Overview. — The prophet is commanded to denounce gravely to the people their crimes and at the same time to strip the mask from their simulated and painted piety. Their fasting is undertaken in vain, because together with fasting they devote themselves to malice and injustice. God demands a fast of such a kind that they remove impiety and injustice from themselves and show mercy to the oppressed (Is 58:1–7). If they do this, then they will enjoy an abundance of salvation and divine blessing; then ruins will be rebuilt and they will possess stable peace and tranquility; if they faithfully keep the sabbath, they will be richly endowed with the goods of the covenant (Is 58:8–14).
Thus the discourse is especially suited to show that the prophet demands from the people a certain interior transformation of mind and heart and proposes this as a necessary condition for attaining the promised goods. Since the people are inclined to overvalue external rites, the seer insists that these avail nothing without true piety and the observance of justice. He repeatedly emphasizes—with strong insistence—that in this alone is placed all hope of obtaining the promised blessings (cf. Is 58:8, 9, 10, 13), whence that emphatic then in Is 58:8, 9, 14. He therefore attacks a false confidence by which they promised themselves security as sons of Abraham and heirs of so many promises. That such a Pharisaic spirit (“we are sons of Abraham”) had already taken hold of many hearts in Isaiah’s time we learn from other sources, and especially from his contemporary Micah. For princes, priests, and false prophets, although deeply entangled in crimes, nevertheless “leaned upon the Lord, saying: Is not the Lord in our midst? No evil shall come upon us” (Mic 3:11). Similar passages are found in Jer 7:4; Ezek 11:15; Ezek 33:24.
That this third series of discourses is rightly entitled She has received double from the hand of the Lord can easily be gathered from the fact that the prophet himself again and again proclaims how splendid the gifts Jerusalem is to receive (cf. Is 58:11, 14; Is 60:2, 18 ff.; Is 61:1; Is 63:9; Is 64:4; Is 65:9 ff., 18, etc.), indeed asserting that double will be bestowed upon her (61:7). It is true that already in the preceding section (especially from chapter 54 onward) these goods and Jerusalem’s glory had been celebrated; nor is this surprising, since in these consist the reward and glory of the Servant of the Lord, and in these the magnificence of His work and accomplished expiation is seen. Nevertheless, in this series those gifts and favors are referred even more directly, immediately, and explicitly to Jerusalem, to the new theocracy. Moreover, the structure of this section is such as to set forth more clearly what those gifts are and in what way minds must be prepared to receive them—namely, that they are gifts granted entirely gratuitously by God, spiritual gifts, to be acquired and possessed through an interior transformation of hearts toward true piety. Secondly, it is added what good works are chiefly to be practiced: works of mercy by which greed and injustice are expiated:
Is 58:7: “Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the poor and the wandering into your house; when you see the naked, clothe him, and do not despise your own flesh.” — In Hebrew, in conformity with the preceding sense: Is it not to break bread for the hungry…? The interrogative form is rhetorically more effective, since it appeals to the judgment of those addressed. “Not many loaves—lest you excuse yourself on account of poverty—but one loaf; nor the whole loaf, but a part of the bread which, if you were not fasting, you would have eaten, so that your fast may not be gain for the purse but nourishment for the soul; and he aptly added your bread, lest you make alms from plunder” (St. Jerome).
After food, shelter, and clothing—which are to be given to those in need—the passage concludes with a general and most comprehensive exhortation: you shall not hide yourself from your own flesh, you shall not deny your help to your own flesh, that is, to anyone who shares with you the same flesh and blood; “every human being is our flesh” (St. Jerome). Flesh is said of relatives and kinsmen (Gen 29:14; Gen 31:27; Lev 18:11; Lev 20:19), but also of a fellow tribesman or one belonging to the same nation; thus all the tribes of Israel say to David: “Behold, we are your bone and your flesh” (2 Sam 5:1). As works of mercy are here commended by which salvation is obtained from the Lord (cf. Is 58:8, 10), so at the last judgment the Lord will distribute rewards to the merciful or consign the greedy and cruel to punishment according to the rule of these works (cf. Matt 25:34).
