Isaiah 58:8

Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) Then shall thy light . . .—The dawning of a new day, as in 2Samuel 23:4; the growth as of new and healthy flesh after long illness; “righteousness,” i.e., the sentence of acquittal in the eyes of all the world, as leading the van of a triumphant march, the “glory of Jehovah” following in the rear as a protection; all these images are heaped together to paint the fulness of blessing that follows on that true renunciation of the old evil selfishness of which fasting is but a symbol and a part.

Benson Commentary

Isaiah 58:8. Then shall thy light — Matter or cause of rejoicing, break forth as the morning — Arise as certainly and speedily as in the morning the light arises out of darkness. It shall not only appear, but break, or dart itself forth, notwithstanding all obstructions, as the sun breaks and pierces through a cloud. So ready is God to help his people when they are truly humbled! Thus quickly and clearly does salvation break forth upon them! And thy health shall spring forth speedily — The recovery of thy former prosperous condition. Another metaphor to express the same thing. And thy righteousness shall go before thee — To prepare thy way to safety and happiness; ensuring to thee, O my church, the peculiar direction and care of thy God, and the favour and approbation of wise and good men; see Romans 14:17-18. Or manifold blessings shall be bestowed upon thee, upon all occasions, as the reward of thy righteousness. The glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward — The glorious presence, power, and providence of God shall protect and secure thee. Thus the angel of his presence secured the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt. Or, the meaning may be, A glorious state shall succeed this thy present calamitous condition.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

58:3-12 A fast is a day to afflict the soul; if it does not express true sorrow for sin, and does not promote the putting away of sin, it is not a fast. These professors had shown sorrow on stated or occasioned fasts. But they indulged pride, covetousness, and malignant passions. To be liberal and merciful is more acceptable to God than mere fasting, which, without them, is vain and hypocritical. Many who seem humble in God's house, are hard at home, and harass their families. But no man's faith justifies, which does not work by love. Yet persons, families, neighbourhoods, churches, or nations, show repentance and sorrow for sin, by keeping a fast sincerely, and, from right motives, repenting, and doing good works. The heavy yoke of sin and oppression must be removed. As sin and sorrow dry the bones and weaken the strongest human constitution; so the duties of kindness and charity strengthen and refresh both body and mind. Those who do justly and love mercy, shall have the comfort, even in this world. Good works will bring the blessing of God, provided they are done from love to God and man, and wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Then shall thy light - (See the notes at Isaiah 44:7). The idea here is, that if they were faithful in the discharge of their duty to God, he would bless them with abundant prosperity (compare Job 11:17). The image is, that such prosperity would come on the people like the spreading light of the morning.

And thine health - Lowth and Noyes render this, 'And thy wounds shall be speedily healed over.' The authority on which Lowth relies, is the version of Aquila as reported by Jerome, and the Chaldee. The Hebrew word used here, (ארוּכה 'ărûkâh), means properly "a long bandage" (from ארך 'ârak, "to make long"), such as is applied by surgeons to heal a wound (compare the notes at Isaiah 1:6). It is then used to denote the healing which is secured by the application of the bandage; and figuratively here means their restoration from all the calamities which had been inflicted on the nation. The word rendered 'spring forth' (from צמח tsâmach) properly relates to the manner in which plants germinate (compare the notes at Isaiah 42:9). Here the sense is, that if they would return to God, they would be delivered from the calamities which their crimes had brought on them, and that peace and prosperity would again visit the nation.

And thy righteousness shall go before thee - Shall be thy leader - as an army is conducted. The idea is that their conformity to the divine laws would serve the purpose of a leader to conduct them in the ways of peace, happiness, and prosperity.

The glory of the Lord - The allusion here is doubtless to the mode in which the children of Israel came out of Egypt (see the notes at Isaiah 6:5).

