Isaiah Chapter Fifty-Eight Commentary

II. Isaiah Chapter Fifty-Eight Commentary Verses

58:1-2- The Wake-Up Call

YLT TEXT: Call[1] with the throat, restrain not, As a trumpet[2] lift up thy voice, And declare[3] to My people their transgression[4], And to the house of Jacob[5] their sins; Seeing — Me day by day they seek[6], And the knowledge of My ways they desire[7], As a nation[8] that righteousness hath done, And the judgment[9] of its God hath not forsaken, They ask of me judgments of righteousness[10], The drawing near[11] of God they desire: (Isaiah 58:1,2, Isaiah 58:1-2,NLT).

COMMENTARY: Sometimes Jehovah God’s prophet must be very loud, and shout. An attention-getter. This comes strictly by the command of God, not personal fancies: “…Call with the throat, restrain not, As a trumpet lift up thy voice…”. Loud upon such a command, not verbose. Loud upon such a command, and to the point, but not verbose. Thus Isaiah finds himself an attention-getter, for God. He finds himself God’s mouthpiece, through whom Jehovah God has a very loud message for His people. It is not a pleasant message—such may issue more gently, more softly, more quietly, and get through, no problem, even with a whisper sometimes, welcome as such always are. But not so the unpleasant ones. Such hardly get through with a whisper.

Transgression is on holy God’s mind in this chapter of His holy Word, His people’s Transgression: “…And declare to My people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins…”. God’s prophet Isaiah is commanded to detail this Transgression to this people loudly, one-by-one, as each  is placed upon the lips of this prophet by God Himself, lips purified by fire beforetime, in the day of his commission, and preparation for such tasks as lie before him now (Isaiah 6:1-7, “Isaiah Chapter Six Commentary”).

Jehovah God is sensitive to being sought. That said, seeking God day by day is a good thing, but the motive must be pure. Why is He sought? More specifically, why is He sought in this setting? “…Me day by day they seek…”. God is sensitive to being sought, and, especially, to why He is being sought. Is it because He is a beloved Papa, much adored, and loved, and thirsted for, as Family? Or is it because He is viewed as no more than a sugar-daddy with deep pockets? In this setting we think the latter holds—if the setting is (1) in the introduction, then release from captivity was seen somewhere down in those deep pockets, and if (2) above, then protection from a grievous enemy would certainly be seen somewhere down in those deep pockets (Assyria | Israel, Babylon | Judah, in order).

