Isaiah 58

Isaiah 58:3-7

This chapter is a reproof to all hypocritical professors, and designed for those who, under Hancock, conformed to his reformation, but continued overcrowded; it is highly applicable also to the Scribes and Pharisees in our Saviour’s time, and stands as a perpetual rebuke to all who follow their fists in every age, and which the faithful ministers must hold a urge on men’s conferences, ver. 1. Observe, 1. The plausible profession of religion which they made, ver. 2. 2. The knoths they made of that profession, and the blame they laid upon God for taking no more notice of it. ver. 3. 3. The sins they are charged with, which spoiled their gifts, ver. 4, 5. 4. Influences given them how to fall aright, ver. 6, 7. 5. Precious promises made to those who fall aright, ver. 8—12. 6. The like precious promises made to those that sanctify Sabbath’s aright, ver. 13, 14.

1. CRY aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and ‘shew my people their trumpet, and the house of Jacob their sins. 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 all of me the ordinances of justice: they take delight in approaching to God.

v. 1, 2. A commission is given to the prophet to remonstrate against the iniquity and hypocrisy of the people.

1. He is commanded to be earnest and bold in the discharge of his office. Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet. Sinners are dull of hearing; they need him of thunder to spread the dire alarm of their danger; and ministers who would be faithful to their truth, must be free, bold, and earnest in their reproofs, and accept no man’s perism; and show my people their trumpet, and the house of Jacob their sins, in which, notwithstanding their pious professions, they lived; and which, distinctly and particularly, God’s ministers must charge home upon their consciences, particularly their formality, self-dependence, and hypocrisy.

2. Their pretenses to religion must not impose upon him; they were but an aggravation of their guilt, and called for a sharper rebuke. Yet they seek me daily; affect to appear solicitous in the ordinances of worship; make it their constant practice to attend their devotions public and private; and delight to know my ways; in appearance, take pleasure in attending the most powerful and evangelical preachers, and desire to furnish their heads with right sentiments of religion; as a nation that did righteousness; they would take appear righteous unto men; and forsook not the ordinance of their God, to whose favour they made a strong claim, and joined in the exercise of worship, praying, reading, singing, communicating. They all of me the ordinances of justice; enquiring of God’s ministers, and in their prayers testifying an earnest concern to know the right way, and walk in it. They take delight in approaching to God; pleased with their own services, and either counting them meritorious in the eye of God, or expecting from them men’s esteem and admiration. Note, (1.) The most detestable character before God is the hypocrite. (2.) How far, how very far may men go, to appearance, in the way to heaven? even to be admired and envied for their gifts and piety; and yet in fact be only sacrificing to their own drag, and so much nearer the belly of hell.

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 you find pleasure, and exact all your labours. 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. 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 allies under him? ¶ with thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? 6. Is not this the fast that I have chosen? ¶ to loose the hands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and ’to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? 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 thyfeit from thine own flesh? ¶

Because these hypocrites had so many good things to say of themselves, they are here:

1. Represented as capsulating with God for paying no more regard to them. Having an high opinion of themselves, their doings and duties, they would fain have God express the like approbation of them. Wherefore have we faded, and thou fief not? wherefore have we afflicted our foul, and thou tabyl us knowledge? Note, (1) There are those who fall and afflict their souls from a principle of pride and self-righteousness, as well as from a spirit of real humiliation. (2) Many flatter themselves God will reward the services he in fact abhors. (3) Nothing more highly exasperates those who value themselves on their own goodness, than to have the vanity of their self-dependence shown them, and the folly of their hopes detected.

