Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 1:14

"Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth; they are a trouble unto me; I am weary of bearing them." — Isaiah 1:14 (ASV)

Your appointed feasts—That is, your assemblies convened on regular set times—מועד mô‛êd—from יעד yâ‛ad—to fix, to appoint. Hengstenberg (Chris. iii. p. 87) has shown that this word (מועדים mô‛ĕdı̂ym) is applied in the Scriptures only to the sabbath, passover, pentecost, day of atonement, and feast of tabernacles. Prof. Alexander, in loc. It is applied to those festivals because they were fixed by law to certain periods of the year. This verse is a very impressive repetition of the former, as if the soul was full of the subject and disposed to dwell upon it.

My soul hateth—I hate (Psalms 11:5). The nouns נפשׁ nephesh—soul, and רוּח rûach—spirit, are often used to denote the person himself, and are to be construed as “I.”

Thus, Isaiah 26:9 says: With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early. This means, ‘I myself seek you; I myself desire you.’

So the phrase, ‘deliver my soul’—נפשׁי napheshiy—that is, deliver me (Psalms 22:20; Psalms 84:3; Psalms 86:13–14). Other examples include that thy soul may bless me (Genesis 27:19), and his soul shall dwell at ease (Psalms 25:13). (Leviticus 16:29; Isaiah 55:2–3; Job 16:4).

Similarly, the word spirit is used this way: Thy watchfulness hath preserved my spirit—רוּחי rûchiy—(Job 10:12). (1 Kings 21:5).

The expression here is emphatic, denoting cordial hatred: odi ex animo.

They are a trouble—טרח ṭôrach. In Deuteronomy 1:12, this word denotes a burden, an oppressive load that produces weariness in bearing it. It is a strong expression, denoting that their acts of hypocrisy and sin had become so numerous that they became a heavy, oppressive load.

I am weary to bear them—This is language which is taken from the act of carrying a burden until a man becomes weary and faint. So, in accordance with human conceptions, God represents himself as burdened with their vain oblations and evil conduct. There could be no more impressive statement of the evil effects of sin than that even Omnipotence was exhausted as with a heavy, oppressive burden.