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 ashes [under him]? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
Ver. 5. Is it such a fast that I have chosen?] No; for God hates that mar-good formality; and displeasing service is double dishonour.
A day for a man to afflict his soul,] i.e., His body a whole day at least, from evening till evening, Lev 23:32 or from morning till evening. Judges 20:26 2Sa 3:35 Yet so as that nature be chastised, not disabled for service; and that we take not the more liberty afterwards to pamper the flesh which we have pined, as those dames of Athens did in their Thesmophoria, a feast of Ceres, to the which they prepared themselves with fasting; but after that took their liquor more freely than was fit a And as the Turks do at this day in their solemn fasts; they will not so much as taste a cup of water, or wash their mouths with water all the day long, before the stars appear in the sky; but then they lay the reins in the neck and run riot. b
Is it to bow down the head as a bulrush?] While the heart is unbowed, and stands bolt upright. Hypocrites, like bulrushes, hang down their heads for a day, while some storm of trouble is upon them; but when a fair sunshine day is come to dry it up again, they lift up their heads as before. Fitly, saith a grave divine, is formality compared to a bulrush; the colour is fresh, the skin smooth; he is very exact that can find a knot in a bulrush; but if you peel it, what is under but a kind of spungeous, unsubstantial substance, of no use in the world worth the speaking of. Such are hypocrites; a fair outside, specious pretences of piety, &c., all the rest not worth a rush. Pictures, saith another, are pretty things to look on, and that is all they are good for. Christ looked on, and loved the young Pharisee, &c.
And to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?] The Jews did so usually in their solenm mournings. Est 4:3 Jer 6:26 The heathens also did the like. John 3:5 Mat 11:21
Wilt thou call this a fast?] Is it not a mere mock fast, as was that of the Pharisees? and is that of the Papists, who pride themselves that day with opinion of merit, for their mere outward abstinence. Some Protestants also fast; but they had need to send, as God speaks, for mourning women, that by their cunning they may be taught to mourn, Jer 9:17 and for reformation (the main business of a fast) they mind it not.
And an acceptable day to the Lord.] Heb., A day of goodwill or well liking, therefore called elsewhere a day of atonement or expiation, and hath most excellent promises made to it. Joel 2:12 ; Joe 2:18 Only there must be withal a turning from wicked works; without which God seeth no work or worth in a fast, Joh 3:10 nor can it be an acceptable day to the Lord.
a Rous's Archaeol. Attica.
b Turkish History, 777; Voyage into the Levant.