The Taste of Sabbath: How to Delight in God's Rest

by Stuart Bryan

The leaders in Israel were chafing at the Sabbath because it was preventing them from exploiting the poor. A close examination of Isaiah 58 reveals that it is this same problem he is addressing. His restriction on the “pleasures” of the people is not forbidding mirth and joy: it is forbidding exploitation and avarice. This is evident as we study Isaiah’s rebuke of the Israelites’ fasting earlier in the chapter. Rather than fast to show true contrition for their sin, the Israelites were putting on an external show. Isaiah rebukes them with these words, “In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exploit all your laborers” (58:3b). In Hebraic parallelism, Isaiah indicates that the exploitation of the laborers was the pleasure that the people were finding. It is this same “pleasure” that the Israelites were to shun on the Sabbath. Oppressing the needy was forbidden; joy, refreshment, and recreation were not.32