13. When thou criest--In the time of thy trouble.
companies--namely, of idols, collected by thee from every quarter; or else, of foreigners, summoned to thy aid.
wind ... carry ... away--([Job 21:18]; [Mt 7:27]).
vanity--rather, "a breath" [Lowth].
possess ... land ... inherit--that is, the literal land of Judea and Mount Zion; the believing remnant of Israel shall return and inherit the land. Secondarily, the heavenly inheritance, and the spiritual Zion ([Is 49:8]; [Psa 37:9], ; , ; [Mt 5:5]; [He 12:22]). "He that putteth his trust in Me," of whatever extraction, shall succeed to the spiritual patrimony of the apostate Jew [Horsley].
14. shall say--The nominative is, "He that trusteth in Me" ([Is 57:13]). The believing remnant shall have every obstacle to their return cleared out of the way, at the coming restoration of Israel, the antitype to the return from Babylon ([Is 35:8]; , ; , ).
Cast ... up--a high road before the returning Jews.
stumbling-block--Jesus had been so to the Jews, but will not be so then any longer ([1Co 1:23]); their prejudices shall then be taken out of the way.
15. The pride and self-righteousness of the Jews were the stumbling block in the way of their acknowledging Christ. The contrition of Israel in the last days shall be attended with God's interposition in their behalf. So their self-humiliation, in [Is 66:2], [5, 10], &c., precedes their final prosperity ([Zec 12:6], ); there will, probably, be a previous period of unbelief even after their return ([Zec 12:8], ).
16. For--referring to the promise in [Is 57:14], , of restoring Israel when "contrite" ([Ge 6:3]; ; [Psa 78:38], ; ; , 13, 14; [Mi 7:18]). God "will not contend for ever" with His people, for their human spirit would thereby be utterly crushed, whereas God's object is to chasten, not to destroy them ([La 3:33], ; [Mi 7:8], ). With the ungodly He is "angry every day" ([Psa 7:11]; [Re 14:11]).
spirit ... before me--that is, the human spirit which went forth from Me ([Nu 16:22]), answering to "which I have made" in the parallel clause.
17. covetousness--akin to idolatry; and, like it, having drawn off Israel's heart from God ([Is 2:7]; 56:11; 58:3; [Jr 6:13]; [Col 3:5]).
hid me--([Is 8:17]; ).
went on frowardly--the result of God's hiding His face ([Psa 81:12]; [Ro 1:24], ).
18. Rather, "I have seen his ways (in sin), yet will I heal him," that is, restore Israel spiritually and temporally ([Jr 33:6]; ; [Ho 14:4], ) [Horsley].
I will ... restore comforts unto him and to his mourners--However, the phrase, "his mourners," favors English Version; "his ways" will thus be his ways of repentance; and God's pardon on "seeing" them answers to the like promise ([Is 61:2], ; [Jr 31:18], ).
19. fruit of ... lips--that is, thanksgivings which flow from the lips. I make men to return thanks to Me ([Ho 14:2]; [He 13:15]).
Peace, peace--"perfect peace" (see [Is 26:3], Margin; [Joh 14:27]). Primarily, the cessation of the troubles now afflicting the Jews, as formerly, under the Babylonian exile. More generally, the peace which the Gospel proclaims both to Israel "that is near," and to the Gentiles who are "far off" ([Ac 2:39]; [Ep 2:17]).
20. when it cannot rest--rather, "for it can have no rest" ([Job 15:20], &c.; [Pr 4:16], ). English Version represents the sea as occasionally agitated; but the Hebrew expresses that it can never be at rest.
21. ([Is 48:22]; [2Ki 9:22]).
my God--The prophet, having God as his God, speaks in the person of Israel, prophetically regarded as having now appropriated God and His "peace" ([Is 11:1-3]), warning the impenitent that, while they continue so, they can have no peace.
Chapter 58
Is 58:1-14. 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 ([1Sa 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, [Mt 6:16], ; [Lu 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 Mal 2:17, 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 ([Is 58:3-14]; [Eze 33:31], ; compare [Joh 18:28]), 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 ([Psa 73:13]; Mal 3:14).
afflicted ... soul--([Le 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 ([Ne 5:1-5, 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] ([1Ki 21:9], [12, 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 ([Is 58:6], ).
bow ... head ... sackcloth--to affect the outward tokens, so as to "appear to men to fast" ([Mt 6:17], ; [1Ki 21:27]; [Es 4:3]).
6. loose ... bands of wickedness--that is, to dissolve every tie wherewith one has unjustly bound his fellow men ([Le 25:49], &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 ([Ne 5:10-12]; [Jr 34:9-11, 14], ). Jerome interprets it, broken with poverty; bankrupt.
7. deal--distribute ([Job 31:16-21]).
cast out--rather, reduced [Horsley].
naked ... cover him--([Mt 25:36]).
hide ... thyself--means to be strange towards them, and not to relieve them in their poverty ([Mt 15:5]).
flesh--kindred ([Ge 29:14]). Also brethren in common descent from Adam, and brethren in Christ ([Jas 2:15]).
8. light--emblem of prosperity ([Is 58:10]; [Job 11:17]).
health--literally, a long bandage, applied by surgeons to heal a wound (compare [Is 1:6]). 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.