Teks -- Isaiah 58:6 (NET)

58:6 No, this is the kind of fast I want. I want you to remove the sinful chains, to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke, to set free the oppressed, and to break every burdensome yoke.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: Isa 58:6 - The bands

The cruel obligations of usury and oppression.

JFB: Isa 58:6 - loose . . . bands of wickedness

That is, to dissolve every tie wherewith one has unjustly bound his fellow men (Lev 25:49, &c.). Servitude, a fraudulent contract, &c.

JFB: Isa 58:6 - undo . . . heavy burdens

Hebrew, "loose the bands of the yoke."

JFB: Isa 58:6 - oppressed

Literally, "the broken." The expression, "to let go free," implies that those "broken" with the yoke of slavery, are meant (Neh 5:10-12; Jer 34:9-11, Jer 34:14, Jer 34:16). JEROME interprets it, broken with poverty; bankrupt.

Clarke: Isa 58:6 - Let the oppressed go free

Let the oppressed go free - How can any nation pretend to fast or worship God at all, or dare to profess that they believe in the existence of such a Being, while they carry on the slave trade, and traffic in the souls, blood, and bodies, of men! O ye most flagitious of knaves, and worst of hypocrites, cast off at once the mask of religion; and deepen not your endless perdition by professing the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, while ye continue in this traffic!

Calvin: Isa 58:6 - Is not this the fast which I have chosen? // To loose wicked bindings

6.Is not this the fast which I have chosen? The Prophet shows what are the real duties of piety, and what God chiefly recommends to us; namely, to relieve those who are wretched and pressed with a heavy burden. But the Prophet appears to abolish fasting universally, when, in place of it, he enumerates those works which are most highly acceptable to God. I reply, fasting is approved when it is accompanied by that love which we owe to our fellow­men; and therefore the Prophet directs that we shall be tried by this principle, that our consciences be entire and pure, that we exercise mutual kindness towards each other; for if this order prevail, then fasting, which shall be added to it, will be pleasing and acceptable to God. But here he does not at all mention purity of heart. I reply, it is described by works, as by its fruits, from which it is easily seen what kind of heart we have. Next, he enumerates the duties of the Second Table, under which, as we have elsewhere seen, by a figure of speech in which a part is taken for the whole, he includes the whole observation of the Law; for it would not be enough to assist our neighbor by kind offices, if at the same time we despised God. But we must observe the Prophet’s design; because the love which we owe to our neighbors cannot be sincerely cultivated, unless when we love them in God. In order to make trial of our fear of God, he demands these as more immediate signs, if we live justly, inoffensively, and kindly with each other. Besides, he was not satisfied with outward appearance; and indeed the love of our neighbor does not thrive where the Spirit of God does not reign; and therefore Paul includes it in the enumeration of “the works of the Spirit.” (Gal 5:22) Thus when the observation of the Law is spoken of, not only outward works, but likewise the dispositions of the heart, must be taken into the account.

To loose wicked bindings Some explain it to mean “sinful thoughts,” by which the hearts of men are entangled. But Isaiah appears to me to have had another object in view, namely, that hypocrites are exceedingly cruel in distressing the poor, and lay heavy burdens upon them. He therefore calls them “bonds,” or “bindings,” or, as we commonly say, “oppressions.” Of the same import is what he adds, to undo the heavy burdens, under the weight of which the poor groan and are overwhelmed. he again adds, “to let the oppressed go free,” and expresses the same thing in a variety of words. Thus the Prophet does not define what is meant by “fasting,” but shows what the Lord requires in the first place and chiefly, and in what manner our obedience can be approved by him, and what ought to be the dispositions of those who endeavor to fast in a right manner.

TSK: Isa 58:6 - to loose // heavy burdens // oppressed

to loose : Neh 5:10-12; Jer 34:8-11; Mic 3:2-4

heavy burdens : Heb. bundles of the yoke

oppressed : Heb. broken. ye break. 1Ti 6:1

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Isa 58:6 - Is not this the fast that I have chosen? // The bands of wickedness // The heavy burdens // The oppressed // breaking every yoke // That ye break every yoke

Is not this the fast that I have chosen? or, approve , as before, Isa 58:5 : or, Ought not such a fast to be accompanied with such things as these? where he is now about to show the concomitants of a true fast, with reference to the thing in hand, namely, to exercise works of charity, consisting partly in acts of self-denial, in this verse, and partly in doing good to those in distress, in the next. In this verse he instanceth in some particulars, and closeth with a general.

