Isaiah 58:5 - Exposition

Is it such a fast that I have chosen , etc.? Do you suppose that such can be the fast commanded by me in the Law—a fast which is expressly called "a day for a man to afflict his soul"? Is afflicting one's soul simply bowing down one's head as a bulrush, and making one's couch on sackcloth and ashes? Surely it is much more than this. (On the employment of "sackcloth and ashes" in fasting, see Esther 4:3 ; Daniel 9:3 ; Jonah 3:6 .)