Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 66

The heaven is My throne - (See the notes at Isaiah 57:15). Here He is represented as having His seat or throne there. He speaks as a king. Heaven is the place where He holds His court; from where He dispenses His commands; and from where He surveys all His works (Compare to 2 Chronicles 6:18; Matthew 5:34). The idea here is, that as God dwelled in the vast and distant heavens, no house that could be built on earth could be magnificent enough to be His abode.

The earth is My footstool - A footstool is that which is placed under the feet when we sit. The idea here is, that God was so glorious that even the earth itself could be regarded only as His footstool. It is probable that the Savior had this passage in view in His declaration in the sermon on the mount, Swear not at all; neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool (Matthew 5:34–35).

Where is the house that ye build unto Me? - What house can you build that will be an appropriate dwelling for Him who fills heaven and earth? The same idea, substantially, was expressed by Solomon when he dedicated the temple: But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven, and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded! (1 Kings 8:27). Substantially the same thought is found in the address of Paul at Athens: God, that made the world, and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands (Acts 17:24).

And where is the place of My rest? - It has already been indicated (in the analysis) that this probably refers to the time after the captivity. Lowth supposes that it refers to the time of the rebuilding of the temple by Herod. So also Vitringa understands it, and supposes that it refers to the pride and self-confidence of those who then imagined that they were building a structure that was worthy of being a dwelling-place of Yahweh. Grotius supposes that it refers to the time of the Maccabees, and that it was designed to give consolation to the pious people of those times when they were about to witness the profanation of the temple by Antiochus, and the cessation of the sacrifices for three years and a half. ‘God therefore shows,’ he says, ‘that there was no reason why they should be offended by this. The most acceptable temple to Him was a pious mind; and from that the value of all sacrifices was to be estimated.’

Abarbanel supposes that it refers to the times of redemption. His words are these: ‘I greatly wonder at the words of the learned who interpret this prophecy, when they say that the prophet in this accuses the people of his own time because of sacrifices offered with impure hands, for behold! all these prophecies which the prophet utters at the end of his book refer to future redemption.’ (See Vitringa). That it refers to some future time when the temple should be rebuilt seems evident to me.

But what precise period it refers to—whether to times not long after the captivity, or to the times of the Maccabees, or to the time of the rebuilding of the temple by Herod—it is difficult to find any data by which we can determine. From the whole tenor of the prophecy, and particularly from Isaiah 66:3-5, it seems probable that it refers to the time when the temple which Herod had built was nearing completion; when the nation was full of pride, self-righteousness, and hypocrisy; and when all sacrifices were about to be superseded by the one great sacrifice which the Messiah was to make for the sins of the world.

At that time, God says that the spirit which would be shown by the nation would be abominable in His sight; and to offer sacrifice then, and with the spirit which they would manifest, would be as offensive as murder or the sacrifice of a dog (see the notes at Isaiah 66:3).

For all those things hath mine hand made - That is, the heaven and the earth, and all that is in them. The sense is, ‘I have founded for myself a far more magnificent and appropriate temple than you can make; I have formed the heavens as my dwelling-place, and I need not a dwelling reared by the hand of man.’

And all those things have been - That is, have been made by me, or for me. The Septuagint renders it, ‘All those things are mine?’ Jerome renders it, ‘All those things were made;’ implying that God claimed to be the Creator of them all, and that, therefore, they all belonged to him.

But to this man will I look - That is, ‘I prefer a humble heart and a contrite spirit to the most magnificent earthly temple’ (see the notes at Isaiah 57:15).

That is poor - Or rather ‘humble.’ The word rendered ‘poor’ (עני ‛ânı̂y), denotes not one who has no property, but one who is down-trodden, crushed, afflicted, oppressed; often, as here, with the accessory idea of pious feeling (Exodus 24:12; Psalms 10:2, Psalms 10:9). The Septuagint renders it, Ταπεινὸν Tapeinon — ‘Humble;’ not πτωχόν ptōchon (poor). The idea is not that God looks with favor on a poor man merely because he is poor—which is not true, for His favors are not bestowed based on external conditions in life—but that He regards with favor the man who is humble and subdued in spirit.

And of a contrite spirit - A spirit that is broken, crushed, or deeply affected by sin. It stands opposed to a spirit that is proud, haughty, self-confident, and self-righteous.

And that trembleth at my word - That fears me, or that reveres my commands.

He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man - Lowth and Noyes render this, ‘He that slayeth an ox, killeth a man.’ This is a literal translation of the Hebrew. Jerome renders it, ‘He who sacrifices an ox is as if (quasi) he slew a man.’ The Septuagint, in a very free translation—such as is common in their version of Isaiah—renders it, ‘The wicked man who sacrifices a calf, is as he who kills a dog; and he who offers to me fine flour, it is as the blood of swine.’ Lowth supposes the sense to be that the most villainous crimes were united with hypocrisy, and that they who were guilty of the most extreme acts of wickedness at the same time feigned great strictness in the performance of all the external duties of religion. An instance of this, he says, is referred to by Ezekiel, where he says, ‘When they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it’ (Ezekiel 23:39).

There can be no doubt that such offenses were often committed by those who were very strict and zealous in their religious services (compare Isaiah 1:11-14 with Isaiah 66:21-23). But most interpreters have supposed that a different sense was to be assigned to this passage. According to their views, the particles ‘as if’ are to be supplied; and the sense is not that the mere killing of an ox is as sinful in the sight of God as deliberate murder, but that he who did it in the circumstances, and with the spirit referred to, evinced a spirit as odious in his sight as though he had slain a man.