Shall be thy rere-ward - Margin, 'Shall gather thee up.' That is, shall bring up the rear (see the notes at Isaiah 52:12).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. light—emblem of prosperity (Isa 58:10; Job 11:17).

health—literally, a long bandage, applied by surgeons to heal a wound (compare Isa 1:6). Hence restoration from all past calamities.

go before thee—Thy conformity to the divine covenant acts as a leader, conducting thee to peace and prosperity.

glory … reward—like the pillar of cloud and fire, the symbol of God's "glory," which went behind Israel, separating them from their Egyptian pursuers (Isa 52:12; Ex 14:19, 20).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thy light: it is put in general for all happiness and prosperity; as all kind of adversity and calamity is set forth and resembled by darkness: but here more particularly for a comfortable and free estate after their dark and calamitous condition in the Babylonish captivity; for the like reason Josephus tells us, lib. 12. cap. 11., that the Jews instituted a feast to be observed by their posterity, upon the account of the service of the temple being re-established, which they called the feast of lights, because, saith he, so great a happiness broke forth upon them beyond their hope. Break forth as the morning: here is a metaphorical allusion in a metonymical expression, viz. of the efficient, describing the comfortable effect of humbling themselves in a right manner, which like the daylight shall

break forth from the blackness of their night of affliction, and bring with it the joy and comfort of all good things; and he doth not only say this light shall appear, but break forth, dart itself forth, notwithstanding all difficulties, as the sun breaks and pierceth through a cloud, noting how ready God is to help is people when they are rightly humbled, how quickly and how clearly salvation shall break forth upon them.

Thine health shall spring forth speedily: another metaphor to express the same thing, unless there may be this difference, the light with reference to their outward state, and health with reference to the inward delight of their minds, in both to describe the complete satisfaction they should have. Deliverances out of great pressures are often in Scripture represented by the recovery of health, as Isaiah 57:18 Jeremiah 8:22; and this prophet especially delights in this metaphor, because all affliction is as it were a sickness to the soul, altering the heart and countenance; see Nehemiah 2:2,3; and a recovery out of this estate maketh the heart glad, and the countenance cheerful, Esther 8:16,17 Jer 33:6: compare Isaiah 58:10,11. Hence the LXX. render it; medicines. Thy righteousness; either,

1. Thy uprightness and sincerity, Genesis 30:33. Or,

2. The reward of thy righteousness, by a metonymy, Isaiah 48:18 Psalm 24:5; and here perhaps it may particularly relate to their works of mercy and charity, it being the thing in hand, and often so called, Psalm 112:9, and applied by the apostle to this purpose, 2 Corinthians 9:9. It brings temporal, spiritual, and eternal blessings, and all this not of desert, but free grace, as a reward that naturally springs forth from the faithfulness of his promises, as the harvest from the earth, when the seed is sown; see Hosea 10:12; so the fruit and reward of our righteousness springs not from our deserts, but from God’s righteousness, Hebrews 6 10. Or,

3. The witness of thy righteousness; by what thou doest thou wilt appear to be righteous, Psalm 37:6. For such a notion as this was vulgarly sucked in, that adversity did never befall a person or people but for their sins, and was strongly urged by way of argument against Job’s integrity by his friends; therefore they being delivered shall be as a testimony of thy righteousness. Or,

4. The fruit and effect of thy righteousness, viz. the due, just, and right order of thy government, which, as Calvin saith, is a sign of God’s fatherly kindness; things that are now in a confusion he will bring into right order again, i.e. justice shall be duly administered, and men shall carry themselves justly all the land over: see Isaiah 32:16-18. Or,

5. Christ’s righteousness, Jeremiah 23:6, compared with Isaiah 33:16. Then the meaning is, He shall go in and out before thee.

Shall go before thee; as it were making way for thy better state, as the break of day or the morning star goes before the sun.

The glory of the Lord, i.e. the glory of his power and providence, or his glorious power, shall be seen in bringing thee up from captivity, and defending thee free from their pursuit; or, as some, a glorious stale shall succeed this thy calamitous condition, and called the glory of the Lord to express the greatness of this glory, as very great mountains are called the mountains of God, and tall cedars the cedars of God. The glorious Lord, by a metonymy of the adjunct.

