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.
Is not this the fast which I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, and to send forth free the crushed, and that ye break every yoke?
God's people fasted and denied themselves, and God refused it. Here He asks what fast He does choose: not a posture, but bonds loosed and yokes broken off other people.
The people in this chapter were not neglecting worship. They came to the temple. They fasted and denied themselves. God refused all of it, because the way they behaved on the fast day gave them away.
None of this could be acceptable to Jehovah. He requires truth in the inward parts, and 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.
This verse asks the question. The next verse answers it. Together they show what God weighs — and who failed that test when the Lord Jesus was on earth.
Is this the fast that God had chosen? is what verse 6 asks. And verse 7 goes on to show the fast that would be acceptable to God. Before Him what counts is what is moral rather than what is ceremonial. By Hosea God said, "I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice"; and the Lord quoted this twice. So here the hypocrisy stands exposed. It came into full display and reached its peak in the Pharisees when our Lord was on earth.
We expect a fast to mean giving something up. God defines it by what a person gives.
Then comes the remarkable part of the address. After being told what fasting is not, they are told what it is. Strange to say, it is not negative, as we should expect. It is positive. In other words, it is true love for people.
That same writer refuses to let the idea stay negative even at the close of the argument:
May God raise up those who truly fast in this manner, for fasting is not a negative thing, but love in activity.
Some quote this verse as if God were ordering a nation to free the oppressed. One writer answers that the verse does the opposite.
God tells His people this is just what they were not doing. It is not a command to do it, as Mr. Harris misquotes 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).
Read that way, the chapter is a call to repent. One writer sets that call in a longer view:
Once more the prophet is commissioned to cry, and this time to call the people to repentance. Such will be the case during the time of the end.
The language of loosing bonds and breaking yokes reappears in the New Testament. When Jesus read from Isaiah in the synagogue, one commentator notes: "The quotation is made up of Isaiah 61 and 58:6" (William Kelly). His whole life matched those words:
He gave His all. He was the last of all, and the servant of all. Who was so rich as He? And He lavished it all on others. Who was so poor as He?… He was anointed to preach glad tidings to the poor, to set the captive free, to break every yoke. He was true to God first, and He spent Himself for man.
One writer asks: "Because this is in the Old Testament, is it any the less true today?" (Various). Another spells out what obeying it would cost — and what it would pay.
In short, fasting includes self-denial, so that the needy of all sorts around may be helped and blessed. If Isaiah 58 were carried out faithfully, it would mean constant self-denial. That would be a most acceptable form of fasting, and a very practical one… And yet the one who fasts this way gets a feast: the joy of seeing others blessed, and being watered while watering others.
- Exposed — The people kept every outward form, and God still refused it. Empty religion offends Him. He judges what He cannot approve.
- Redefined — What counts before Him is moral, not ceremonial. The fast He chooses is not what you give up, but what you set loose for others.
- Reversed — Where we expect a negative, God gives a positive: fasting here is love in action.
- Reproved — The verse is not a badge for any nation's good deeds. It is God's charge that His people were doing the opposite, and His call to repent.
- Fulfilled — Only Christ has lived it. He was anointed to set the captive free and break every yoke, and He spent Himself for others.
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring to thy house the needy wanderers; when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
God's people complained that their fasting went unnoticed. He answers by redefining fasting itself. Here the definition hits the ground: bread, a house, a garment, a relative. The question raised is whether religion that costs nothing at the dinner table can be real at all.
The people in this chapter were not neglecting worship. That is exactly what makes the rebuke so sharp.
It was not that they stayed away from His temple. They claimed to delight in the worship He commanded. They even fasted and afflicted their souls. All in vain! ... Nothing of the kind could please the Lord. He wants truth deep inside, and conduct that is fair and good in the sight of all people. Hollow, fruitless religion is detestable in His eyes. It forces Him to judge them, if He cannot approve their sin.
We expect a fast to be a list of things withheld. God's answer runs the other way.
Then comes the remarkable part of the message. God first tells them what fasting is not. Then He tells them what it is. Strangely, it is not negative, as we would expect. It is positive. In other words, it is true love toward people.
Fasting and giving are not two separate duties here. What you deny yourself is what reaches the needy.
In short, fasting includes self-denial, so that all kinds of needy people around us may be helped and blessed. Carrying out Isaiah 58 faithfully would mean constant self-denial. That would prove 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.
The wording of the verse is precise. God does not ask for bread in general. He asks for yours.
We must give that which is our own (Isa. 58:7). "To share your bread with the hungry," it must be bread of your own, "For I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery for burnt offering."
Another writer shows where such bread comes from. Make the old coat last, and give away what you save.
There may be nothing wrong with buying another coat or dress. But suppose you make the old ones last twice as long, and give the money saved to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. Is that not good? If self-denial has no place, why does Scripture so often tell us to give, and promise a reward?
The verse moves from bread to a house to clothing, then comes back to your own family. One writer presses that last point hard.
Many people think little of letting their parents and close relatives become a charge on the church. That is true even of those who profess to be real Christians. They live in comfort themselves, and make the shallow excuse that they cannot afford to support them. That excuse may not stand at the judgment seat. Nothing excuses it. If parents are in need, the plainest duty of their children is to take them in and share alike. Even more distant relatives in need must not be ignored, though people ignore them so often.
That same writer asks the obvious question about the verse itself: "Because this is in the Old Testament, is it any the less true today?"
A fast like this looks like pure loss. The writer who urges it promises the opposite.
And yet, what a feast the one who fasts this way would enjoy — the joy of seeing others blessed, and being watered while watering others. Try it. It will open a path before you: fasting from luxury, ease and self-indulgence, but feasting on the reward that follows.
- Real, not staged. They came to the temple and afflicted their souls. God called it "hollow, fruitless religion." He wants truth deep inside.
- Real means positive. God tells them what fasting is not, then what it is: true love toward people, not a list of things withheld.
- Real costs you. Bread shared must be "bread of your own"; the coat worn twice as long is what funds the coat given away.
- Real starts nearest. The verse ends with your own flesh. The plainest duty is the parent or relative in need, not the distant cause.
- Real feeds you back. Water others and you are watered yourself. Fasting from ease turns into feasting on the joy of seeing others blessed.