Isaiah 58
DOYLY— and exact all your labours.] Meaning, the hardest labours, and most servile works. Bp. Hall. The intention of God, in directing his people to religious fasts, was not barely for their affliction in chastisement for their sins, but is principally intended for their amendment; nor is the design of such a fast any way answered by an outward humiliation, but by an inward reformation; by the heart’s living melted down, by true contrition and sincere sorrow for sin, into a right sense of religion; and softened to all the impressions of humanity, good nature, and charity. See ver. 5—7. Dr. Delaney.
it cannot save; &c.] This seems to be, as it were, an answer to the cavils of the Jews, calling God’s power in their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity: wasting and † destruction are in their paths.
web.] Figurative expressions: their villainous contrivances are compared to a cockatrice’s eggs, which are both poison in themselves, and when hatched produce a venomous serpent; and to a spider’s web, both for the artificial fineness of them, and for the purpose of ensnaring, for which they are intended. He goes on, ver. 6, “Their webs shall not become garments:” that is, though their contrivances are finely wrought, yet they are too thin and weak to be of any real advantage, and their works can neither cover nor defend them. W. Louth. And so do all the devices, which we applaud in ourselves and others as matters of great reach, and contrived with deep policy, resemble, agreeably to this comparison of the Prophet, a spider’s web; a thing of great curiosity to the eye, spun of a fine and subtle thread, and in exact proportion, but of nostrength at all. Bp. Sanderson.
Isaiah 58:4
- — ye fast for strife and debate, &c.] Your fasts have the appearance of devotion: but their true design is only to promote parties and contentions, and to oppress the innocent: such was the fast of Ahab, which we read of 1 Kings xxi. 10. W. Lowth.
Isaiah 58:5
- — to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?] For his couch. Bp. Lowth.
Isaiah 58:7
- — hide not thyself from thine own flesh?] From thy kindred and countrymen. W. Lowth. See notes on chap. ix. 20; xlix. 26. Or, from thy fellow men. All men are by the ordinance of God so incorporated together, that they are not only all “members of the same body,” 1 Cor. xii. 12, (of the same civil body, as they are men, and of the same mystical body, as they are Christians,) but even “members one of another,” Rom. xii. 5; Ephes. iv. 25. Bp. Sanderson.
Isaiah 58:8
- Then shall thy light break forth as the morning,] That is, thy low and afflicted condition shall be suddenly changed into an happy and glorious state: “and thine health shall spring forth speedily;” thou shalt be restored to thy former prosperity: “and thy righteousness shall go before thee,” like a harbinger to prepare the way to honour and esteem, as well as to shine before men for their example and the glory of God: “and the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward,” following thee in all thy ways, and, as it were, bringing up the rear, both to do thee honour, and to protect thee. W. Lowth, Wogan. 9. — the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity.] The first expression alludes to some gesture they used in conversation, whether of mocking orthovatening: or it may signify an attempt towards invading the right of others. See chap. lix. 3; Ps. cxxv. 3. “Vanity” here means falsehood and deceit. W. Lowth.
Isaiah 58:10
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— if thou draw out thy soul &c.] The force of this expression is, to satisfy the hungry with all readiness and benevolence, agreeably to that of the Apostle, “God loveth a cheerful giver,” 2 Cor. ix. 7; see also Rom. xii. 8. The Septuagint gives the sense more fully; “if thou give bread from thy soul.” Vitringa. A charitable temper is commonly expressed by a large soul; and the contrary disposition by a narrow one. W. Lowth. 13. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; &c.] If thou abstain from following thy own ways and pleasure on the sabbath, which is dedicated to my service. It appears from hence, that the precept of keeping the sabbath day holy did not enjoin merely a bodily rest, but implied also setting the day apart for the services of religion. See Jer. xvii. 21, &c. W. Lowth. The damnable nature of sin. Calamity is for sin. Before CHRIST about 698. c Deut. 32. 13. 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. # CHAP. LIX.
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— in desolate places as dead men.] We are banished from the world, as the dead that have no longer any portion in it. See Ps. xlv. 19. W. Lowth.