The design of this chapter is to reprove the Jews for a vain dependence on the performance of the outward forms of worship. The nation is represented as diligent in the performance of the external rites of their religion, and as expecting to avert the divine judgments by the performance of those rites. They are represented as filled with amazement, that though they were thus diligent and faithful, they had no tokens of the divine approbation, but were left as if forsaken by God. The main scope of the chapter is to state the reasons why their religious services met with no tokens of the divine acceptance, and the blessings which would follow the proper performance of their duties.
It is not certainly known to what period the prophet refers, whether to the Jews in his own time, or to the Jews regarded as in Babylon. Rosenmuller supposes the reference is wholly to the Jews suffering in their captivity, and practicing their religious rites with a view of obtaining the divine favor and a release. He argues this because there is no reference here to sacrifices, but merely to fasting, and the observance of the Sabbath; duties which they could perform even when far away from the temple, and from their own land. But it seems more probable that the reference here to fasting is designed as an instance or specimen of the character of the people, and that this is made so prominent because they abounded so much in it, and were so hypocritical in its observance. It is possible that it was composed at or near the time of some of the public fasts during the reign of Manasseh, and that the fact that the external rites of religion were observed amidst the abominations of that wicked reign roused the indignation of the prophet, and led him to pour forth this severe reproof of the manner in which they approached God.
The chapter comprises the following subjects:
I. A direction to the prophet openly and boldly to reprove the sins of the nation Isaiah 58:1.
II. The fact that the Jewish people were regular and diligent in the observance of the external duties of religion, and that they expected the divine favor on the ground of those observances Isaiah 58:2-3.
III. The prophet states the reason why their excessive and punctual religious duties had not been accepted or followed with the divine favor and blessing.
1. They still continued their heavy exactions on others, and made everything tributary to their own pleasureIsaiah 58:3 Isaiah 58:3.
2. They did it for strife and debate; with hoarse contentions and angry passionsIsaiah 58:4 Isaiah 58:4.
3. It was with an affected and hypocritical seriousness and solemnity, not as a proper expression of a deep sense of sin Isaiah 58:5.
IV. The prophet states the true ways in which the favor of God might be obtained, and the happy results which would follow the proper observance of his commands, and the proper discharge of the duties of religion.
1. The proper mode of fasting, and the happy results Isaiah 58:6-9.
(1) The kind of fasting which God had chosen Isaiah 58:6-7. It was to loose the bands of wickedness, and undo the heavy burdens, and let the oppressed go free, and to aid the poor and needy.
(2) The consequence of this Isaiah 58:8-9. Their light would break forth as the morning, and the nation would prosper, and their prayers would be heard.
2. The special duty of removing the yoke of oppression, and of regarding the poor and the oppressed, and the consequences Isaiah 58:9-12.
(1) The duty. God requires the yoke of oppression to he put away, and the oppressed and the poor to be regarded by his people (Isaiah 58:9, last clause, 10).
(2) The consequences which would follow from this Isaiah 58:10-12. Their light would rise in obscurity, and their darkness would be as noonday; Yahweh would be their guide, and the waste places would be repaired, and the desolations cease.
3. The duty of keeping the Sabbath, and the consequences Isaiah 58:13-14.
(1) The duty Isaiah 58:13. They were to cease to do their own pleasure, and to call it holy, and to regard it with delight.
(2) The consequences Isaiah 58:14. They would then find delight in the service of Yahweh; and they would ride upon the high places of the earth, and be abundantly blessed and prospered.