Already Sanctius notes for this passage a place altogether similar, Zech 7:4–13, a similarity which Naegelsbach pursues at greater length. Zechariah likewise reproves a fast that is not for the glory and honor of God: “Did you really fast for me?” He then recalls that earlier prophets had explicitly taught what kind of fast is acceptable to God, and that this had been admonished “when Jerusalem was still inhabited and prosperous, she and the cities around her, and when the south and the lowlands were inhabited.” He cites the words by which the earlier prophets taught that fast pleasing to God: “Judge true judgment, and practice mercy and compassion, each with his brother; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the stranger, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against his brother in his heart.” The similarity therefore lies in this, that each prophet censures a fast undertaken by human choice because it is not such as God wills; and each explains what God wills in such a way that the observance of justice and the performance of works of mercy are commended. Hence, although Zechariah does not verbally quote Isaiah, it seems altogether certain that he had this passage before his eyes. For no other passage exists among the earlier prophets in which these three elements are found together: fasting as the sole subject, the reproof of a merely external fast, and the opposition to it of a true fast with the observance of justice and the execution of works of mercy. Joel 2:12–13 cannot be adduced for comparison, although there too true worship is distinguished from the external and feigned; for there nothing else is said except that they should return to the Lord with fasting, weeping, and mourning, and rend their hearts, not their garments—things that do not approach the similarity of Zechariah’s passage. Nor is Ezek 18:5 ff. sufficient; there works of justice and mercy are indeed commended, but along with many others, and there is no mention of fasting or of the distinction between feigned and true fasting. Since therefore our passage in Isaiah alone corresponds so well with Zech 7:5 ff., we rightly conclude that it was before Zechariah’s eyes. From this it also necessarily follows that Zechariah asserts that our passage belongs to the earlier prophets who prophesied “when Jerusalem was still inhabited and prosperous…,” and thus we have another testimony that in Zechariah’s time this passage was attributed not to some prophet toward the end of the exile, but to a prophet who uttered oracles before the exile, when the Judaean state was flourishing. — Moreover, in Zech 7:12 a phrase is used that is found only in Isaiah: to make the ears heavy (Isa 6:10; Is 59:4; Zech 7:13). And the sentence “as he spoke (cried out) and they did not hear, so they will cry out and I will not hear” is entirely conformed to Isa 50:9 and Is 65:12. Hence it can scarcely be doubted that Zechariah had this part of Isaiah before him and referred it to the earlier prophets; on this matter see also Kueper, Das Prophetentum des A. B., p. 994.
b) What goods follow piety (Is 58:8–14).
If they bend their hearts toward justice and mercy, they will be heaped abundantly with goods by the Lord. See how strongly the prophet urges interior conversion of heart and asserts that this alone is the necessary condition for obtaining salvation; at the same time consider the kindness of God, who asks only for what is both necessary and easily performed by all, and most willingly by those who have not entirely cast off all sense of humanity. Hence Is 58:8: “Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall quickly spring forth; your justice shall go before your face, and the glory of the Lord shall gather you.” — By three comparisons the help of God and salvation are described: in place of the night of calamity, the dawn and light of prosperity; in place of sickness and wounds, healing; finally, the people will journey through life as once through the desert: justice leads the column, showing the safe way; the glory of the Lord closes the rear. Briefly yet most effectively the prophet has sketched the blessed pattern of earthly life and pilgrimage.
Is 58:8 First, “your light shall break forth like the dawn” (Hebrew). For the wicked a perpetual night descends (cf. Is 8:20-22); but for the pious, after the clouds are scattered, happiness victorious over evils will shine forth (Is 9:2). Now the people are afflicted with wounds and the whole condition of the state lies miserably prostrate (Is 1:5-8); then, however, swiftly—immediately—“your healing shall sprout” (Hebrew). They will be flooded with new vigor; the many losses of the state will be repaired; scars will be covered; medicine will be applied; the condition of affairs will return to integrity and bloom. Finally, the column of the people is presented in a most beautiful image: true justice and holiness lead the column, showing the way by which one must proceed; the glory of the Lord closes it. The Septuagint has περιελεύσεται σε, “it will surround you,” protecting it; therefore God regards this protection as His glory, and for that reason He will grant it most abundantly and will promote it with the greatest care, as He guards His own glory (for the manner of speaking see Exod 13:21; Ex 14:19; Isa 52:12; Is 40:10–11). By this light of the Lord’s glory all darkness will be driven away, and the people themselves will be surrounded with glory and splendor.
