Matthew Poole and continuators on Isaiah 58:7

7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out , to thy house ? when thou seest the naked , that thou cover him , and that thou hide not thy self from thine own flesh ?

Viz. The Fast that pleaseth me, supplied from the former verse; having shewed the evil they are to abstain from in order to an acceptable Fast, viz. cruelty, he here speaks of the duty that is required, viz. Mercy, as a manifestation of Repentance, Dan. 4. 27. Luk. 19. 8. For there are two parts of Justice, one to do no man wrong, the other to do good to all. Which two ought always to accompany each other, and cannot be parted, especially in acts of Humiliation, and as by those evils mentioned he understands all other evil whatsoever, that they are to be abstained from as the consequence of a day of Humiliation, so under these duties mentioned are comprised all the duties that we are to set upon as the effect of true Repentance; and he instanceth rather in those of the second Table than those of the first, not that they are to be neglected, but because chearful performance of external duties to our Neighbour, is the clearest discovery and indication of our inward Piety towards God, 1 Ioh. 4. 20.

The word properly signifies to divide, or break into parts, for the more equal and expeditious doing whereof, they were wont of old to ba[illegible: 1+ letters]e their Leaves with curs or clefts in them, more or fewer according to the bigness of the Loaf, not much unlike that which we ordinarily call buns. It implies, that as none is obliged to give away all, so none is exempted from giving some, but a distribution to be made according to the abilities of Rich and Poor, or, the meaning is, what thou sparest on thy fasting day from thine own Belly, thou give it to refresh the bowels of the hungry: What thou takest from thy self, give to another, that thy poor Neighbours Body may be refreshed by that, from the abstinence whereof thine own is afflicted.

Bread is taken for all necessaries for the Support of humane Life, and here for all kind of Food; and it is here limited by a term of propriety, Thy, Which may seem to have some Emphasis in it; see my note on Eccles. 11. 1. speaking of their grinding and oppressing the poor, he would have them be sure to give of their own, not that which of right is anothers, and thou hast, it may be unjustly gotten. For to refresh some poor with that which thou hast gotten by the oppressing of others, and thereby possibly made them poor, will turn but to a bad account, it will bring a curse upon thy house, or Family, Proverbs 15. 27. or will transfer thy Estate over to such strangers, that will manage it as thou shouldest have done▪ Prov. 28. 8.

i. e. Voluntarily, without pressing. Invite, encourage, freely accommodate.

Viz. That are not only needy, and necessitous, as to their present condition, but helpless, and shiftless as to the means of getting out of it.

And thereby [illegible: 1 word] wanderers, having no abiding place; or rather, suffered [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] no where, such are mentioned Heb. 11. 37, 38. Or, this word coming from a root that signifies to rebel, it may be applied to such as have been adjudged, whether wrongfully or no, Rebels, and therefore cast out, viz. of favour and protection, and so become as banished ones, or Pilgrims in another Country; or afflicted, as in the margent, viz. grievously oppressed by the cruelty of great men, whereby they are cast out of their possessions, and so become wanderers, seeking Relief abroad.

That thou be hospitable, and make thy house a shelter to them that have none of their own left, but as we usually say, cast out of house and home; see Act. 16. 34.

i. e. Either that have no cloaths, or that are so meanly cloathed they have scarce enough to cover their nakedness, 1 Cor. 4. 11. where naked is to be taken as hunger and thirst is, not absolutely starved, so neither quite stripped: But either in a ragged and undecent condition, as to others sight, or so thinly and insufficiently cloathed as not to defend him from the injury of weather, as to his own sense of feeling.

i. e. That thou give him raiment suited to these wants, or that wherewith he may proc[illegible: 1+ letters]re cure it, Iam. 2. 15, 16. most of these circumstances we find were the cases of the Apostles, 1 Cor. 4 11.

That thou not only seek to occasion to excuse thy self, either by absence, or discountenancing, and disowning of him; but that out of compassion thou apply thy self heartily to his speedy relief, that thou beest not like that Priest, and Levite, Luk. 10. 31, 32. but like the good Samaritan, Luk. 10. 33, 34, 35. not giving him occasion to complain as David, Psal. 142. 4.

Some confine this to our own kindred, and Relations, and Family, and this the LXX seem to favour, who render it, Those of thine own House, of thine own seed overlook not; agreeable to that of 1 Tim. 5. 8. where the Apostle useth the same word that the LXX doth for Kindred: But this would confine our Charity within too narrow a compass, in as much as often, nay most commonly, the necessities of others are greater than our own; neither is it congruous that the other words should be taken in the greatest latitude, and this alone confined within so narrow a compass: 'Tis true the Hebrews by their own feesh do mostly understand those who are of the same Stock, or Lineage, and Tribe, as Gen. 37. 27. & 2 Sam. 19. 12, 13. and thus many understand Paul's meaning, Rom. 11. 14. But here it is to be taken more generally, for every man, he being thine own nature; and in this latitude our Saviour interprets the relation of neighbour to that Lawyer, Luk. 10. 29, 30, &c. We can look on no man, but there we contemplate our own flesh, and therefore it is barbarous, not only to tear, but not to love and succour our own flesh, Neh. 5. 5. In which soever of these two senses you take it, there is a note of similitude to be understood; so that the sense is this, Break thy bread, &c. to them as unto thine own flesh; be not more severe to them, than thou wouldest be to thy self; and thus it agrees with that of our Saviour Mat. 22. 39. and with that of the Apostle, Eph. 5. 29. in short feed him as thou wouldst feed thy self, or have it fed; shelter him as thou wouldest shelter thy self, or have it sheltered; cloath him as thou wouldest cloath thy self, or be cloathed; if in any of these respects thou wert in his circumstances.

Marginal references: Ezek. 18. 7, 16. Mat. 2[illegible: 1+ letters], 35.; Heb. break▪; Or, [illegible: 1 word] ▪