Isaiah 58:8-14 Then shall your light break forth as the morning, and your health shall spring forth speedily… If a person, a family, a people be thus disposed to everything that is good, let them know for their comfort that they shall find God their bountiful rewarder. 1. God shall surprise them with the return of mercy after great affliction, which shall be as welcome as the light of the morning after a long and dark night (vers. 8, 10). They that arc cheerful in doing good, God will make them cheerful in enjoying good. They that have showed mercy shall find mercy. Those that have helped others out of trouble, God will help them when it is their turn. 2. God will put honour upon them. Good works shall be recompensed with a good name. This is included in that light which riseth out of obscurity. 3. They shall always be safe under the Divine protection. "Thy righteousness shall go before thee," as the vanguard, to secure thee from enemies that charge thee in the front; and "the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward," the gathering, host to bring up those of thee that are weary and are left behind, and to secure thee from the enemies that, like Amalek, fall upon thy rear. 4. God will be always nigh unto them to hear their prayers (ver. 9). As, on the one hand, "he that shuts his ears to the cry of the poor shall himself cry and God will not hear him," so on the other hand, he that is liberal to the poor, his prayers shall come up, with his alms, for a memorial before God (Acts 10:4). 5. God will direct them in all difficult and doubtful cases (ver. 11). 6. God will give them abundance of satisfaction in their own minds (ver. 11). 7. They and their families shall be public blessings (ver. 12). ( M. Henry.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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