1 Kings 21:12](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/12);
[1 Kings 21:13](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/13)). In *English Version*
the sense is, If you wish acceptance with God, ye must not fast as ye
now do, to make your voice heard high *in strife.*

**5. for a man to afflict his soul**—The
*pain* felt by abstinence is not the *end* to be sought, as
if it were meritorious; it is of value only in so far as it leads us
to amend our ways ([Isaiah 58:6](../../../kjv/isaiah/58/6);
[Isaiah 58:7](../../../kjv/isaiah/58/7)).
**bow . . . head . . .
sackcloth**—to affect the outward tokens, so as to "*appear*
to men to fast" ([Matthew 6:17](../../../kjv/matthew/6/17);
[Matthew 6:18](../../../kjv/matthew/6/18); [1 Kings 21:27](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/27);
[Esther 4:3](../../../kjv/esther/4/3)).

**6. loose . . . bands of
wickedness**—that is, to dissolve every tie wherewith one has
unjustly bound his fellow men (, c.). Servitude, a fraudulent contract, &c.
**undo . . . heavy
burdens**—*Hebrew,* "loose the bands of the yoke."
**oppressed**—literally,
"the broken." The expression, "to let go free,"
implies that those "broken" with the yoke of *slavery,*
are meant ([Nehemiah 5:10-12](../../../kjv/nehemiah/5/10-12)
[Jeremiah 34:9-11](../../../kjv/jeremiah/34/9-11); [Jeremiah 34:14](../../../kjv/jeremiah/34/14);
[Jeremiah 34:16](../../../kjv/jeremiah/34/16)). JEROME
interprets it, broken with poverty; bankrupt.

**7. deal**—distribute ().
**cast out**—rather,
reduced [HORSLEY].
**naked . . . cover him**—
([Matthew 25:36](../../../kjv/matthew/25/36)).
**hide . . . thyself**—means
to be strange towards them, and not to relieve them in their poverty
([Matthew 15:5](../../../kjv/matthew/15/5)).
**flesh**—kindred ([Matthew 15:5](../../../kjv/matthew/15/5)). Also brethren in common descent from Adam, and brethren
in Christ ([James 2:15](../../../kjv/james/2/15)).

**8. light**—emblem of prosperity
([Isaiah 58:10](../../../kjv/isaiah/58/10); [Job 11:17](../../../kjv/job/11/17)).
**health**—literally, a
long bandage, applied by surgeons to heal a wound (compare [Job 11:17](../../../kjv/job/11/17)). Hence *restoration* from all past calamities.
**go before thee**—Thy
conformity to the divine covenant acts as a leader, conducting thee
to peace and prosperity.
**glory . . . reward**—like
the pillar of cloud and fire, the symbol of God's "glory,"
which went *behind* Israel, separating them from their Egyptian
pursuers ([Isaiah 52:12](../../../kjv/isaiah/52/12); [Exodus 14:19](../../../kjv/exodus/14/19);
[Exodus 14:20](../../../kjv/exodus/14/20)).

**9. Then . . . call . . . answer**—when
sin is renounced ([Isaiah 65:24](../../../kjv/isaiah/65/24)).
When the Lord's call is *not* hearkened to, He will not hear our
"call" ([Psalms 66:18](../../../kjv/psalms/66/18);
[Proverbs 1:24](../../../kjv/proverbs/1/24); [Proverbs 1:28](../../../kjv/proverbs/1/28);
[Proverbs 15:29](../../../kjv/proverbs/15/29); [Proverbs 28:9](../../../kjv/proverbs/28/9)).
**putting forth of . . .
finger**—the finger of scorn pointed at simple-minded godly men.
The middle finger was so used by the Romans.
**speaking vanity**—every
*injurious* speech [LOWTH].

**10. draw out thy soul**—"impart
of thine own subsistence," or "sustenance" [HORSLEY].
"Soul" is figurative for "that wherewith thou
sustainest thy soul," or "life."
**light . . . in
obscurity**—Calamities shall be suddenly succeeded by prosperity
([Psalms 112:4](../../../kjv/psalms/112/4)).

**11. satisfy . . . in drought**—
([Isaiah 41:17](../../../kjv/isaiah/41/17); [Isaiah 41:18](../../../kjv/isaiah/41/18)).
Literally, "drought," that is, parched places [MAURER].
**make fat**—rather,
"strengthen" [NOYES].
"*Give thee the free use of* thy bones" [JEROME],
or, "*of thy strength*" [HORSLEY].
**watered garden**—an
Oriental picture of happiness.
**fail not**—*Hebrew,*
"deceive not"; as streams that disappoint the caravan which
had expected to find water, as formerly, but find it dried up ([Isaiah 41:18](../../../kjv/isaiah/41/18)).