Shall be thy rereward, Heb. shall gather thee: thus the word is used concerning Dan, who was appointed to bring up the rear, or to. close up the march of the Israelites, when they marched through the wilderness of Sinai, Numbers 10:25. This office God takes upon himself; for it argues great skill and courage, and makes much for the honour and glory of a commander, both to gather up all the stragglers, that none be picked up by the enemy, which relates to the Hebrew word of gathering, and to secure and cover the rear of his army; thus the angel of his presence secured the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt, Exodus 14:19.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then shall thy light break forth as the morning,.... Through thick clouds, or the darkness of the night, suddenly, swiftly, irresistibly, and increase more and more, till it is perfect day. This is to be understood best of temporal and spiritual prosperity, especially the latter, which will attend the churches of the Reformation, when a spirit of persecution is laid aside, and a spirit of love commences, which will be in the Philadelphian church state; and it particularly respects the glorious light of the Gospel, which will break forth very clearly, and shine out in all the world; and the light of joy, peace, and comfort, which will attend it, in the hearts of the Lord's people; see Isaiah 60:1,

and thine health shall spring forth speedily; as the herbs and grass out of the earth, by clear shining after rain; by which is meant the healthful and sound state of the church in the latter day, when all divisions shall be healed; contentions and animosities cease; sound doctrine preached; the ordinances administered according to their original institution; true discipline restored; and all the parts of worship performed, according to the rule of the divine word; and so the souls of men, under all these means, be in thriving and flourishing circumstances:

and thy righteousness shall go before thee; not the external righteousness of the saints, or works of righteousness done by them; these do not go before them, at least to prepare the way for them into a future state of happiness, but follow after, Revelation 14:13, rather the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, and so theirs; or Christ their righteousness, the sun of righteousness, that arises upon them with healing in his wings, and from whom they have the health before mentioned; he goes before his people by way of example, as a guide to direct them, and as the forerunner of them, and whose righteousness will introduce them into the heavenly glory. Though perhaps the meaning here is, that their righteousness, in the latter day glory, shall be very manifest, both their righteousness before God, and before men; which will, as it were, visibly walk before them, make way for them, and protect them; see Isaiah 60:21,

and the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward, the glorious power and providence of God, preserving his people; or the glorious Lord himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, the brightness of his Father's glory, he, as the word may be rendered, "shall gather thee" (i); he gathers his people to himself; he protects and defends them; he takes care of the weak and feeble, and that are straggling behind; and he brings them up, being the reward, and saves them. The phrase denotes a glorious state of the church in the latter day, when the glory of the Lord will be risen on his church, and abide upon it, and upon all that glory there shall be a defence; see Isaiah 60:1.

(i) "colliget te", V. L. Munster, Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version.

Geneva Study Bible

Then shall thy (h) light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall spring forth speedily: and thy {i} righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rear guard.

(h) That is, the prosperous estate with which God will bless you.

(i) The testimony of your goodness will appear before God and man.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - Then. When thou hast taken this advice to heart, and adopted it, and made it the rule of thy conduct. Upon such a change in thee, all good things shall follow. Thou shalt have no more to complain of unanswered prayers or covenant promises left in abeyance (see the comment on vers. 2 and 3). Shall thy lightbreak forth; i.e. thy glorious, time shall begin (comp Isaiah 50:1). Thine health - rather, thine healing; the "healing of thy bruise," or thy recovery from the low estate to which thy sins have brought thee down - shall spring forth speedily; i.e. shall soon manifest itself; and the result will be twofold:

(1) thy own righteousness will go before thee - will be, as it were, thy vanguard; and

