The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 365

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vera. 1-12.-Thu and spurious fasting. Loudly, with all the strength of throat and as with trumpet-voice, the prophet is to cry and denounce the rebellion and the sins of the people. I. THEIR FORMALITY AND HYPOCRISY. They consult Jehovah daily; they apply to the prophet or the oracle; they offer prayer. '!'hey profess to desire to know God's ways, his commands, and his dealings with bis people. Just as if they were a holy people, and were not really far in heart from God, they demand of him" judgments of righteous- ness;" i.e. manifestations of bis pleasure as the God of the covenant, his approach as the God of justice. They adhered to the forms of religion, but the heart was not in them. Relying on those forms, they were surprised the Divine favour was not vouchsafed to them. "A hypocrite has no true and real delight in the service of God or in his truth; but, at the same time, there may be a great deal of professed interest in the ways of God. A great deal of busy and bustling solicitude about the order of religious services, the external organization of the Church, the ranks of a clergy, the claims of a liturgy. There may be a great deal of pleasure in theological discussion, in the metaphysics of theology, in the defence of what is deemed orthodoxy. There may be much pleasure in the m'U,Sic of devotion, in the pleasant voice of a preacher, in the triumphs of party, the advancement of our sect. But true religion is delight in religion itself-in the service of God as such, and because it is holy. It is pleasure, not even in the triumph of Christianity as a mere party measure, but in God as be is, his holy service and truth" (Barnes). II. SPURIOUS FASTING. Formal fasting appears to have increased from the time of the Captivity. Another phrase for it was "humbling the soul" (Lev. xvi. 29, 31; ::uiii. 27, 32; Numb. xxix. 7; :u:x. 13). In connection with this outward observance, they keenly pursue business ends, ex.acting the full tale of tasks. "Like Shylock, they demand the pound of flesh, at the same time that they may be most precise, punctual, and bigoted in the discharge of the duties of religion. If we desire to keep a fast acceptable to God, it should be such as shall make us kind, mild, benignant; such as shall take effect in the unbinding heavy burdens from the poor, and relaxing the rigid- ness of the claims we have on others." Moreover, the fasting is connected with strife and contention· and so their prayers cannot rise to the seat of Jehovah (eh. !vii. 15). "Thou hast co;ered thyself with clouds, so that prayer may not pass through" (Lam. iii 44). • Their words fly up, their thoughts remain below; Words without thoughts never to heaven go." The inclination of the head, the sackcloth and the ashes,-these make not the fast in the eyes of Jehovah. "It is not a mournful expression, a solemn dress, or a thin table that God so much regards. It is the heart, and not the stomach, that he would have empty; and therefore if a man cariies a luxurious soul in a pining body, or the aspiring miud of a' Lucifer o~ the hanofou 0 head of a bulrush, he fasts only to upbraid his Maker, and tc disgrace hie religion, and to heighten his final reckoning, till be becomes ten times more the son of perdition than those who own their inward love of sin by the open Wldissembled enmitie11 of _a euitable behaviour, Let a man not count himself to have Oil:. L~IU. 1-H.J TlIE l30OK OF TlIE PROPHET ISAIAH. 377