The bands of wickedness viz. the cruel obligations of usury and oppression.

The heavy burdens Heb. bundles ; a metaphor possibly pointing at those many bundles of writings, as bills, bonds, mortgages, and acknowledgments , which the usurers had lying by them: The former may relate to unjust and unlawful obligations extorted by force or fear, which he would have cancelled; this latter to just debts contracted through poverty and necessity, the rigour whereof he would have abated, whether.by reason of loans upon too hard conditions, called a drawing them into a net , Psa 10:9 , and so much is implied, Pro 6:5 ; or under too hard circumstances, whether they were loans of food or money, of which the people so bitterly complained, Neh 5:1-4 , and is expressly forbid, Exo 22:25 . For debts may be called burdens ,

1. Because they lie as a great load upon the debtor’ s spirits, under which whoever can walk up and down easily doth not so much excel in fortitude as in folly.

2. Because they usually introduce poverty, slavery, imprisonment, &c.

The oppressed either in a large sense, viz. any ways grieved or vexed, whether by the gripings of usury, or the bondage of slavery accompanied with cruel usage; or more peculiarly (according to some) relating to their being confined and shut up in prisons, which latter sense the word

free may possibly seem to favour, the former being comprised in that general expression that follows of

breaking every yoke Heb. broken , i.e. like a bruised reed, so crushed and weakened, that they have no consistency or ability, either to satisfy their creditors, or support themselves; and we usually call such insolvent persons broken that cannot look upon themselves to be sui juris , but wholly at another’ s mercy: you have the same kind of oppression, and the same words used, Amo 4:1 .

That ye break every yoke namely, that is grievous, a metaphor; i.e. free them from all sorts of vexation, whatever it is that held them under any bondage. The LXX. refer it to bonds and writings; but it seems more general: the word properly signifies that stick or cord that holds both ends of the yoke, that it spring not out, or fall off from the neck on which it is laid, Exo 25:14 , where the same word is used for staves; and called the bands of the yoke, Lev 26:13 , I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright ; the same thing that God would have them do here.

Haydock: Isa 58:6 - Bands

Bands. Contracts of usury, &c. (Calmet)

Gill: Isa 58:6 - Is not this the fast that I have chosen // to loose the bands of wickedness // to undo the heavy burdens // and to let the oppressed go free // and that ye break every yoke

Is not this the fast that I have chosen?.... Which God has appointed, he approves of, and is well pleasing in his sight; these are works and services more agreeable to him, which follow, without which the rest will be rejected:

to loose the bands of wickedness; which some understand of combinations in courts of judicature to oppress and distress the poor; others of bonds and contracts unjustly made, or rigorously demanded and insisted on, when they cannot be answered; rather of those things with which the consciences of men are bound in religious matters; impositions upon conscience; binding to the use of stinted forms, and to habits in divine worship, which the word of God has not made necessary:

to undo the heavy burdens. The Septuagint render it, "dissolve the obligations of violent contracts"; such as are obtained by violence; so the Arabic version; or by fraud, as the Syriac version, which translates it, bonds of fraud. The Targum is,

"loose the bonds of writings of a depraved judgment;''

all referring it to unjust bonds and contracts in a civil sense: but rather it regards the loosing or freeing men from all obligation to all human prescriptions and precepts; whatever is after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ; so the traditions of the Scribes and Pharisees are called "heavy burdens, grievous to be borne", Mat 23:4 these should not be laid and bound on men's shoulders, but should be done and taken off of them, as well as all penal laws with which they have been enforced:

and to let the oppressed go free; such as have been broken by oppression, not only in their spirits, but in their purses, by mulcts and fines, and confiscation of goods; and who have been cast into prisons, and detained a long time in filthy dungeons; and where many have perished for the sake of religion, even in Protestant countries:

and that ye break every yoke; of church power and tyranny; everything that is not enjoined and authorized by the word of God; every yoke but the yoke of Christ; all human precepts, and obedience to them; all but the commands of Christ, and obedience to them; no other yoke should be put upon the neck of his disciples but his own.