(2) The glory of the Lord; i.e. the glory which he will confer upon thee, will follow thee up, and be, as it were, thy rearguard (comp. Isaiah 52:12). Isaiah 58:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The prophet now proceeds to point out the reward of divine grace, which would follow such a fast as this, consisting of self-renouncing, self-sacrificing love; and in the midst of the promise he once more reminds of the fact, that this love is the condition of the promise. This divides the promises into two. The middle promise is linked on to the first; the morning dawn giving promise of the "perfect day" (Proverbs 4:18). The first series of promises we have in Isaiah 58:8, Isaiah 58:9. "Then will thy light break forth as the morning dawn, and thy healing will sprout up speedily, and thy righteousness will go before thee, the glory of Jehovah will follow thee. Then wilt thou call and Jehovah will answer; thou wilt beseech, and He will say, Here am I!" The love of God is called "light" in contrast with His wrath; and a quiet cheerful life in God's love is so called, in contrast with a wild troubled life spent in God's wrath. This life in God's love has its dawn and its noon-day. When it is night both within and around a man, and he suffers himself to be awakened by the love of God to a reciprocity of love; then does the love of God, like the rising sun, open for itself a way through the man's dark night and overcome the darkness of wrath, but so gradually that the sky within is at first only streaked as it were with the red of the morning dawn, the herald of the sun. A second figure of a promising character follows. The man is sick unto death; but when the love of God stimulates him to reciprocal love, he is filled with new vigour, and his recovery springs up suddenly; he feels within him a new life working through with energetic force like a miraculous springing up of verdure from the earth, or of growing and flowering plants. The only other passages in which ארוּכה occurs are in the books of Jeremiah, Chronicles, and Nehemiah. It signifies recovery (lxx here, τὰ ἰάματά σου ταχὺ ἀνατελεῖ, an old mistake for ἱμάτια, vestimenta), and hence general prosperity (2 Chronicles 24:13). It always occurs with the predicate עלתה (causative העלה, cf., Targ. Psalm 147:3, ארכא אסּק, another reading ארוּכין), oritur (for which we have here poetically germinat) alicui sanitas; hence Gesenius and others have inferred, that the word originally meant the binding up of a wound, bandage (impontiru alicui fascia). But the primary word is ארך equals ארך, to set to rights, to restore or put into the right condition (e.g., b. Sabbath 33b, "he cured his wounded flesh"), connected with אריך, Arab. ârak, accommodatus; so that ארוּכה, after the form מלוּכה, Arab. (though rarely) arika, signifies properly, setting to rights, i.e., restoration.

The third promise is: "thy righteousness will go before thee, the glory of Jehovah will gather thee, or keep thee together," i.e., be thy rear-guard (lxx περιστελεῖ σε, enclose thee with its protection; אסף as in מאסּף, Isaiah 52:12). The figure is a significant one: the first of the mercies of God is δικαιοῦν, and the last δοξάζειν. When Israel is diligent in the performance of works of compassionate love, it is like an army on the march or a travelling caravan, for which righteousness clear and shows the way as being the most appropriate gift of God, and whose rear is closed by the glory of God, which so conducts it to its goal that not one is left behind. The fourth promise assures them of the immediate hearing of prayer, of every appeal to God, every cry for help.

