-- Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest not; have afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find what pleaseth [you], and exact all your labours.
The people put a question to God. Why has He not noticed their fasting? His answer does not deny that they fasted — it describes what else filled that same day.
The charge in this chapter is not aimed at people who had abandoned religion. The verses just before the complaint show a nation busy with God's ways. One writer asks whether that should have been enough.
Verses 2 and 3 show why such a strong word of conviction was so needed. It is needed today for exactly the same reason. A round of religious duties was covering up the sins of the people. They were going up to the temple, apparently seeking God. They took delight in knowing God's ways and in keeping His rules. They fasted and afflicted their souls. Were not all these outward things enough? Did they not deserve praise?
They believed their fasting had put them in God's good books. The prophet's answer takes that belief apart.
It is a striking illustration of how far a man may go in self-deception in religious observances… They had imagined, with no ground for it, that their mournful ceremonies were commending them to the Lord. But the prophet's solemn answer strips them of their illusions.
God's reply names two things that filled the same day. They looked after their own pleasure. And they treated their workers harshly. Older translations read "exact all your labours"; the ESV has "oppress all your workers."
Yet these were only a mask. Take the mask away, and what was underneath? Verses 3 to 5 show us what was underneath. Their "fast" was really a time of pleasure. They demanded what was owed them, quarrelled, argued and ill-treated others. Yet they bowed their heads in a false humility and spread sackcloth and ashes beneath them. Their fast was just a matter of outward religious ceremony, and had none of the inward self-denial it should have expressed.
This was not a small flaw in worship that was otherwise fine. It made the whole thing offensive to God.
Nothing of the kind could be acceptable to the Lord. He will have truth in the inner person, along with what is fair and good in the sight of all. Hollow, barren religion is detestable in His eyes. If He cannot approve their sin, He must judge them.
Having said what fasting is not, God goes on in the same chapter to say what it is — and the answer runs in an unexpected direction.
Then comes the remarkable part of the address. After hearing what fasting is not, they hear what it is. And here is the surprise: it is not negative, as we would expect. It is positive. In other words, it is true love for people. That love is what every true Christian must have. He must follow Christ and have the spirit of Christ. What did Christ do? No one could ever show such love to people as He did. God was in all His thoughts, yet He gave Himself completely to the service of people.
One writer applies this as a constant practice, not a one-day ceremony.
In short, fasting includes self-denial, so that we can help and bless the needy of all sorts around us. If we truly carried out Isaiah 58, it would mean constant self-denial. That would prove a most acceptable form of fasting, of a very practical kind. If Christians, young or old, practised Isaiah 58, they would learn in detail what fasting means.
The same split day still happens: worship in the morning, pleasure at night.
Churches filled on Sunday morning. A fasting communion, knees bent, eyes closed, lips moving, repeating a set prayer. At night, the theatre, the card party, or the whirl of the dance. Where is reality in all this? It is sickening hypocrisy!
The rebuke is not the last word. One writer points to what would have followed if their profession had been real.
This chapter charges them with their sins. It assumes a profession of faith and an outward form of piety alongside evil. But if it were true in the Spirit of grace, with real love to the poor of the flock, they would have enjoyed the favour of the Lord. He would have given them the heritage of Jacob their father.
- Question — They ask why God has not noticed their fasting. They thought those days had earned His approval.
- Mask — Temple visits, delight in God's ways and days of self-affliction were real. But they covered sin instead of removing it.
- Exposure — God names what filled the same day: their own pleasure, strife, arguing and hard treatment of their workers.
- Exchange — The fast God chooses is positive, not negative. It is self-denial that helps and blesses the needy around us.
- Promise — If their profession became real, with true love for the poor, God would give them His favour and the heritage of Jacob.
Behold, ye have fasted for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness; ye do not at present fast, to cause your voice to be heard on high.
Israel had been fasting hard and complaining that God took no notice. Verse 4 is His answer. He looks past the empty stomachs to what the fast day produced.
Verses 2 and 3 show a people who looked devout. Here God pulls the covering off.
Yet they were only a mask, and when this was removed, what was beneath? Verses 3-5 show us what was beneath. Their "fast" was really a time of pleasure. They forced work out of others. There was quarrelling and arguing, and they treated people badly. Yet they bowed their heads in false humility and spread sackcloth and ashes under themselves. Their fast was just an outward religious ceremony. It had nothing of the inward self-denial it was meant to show.
The shock of the verse is not that these people had abandoned religion. They kept it and kept their sins at the same time.
Even in Isaiah's day the prophet had to rebuke hypocritical fasting in God's Name. He called for real fasting and true repentance (Isaiah 58:1-7). The Israelites fasted and practised the most horrible sins at the same time. Such hypocritical and wicked conduct could not please God. The Lord Jesus also condemned it.
The words are easy to misread as an instruction. It is a rebuke instead: God is telling them what they were failing to do.
God tells His people this is just what they were not doing. It is not a command to do it, but a reproach that they were not doing it. On the contrary, Jehovah tells His people plainly: "Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist" (v. 4)
Their fasting would not make their voice heard on high, because it was never aimed upward. Zechariah 7 raises the same question about fasts kept for seventy years.
