Isaiah 58:13

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: IF THOU TURN AWAY THY FOOT FROM THE SABBATH, (FROM) DOING THY PLEASURE ON MY HOLY DAY - (; Nehemiah 13:15.) The Sabbath, even under the new dispensation, is designed to be obligatory (). FOOT - the instrument of motion (cf. ); men are not to travel for mere pleasure on the Sabbath ...

13._If thou shalt turn away thy foot from the sabbath. _Some think that the Prophet alludes to the external observation of the Sabbath, because it was not lawful to perform a journey on that day. (Exodus 20:8) Though I do not reject that opinion, yet I think that the meaning is far more extensive; for by a figure of speech, ill which a part is taken for the whole, he denotes the whole course of human life; as it is very customary to employ the word “going” or “walking” to denote our life. He says, therefore, “If thou cease to advance in thy course, if thou shut up thy path, walk not according to thine own will,”’ etc. For this is to “turn away the foot from the Sabbath,” when we lay ourselves under the necessity of wandering freely and without restraint in our own sinful desires. As he formerly included under the class of fasting all ceremonies and outward masks, in which they made th

13,14 The sabbath is a sign between God and his professing people; his appointing it is a sign of his favour to them; and their observing it is a sign of their obedience to him. We must turn from travelling on that day; from doing our pleasure on that holy day, without the control and restraint of conscience; or from indulging in the pleasures of sense. On sabbath days we must not follow our callings, or our pleasures. In all we say and do, we must put a difference between this day and other days. Even in Old Testament times the sabbath was called the Lord's day, and is fitly called so still; and for a further reason, it is the Lord Christ's day, Revelation 1:10. If we thus remember the sabbath day to keep it holy, we shall have the comfort and profit of it, and have reason to say, It is good to draw near to God....

Verse Isaiah 58:13. _IF THOU TURN AWAY THY FOOT FROM THE SABBATH_] The meaning of this seems to be, that they should be careful not to take their pleasure on the Sabbath day, by paying visits, and taking country jaunts; not going, as _Kimchi_ interprets it, more than a Sabbath day's journey, which was only _two thousand_ cubits beyond the city's suburbs. How vilely is this rule transgressed by the inhabitants of this land! They seem to think that the Sabbath was made only for their recreation! FROM _DOING THY PLEASURE_] The _Septuagint, Syriac_, and _Chaldee_, for עשות _asoth_, manifestly express מעשות _measoth_. So likewise a MS. has it, but with the omission of the words שבת רגלך _shabbath raglecha_. - L. _THE HOLY OF THE LORD_ - "And the holy feast of JEHOVAH"] Twenty-eight MSS. (sev

IF THOU TURN AWAY THY FOOT FROM THE SABBATH - The evident meaning of this is, that they were sacredly to observe the Sabbath, and not to violate or pollute it (see the notes at Isaiah 56:2). The idea, says Grotius, is, that they were not to travel on the Sabbath day on ordinary journeys. The ‘foot’ is spoken of as the instrument of motion and travel. ‘Ponder the paths of thy feet’ Proverbs 4:26; that is, observe attentively thy goings. ‘Remove thy foot from evil’ Proverbs 4:27; that is, abstain from evil, do not go to execute evil. So here, to restrain the foot from the Sabbath, is not to have the foot employed on the Sabbath; not to be engaged in traveling, or in the ordinary active employment

SECTION VI. PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS AND WARNINGS, FOLLOWED BY A CONFESSION AND A PROMISE (Isaiah 58:1; Isaiah 59:1.). EXPOSITION ISAIAH 58:1 FORMALISM REBUKED AND INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN WITH RESPECT TO FASTING. As in the last section, so here, the prophet's eye seems to rest upon his contemporaries rather than upon the exiles; and to note the vices o

IF THOU TURN AWAY THY FOOT FROM THE SABBATH,.... From walking and working on that day; or withdrawest thy mind and affections from all worldly things; the affections being that to the mind as the feet are to the body, which carry it here and there. The time of worship, under the Gospel dispensation, is here expressed in Old Testament language, as the service of it usually is in prophetic writings; though its proper name is the Lord's day, Revelation 1:10, and is here instanced in, and put for all religious institutions and services to be attended unto, and which will be with greater strictness in the times referred to: FROM DOING THY PLEASURE ON MY HOLY DAY; that is, if thou turnest away, or dost abstain from doing thine own servile work, the business of thy calling; which may be agreeable for the sake of the profit of it; or from recreations and amusements, which ma

Isaiah 58:1. _Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins._ See, friends, how stolid men are by nature. God's messengers must not only speak, they must speak very forcibly, they must speak as with the sound of a trumpet, before men will hear them. Among the most stolid of all are those who think themselves God's people, but who are not really and spiritually so. It is hard to reach the common sinner; but it is harder still to reach the baptized sinner, the man who professes to be a Christian, but who has only the name to live, while he is spiritually dead. Isaiah 58:2. _Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways,_ They are careful to offer morning prayers, they would not go into

3. JEWISH HISTORY IN THE END TIME: THEIR FUTURE GLORY AND THE GLORY OF THE COMING AGE (58-59) This third and last section of the vision of Isaiah can only be understood and appreciated if it is studied in the light of other prophecies which predict the final events with which the times of the Gentiles close. That period consists of 7 years, the last 3 1/2 being the great tribulation. According to these predictions a part of the Jewish nation will be back in their land. These returned Jews will consist of two classes, a faithful remnant who own their condition, trust in Jehovah and in the national promises, and an unbelieving mass. The latter will be the large majority and hate their own brethren. In their unbelief they will build another temple and eventually will accept the false messiah, the Antichrist. The struggles and troubles of the end time can easily be traced in this last sectio...

FASTING, FALSE AND TRUE. Yahweh bids the prophet explain to His people wherein their sin lies. Daily they attend the Temple, seeking to know His will for all the world as though their one aim were to do it! They question the priests as to correct ritualrighteous ordinances and delight in daily worship. Why, they ask, when we fast does Yahweh take no notice of our pleas? Because on their fast-days they pursue their business so render rather than pleasure and exact their debts (so emend (_cf._ LXX) the dubious word rendered labours). Thus their fast-days are marked by strife and oppression. Such fasting will not speed their prayers on high! Yahweh desires as a fast not self-mortification, gestures of woe, _symbols_ of humiliation: but the loosing of unjust bonds, and the freeing of the crushed; the feeding of the hungry (_cf._ Nehemiah 5:17) and the housing of the homeless; the