**12. they . . . of thee**—thy
people, the Israelites.
**old waste places**—the
old ruins of Jerusalem ([Isaiah 61:4](../../../kjv/isaiah/61/4);
[Ezekiel 36:33-36](../../../kjv/ezekiel/36/33-36)).
**foundations of many
generations**—that is, the buildings which had lain in ruins,
even to their *foundations, for many ages;* called in the
parallel passage ([Isaiah 61:4](../../../kjv/isaiah/61/4)),
"the *former* desolations"; and in the preceding
clause here, "the *old* waste places." The literal and
spiritual restoration of Israel is meant, which shall produce like
blessed results on the Gentile world ([Amos 9:11](../../../kjv/amos/9/11);
[Amos 9:12](../../../kjv/amos/9/12); [Acts 15:16](../../../kjv/acts/15/16);
[Acts 15:17](../../../kjv/acts/15/17)).
**be called**—appropriately:
the name truly designating what thou shalt do.
**breach**—the calamity
wherewith God visited Israel for their sin ([Isaiah 30:26](../../../kjv/isaiah/30/26);
[1 Chronicles 15:13](../../../kjv/1-chronicles/15/13)).
**paths to dwell in**—not
that the *paths* were *to be dwelt in,* but *the paths
leading to their dwellings* were to be restored; "paths, so
as to dwell in *the land*" [MAURER].

**13.** ([Isaiah 56:2](../../../kjv/isaiah/56/2);
[Nehemiah 13:15-22](../../../kjv/nehemiah/13/15-22)). The Sabbath,
even under the new dispensation, was to be obligatory ([Nehemiah 13:15-16](../../../kjv/nehemiah/13/15-16)).
**foot**—the instrument of
motion (compare [Proverbs 4:27](../../../kjv/proverbs/4/27)); men
are not to *travel* for mere pleasure on the Sabbath ([Proverbs 4:27](../../../kjv/proverbs/4/27)). The Jews were forbidden to travel on it farther than the
tabernacle or temple. If thou keep thy foot from going on thy own
ways and "doing thy pleasure," c. ([Exodus 20:10](../../../kjv/exodus/20/10)
[Exodus 20:11](../../../kjv/exodus/20/11)).
**my holy day**—God claims
it as *His* day; to take it for our pleasure is to rob Him of
His own. This is the very way in which the Sabbath is mostly broken;
it is made a day of carnal pleasure instead of spiritual "delight."
**holy of the Lord**—not
the predicate, but the subject; "if thou call the holy (day) of
Jehovah honorable"; if thou treat it as a day to be honored.
**him**—or else, *it,*
the Sabbath.
**not doing . . . own
way**—answering to, "turn away thy foot from the Sabbath."
**nor finding . . .
pleasure**—answering to, "doing thy pleasure." "To
keep the Sabbath in an idle manner is the sabbath of oxen and asses;
to pass it in a jovial manner is the sabbath of the golden calf, when
the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose again to play; to keep
it in surfeiting and wantonness is the sabbath of Satan, the devil's
holiday" [BISHOP
ANDREWES].
**nor speaking . . .
words**—answering to, "*call* Sabbath a delight . . .
honorable." Man's "*own* words" would "call"
it a "weariness"; it is the spiritual nature given from
above which "calls it a delight" ([Amos 8:5](../../../kjv/amos/8/5);
[Malachi 1:13](../../../kjv/malachi/1/13)).

**14. delight . . . in . . . Lord**—God
rewards in kind, as He punishes in kind. As we "delight" in
keeping God's "Sabbath," so God will give us "delight"
in Himself ([Genesis 15:1](../../../kjv/genesis/15/1); [Job 22:21-26](../../../kjv/job/22/21-26);
[Psalms 37:4](../../../kjv/psalms/37/4)).
**ride upon . . . high places**—I
will make thee *supreme lord* of the land; the phrase is taken
from a conqueror riding in his chariot, and occupying the hills and
fastnesses of a country [VITRINGA],
([Deuteronomy 32:13](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/32/13); [Micah 1:3](../../../kjv/micah/1/3);
[Habakkuk 3:19](../../../kjv/habakkuk/3/19)). Judea was a land of
*hills;* the idea thus is, "I will restore thee to thine
own land" [CALVIN].
The parallel words, "heritage of *Jacob,*" confirm
this ([Genesis 27:28](../../../kjv/genesis/27/28); [Genesis 27:29](../../../kjv/genesis/27/29);
[Genesis 28:13-15](../../../kjv/genesis/28/13-15)).
**mouth of . . . Lord . . .
spoken it**—a formula to assure men of the fulfilment of any
solemn promise which God has made ([Genesis 28:13-1](../../../kjv/genesis/28/13-1)).

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