But this people, as all people, wanted all manner of things from God, things that ran the gamut from personal things to national things. Here we have the age-old theology of “appeasing a deity” to gain, well, you name it. This behavior, when translated into a scenario of appeasing Jehovah God by ritual and works and pretentions of piety and whatnot, to gain this and that, gave the appearance that Jehovah was on par with the other gods round about, and put Jehovah’s Covenant People on par with the heathen that worshiped their god/s in this way. The Covenant People became heathen-like in their most distinguishing feature—a peculiar people set apart for Jehovah God; they became indistinguishable from the heathen round about precisely in the area of worship of all things. This was a satanic thrust. But of course, Messiah was to come through them—that is why they were set apart from all other peoples in the first place—and that is the major concern here. Now suppose for the sake of argument that you dear reader were the one true God Jehovah—How would you address this? What would it communicate about God, His holiness, His makeup, His standards, if He blinked at this heathen-like behavior from His Covenant people? That is God’s chief concern here, and elsewhere in Scripture, because though the particulars are different in other places in Scripture, God’s Covenant People (Old Testament, New Testament) are all too often found backsliding into heathen-like behavior. But there is more to it than that in our context, though that is chief: our God is nobody’s call-boy, and He is not a fool with all due respect, as in unawares of what is going on. But please notice—this people in fact thought Him a fool by their pretensions of piety before Him, and they broadcast the same by their hypocrisy, as do all hypocrites. At least this much an atheist has going for themselves—they are not (necessarily) a hypocrite in matters concerning God, but, of course, another manner of egregious insult toward God is manifested by their atheism which we must leave unaddressed for now (except to offer an alternative for careful consideration to the atheist “A Letter of Invitation”). Hypocrisy before God is an insult to His deity (holiness, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence—perfect knowledge, and wisdom, and understanding, and power, and sanctity). And what are we to say when it comes from His Covenant People? That is what hurts here. In conjunction with so-called seeking Him, this people supposedly sought His ways: “…And the knowledge of My ways they desire…”. To seek God is to seek, not least, knowledge of His ways—we are not surprised that God says this right here in the same breath. But straightaway come hints of hypocrisy beneath the surface: “…As a nation [literally, heathen!] that righteousness hath done…”. That is, in covering up their quite willfully odious walk before God they weary themselves with those look-good, sound-good pious things that they think will appease and impress and move God—like the fasting we shall discuss presently. Hypocrites, pious frauds, playing God the fool, and compromising their sanctity as Set-Apart People. Think if you will how long ago this record was written (eighth-century BC!), and has been available, for God’s people to read and prayerfully consider, and has much changed because of it? Are you and I dear reader any less pious frauds than these people? I hope so. I wish to be, don’t you? And so here it comes now in its phony dress, this motive: “…They ask of me judgments of righteousness, The drawing near of God they desire…”. Deep pockets at the scale of deity can turn a few things around for folks when Deity acts. That was largely the motive, and it fits either setting (1), or (2), of the introduction. But we must not lose our focus in this commentary because the important thing in this chapter is not so much the biblical history as it is instruction in the proper (=accepted) worship of God and similarly the proper manner of walk before Him, and this running instruction from God begins already in His prophet’s fifty-sixth chapter (“Isaiah Chapter Fifty-Six Commentary”). We would argue that Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, 7, “The Beatitudes” introduction to the Sermon) is no less a continuation of the same, which running instruction it is certain He anticipated as necessary long before the world was and then put into writing at these various places in His inspired Word as the foreknown context played itself out in its day. Jehovah God is holy, and one’s worship of Him and one’s walk before Him must respect and reverence that holiness aright thus broadcasting the same (“Be Holy”). That ultimately is the overarching theme in this running instruction from God, which includes our chapter here. Now those last few words in verse two are interesting: “…the drawing near of God they desire…”. Again, what was the motive? They did not want God to draw near, not really—just look at Ahaz—he sold out to the Assyrians—that is who he wanted nearby. And the captive Jews in Babylon had visions of Jerusalem and home-sweet-home nearby.

We are as it were in court in this chapter, and God is prosecuting a case of fraudulent piety against His Covenant People, and He is using the vehicle of sarcasm to expose their (and our) Transgression. This will become even more apparent as He prosecutes His case against their self-appointed (thus fraudulent) fasts, which He never instituted in the first place. O Isaiah’s job here is not a popular one; an attention-getter, like unto a rescuer with a nosebleed swimming in shark infested waters.

58:3-7- Nay Not Thine, Rather, the Fast that God Has Chosen

YLT TEXT: ‘Why have we fasted[12], and Thou hast not seen[13]? We have afflicted our soul, and Thou knowest not[14].’ Lo, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure[15], And all your labours ye exact[16]. Lo, for strife and debate ye fast[17], And to smite with the fist of wickedness[18], Ye fast not as to-day, To sound in the high place your voice. Like this is the fast that I choose? The day of a man’s afflicting his soul? To bow as a reed his head, And sackcloth and ashes spread out? This dost thou call a fast, And a desirable day — to Jehovah? Is not this the fast that I chose[19] — To loose[20] the bands[21] of wickedness[22], To shake off[23] the burdens[24] of the yoke[25], And to send[26] out the oppressed[27] free, And every yoke ye draw off? Is it not to deal[28] to the hungry thy bread, And the mourning[29] poor bring home, That thou seest the naked and cover[30] him, And from thine own flesh hide[31] not thyself?. (Isaiah 58:3-7, Isaiah 58:3-7, NLT).

COMMENTARY: It is noteworthy that this people says not: ‘…why have we fasted and prayed, and thou hast not seen and heard…’. No mention of prayer—the word “prayer” is missing, is it not? “…Why have we fasted, and Thou hast not seen? We have afflicted our soul, and Thou knowest not…”. This already speaks volumes to their motivations. They were doing “their thing,” as, for example, their self-appointed fasts, and cramming it down God’s throat if you will, expecting Him to swallow it (hook, line, and sinker by the way) by rewarding them for it (!). They were trying to appease Him, impress Him, motivate Him, move Him to action, nevertheless with “pleasure money” for currency no less: “…Lo, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure…”. Playing God the fool. Acting like the heathen round about from whom they had been set apart. But catch the audacity in the face of this, for they are irritated with God for not laying down and playing the fool for them: “…Why have we fasted and Thou hast not seen? We have afflicted our soul and Thou knowest not…” (red font added). Let us never deliberate thus in our heart just because we do not get a timely answer to a prayer, even if, especially if, we are in a pinch. Pinches, in God’s hand, cultivate spiritual mettle. In this way they are the workhorse of sanctification (of being set apart=a Covenant Person).

