CHAP. LVIII. V. 1. ( Notes , 57:15-21.) The prophet, while he protested vehemently against all wickedness, was required especially to "cry aloud" against the crimes of God's own people; not sparing to reprove them sharply, out of respect to friends, fear of enemies, or regard
without any regard to a correspondent temper and conduct in other respects, is well known. But Vitringa thinks that this chapter, in its connexion with what precedes and follows may relate to the reformed, or protestant, churches. They have indeed renounced the idolatry and gross abuses of popery; but are grievously deformed by a worldly spirit and conduct, and great formality in religious duties, where the form is not thrown aside: and this indeed brings the matter home to ourselves.
V. 2. "The house of Jacob," in the time of Hezekiah, seems to have sat for this picture. They were not openly idolatrous or irreligious; nay, they were earnest and constant in their forms of devotion, "seeking the LORD daily," and taking pleasure in learning his truths and precepts, as if they were a very righteous nation: (Note, Ez. 33:30-33.) but they were pleased with these things, merely things, merely because they gratified their pride and curiosity, curiosity, procured them respect and reputation, and increased their presumptuous confidence.
Nay, they "asked of God the ways of rig righteousness, and took delight in approaching him" in his courts; for this was then creditable, and generally done; and it served as an easy commutation for secret injustice, and as a cheap quietus to their consciences. ( Notes , 1:10-15. 48: 1,2. 1 Sam . 15:22—25. Heb . 6:4—6.)—This has often been the case, both in Israel, and in the Christian church, among papists, and among protestants.
V. 3, 4. The persons here addressed had mortified themselves, with apparent sorrow and contrition, on stated or occasional fasts. ( Notes , Lev . 16:29-31. Ps . 35:13,14.) They deemed this very meritorious; and they inquired wherefore the Lord had not noticed their ser
to interest. He must spend his strength, ven-vices, and delivered them from their troubles.
ture reproach and persecution; and "lift up his voice like a trumpet," in giving an alarm
( Notes , Mic . 3:9-11. Mal . 3:13-18. Ілике 15. 25--32, v . 29.) But he answered, that, while
5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? || go before thee; the glory of the Lor
*a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and P to spread sackcloth and ashes under him ? wilt 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 bands of wickedness, to undo the theavy 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 thyself from thine own flesh?
[Practical Observations.]
8 Then shallthy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: band thy righteousness shall n 2 Chr. 20:3. Ezra 10:6. Neh. | 11:41. 19.3. Rom. 12:20,21. 2
9:1,2. Esth. 4:3,16. Dan. 9:
3,&c. Zech. 7:5.
*Or, to afflict his soul for a day.
o See on 3.-Lev. 16:29.
p1 Kings 21:27-29. 2 Kings 6:30. Jon. 3:5-8.
q 49:8.61:2. Ps. 69:13. Luke 4:19. Rom. 12:2. 1 Pet. 2:5. r Neh. 5:10-12. Jer. 34:8-11. Mic. 3:2-4.
Heb. bundles of the yoke. Heb. broken.
s 1 Tim. 6:1.
t 10. Job 22:7. 31:18-21. Ps. 112:9. Prov. 22:9. 25:21. 28:27. Ec. 11:1,2. Ez. 18:7,16. Dan. 4:27. Matt. 25:35-40. Luke
Cor. 9:6-10. 1 1..n. 5:10. Philem. 7. Jam. 2:15,16. John 3:17,18.
u 16:3,4. Gen. 18.2-5. 19:2. Judg. 19:20,21. Acts 16:15,34. Rom. 12:13. Heb. 13:2,3.
Or, afflicted. x 2 Chr. 23:15. Ez. 18:7.
Job 31:19,20.
Matt. 25:35-15.
they denied themselves in one respect, they indulged themselves in others; especially their pride, avarice, and malignant passions. For at the very time, when they seemed to abase themselves before God in fasting; they exacted the full measure of hard labor from their oppressed slaves, or their usurious claims from their starving debtors.