2. The hypocrisy of their duties is rebuked. If God disregarded them, he had abundant cause to die so. They had pleasure, and prized themselves in their fasts, as if they were more righteous than others; they enacted all their labours, rigorous and devere with their servants, and unrelenting towards their poor debtors. They faded for givite and debate, appointing these solemn factions to perpetuate divisions among them, by pretending to call the cause of their national afflictions on others fins, instead of their own; or making their last days occasion of firsis and abhors, when and how they should be observed; and to faste with the fief of wickedness, oppressing and ill-sing their poor insistence dehorer, whilst they pretended to be humbling their souls for their own offences before God. Ye shall not fief as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high, either clamorous, against their debtors, or threatening their servants, or disputing with each other, or with their pompous and loud devotions affecting extraordinary piety. Is it such a fact that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his foul? the more wretched work of abflating from meat for a few hours, whilst the heart continues utterly unhumbled and unrenewed? Is it to kiss the head like a dudesh? and to spread jock-hold and after under him? Is this enough, to make a parade of the external tokens of pretended humiliation? with thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? can it be possible, that he should be pleaded or superson such a farce of religious ceremony? No, God trieth the heart, harrth fasthood and hypocrisy, and will not accept the services of disgued lips. Note, (1) The pretend a zeal for religion, and live in the indulgence of iniquity, is the hypocrisy, and the fine way to destroy our own souls. (2) A demure look, and affections of authority, may pass upon men for eminent piety, but God requireth truth in the inward parts.

3. God precludes the true nature of a religious fall. He wills the soul should be afflicted for sin, whilst the body is humbled in the dull; and, as the farest proof of it, that there be a change wrought in our lives. Is not this the fact that I have chosen, to fole the hands of wickedness? in general, to break off from every known sin, from every wicked combination; to evade the lousy burdens from the poor servant, who groaned under unreasonable commands, or from the poor defense loaded with chains, who hath really nothing to pay, and to let the oppressed go free, obtaining his discharge from vexatious suits, or hard to evade, and that ye break every yoke, no more enslaving or hartselling their brethren. Is it not to do the bread to the hungry? whom want compels to many a fast, and needs the bread, which in our fulness we are called to deny ourselves; and that thou bring the past that are not to thine fools, those who shiver in the cold, and have no covering, or the poor refugees that suffer persecution, as the word may be rendered, for conscience to be, and are driven from their own homes. When thou fief the mind, that thou cever him, not say, he warm, he filled, and give him not the things he needs, but cloche him; and that thou fief not thy face from thine own fast, not only those near relatives, who have the first claim to our bounty, but efferning every man a brother, as of the same blood, and especially those of the household of faith. Note, (1) If any man seeth his brother in need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? (2) They who have the deepest sense of the divine charity of Jesus to them, will ever be most ready to open their hearts and their hands to relieve the distresses of others.

4. Then I 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 ye be thy new-want. 9. Then shall thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt say, 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: 10. And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obfecurity, and thy darkness be as the noon-day. 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 I fail not. 12. And they that shall be of thee, shall build the old walls places: thou shalt saily go the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, the reflorer of paths to dwell in.

Isaiah 58:8-12

They who walk in the ways of grace, will ever find them paths of bleedness. We have here,

1. The gracious conduct enjoined. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, abstaining from every oppression and severity towards their brethren, and labouring, as far as their influence and authority prevail, to refrain it in others; the putting forth of the finger, either as a mark of threatening or correction, or as a token of contempt and derision, and glowing vanity, hypocritical addresses to God, flattering speeches to men, or fasthood and lying in their dealings one with another. And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, not only retiring their wants, but expressing for them the tenderest compassion, which doubly enhances the favour; and satisfy thy afflicted soul, whatever are the causes of his distress, kindly affording him every assistance for his body or soul; then God will remember those works of faith and labours of love. Note, The world is full of compassionate objects, we shall not want opportunity, if we do not want a heart to do good.

2. Many and rich briefings are promised to those who thus walk in love, and live to be useful.

(1) God will remember them in the day of affliction, and cause their light to shine. They shall thy light rise in obfecity, and thy darkness be as the man they, out of every trouble God would deliver them. Swiftly, as the morning breaks, and pleasingly, as the rising sun objects the shadows of the night, so should their light break forth; their comfort, credit, and prosperity, shining more and more unto the perfect day; and thine health shall spring forth speedily; if they had been afflicted in body or soul, the affliction shall be removed. Note, They will be no losers who lend unto the Lord, by retiring his people to distress; he will repay, nay, over-pay them for their kindness.