Before we continue with this verse set, let us step back for a moment and take a bird’s eye view of the court proceedings unfolding before us. Up to this point in the proceedings, God is prosecuting the Transgression for which He holds His people guilty, with respect to their offences toward Him. Coming from the Bench of God a little later He prosecutes said Transgression with respect to this people’s offences toward one another (with further offences toward Him inevitably mixed in). And violation of His well-disseminated Great Commandment (Matthew 22:36-40), which we hold qualifies His eternal Jubilee Law, is the charge.

Okay, let us continue. So, they were fasting, twisting God’s arm if you will, quite according to their own ideas of what a fast before God should consist of. Why? Why their own ideas here, besides the obvious reason that they could set their own standards in this? God never instituted a fast! There were no fast-standards available which to follow—but the important thing here is not that there were no standards to follow, the important thing is this: God did not institute a fast—they instituted a fast. And they highly esteemed this “fast-currency” before Him and tried to buy His bared, holy, right Arm with it, but He certainly did not esteem their so-called currency, and His bared, holy, right Arm, was not for sale, so to speak. Jehovah God is Prime Mover—He alone meaningfully institutes per se, humankind but thinks it is Prime Mover (the “you can be like God” complex  [Genesis 3:5 is meant]). Now, please catch the fast-sarcasm from God in these verses (God is not mocked, not even a little bit):

·       Ye fast not as to-day, To sound in the high place your voice. (In other words, God did not acknowledge their fast.),

·       Like this is the fast that I choose? (There is surely a tone of disgust in these words from God.),

·       Just catch the sarcasm from God here (cf. Matthew 6:16): The day of a man’s afflicting his soul? To bow as a reed his head [one must almost chuckle were it not so serious], And sackcloth and ashes spread out?

·       This dost thou call a fast, And a desirable day — to Jehovah? (Ouch.)

The sarcasm could hardly be any thicker. Jehovah never wanted to impose a fast upon them. Certainly, He gave them laws concerning what they could eat and not eat (clean and unclean), but He never told them to abstain from eating as a form of piety unto their holiness, which holiness alone moved (moves) His heart and His hand. This is just another example of their misunderstandings of the holiness impetus behind God’s Law, and God’s holiness requirements per se. And that spirit of a concocted, sort of maverick, super-added theology, is a millstone around the neck of God’s people to the day. God’s people come up with all kinds of things that enslave them by way of super-added ritual in the same spirit as these ancient Covenant People. Jehovah God’s people are supposed to be free from such bondages—this is God’s wish, and the proof of that is, God Himself is carrying the legalistic load for humankind through Jesus Christ. Please take another look at the Great Commandment if you will (Matthew 22:36-40)—that is all that God enjoins to His people in their shoe leather—that is the walk He wants, and He is not flattered by anything else that we come up with to impress Him, or appease Him, or motivate Him to move, or whatnot. But there is a quite physical, and spiritual, fast that He did institute, and that we are made aware of in this verse set; its Great Commandment basis is clear (Tab. 1).

The Great Commandment is nowhere to be found in this people’s dealings with one another. This is another part of the Transgression Jehovah God prosecutes against them:

·       For strife and debate ye fast (They fasted whilst in confrontation with their fellows so that Jehovah might give them the advantage over a brother.),

·       Ye smite with the fist of wickedness (And when that advantage was not granted they “took matters into their own fists” so to speak and punched their way to some sort of advantage.).

