Day Twenty Five : 22nd December

Isaiah 58

5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?

6 Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless into your house;
when you see them naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

9 They you shall call and the Lord will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

Brueggemann (2): p 189

'The "fast" concerns injustice, that is, socioeconomic practices that deny some members of the community access to resources necessary for life. The lead term "injustice," echoing the theme of 56:1-2, refers to all distorted social relations and is developed in more detail in verses 6b-7.

…

The double use of the term "yoke" likely refers to disproportionate indebtedness that placed some members of the community "in hock" to others. To "undo" and "let go free" means to cancel paralyzing debts, thus anticipating the allusion to the practice of Jubilee in 61:1-4.'