Isaiah 58:8

Then shall thy light break forth as the morning,.... Through thick clouds, or the darkness of the night, suddenly, swiftly, irresistibly, and increase more and more, till it is perfect day.

Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily:

Thy light: it is put in general for all happiness and prosperity; as all kind of adversity and calamity is set forth and resembled by darkness: but here more particularly for a comfortable and free estate after their dark and calamitous condition in the Babylonish captivity; for the like reason Josephus tells us, lib. 12. cap. 11., that the Jews instituted a feast to be observed by their posterity, upon the account of the service of the temple being re-established, which they called the feast of lights, because, saith he, so great a happiness broke forth upon them beyond their hope. Break forth as the morning: here is a metaphorical allusion in a metonymical expression, viz. of the efficient, describing the comfortable effect of humbling themselves in a right manner, which like the daylight shall break forth from the blackness of their night of affliction, and bring with it the joy and comfort of all good things; and he doth not only say this light shall appear, but break forth, dart itself forth, notwithstanding all difficulties, as the sun breaks and pierceth through a cloud, noting how ready God is to help is people when they are rightly humbled, how quickly and how clearly salvation shall break forth upon them. Thine health shall spring forth speedily: another metaphor to express the same thing, unless there may be this difference, the light with reference to their outward state, and health with reference to the inward delight of their minds, in both to describe the complete satisfaction they should have. Deliverances out of great pressures are often in Scripture represented by the recovery of health, as ; and this prophet especially delights in this metaphor, because all affliction is as it were a sickness to the soul, altering the heart and countenance; see ,3; and a recovery out of this estate maketh the heart glad, and the countenance cheerful, ,17 Jeremiah 33:6: compare ,11. Hence the LXX. render it; medicines. Thy righteousness; either, 1. Thy uprightness and sincerity, . Or, 2. The reward of thy righteousness, by a metonymy, ; and here perhaps it may particularly relate to their works of mercy and charity, it being the thing in hand, and often so called, , and applied by the apostle to this purpose, . It brings temporal, spiritual, and eternal blessings, and all this not of desert, but free grace, as a reward that naturally springs forth from the faithfulness of his promises, as the harvest from the earth, when the seed is sown; see ; so the fruit and reward of our righteousness springs not from our deserts, but from God’ s righteousness, Hebrews 6 10. Or, 3. The witness of thy righteousness; by what thou doest thou wilt appear to be righteous, .

Isaiah 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 rereward.Ver. 8. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning.] He saith not "shall appear," but "shall break forth," ut velocitatem et copiam dantis exprimeret, saith Chrysostom, that he might express the swiftness and bountifulness of God the giver of it. And thy health shall spring forth speedily.] "The Sun of righteousness shall arise unto thee with healing under his wings." And thy righteousness shall go before thee.] Thou shalt have the comfort and credit of thy bounty and charity, which is oft called "righteousness," as in Psalms 112:9 Daniel 4:24 Acts 10:35. And the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward,] i.e., The glorious Jehovah shall see to thy safety. See Psalms 27:10. See also Isaiah 52:12.

(8) Then shall thy light . . .—The dawning of a new day, as in 2 Samuel 23:4; the growth as of new and healthy flesh after long illness; “righteousness,” i.e., the sentence of acquittal in the eyes of all the world, as leading the van of a triumphant march, the “glory of Jehovah” following in the rear as a protection; all these images are heaped together to paint the fulness of blessing that follows on that true renunciation of the old evil selfishness of which fasting is but a symbol and a part.

Verse 8. And thine health shall spring forth speedily - "And thy wounds shall speedily be healed over"] Et cicatrix vulneris tui cito obducetur; "And the scar of thy wounds shall be speedily removed." Aquila's Version, as reported by Jerome, with which agrees that of the Chaldee. The glory - "And the glory"] Sixteen MSS. (five ancient) of Dr. Kennicott's, and the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate add the conjunction ו vau, וכבוד vechabod.

7. Comp. Ezekiel 18:7 f., 16 f.; Job 31:13 ff. the poor that are cast out] the vagrant (homeless) poor. The word rendered “vagrant” is peculiar, but is supposed to come from a verb meaning “wander.” It occurs with an abstract sense, and along with the abstract noun corresponding to the word here rendered “poor,” in Lamentations 1:7; Lamentations 3:19. hide not thyself (Deuteronomy 22:1; Deuteronomy 22:3-4) from thine own flesh] from thy fellow Israelites (as in Nehemiah 5:5). 8 ff. When these conditions are complied with, the glory of the latter days shall break on the regenerated community. thy light] (ch. Isaiah 60:1; Isaiah 60:3), the emblem of salvation; cf. ch. Isaiah 9:2. break forth as the dawn] “Break forth” is the verb used in ch. Isaiah 35:6; Genesis 7:11; Psalms 74:15, of the bursting of waters through a fissure in the earth’s surface; by a vivid metaphor the dawn was conceived as “splitting” the heavens and flooding the world with light. The same word occurs on the Moabite Stone (50:15) in the phrase “from the splitting of the dawn.” thine health] thy healing (as R.V.), or thy recovery. The word (Heb. ’ǎ ?rûkah, Arab, ’arîka) seems to mean literally the new flesh which is formed when a wound is healing (see Delitzsch’s Commentary on the verse); it is used three times by Jeremiah with the sense of recovered health or prosperity; in Nehemiah 4:7 (Isaiah 4:1 Heb.) and 2 Chronicles 24:13 the metaphor is applied to the repairing of damages (in the walls or the Temple). Since Isaiah 58:12 shews that the prophet has the restoration of ruins in his mind, the coincidence with Nehemiah 4:7 is certainly suggestive; but the figure here does not go beyond the general idea of recovered prosperity. shall go before thee … shall be thy rereward] Comp. ch. Isaiah 52:12. It is difficult to say whether righteousness means in this case “right vindicated “by outward tokens of Jehovah’s favour, or ethical righteousness as described in Isaiah 58:6-7. 9 a. The immediate answer to prayer, in contrast to the complaint of Isa 58:3, is the evidence of harmony re-established between Jehovah and His worshippers; comp. ch. Isaiah 65:24, Isaiah 30:19. 9 b should be joined to Isaiah 58:10. The conditions of acceptance with God are recapitulated in terms differing slightly from those of Isa 58:6-7. the putting forth of the finger] a gesture of contempt (Proverbs 6:13) towards the oppressed mentioned in Isaiah 58:6-7. Compare (with Gesenius) the infamis digitus (Pers. 11. 33).

Then shall thy light - (See the notes at Isaiah 44:7). The idea here is, that if they were faithful in the discharge of their duty to God, he would bless them with abundant prosperity (compare Job 11:17).

8. The blessings here mentioned follow true obedience. Thy light — Spiritual light, in which the obedient walk, is as the hopeful morning dawn. Health… spring forth — Thy spiritual growth shall be rapid.