Isaiah 58:6

Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? TO LOOSE THE BANDS OF WICKEDNESS - i:e., to dissolve every tie wherewith one has unjustly bound his fellow-men, (, etc.) Servitude, a fraudulent contract, etc. UNDO THE HEAVY BURDENS - Hebrew, loose the bands of the yoke. TO LET THE OPPRESSED GO FREE - literally, the broken. The expression, to let go free implies that those broken with the yoke of slavery are meant (Nehemiah 5:10; Jeremiah 34:9;...

6._Is not this the fast which I have chosen? _The Prophet shows what are the real duties of piety, and what God chiefly recommends to us; namely, to relieve those who are wretched and pressed with a heavy burden. But the Prophet appears to abolish fasting universally, when, in place of it, he enumerates those works which are most highly acceptable to God. I reply, fasting is approved when it is accompanied by that love which we owe to our fellow­men; and therefore the Prophet directs that we shall be tried by this principle, that our consciences be entire and pure, that we exercise mutual kindness towards each other; for if this order prevail, then fasting, which shall be added to it, will be pleasing and acceptable to God. But here he does not at all mention purity of heart. I reply, it is described by works, as by its fruits, from which it is easily seen what kind of heart we have. Nex...

3-12 A fast is a day to afflict the soul; if it does not express true sorrow for sin, and does not promote the putting away of sin, it is not a fast. These professors had shown sorrow on stated or occasioned fasts. But they indulged pride, covetousness, and malignant passions. To be liberal and merciful is more acceptable to God than mere fasting, which, without them, is vain and hypocritical. Many who seem humble in God's house, are hard at home, and harass their families. But no man's faith justifies, which does not work by love. Yet persons, families, neighbourhoods, churches, or nations, show repentance and sorrow for sin, by keeping a fast sincerely, and, from right motives, repenting, and doing good works. The heavy yoke of sin and oppression must be removed. As sin and sorrow dry the bones and weaken the strongest human constitution; so the duties of kindness and charity strength...

Verse Isaiah 58:6. _LET THE OPPRESSED GO FREE_] How can any nation pretend to fast or worship God at all, or dare to profess that they believe in the existence of such a Being, while they carry on the _slave trade_, and traffic in the souls, blood, and bodies, of men! O ye most flagitious of knaves, and worst of hypocrites, cast off at once the mask of religion; and deepen not your endless perdition by professing the _faith_ of our _Lord Jesus Christ_, while ye continue in this traffic!...

IS NOT THIS THE FAST THAT I HAVE CHOSEN? - Fasting is right and proper; but that which God approves will prompt to, and will be followed by, deeds of justice, kindness, charity. The prophet proceeds to specify very particularly what God required, and when the observance of seasons of fasting would be acceptable to him. TO LOOSE THE BANDS OF WICKEDNESS - This is the first thing to be done in order that their fasting might be acceptable to the Lord. The idea is, that they were to dissolve every tie which unjustly bound their fellowmen. The Chaldee renders it, ‘Separate the congregation of impiety;’ but the more probable sense is, that if they were exercising any unjust and cruel authority over others; if they had bound them in any way contrary to the laws of God and the interests of justice, they were to release them. This might refer to their compelling others to servitude more rigidly th...

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

IS NOT THIS THE FAST THAT I HAVE CHOSEN?.... Which God has appointed, he approves of, and is well pleasing in his sight; these are works and services more agreeable to him, which follow, without which the rest will be rejected: TO LOOSE THE BANDS OF WICKEDNESS; which some understand of combinations in courts of judicature to oppress and distress the poor; others of bonds and contracts unjustly made, or rigorously demanded and insisted on, when they cannot be answered; rather of those things with which the consciences of men are bound in religious matters; impositions upon conscience; binding to the use of stinted forms, and to habits in divine worship, which the word of God has not made necessary: TO UNDO THE HEAVY BURDENS. The Septuagint render it, "dissolve the obligations of violent contracts"; such as are obtained by violence; so the Arabic version; or by fraud, as the Syriac versi...

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. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God._ And what a strange thing this is, that there are some people who take delight in the ordinances of God, and yet they are living in the most shameful sin. I must confess this remains a mystery to me. But I hear of some who will attend prayer-meetings and seem to enjoy them who are to be found in the House of God whenever the doors are opened, and yet their characters will not bear the light. One would think that they would not wish to be told of their sins, and to come under a faithful ministry, and yet they do, and the more fai

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