Is 58:9 And since on this journey God protects and surrounds His people with such glory, He will also immediately grant all things to the one who asks, Is 58:9: “Then you shall call, and the Lord will hear; you shall cry out, and He will say: Behold, I am here!” — This reverses their current situation where the people complain that the Lord does not see or know (Is 58:2–3). The prophet teaches how ready the Lord is to hear and grant petitions, if only they first remove evils from themselves. As soon as they cry out, He will say hinneni (“behold, I”), which is the word of one obedient, most ready to give help and most willingly responsive (cf. Gen 22:1, 11; Gen 27:1; Gen 31:11; Gen 46:2; Isa 6:8; Job 38:35, etc.). “Behold, I am here—not by word but by deed, not by reply but by benefits” (St. Jerome). “That ‘behold, I am here’ declares the timely generosity and readiness of the giving God” (St. Cyril, citing Prov 15:29; Ps 34:16; Ps 18:7). The prophet again warns that amendment of heart is necessary to obtain the promises, and that therefore these are not granted to the Jews as such, nor to the nation simply as chosen without condition, before he proceeds with the description of salvation: “If you remove the yoke from your midst, and cease to point the finger and speak what is worthless; if you pour out your soul for the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your darkness shall be like noon.” — In Hebrew, yoke means oppression. To point the finger denotes mockery and derision; perhaps those are indicated who were mentioned above (Is 31:4), or those who, after despoiling the poor, add insults and reproaches; or, as St. Jerome says, “do not single out individuals as if by the finger, do not slander your neighbor.” Then, if you cease to speak iniquity (Hebrew), that is, evil and unjust things. Again the prophet first explains turn away from evil. From Is 58:10 he adds the second part: do good.
Is 58:10 The first clause the ancients mostly explain of a great benevolence of soul by which one cherishes the poor: “that we may give to the hungry not merely our bread, as above, but our soul, so that we help him in whatever ways we can, and give not as if from sadness or necessity, but from the heart” (St. Jerome, and similarly Haimo, St. Thomas, Malvenda, Forerius, Osorius, Sanctius, Sa, Pintus, Mariana, Lapide, Calm.). The Greek version is not far from this sense: “if you give your bread to the hungry from your soul,” that is, willingly (Eusebius). Some more recent interpreters explain pouring out the soul as supplying sustenance by which one’s life is supported, or giving to another what one’s soul or appetite greatly desires—delicacies (cf. Maldonatus, Schegg, Neteler, Rohlfs, Knobel, Hahn, Seiler, Delitzsch, Naegelsbach, Or.). Thus the Syriac: “if you give your bread to the hungry.” But this does not seem quite right; for this is immediately said in the second clause, and it is harsh to take soul for the thing the soul desires or by which life is sustained, and then to take the same word soul in afflicted soul with another meaning. Nor is Deut 24:6 parallel, where soul denotes what is necessary for sustaining life; for the sense here is not that one must give to another what one oneself absolutely needs to live. Such a degree of perfection is not required here, nor is it proposed in this series of admonitions that you should expose yourself to death to save another or deprive yourself of things necessary to life. Hence the explanation of the ancients still seems defensible, especially since soul is also used to denote the affections of love and mercy (cf. Isa 42:4; Gen 34:3; Deut 4:29; Dt 6:5; Dt 30:10; Song 1:1; 3:4, etc.).
If they cultivate piety, in the night of misery and calamity God will make the light of happiness rise; indeed He will transform miseries into the highest degree of happiness, as if the brightness of the midday sun followed upon night. Light is a metaphor for happiness and joy; and as midday light excels in the greatest brilliance, so it denotes the summit of prosperity. Hence for the wicked who are suddenly cast down, it is said that the sun sets at noon (cf. Amos 8:9; Jer 15:8).
CONTINUE
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