That God brought up the following in their hearing suggests that they were guilty of these offenses toward one another; please notice also that these are Jubilee directives, but Jubilee came only once every fifty years—God wants these things done daily (cf. Jubilee Jesus in Matthew 25:31-37,38-44, 45-46, “Jesus Our Jubilee”):

·       Loose the bands of wickedness (God hates wickedness, and to identify with God is to hate it too.),

·       Shake off the burdens of the yoke (Burdensome yokes are wicked things.),

·       Send out the oppressed free, and every yoke ye draw off (We must take notice that this is a repetition from God.),

·       Deal to the hungry thy bread (They fast that God might champion their cause, but they champion not the cause of the hungry.),

·       The mourning poor bring home (Ditto.),

·       Cover the naked (Ditto.),

·       Hide not from thine own flesh (Kin [“own flesh” understood in that sense] can be most demanding and taxing, but we are not to hide from them and their issues.).

58:8-12- The Godly Fast God of Himself Satisfies

YLT TEXT: Then[32] broken up as the dawn is thy light[33], And thy health[34] in haste springeth up, Gone before thee hath thy righteousness[35], The honour of Jehovah[36] doth gather thee. Then thou callest, and Jehovah answereth, Thou criest, and He saith, ‘Behold Me.’ If[37] thou turn aside[38] from thy midst the yoke, The sending forth of the finger, And the speaking of vanity[39], And dost bring out[40] to the hungry[41] thy soul[42], And the afflicted soul dost satisfy[43], Then risen in the darkness[44] hath thy light, And thy thick darkness is as noon. And Jehovah doth lead[45] thee continually, And hath satisfied in drought thy soul, And thy bones He armeth[46], And thou hast been as a watered garden, And as an outlet of waters, whose waters lie not. And they have built out of thee the wastes[47] of old, The foundations of many generations thou raisest[48] up, And one calleth thee, ‘Repairer[49] of the breach[50], Restorer[51] of paths to rest[52] in.’.

COMMENTARY: Sometimes God withholds blessings from His Covenant People down here in the land of the living (Tab. 2). This text explains why, at least with respect to His ancient Covenant People. Please notice a key word in the text, the demonstrative then: ‘…then follows this blessing or that…’, together with the conditional if: ‘…if you do thus and so…’. There are more implied offences one toward another here that must be purged before the “then” of blessings rains down from heaven, and notice that God repeats Himself—such repetition cannot be taken lightly:

·       Turn aside from thy midst the yoke (again Jehovah God repeats this offence.),

·       The sending forth of the finger (suggests accusations, and/or gesturing [disparagement].),

·       The speaking of vanity (perhaps arrogant, or better-than-thou talk, perhaps the Name of Jehovah taken in vain, or both.),

·       Bring out to the hungry thy soul (a repetition.),

·       The afflicted soul dost satisfy (a repetition in so many words.).

The “then” of blessings is central to this chapter, it is what motivated a lot of phoniness before God as these ancient Covenant People variously postured before God, according to their own estimations of piety, in effort to “force the then.” It is almost certain that this sort of “forcing the then” goes on all the time, in times past, and today. But God stuck an “if” in there on us. He is willing to bless, but He wants to see the “if” worked out first. “Maverick piety” will not force His hand—it did not in times past, nor will it today. Of course today we are blessed in and through Jesus Christ—that is the big “IF” for everybody; nay, that is the big “IF, and only IF,” through Jesus…THEN (“A Letter of Invitation” dearest reader—Jesus can “force the then” for you friend, and only He can do that aright).

58:13-14- Holy Sabbath Like unto Jubilee Rest, A Delight, to the Holy of Jehovah, Honored

YLT TEXT: If thou dost turn[53] from the sabbath[54] thy foot, Doing thine own pleasure on My holy day, And hast cried to the sabbath, ‘A delight[55],’ To the holy of Jehovah, ‘Honoured[56],’ And hast honoured it, without doing thine own ways, Without finding thine own pleasure, And speaking a word. Then dost thou delight thyself on Jehovah, And I have caused thee to ride on high places of earth, And have caused thee to eat[57] the inheritance of Jacob thy father, For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken[58]! (Isaiah 58:13-14, Isaiah 58:13-14, NLT).