(2) The Lord will be their protector and guide: thy righteousness shall go before thee, as the evidence of their fidelity, or rather, the Lord their righteousness would go before them, make their title good to the heavenly glory, and answer every charge which might be brought against them; and the glory of the Lord shall be thy ever-word, or shall gather thee as a thong body of troops, that protects the rear, and gathers up the stragglers that none be lost, so the Lord will preserve them safe in all their ways, and magnify his own glory in their salvation. The Lord shall guide thee continually, by his word, spirit, and providences, and thus continually, night and day, lead any hurt them. Note, They are happily secured, who see the righteousness of the Redeemer before them as their sure acceptance, and the glory of God engaged for their support and perseverance.

(3) All their prayers shall be heard and answered. Thou shalt call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here am I, a very present help in trouble; whilst they are speaking, he will hear; he will be near them when affrighted they cry to him; and he is ready to do more and better for them than they are able to ask or think. Note, If we have so great, so kind a friend ever at hand, so willing, so able to help us, let us never neglect to apply to him, and then, who can harm us!

(4) God will supply all their wants, spiritual and temporal: He will satisfy thy soul in drought, when the lions lack and falter hunger, they shall be fed, or when thirling in this barren land for Christ, the water of life, for his righteousness and grace, for his presence and spirit, he will rebirth them; and make for thy bones, giving them plenty, or rather comforting and strengthening the souls of his people, and causing them to increase with the increase of God. And thou shalt be like a watered garden, adorned with divine graces as a garden blooming with beauty, breathing fragrance, and laden with the choicest fruits, and as a spring of water, whose waters fall out, the heavenly principle of grace implanted never failing, but springing up into everlasting life.

(5) They shall be honoured as the instruments of building up the church of God; and they that shall be of thee shall build the old walls places, which may refer to those of the Jews, who, on their return from Babylon, restored the cities, and especially Jerusalem, that had lain in Ruins, or to those God will employ in the gospel to build up the walls places of the world, as it may be rendered, the whole earth having been covered with the desitations of ignorance and sin, till by the preaching of the word the Gentiles were converted, and christian societies established; and thou shalt replace thy foundation of many generations, as when the temple was raised from its rubbish, so shall the church of Christ give beautiful and glorious, and endure to all generations; and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, and the reflorer of paths to dwell in: they shall be honoured by those who have been called through their mobility; the breaches which abounding iniquity had made shall be repaired, all divisions healed, and by their means the paths of truth and holiness become happily frequented.

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, honourable, and shall honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 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.

Isaiah 58:13

14. A serious and conscientious observance of the Sabbath day, is one of the best evidences, and suret means of having the heart devoted to God.

15. The sanctification of this day is described, v. 13. If they are very thy feet from the Sabbath, from transcribing upon it, by profane neglect, making it a day of travelling, idleness, or wilting; from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, not making it a day of vain amusements, or spending it in those recreations, that at another season may be lawful; and call the Sabbath a delight, welcoming its return with gladness, counting these sacred hours the happiest portion of our time, and spending them with joy in his blessed service of prayer, praise, meditation, guilty conversation, &c. the holy of the Lord, respecting its divine institution; and honourable, employing ourselves in it, as may most continue to advance the honour and glory of God; and shall honour him, who appointed this day of rest, not doing thine own ways in any secular business, or the work of common days; nor finding thine own pleasure, turning it into a day of fanatizing, diversion, or vaincy; nor speaking thine own words, the thoughts of this world, and the cares of it should be banished from our minds, and all our conversation be employed about the thing of God, and how we may desire to ourselves a part in his eternal rest.

16. The benefit of such an improvement of the Lord’s day, will be great; for thou shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; abundant constellation will be the blessed fruit, and clearer discoveries of the riches of the grace and love of Christ be made to the soul, so that by experience we shall say, one day in thy courts is better than a thousand; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, in safety from every enemy, exalted to honour; or, spiritually, to live above the earth, and have our conversation in heaven, enjoying the comfort and dignity of being sons of God: and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father, with all the blessings of the covenant of promise, and the foretakes of eternal bliss, more precious than the sickest provision of Canaan, the heritage of Israel: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it, and therefore we may confidently trust him, for he will never disappoint our hopes. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but his word shall never pass away, until the whole be fulfilled.