For seventy years they had carefully kept the fasts of the fifth and the seventh months, with all the outward signs of grief and mourning. But they did not fast to the Lord. As He asks through the prophet, "Did you at all fast to me, to me?" No. Whether they fasted or ate and drank, they did it for themselves and to themselves. God and His claims had no place in their thoughts. It is a striking illustration of how far a man may go in deceiving himself with religious observances.
God wants the inside and the outside to match.
Nothing of the kind could be acceptable to Jehovah. He will have truth in the inward parts, with things fair and good in the sight of all men. Hollow, empty religion is disgusting in His eyes. If He cannot approve their sin, He must judge them.
The Lord later used the same measure on the strictest religious men of His own day.
What counts before Him is moral, not ceremonial. By Hosea God said, "I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6); and the Lord quoted this twice (Matthew 9:13; Matthew 12:7). So here we see hypocrisy exposed. It came into full display and reached its peak in the Pharisees when our Lord was on earth. As people have often noticed, He aimed His harshest words at them.
Having said what a fast is not, God goes on in verses 6 and 7 to say what it is. The correction to a fist is an open hand.
In short, fasting includes self-denial, so that we help and bless the needy of every kind around us. Carrying out Isaiah 58 would mean constant self-denial. That would be a most acceptable form of fasting, and a very practical one. If Christians, young or old, practised Isaiah 58, they would learn in detail what fasting means.
- Mask — the fast was a covering. Underneath lay forced work, quarrelling and the mistreatment of others.
- Mixture — they fasted and sinned at the same time. Keeping the religion never cancelled the wrong.
- Motive — they fasted to themselves, not to the Lord. That shows how far religious self-deception can go.
- Measure — God wants truth inside, not ceremony alone. The same test later exposed the Pharisees.
- Mercy — the fast God chooses is self-denial that helps the needy around you. Live out Isaiah 58 and you learn what fasting means.
Is such the fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul, -- that he should bow down his head as a bulrush, and spread sackcloth and ashes [under him]? Wilt thou call this a fast, and a day acceptable to Jehovah?
These people fasted. They bowed their heads and made a show of mourning. Here God turns their own religious question back on them: is this what He chose? Can outward signs of sorrow ever stand in for the real thing?
Their fasting and its outward signs looked genuine. The question in this verse strips that surface away and shows what was underneath.
Yet they were only a mask, and when this was removed, what was underneath? Verses 3-5 show us what was underneath. Their "fast" was really a time of pleasure. There was extortion, strife and arguing, and the ill-treatment of others. Yet they bowed down their heads in a false humility and spread sackcloth and ashes under them. Their fast was only an outward religious ceremony. It had nothing in it of the inward self-denial it was meant to show.
Ashes and sackcloth were the ordinary language of grief. Spreading them under you was one accepted way of using them.
Ashes, mostly from burnt wood, were a sign of sorrow or mourning. People put them on the head (2 Sam. 13:19), or on the body with sackcloth (Esther 4:1; Jer. 6:26; Matt. 11:21), or spread them on a couch to lie on (Esther 4:3; Isa. 58:5; Jonah 3:6). To eat ashes expresses great sorrow (Ps. 102:9).
The signs were genuine. The problem was that the signs had become the whole of it.
The verse speaks of a day for a person "to humble himself." Older translations read "afflict his soul." Either way, the point is not the body. Where fasting pleased God, it stood for something inside a person.
Psalm 35:13 shows the meaning of fasting most clearly. It says, "But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting." So the fasting that pleased God in the Old Testament expressed an inward humbling.
God is not objecting to the method. He wants something the ceremony cannot produce. Where that is missing, the religion does not simply fall short — it offends Him.
Nothing of the kind could be acceptable to Jehovah. He will have truth in the inward parts, with things fair and good in the sight of all men. Hollow, barren religiousness is detestable in His eyes. It forces Him to judge them if He cannot approve their sin.
The same failure shows up later in Israel's history. They kept the fast — but not for God.
It was true that for seventy years they had carefully kept the fasts of the fifth and the seventh months, with all the outward signs of grief and mourning. But they did not fast to the Lord... Whether they were fasting, or eating and drinking, they did it for themselves, and to themselves. God and His claims were not in their thoughts at all. It is a striking illustration of how far a man may go in self-deception in religious observances.
So what does God want instead? Not a better ceremony.
Before Him what counts is what is moral rather than what is ceremonial. By Hosea God said, "I desired mercy and not sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6); and the Lord quoted this twice (Matt. 9:13; Matt. 12:7). So we see the hypocrisy exposed here. It came into full display and reached its peak in the Pharisees when our Lord was on earth.
This is not only an ancient rebuke. Isaiah 58 can still be carried out today.
In short, fasting includes self-denial, so that we help and bless the needy of all sorts around us. If we carried out Isaiah 58 faithfully, it would mean constant self-denial. That would prove a most acceptable form of fasting, of a very practical kind.
- Mask — The bowed head, sackcloth and ashes covered up extortion, strife and ill-treatment. God pulls the mask off before He answers.
- Meaning — These signs were the real language of mourning, and fasting stood for an inward humbling. The sign was never the substance.
- Motive — The question is not how they fasted but to whom. They fasted for themselves, and God's claims never entered their thoughts.
- Measure — God's test is truth in the inward parts. Hollow religiousness is not second-best to Him; it is detestable, and it forces Him to judge.
- Mercy — The fast He chooses is moral, not ceremonial: mercy rather than sacrifice. It is open to us today as steady self-denial that helps the needy.