Isaiah 58:1

1 Cry aloud, do not hold back; lift up thy voice like a shofar and preach to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sin.

Isaiah 58:1 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 58:1

Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet
These words are directed to the prophet; and so the Targum expresses it,

``O prophet, cry with thy throat;''

and so it is in the original, "cry with the throat" ^F4, which is an instrument of speech; and it denotes a loud, strong, vehement cry, when a man exerts his voice, and as it were rends his throat, that he may be heard; as well as it shows the intenseness of his spirit, and the vehemence of his affections, and the importance of what he delivers; and this the prophet is encouraged to do, and "spare not", the voice, throat, or his lungs, nor the people neither he was sent unto; or, "cease not", as the Targum, refrain not from speaking, "cease not crying"; so Ben Melech: "lift up thy voice like a trumpet"; like the voice or sound of a trumpet, which is heard afar, and gives an alarm; and to which the Gospel ministry is sometimes compared, ( Isaiah 27:13 ) all which shows the manner in which the ministers of the word should deliver it, publicly, boldly, with ardour and affection; and also the deafness and stupidity of the people which require it: and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their
sins;
by whom are meant the professing people of God, the present reformed churches, as distinguished from the antichristian ones, spoken of in the preceding chapter; who yet are guilty of many sins and transgressions, which must be showed them, and they must be sharply reproved for; and particularly their coldness and deadness, formality and hypocrisy in religious worship; their "works not being perfect" before God, or sincere and upright, as is said of the Sardian church, which designs the same persons, ( Revelation 3:1 Revelation 3:2 ) . In the Talmud ^F5 the words are thus paraphrased, "shew my people their transgression"; these are the disciples of the wise men, whose sins of error or ignorance become to them presumptuous ones; "and the house of Jacob their sins"; these are the people of the earth, or the common people, whose presumptuous sins become to them as sins of ignorance.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 (Nwrgb arq) "clama in gutture", Pagninus, Montanus; "exclama gutture", Junius & Tremellius; "exclama pleno gutture", Piscator; "clama pleno gut ture", Cocceius.
F5 T. Bab. Metzia, fol. 33. 2.

Isaiah 58:1 In-Context

1 Cry aloud, do not hold back; lift up thy voice like a shofar and preach to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sin.

2 That they seek me daily and want to know my ways, as people that do righteousness and have not forsaken the rights of their God: they ask me of the rights of righteousness and desire to approach God.

3 Why have we fasted, they say, and thou dost not see? why have we afflicted our soul, and thou dost take no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find your own pleasure and exact your own estates.

4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day to make your voice to be heard on high.

5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the LORD?