Their fasting also served to increase their self-preference, and excited them to fierce controversies, or bitter resentments: it was the cloke of their exactions and oppressions of the poor, whom they inost unjustly smote and abused, for not complying in every thing with their inclinations; or the commutation and atonement for this unmerciful conduct.
And, surely they should not fast in this hypocritical, ostentatious, and unrighteous manner; or call a day thus spent a fast ; or expect that God would accept their services, or hear their prayers; which were merely merely the labor of their lips, and uttered with a loud voice, but an insincere heart. ( Notes , 1 Kings 18:27-29. 21:8-14. Jer . 36:8-26. Joel 2:12-17. Zech. 7:2-7. Matt . 6:1-4,16-18.9:14,15. Luke 18:9-14.)
shall || be thy rear-ward.
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 h speaking vanity;
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:
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.
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.
c-52:12. Ex. 14:19.
|| Heb. gather thee up.
d 1:15.30:19.65:24. Ps. 34:15- 17.37:4. 50:15. 66:18,19. 91:15. 118:5. Jer 29:12,13. Matt. 7:7,8. 1 John 3:21,22.
e Gen. 27:18. 1 Sam. 3:4-8. f See on 6.
g 57:4. Prov. 6:13.
h 59:3,4. Ps. 12.2. Ez. 13:8.
Zech. 10:2.
i See on 7. Deut. 15:7-10. Ps. 41:1,2, 112:5-9. Prov. 11:24, 25. 14:31. 28:27. Luke 18:22. k 8. 29:18. Job 11:17. Ps. 37.6. 1 49:10. Ps. 25:9. 32:8. 48:14. 73:24. John 16:13. 1 Thes. 3:
they would moderate the labors of their servants, and render their services and situation more comfortable; they would cease from usurious exactions, and remit the debts which either were contracted through fraud and oppression, or which the poor debtor was unable to discharge: ( Notes , Lev . 26:39-55. Deut . 15:2,13-15. Neh . 5:1-13. Jer. 34:8-17. Jon. 3: 5-10.) they would break every yoke of oppression, and use their authority and influence to protect the poor, or rescue them from the injustice of others. They would also be liberal to the needy according to their wants: and not get out of the way, or frame excuses, to avoid relieving them; remembering that they were of the same nature, and had the same feelings, as themselves. ( Notes , 8-12. Acts 10:1-8. Col. 4:1.) By these things their external humiliation before God, in fasting and prayer, would be shewn to be sincere and profitable: but in no other way.
V. 8-12. When the people should thus "repent, and do works meet for repentance;" they might expect that their inward peace, or outward prosperity, would break forth and increase like the morning-light; ( Notes , 9:2. 60:1 -3.) and that their personal sicknesses, and disquieted consciences, or their public calamities, would speedily be healed: their good works would go before them as evidences to attest the sincerity of their faith and love, and for "a memorial before God;" and his glorious power and presence would protect them from those dangers, to which they were most exposed, as the guard which covers and protects the rear of an army. ( Notes , 52:11,12. Ex . 14: they had iniquitously enslaved or imprisoned; || 19,20. Ps . 85:10-13. Acts 10.3-8.) He would
V.5-7. Could it be supposed, that the fast, which the Lord approved, was "for a man to afflict his soul for a day;" ( marg .) with external appearances of sorrow and shame, and vith mere transient animal self-denial, without repentance or reformation? The fast which God approved would be attended with the mortification of pride, avarice, and worldly lusts; and with the unequivocal fruits of true repentance. They, who observed such a fast, would loose the bonds of those, whom
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:
56:2-6. Ex. 20:8-11. 31:13 27. -17. 35:2,3. Deut. 5:12-15. t Ps. 27:4. 42:4. 84:2,10. 92: Neh. 13:15-22. Jer. 17:21- title. 1,2. 122:1. Rev. 1:10.
be as ready to answer their prayers, as they had been to answer the cries of their oppress- ed and afflicted brethren; whom they now no longer treated with scorn or menaces, or put off with vain pretences or deceitful promises. And when, from their inmost souls, in genuine compassion and love, they were habitually ready to relieve the hungry and distressed; their trouble and inward grief should be ex- changed for comfort and joy, resembling the noon-day light.
