SALT & LIGHT God’s Righteous People: God calls his people to show compassion to the needy and oppressed

7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry

and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover him,

and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” LUK 3:11

John Gill

And he answered them—By telling them what they should do; and he does not put them upon ceremonial observances, nor severe exercises of religion, nor even the duties of the first table of the law, and others of the second, though necessary to be done; but upon acts of beneficence and kindness, to fellow creatures in distress; and are what may be called love of our neighbour, and which involves the love of God, and so the whole law; for the one cannot be rightly exercised without the other:

Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none—Not both of them, but one of them: a man is not obliged to go naked himself, in order to clothe another; and so the Persic and Ethiopic versions read, “is to give one to him who has not”; that has not a garment to wear. This is not to be understood strictly and literally, that a man is obliged to give one of his tunics, if he has more than one, to a person in want of clothing; it will be sufficient to answer the intent of this exhortation, if he supplies his want another way, by furnishing him with money to buy one: the meaning is, that persons according to their abilities, and of what they can spare, should communicate to those that are in distress: much less is it to be concluded from hence, that it is not lawful for a man to have more tunics than one:

And whoever has food—Or meats,

Is to do likewise—That is, he that has a sufficiency of food, and more than enough for himself and family, let him give it freely and cheerfully to the poor and needy, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased: and when such acts of kindness are done in faith, from a principle of love, and with a view to the glory of God, they are the fruits of grace, and such as are meet for repentance, and show it to be genuine. John instances in these two articles, food and garments, as containing the necessaries of human life, and including every thing, by which one may be serviceable to another.

8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,

and your healing shall spring up speedily;

your righteousness shall go before you;

the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

John Gill

Then shall your light break forth like the dawn—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 Isa 60:1:

And your healing shall spring up 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:

Your righteousness shall go before you—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 (Rev 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 Isa 60:21,

And the glory of the Lord shall be your 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 you”; 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 Isa 4:5; 60:1.

15 For this people’s heart has grown dull,

and with their ears they can barely hear,

and their eyes they have closed,

lest they should see with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand with their heart

and turn, and I would heal them. MAT 13:15

John Gill

For this people’s heart has grown dull—Or fat, become stupid and sottish, and without understanding; and so incapable of taking in the true sense and meaning of what they saw with their eyes, and heard with their ears; for they had their outward senses of hearing and seeing, and yet their intellectual powers were stupefied.

And with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed—Which is expressive of the blindness and hardness, which were partly brought upon themselves by their own wilfulness and obstinacy, against such clear evidence as arose from the doctrine and miracles of Christ; and partly from the righteous judgment of God, giving them up, for their perverseness, to judicial blindness and obduracy (Joh 12:40); and are in the prophet ascribed to the ministry of the word; that being despised, was in righteous judgment, the savour of death into death, into them; and they under it, as clay, under the influence of the sun, grew harder and harder by it, stopping their ears, and shutting their eyes against it:

Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart—Which may be understood either of God’s intention, and view, in giving them up to judicial blindness, and hardness of heart, under such miracles, and such a ministry, as a punishment for their wilful contempt of them; that so they might never have any true sight, hearing, and understanding of these things, and be turned from the evil of their ways, have repentance into life, and remission of sins; which seems to be the sense of the other evangelists (Mar 4:12; Luk 8:10; Joh 12:40), or, as if these people purposely stupefied themselves, stopped their ears, and pulled away the shoulder, and wilfully shut their eyes; fearing they should receive some conviction, light, and knowledge,

And turn—By the power and grace of God:

And I would heal them—Or, as in Mark, “and their sins should be forgiven them”; for healing of diseases, and forgiveness of sins, are, in Scripture language, one and the same thing; and this sense of the phrase here, is justified by the Chaldee paraphrase, which renders it, “and they be forgiven,” or “it be forgiven them,” and by a Jewish commentator on the place; who interprets healing, of the healing of the soul, and adds, “and this is pardon.”

9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;

you shall cry, and he will say, “Here I am.”

If you take away the yoke from your midst,

the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,

John Gill

Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer—A spirit of grace and supplication will be poured out upon the people of God; they will then pray without a form, and call upon the Lord in sincerity and truth, with faith and fervency; and the Lord will hear and answer them, and plentifully bestow his favours on them, so that they will have no reason to complain, as in Isa 58:3:

You shall cry, and he will say, “Here I am”—He will immediately appear to the help and relief of his people; they shall have his presence with them, to comfort and refresh them, to support and supply them, to protect and defend them:

If you take away the yoke from your midst—Of human inventions, doctrines, rites and ceremonies, as in Isa 58:6:

The pointing of the finger—Pointing at those that could not comply with them, by way of scorn and derision, as puritans, schismatics and persecuting them for it; and so is the same with smiting with the fist of wickedness (Isa 58:4); when this deriding and persecuting spirit is done away, then, and not till then, will the prayers of a people be heard, though under a profession of religion, and under the Protestant name:

And speaking wickedness—Which also must be taken away, or desisted from; even speaking false doctrines, as the Syriac version; or which profits not, as the Vulgate Latin version; profane and vain babblings (2Ti 2:14-15), and threatening words, to such who will not receive them.

10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry

and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,

then shall your light rise in the darkness

and your gloom be as the noonday. ISA 58:7-10

John Gill

If you pour yourself out for the hungry—Not only deal out your bread, but yourself also, to him; that is, give him food cheerfully, with a good will, expressing a hearty love and affection for him; do it heartily, as to the Lord; let yourself go along with it; and this is true of affectionate ministers of the gospel, who not only impart that, but their own souls also (1Th 2:8):

And satisfy the desire of the afflicted—Distressed for want of food; not only give it food, but to the full; not only just enough to support life, but to satisfaction; or so as to be filled with good things, or however a sufficiency of them:

Then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday—In the midst of darkness of affliction, or desertion, the light of prosperity and joy shall spring up, and a dark night of sorrow and distress become a clear day of peace and comfort; see Psa 112:4; Isa 42:16, at evening time it shall be light (Zec 14:7).

God did not just want his people to turn away from evil; he wanted them to show compassion to the needy and oppressed. Aside from not eating, Scripture shows that fasting is about using one’s time, effort, food, shelter, and resources to serve others. If we obey, then God promises that he will turn our darkness into light. Read Isa 58:8-10. Enumerate his promises for his people.