49 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Isaiah 58 From the wicked and antichristian party the prophet is bid to turn to the professors of the true religion, and openly, boldly, and sharply, reprove them for their sins, particularly their hypocrisy and formality in worship, Isaiah 58:1, who yet were angry, and complained that the Lord took no notice of their religious...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet,.... These words are directed to the prophet; and so the Targum expresses it, "O prophet, cry with thy throat;'' and so it is in the original, "cry with the throat" (d), which is an instrument of speech; and it denotes a loud, strong, vehement cry, when a man exerts his voice, and as it were...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
The prophet, in this chapter, has his commission and charge renewed to reprove the sinners in Zion, particularly the hypocrites, to show them their transgressions, ver. 1. It is intended for admonition and warning to all hypocrites, and is not to be confined to those of any one age. Some refer it primarily to those at that time when Isaiah...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
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,— There are many nominally religious people who are full of sin. They have an external religion which allows them to live in rebellion against God. And such people are not easily convinced of...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
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...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Yet they seek me daily,.... Which may be considered as an acknowledgment of their external piety; or as a caution to the prophet not to be imposed upon by outward appearances; or as a reason why they should be rebuked sharply: they sought the Lord, either by prayer, or in the ministry of the word; they sought doctrine, as the Targum; they sought...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
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. They are always in a place of worship if possible; they cannot have too many services and sermons; yet they have no heart towards God. O my dear friends, let...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, They are careful to offer morning prayers, they would not go into their business without bending the knee to God; and they are eager and attentive hearers in the house of the Lord. Isa_58:2. As a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not?.... Our fasting; takest no notice of it; expresses no approbation of it, and pleasure in it: this is put for all religious services, being what was frequently performed under the Old Testament, not only at certain times appointed by the Lord, but on other occasions, and of their own fixing;...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? When God rejects a man’s religion, what must be the reason of it? Here is the explanation. Isa_58:3. Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. “You fast, but you make your workmen toil on...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. They fasted, and then they said, “Why did not God accept our fasting?” Why, because they made their poor servants work up to the very last all that...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? They could not make out why they did not benefit by their religiousness. They fasted, but they did not find themselves improved thereby. They afflicted their souls, yet they did not receive pardon for their sins, and they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Behold, ye fast for strife and debate,.... Brawling with their servants for not doing work enough; or quarrelling with their debtors for not paying their debts; or the main of their religion lay in contentions and strifes about words, vain hot disputations about rites and ceremonies in worship, as is well known to have been the case of the...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. The best sort of mere external religion will soon turn sour. If you do not worship the Lord in a right spirit, God will loathe the very form of your service. Why, you might, by hypocrisy,...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Behold ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day to make your voice to be heard on high. They were fond of getting into religious disputes; and when they had a fast day they fell to loggerheads about different doctrines, and they got angry with one another, till they began to smite...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: Even in their fasts, they disputed with one another; one said the fast should be on such a day, another would keep it on another day; and no doubt there are some professing Christians who are very zealous, mainly out of spite against other professors; they with as...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
To make your voice to be heard on high. 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 us a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? The mere appearance of sorrow, the outward garb of mortification,-what is there in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Is it such a fast that I have chosen?.... That is, can this be thought to be a fast approved of by me, and acceptable to me, before described, and is as follows: a day for a man to afflict his soul? only to appoint a certain day, and keep that, by abstaining from bodily food, and so for a short time afflict himself; or only after this manner to...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
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? Does God care for the externals of worship only? Is he satisfied with sackcloth and ashes, and the hanging down of the head...