Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 58

Cry aloud ... —Literally, with the throat, that is, with no faint whisper as from stammering lips, but with full strength of voice. The work of the preacher of repentance is not to be done slightly or by speaking smooth things . The “trumpet” of the next clause emphasises the thought yet further.

Yet they seek me daily ... —The “seeking” is that of those who come, like the elders in Ezekiel 20:1, to “inquire” of Jehovah, and looking for an oracle from him. The words point to the incongruous union, possible in the reign of Manasseh, but hardly possible after the exile, of this formal recognition of Jehovah with an apostate life. Every phrase rings in the tone of an incisive irony, describing each element of a true devotion which the people did not possess.

Wherefore have we fasted ... —The words remind us of those of a much later prophet (Malachi 3:14), but the complaints of the unconscious hypocrites who are amazed that their service is not accepted as sincere are in every age the same. Only one fast, that of the Day of Atonement, was prescribed by the Law. In practice, however, they were often held in times of calamity (Joel 1:13; 2 Chronicles 20:3), and we may legitimately think of them as having been more or less frequent under Hezekiah (Isaiah 37:1–2).

Now, as though that had been a meritorious work, the people ask what good had come of it? After the exile fasts were instituted, commemorative of the siege of Jerusalem, its capture, its destruction, and the murder of Gedaliah (Zechariah 7:3; Zechariah 8:19), and those who maintain the later date of the book naturally suppose that these are the fasts referred to.

In the day of your fast ye find pleasure ... —Better, you carry on your business. Fasts were not governed, like the Sabbath, by a fixed law, and the people consequently lost sight of the true end of fasting—prayer, meditation, penitence.

Exact all your labours. —The words are rendered by some critics more vividly, though with the same meaning, ye oppress all your labourers. .

Behold, ye fast for strife and debate. —The words possibly point to the psychological fact that an unspiritual fasting irritates the nerves and embitters the temper. Extremes meet, and the disputes of fasting controversialists are often as fierce as those of drunken disputants. (Compare to the conspiracy of Acts 23:21.)

A day for a man to afflict his soul. —The phrase comes from Leviticus 16:29, and describes the soul-sorrow which was the true ideal of fasting. In contrast with this, we have the picture, reminding us of Matthew 6:16, of the mechanical prostrations, which are like the waving of a bulrush in the breeze. The image suggests a new aspect of our Lord’s statement that the Baptist was not like a reed shaken by the wind (Matthew 11:7), namely, that his fasting was not outward and ceremonial, like that of the Pharisees.