COMMENTARY: Now we come to another part of the Transgression God prosecutes against His Covenant People, and it is an offence directed squarely at Him, namely, Sabbath-Covenant breaking (Exodus 31:13—the Covenant; and notice please, that sanctification [set-apart] is an integral dynamic of this covenant again; the Sabbath was Set Apart, Jehovah’s Covenant People were Set Apart—a memory cue for them: they were to remember that they were set apart, on that day, and to remember who it was that set them apart…for Himself). This part has in it elements of the former two parts of the Transgression. Now God did institute the Sabbath (the Sabbath Day, once every seven days, the Sabbatical year, once every seven years, and the Year of Jubilee, the year after seven sabbatical years). God instituted the Sabbath, but they reinstituted it, and that is the tragedy here. The fast they instituted, and God did not, the Sabbath-Covenant God instituted, and they reinstituted it. In both cases, they had their own way with the matter. Perhaps no other Agreement with God did this people soil to the extent that they soiled the Sabbath-Covenant, except for Jehovah’s laws of clean and unclean. This bastardization of the Sabbath-Covenant persisted all the way through Jesus’ day, at which time the reinstitution was unassailable even by the Lord of the Sabbath Jesus and was effectively leveraged against Him to make Him look like a blasphemer and an impostor given His disdain for, and rejection of, their Sabbath choker-monster reinstitution.

Sabbath is literally the “Day of Rest.” Nice word, rest. A blessing. And to have Rest enjoined by God is, well, “almost to good to be true,” as the saying goes. But there it is, for us. For us? Yes, if “us” means we and our God Jehovah. So, does God rest? Yes (Genesis 2:2-3). Why would God rest—sounds sort of anthropomorphic? And does that mean that God gets tired? Does it mean that God needs refreshing? Surely deity does not tire. Is Jehovah really God considering all these questions? Jehovah is definitely God, and He does not, of course, tire, nor does He need refreshing—that is the wrong sense of the Hebrew word SHABATH utilized in the Genesis Creation account (cf. Exodus 20:10-11). It means this: cease, desist. God put an end to His labors and stopped working after completing the work of Creation. Perfectly logical. And that is the sense we have in mind when we use the word “rest” below. Also, as Christians, we have in mind not the formal Jewish Sabbath, but, the Christian Lord’s Day (Revelation 1:10), in what  follows.

Jehovah God considers the Sabbath a holy (sanctified, set apart) day: “…If thou dost turn from the sabbath thy foot, Doing thine own pleasure on My holy day…”. The Sabbath-Covenant agreement calls for rest. Why? It is a day for spiritual intimacy with Jehovah God, and He wants nothing—work, worry, pleasure, pressure, etc., to detract from that intimacy. This is so wonderful that He wants us to be that close to Him. We have said elsewhere that holy Sabbath is a blessed “love charge” from God to us, to love Him deeply and unencumbered on that special day, engaging His love. And love of Him, true love of Him, considers such a day not a burden, nor a duty, but pure, unmitigated, delight, and that is certainly a love-metric for Him, as He Himself says: “…And hast cried to the sabbath, ‘A delight’…”. It is a delight because of the uninterrupted intimacy with Him on that day, even more so a delight than the wonderful Rest that refreshes one on that day.

 And Jehovah has another love-metric in view on that day, and that is honoring this set-apart day, which is tantamount to honoring Him, who is similarly set apart, as are His people by His grace. Everybody understands Sabbath is His special “day,” intended for intimacy between God and us, and when we irreverence it, as did His ancient Covenant People, we irreverence Him. And This irreverence of Him on that day comes by minimizing, by slighting, the graciously available intimacy with Him, by wantonly turning to other “delights” instead of Him, including, it is specifically pointed out, engaging in a lot of passionate conversation about this and that, say, in our day, politics, or sports, or the state of the economy, or other such distractions: “…And hast cried to the sabbath, ‘A delight,’ To the holy of Jehovah, ‘Honoured‘ And hast honoured it, without doing thine own ways, Without finding thine own pleasure, And speaking a word.”…”. Such conversation has its place, certainly, but let’s just give the like a rest here on Jehovah’s special day (the Lord’s Day), and engage Him, His love, which Love is manifestly Jesus Christ, the very Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus, the One who came and sojourned with us for a time (He yearns for intimacy with us) and died for us to make intimacy with a holy God possible.

And our God is sure to be right there to engage His own, that is, those that love and seek Him, and to be there in a very, delightful, way: “…Then dost thou delight thyself on Jehovah, And I have caused thee to ride on high places of earth, And have caused thee to eat the inheritance of Jacob thy father, For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken!…” (red font added).

Praised be your wonderful Name great Covenant God Jehovah, Exceeding Delight, Honored. Amen.