The Lord himself would guide them, and supply their wants in every emer- gency; cause their bones to be full of marrow through health and plenty; make their souls pleasant and fruitful like a watered garden; and render their consolations abiding like the unfailing springs of water. ( Notes , Prov. 3:7,8. 11:24,25. 13:4.) Then should they become the honored instruments of repairing the waste places of Zion, and building upon those foun- dations which were laid in former ages, but not further completed; and be named the re- pairers of Zion's breaches, and the restorers of her ways, that men might come from all around to worship and dwell there. ( Notes , 61:4-6.
Judg. 5:6,7.) - This might apply to Zerubbabel, Nehemiah, and others, who re- built Jerusalem, the temple, and the walls of the city after the captivity: and to all those, in every age, who have been, or shall be, instru- mental in promoting true religion: and doubt- less, from the church, which shall first and best answer this description, will those instruments be raised up, who will be principally honored in bringing forward that extensive and glori- taught to expect and pray for continually.- This is chiefly meant of the spiritual Jerusa- Make fat thy bones, &c. )11( יחליץ , liberabit , expedita reddet.
Shall make them free from disease, feebleness, or whatever unfits them for performing, with ease and comfort, their proper office.
promulgation of the gospel, which
'lem, whose builders were the apostles.'
V. 13, 14. As these prophecies evidently relate, or extend, to the times of the Christian dispensation; a cogent argument may be deduced from them, for hallowing the Lord's day. (Notes, 56:3-7. Matt . 12:7,8. Acts 20:7-12, v. 7. Rev. 1:9-11, v. 10.) The rule here given implies, that men must not profane that day by doing their ordinary work, or seeking their secular interest; or by spending it in worldly
The ministers of God have need, not only of great tenderness and skill to comfort the broken-hearted and tempted believer; but likewise of intrepidity and firmness, that they may "exhort and rebuke, with all authority," those who act inconsistently with their profession. (Note, Tit. 2.15.) They should be disinterested, zealous for the glory of God, prepared for persecution, superior to personal considerations, to the fear of men, and the shackles of party and bigotry; that with all plainness they may detect the transgressions, and expose the hypocrisy, of those who "profess to know God, but in works deny him." This requires far more courage in the minister, and will generally expose him to far greater trials, than all possible severity against avowed infidels, profligates, and open opposers of the gospel.
Self-love, selfish friends, and injudicious or timid Christians, will say to a man in such a case, "Spare thyself." Ambition, avarice, love of ease, and aversion to the cross will suggest to him, Spare the rich and powerful: but God says "Spare not;" and "we must obey him, and not men," please him and not ourselves. - When the ministers of the reformed churches shall thus loudly protest against all the iniquity which prevails in them, (as well as against erroneous doctrines, and antichristian we may hope to see them still further reformed and purified, and for a more extensive progress of the reformation.We all need continually to beg of God to assist us in examining ourselves: this appears most clearly, when we consider, how very far men may go in the appearance of religion, with an unsound heart.-As Herod heard John gladly , yet loved his brother's wife more than either God or his own soul; and as they "who have no root in themselves, may receive the word with joy;" we should remember, that great delight in outward forms, and religious speculations, may spring from pharisaical pride or diabolical delusion: and it must do so, when it consists with the love, and allowed practice, of one known sin.
