Isaiah 58:13

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 58:13-14

Great stress was always laid upon the due observance of the sabbath day, and it was particularly required from the Jews when they were captives in Babylon, because by keeping that day, in honour of the Creator, they distinguished themselves from the worshippers of the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth. See Isa. 56:1, 2, where keeping the sabbath is joined, as here, with keeping judgment and doing justice. Some, indeed, understand this of the day of atonement, which they think... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 58:13

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... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 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... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 58:13

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath ; i.e. treat it with reverence, as if it were "holy ground" ( Exodus 3:5 ; Proverbs 4:27 ). From doing thy pleasure; rather, from doing thy business— the same expression as in Isaiah 58:3 . It is by "business," not by pleasure, that the sabbath was polluted both in the time of Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 17:21-23 ) and of Nehemiah ( Nehemiah 10:31 , etc.). And call the sabbath a delight. This is the spiritualization of the sabbath—"to call"... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 58:13

Rightful and wrongful keeping of the sabbath need to be distinguished. I. The more worldly among the Jews were inclined to a mere perfunctory keeping of the sabbath. They shut up men's religious duties on the day within the corners of the Levitical enactments; and considered that, if the legal sacrifices were offered, and the "holy convocation" held and duly attended, the rest of the day might be employed exactly as they pleased. They pursued their secular occupations on the sabbath day... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 58:13

The sabbath ideal. "Call the sabbath a delight." It cannot be a holy day unless it is a happy day. For only souls that joy in God are really devout. Unless religious exercises have a charm for the soul, they are only routine; they are not religious. I. A SEEMING CONTRADICTION . "Turn away thy foot … from doing thy pleasure." And again, "Not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure." But there is no real contradiction. Many things are rightly enough pleasant to us in... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 58:13

The universal sabbath-law. "Not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words." The peculiarity of the day, the essential thing about the day, is that it is God ' s day, not ours. We only keep it aright when we keep it for God. We misuse it when we fill it with any ends of our own. The one sabbath-work is a special effort to honour and obey God, and we shall surely find that the one-day effort helps us in establishing and confirming the everyday... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 58:13-14

A STRICT OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH ENJOINED . While the fasting of the day only required to be spiritualized, the sabbath observance needed both spiritualizing and increased strictness. From 2 Chronicles 36:21 we learn that the sabbatical years had been little observed during the later Jewish kingdom; and it would Seem from the present passage (comp. Jeremiah 17:21-23 ) that even the observance of the sabbath itself had been neglected. Not that the neglect was total. The... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 58:13-14

The claims of the sabbath. I. THE HOLINESS OF THE SABBATH . "The prophet regards the fast-days as forms without authority and significance. All the more strict is his view of the claims of the sabbath" (Cheyne). It is emphatically a consecrated day, and the foot is to be turned aside from it as if it were holy ground, like that where Moses put the shoes from his feet ( Exodus 3:5 ). The foot, as instrument of travel, is to be "removed from evil" ( Proverbs 4:27 ), and its... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 58:13-14

The day of sacred rest. The institution of the weekly sabbath is certainly one of the "water-marks" of revelation. It is not possible to conceive of anything more wise and beneficent than this provision for our bodily and spiritual well-being. Who can calculate the material or the moral benefit which it has conferred on the human race? Who can estimate the blessing it will have proved to humanity when time has run its course? Whether we regard it in the lower or in the higher aspect of the... read more

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