But before the prophet brings his promises up to their culminating point, he once more lays down the condition upon which they rest. "If thou put away from the midst of thee the yoke, the pointing of the finger, and speaking of evil, and offerest up thy gluttony to the hungry, and satisfiest the soul that is bowed down: thy light will stream out in the darkness, and thy darkness become like the brightness of noon-day. And Jehovah will guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in droughts, and refresh thy bones; and thou wilt become like a well-watered garden, and like a fountain, whose waters never deceive. And thy people will build ruins of the olden time, foundations of earlier generations wilt thou erect; and men will call thee repairers of breaches, restorers of habitable streets." מוטה, a yoke, is here equivalent to yoking or oppression, as in Isaiah 58:6, where it stands by the side of רשׁע. שׁלח־אצבּא (only met with here, for שׁלח, Ges. 65, 1, a), the stretching out of the finger, signifies a scornful pointing with the fingers (Proverbs 6:13, δακτυλοδεικτεῖν) at humbler men, and especially at such as are godly (Isaiah 57:4). דּבּר־און, the utterance of things which are wicked in themselves and injurious to one's neighbour, hence sinful conversation in general. The early commentators looked for more under נפשׁך, than is really meant (and so does even Stier: "they soul, thy heart, all thy sympathetic feelings," etc.). The name of the soul, which is regarded here as greedily longing (Isaiah 56:11), is used in Deuteronomy 24:6 for that which nourishes it, and here for that which it longs for; the longing itself (appetitus) for the object of the longing (Psychol. p. 204). We may see this very clearly from the choice of the verb תּפק (a voluntative in a conditional clause, Ges. 128, 2), which, starting from the primary meaning educere (related to נפק, Arabic anfaqa, to give out, distribute, nafaqa, distribution, especially of alms), signifies both to work out, acquire, carry off (Proverbs 3:13; Proverbs 8:35, etc.), and also to take out, deliver, offer, expromere (as in this instance and Psalm 140:9; Psalm 144:13). The soul "bowed down" is bowed down in this instance through abstinence. The apodoses commence with the perf. cons. וזרח. אפלה is the darkness caused by the utter absence of light (Arab. afalat esh-shemsu, "the sun has become invisible"); see at Job 10:22. This, as the substantive clause affirms, is like the noon-day, which is called צהרים, because at that point the daylight of both the forenoon and afternoon, the rising and setting light, is divided as it were into two by the climax which it has attained. A new promise points to the fat, that such a man may enjoy without intermission the mild and safe guidance of divine grace, for which נחה (הנחה, syn. נהל) is the word commonly employed; and another to the communication of the most copious supply of strength. The ἅπαξ γεγρ בצחצחות does not state with what God will satisfy the soul, as Hahn supposes (after Jerome, "splendoribus"), but according to צסהיחה (Psalm 68:7) and such promises as Isaiah 43:20; Isaiah 48:21; Isaiah 49:10, the kind of satisfaction and the circumstances under which it occurs, viz., in extreme droughts (Targ. "years of drought"). In the place of the perf. cons. we have then the future, which facilitates the elevation of the object: "and thy bones will He make strong," יחליח, for which Hupfeld would read יחליף, "will He rejuvenate." חחליץ is a denom. of חלוּץ, expeditus; it may, however, be directly derived from a verb חלץ, presupposed by חלצים, not, however, in the meaning "to be fat" (lxx πιανθήσεται, and so also Kimchi), but "to be strong," lit., to be loose or ready for action; and b. Jebamoth 102b has the very suitable gloss גרמי זרוזי (making the bones strong). This idea of invigorating is then unfolded in two different figures, of which that of a well-watered garden sets forth the abundance received, that of a spring the abundance possessed. Natural objects are promised, but as a gift of grace; for this is the difference between the two testaments, that in the Old Testament the natural is ever striving to reach the spiritual, whereas in the New Testament the spiritual lifts up the natural to its own level. The Old Testament is ever striving to give inwardness to what was outward; in the New Testament this object is attained, and the further object now is to make the outward conformed to the inward, the natural life to the spiritual.

The last promise (whether the seventh or eighth, depends upon whether we include the growing of the morning light into the light of noon, or not) takes its form from the pining of the exiles for their home: "and thy people (ממּך) build" (Ewald, 295, c); and Bttcher would read ממך וּבנּוּ; but מן with a passive, although more admissible in Hebrew than in Arabic, is very rarely met with, and then more frequently in the sense of ἀπό than in that of ὑπό, and בּנּוּ followed by a plural of the thing would be more exact than customary. Moreover, there is no force in the objection that ממּך with the active can only signify "some of thee," since it is equivalent to ממך אשׁר, those who sprang from thee and belong to thee by kindred descent. The members born to the congregation in exile will begin, as soon as they return to their home, to build up again the ruins of olden time, the foundations of earlier generations, i.e., houses and cities of which only the foundations are left (Isaiah 61:4); therefore Israel restored to its fatherland receives the honourable title of "builder of breaches," "restorer of streets (i.e., of places much frequented once) לשׁבת" (for inhabiting), i.e., so that, although so desolate now (Isaiah 33:8), they become habitable and populous once more.