For, without "repentance
pleasures and recreations, or sloth and animal and works meet for repentance," "knowledge indulgence; or by vain and trifling conversa-puffeth up," faith is dead; hope, presumptuous; tion: but that they should delight in the sab- || joy, carnal; and profession, hateful hypocrisy. bath, as a holy day especially consecrated to Such, as are strangers to "the power of godlithe Lord, to be spent in the public and private ness, ," either neglect, or grow proud of the
duties of religion; honor it above all other days, and honor God on it and for it. ( Notes , Εχ . 20:8-11. Am. 8:4-10.) Thus they will find much joy and comfort in him, and his service and worship will become more and more delightful to them, ( Notes , Ps . 84:1,2,10.) they will be rendered triumphant over and exalted above their enemies; be plenteously provided for, as the Israelites had been in Ca
form : in their estimation good works rise in value, in proportion to their scarcity: and when it is owing to God's infinite patience, that they are out of hell; they deem him unjust, if he slightly afflict them, and if he do not reward them with eternal happiness! But the Lord will manifest the corrupt motives of their tasks of reluctant devotion: and their conduct to their poor brethren, whom they enslave, op
press, starve, persecute, and exact on unmercifully, will demonstrate the hypocrisy of their solemn fasts, and ostentatious appearances of piety.-Many, who are very demure, and seem very humble, in the house of God and at his table, are most contentious and tyrannical in their own families; and come from their devotions, to distress and harass their wives, children, domestics, and dependents, with peevish or bitter words, perverse and severe actions, nay, sometimes with enormous injustice: nor are they more ostentatious in religion, to get the good opinion of ministers and Christians, than vociferous in rage and debates.
But it is an invariable rule, that "he shall have judgment without mercy, who hath shewed no mercy:" (Note, Jam. 2:8-13, v. 13.) God will not forgive our trespasses, if we do not heartily forgive our brethren; and he will mete to us in the measure which we have meted to them. (Notes, Matt . 6:14,15. 7:1,2, 18:31-35.) No expressions of humiliation then can prove that man a true penitent, who does not "loose the bands of wickedness," renounce his gainful iniquities, and aim to mortify his strongest lusts.
No man's faith justifies him, which does not "work by love;" he who loves God will love his brother also; and he who loves his brother, will do him no injury, but will be ready to do him all the good he can. The professed church of Christ has been too long amused with fasts, and external austerities in some instances, whilst men found pleasures in other things far more suited to their carnal minds; fasts employed as the cloke of avarice and oppression, and the very watch-word of persecution.
Yet, let us not confound the abuse , with the use , of this scriptural method of expressing our godly sorrow and humiliation; but, rejecting the fast which the Lord has not chosen, let let us attend to that which he approves and accepts. V. 8-14.
When the external expressions and means
dispenses consolation to them, according to their niggardliness to his poor people. Experience evinces, that they, who in humble faith and abound most in "devising liberal things," and love, "draw out their souls to the hungry," are most comfortable, and most honored to be useful in the church of God; (a sweet reward to their benevolent minds!) and often they have the most outward peace and prosperity.
Let us then avoid, with equal caution, pharisaical pride, and antinomian sloth or selfishness: and let those, who walk uncomfortably, examine whether their conduct towards their poor brethren do not point out at once the reason, and the remedy.-True faith unites justice, mercy, and piety: in proportion as we are spiritually minded, we shall hallow, honor, and delight in the sabbaths of God; aside all employments, pleasures, or discourse, God; and, laying which can interrupt our sacred rest in him, we shall seek communion with him in his public and private ordinances: without any other remission, than what is really necessary, or what is a work of love to the souls and bodies of our neighbors and fellow Christians.
Thus we shall learn to delight in God, and to anticipate heaven; we shall obtain the victory over the world, sin, and Satan; we shall follow those, "who through faith and patience inherit the promises;" s;" and we shall at last be 'num'bered with his saints in glory everlasting;' for "the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it."
NOTES.
of repentance, faith, and grace, are accom-(whatever reference there may be to previous
panied with the mortification of sin, reformation of life, and abundant exercises of love to the poor and needy; despising, neglecting, and excluding none from our affection or assistance, according to our ability; we may expect consolation in the ways of God. Such conduct proves our sincerity, and honors the Lord; and he will honor and protect us on every side: our prayers will then be answered, our tribulations removed, or an adequate support afiorded; by the light of God's countenance we shall pass through every dark scene; he will provide for our wants, make our souls like a watered garden, and honor us with usefulness in his church; ( Notes , Cant . 4:15,16. Jer . 31:10-14.) for "the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance." Many professed Christians prove themselves hypocrites by a