*H Cry, cease not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their wicked doings, and the house of Jacob their sins.
Ver. 1. Sins. During the captivity. v. 11. S. Thomas. — Some will not hear, and those must be rebuked with all patience, till they follow virtue. W.
*H For they seek me from day to day, and desire to know my ways, as a nation that hath done justice, and hath not forsaken the judgment of their God: they ask of me the judgments of justice: they are willing to approach to God.
Ver. 2. Approach, and contend with God, scrutinizing his conduct, (Prov. xxv. 27.) and doing good for the sake of applause and self-interest.
*H Why have we fasted, and thou hast not regarded: have we humbled our souls, and thou hast not taken notice? Behold in the day of your fast your own will is found, and you exact of all your debtors.
Ver. 3. Will. This alone suggested their fasts, and they did not shew compassion. Ezec. vii. 2. C. — Debtors, who are not able to pay. S. Jer. Deut. xxiv. 12.
*H Behold you fast for debates and strife, and strike with the fist wickedly. Do not fast as you have done until this day, to make your cry to be heard on high.
Ver. 4. Strife. The usual works were interrupted. The Church formerly forbade lawsuits on fast-days. — Fist. Mat. xviii. 28. — Wickedly. Sept. "the humble."
*H Is this such a fast as I have chosen: for a man to afflict his soul for a day? is this it, to wind his head about like a circle, and to spread sackcloth and ashes? wilt thou call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord?
Ver. 5. Circle. They affected extreme debility. Mat. vi. 16. C. — Ashes. These external marks of penance are not condemned, but the want of corresponding sentiments. H. — Prot. would hence infer that fasting from flesh is not requisite, or a religious worship. But S. Jerom shews the contrary, provided it be joined with the observance of other commandments, as the saints and Christ himself have shewn us. W.
* Footnote * Zacharias 7 : 5
Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying: When you fasted, and mourned in the fifth and the seventh month for these seventy years: did you keep a fast unto me?*H Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress, let them that are broken go free, and break asunder every burden.
Ver. 6. Bands. Contracts of usury, &c. C.
*H Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harbourless into thy house: when thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not thy own flesh.
Ver. 7. Deal. Lit. "break." H. — Thin cakes are still used in the East. — Flesh, or relation. Gen. xxxvii. 27.
* Footnote * Ezechiel 18 : 7
And hath not wronged any man: but hath restored the pledge to the debtor, hath taken nothing away by violence: hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment:* Footnote * Ezechiel 18 : 16
And hath not grieved any man, nor withholden the pledge, nor taken away with violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and covered the naked with a garment:* Footnote * Matthew 25 : 35
For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink: I was a stranger, and you took me in:*H Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall speedily arise, and thy justice shall go before thy face, and the glory of the Lord shall gather thee up.
Ver. 8. Light. Prosperity, (C.) or Saviour. H. — Mat. iv. 2. and John i. 8. C. — Health. Aquila, "the scar of thy wound shall soon be covered." S. Jer. — Up. He shall close the rear, like the angel in the cloud. Ex. xiii. 21. and xiv. 19. He will grant thee rest from bondage in the grave and in heaven. C.
*H Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall hear: thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou wilt take away the chain out of the midst of thee, and cease to stretch out the finger, and to speak that which profiteth not.
Ver. 9. Finger, contemptuously, or threatening. S. Jer. — Some explain it of the ordaining sacred ministers, or taking another's property.
*H When thou shalt pour out thy soul to the hungry, and shalt satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise up in darkness, and thy darkness shall be as the noonday.
Ver. 10. Soul, effectually, and with love relieving the distressed. C.
*H And the Lord will give thee rest continually, and will fill thy soul with brightness, and deliver thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a fountain of water whose waters shall not fail.
Ver. 11. Fail. Sept. Alex. adds, "and thy bones as a flower shall spring and grow fat, and shall inherit ages of ages." S. Jerom says this is not in the best copies. H.
*H And the places that have been desolate for ages shall be built in thee: thou shalt raise up the foundation of generation and generation: and thou shalt be called the repairer of the fences, turning the paths into rest.
Ver. 12. Generation. As the Jews did not comply with the condition, the Church falls heir to these promises.
*H If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy own will in my holy day, and call the sabbath delightful, and the holy of the Lord glorious, and glorify him, while thou dost not thy own ways, and thy own will is not found, to speak a word:
Ver. 13. Sabbath, doing no work, or refraining from the violation of festivals. — Delightful. We must not think the sabbath of the Lord a loss: (Amos viii. 5.) but rejoice in praising him. Ps. xlv. 11. C. — A word, or to apply to God's word. Grot. — Pious reading on holidays is the duty of all who have an opportunity. H.
*H Then shalt thou be delighted in the Lord, and I will lift thee up above the high places of the earth, and will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Ver. 14. Earth. Judea. C. — Sept. "upon the good things of the land." H.