So the Septuagint, Vulgate, Chaldee, Symmachus, and Theodotion, Junius, and Tremellius, Grotius, and Rosenmuller understand it. There is probably an allusion to the fact that human victims were offered by pagans; and the sense is that the sacrifices here referred to were no more acceptable in the sight of God than those human sacrifices were.

The prophet here refers, probably, to two things:

1. To the spirit with which this was done. Their sacrifices were offered with a disposition as offensive to God as if a man had been slain, and they had been guilty of murder. They were proud, vain, and hypocritical. They had forgotten the true nature and design of sacrifice, and such worship could not but be an abhorrence in the sight of God.
2. It may also be implied here that the period was coming when all sacrifices would be unacceptable to God.

When the Messiah should have come, and when he should have made by one offering a sufficient atonement for the sins of the whole world, then all bloody sacrifices would be needless and would be offensive in the sight of God. The sacrifice of an ox would be no more acceptable than the sacrifice of a man; and all offerings with a view to propitiate the divine favor, or that implied that there was a deficiency in the merit of the one great atoning sacrifice, would be odious to God.

He that sacrificeth a lamb - Margin, ‘Kid.’ The Hebrew word (שׂה s'eh) may refer to one of a flock, either of sheep or goats (Genesis 22:7–8; Genesis 30:32). Where the species is to be distinguished, it is usually specified, as, for example (Deuteronomy 14:4), כשׂבים שׂה עזים ושׂה v e s'ēh ‛ı̂zzym s'ēh kı̂s'âbı̂ym (one of the sheep and one of the goats). Both were used in sacrifice.

As if he cut off a dog’s neck - That is, as if he had cut off a dog’s neck for sacrifice. To offer a dog in sacrifice would have been abominable in the view of a Jew. Even the price for which he was sold was not permitted to be brought into the house of God for a vow (Deuteronomy 23:18; compare 1 Samuel 17:43; 1 Samuel 24:14). The dog was held in veneration by many pagans and was even offered in sacrifice; and it was, doubtless, partly in view of this fact, and especially of the fact that such veneration was shown for it in Egypt, that it was an object of such detestation among the Jews. Thus Juvenal, Sat. xiv. says:

Oppida tota canem venerantur, nemo Dianam.

‘Every city worships the dog; none worship Diana.’ Diodorus (Book 1) says, ‘Certain animals the Egyptians greatly venerate (σέβονται sebontai), not only when alive, but when they are dead, as cats, ichneumons, mice, and dogs.’ Herodotus also says of the Egyptians, ‘In some cities, when a cat dies all the inhabitants cut off their eyebrows; when a dog dies, they shave the whole body and the head.’

In Samothrace, there was a cave in which dogs were sacrificed to Hecate. Plutarch says that all the Greeks sacrificed the dog. The fact that dogs were offered in sacrifice by pagans is abundantly proved by Bochart (Hieroz. i. 2. 56).

No kind of sacrifice could have been regarded with higher detestation by a pious Jew. But God here says that the spirit with which they sacrificed a goat or a lamb was as hateful in his sight as would be the sacrifice of a dog; or that the time would come when, the great sacrifice for sin having been made, and the necessity for all other sacrifice having ceased, the offering of a lamb or a goat for the expiation of sin would be as offensive to him as would be the sacrifice of a dog.

He that offereth an oblation - Concerning the word rendered here ‘oblation’ (מנחה minchāh), see the notes at Isaiah 1:13.

As if he offered swine’s blood - The sacrifice of a hog was an abomination in the sight of the Hebrews (see the notes at Isaiah 65:4). Yet here it is said that the offering of the מנחה minchāh—in the spirit in which they would do it—was as offensive to God as would be the pouring out of the blood of swine on the altar. Nothing could more emphatically express God’s detestation for the spirit with which they would make their offerings, or the fact that the time would come when all such modes of worship would be offensive in his sight.

He that burneth incense - See the word ‘incense’ explained in the notes at Isaiah 1:13. The margin here is, ‘Maketh a memorial of.’ Such is the usual meaning of the word used here (זכר zâkar), meaning to remember, and in Hiphil to cause to remember, or to make a memorial. Such is its meaning here.

Incense was burned as a memorial or a remembrance-offering; that is, to keep up the remembrance of God on the earth by public worship (see the notes at Isaiah 62:6).

As if he blessed an idol - The spirit with which incense would be offered would be as offensive as idolatry. The sentiment in all this is that the most regular and formal acts of worship, where the heart is lacking, may be as offensive to God as the worst forms of crime or the most gross and debasing idolatry. Such a spirit often characterized the Jewish people and was especially prevalent at the time when the temple of Herod was nearly completed and when the Saviour was about to appear.

I also will choose their delusions - Margin, ‘Devices.’ The Hebrew word rendered here ‘delusions’ and ‘devices’ (תעלוּלים ta‛ălûlı̂ym) properly denotes petulance, sauciness; and then vexation, adverse destiny, from עלל ‛ âlal, to do, to accomplish, to do evil, to maltreat. It is not used in the sense of delusions, or devices; and evidently here means the same as calamity or punishment. Compare the Hebrew in Lamentations 1:22.

Lowth and Noyes render it, Calamities; though Jerome and the Septuagint understand it in the sense of illusions or delusions, the former rendering it ‘Illusiones,’ and the latter ἐμπαίγματα empaigmata—‘delusions.’ The parallelism requires us to understand it as calamity, or something corresponding to ‘fear,’ or that which was dreaded; and the sense undoubtedly is, that God would choose out for them the kind of punishment which would be expressive of his judgment of the evil of their conduct.

And will bring their fears upon them - That is, the punishment which they have so much dreaded, or which they had so much reason to apprehend.

Because when I called - (See the notes at Isaiah 65:12).

But they did evil before my eyes - (See the notes at Isaiah 65:3).

Hear the word of the Lord — This is an address to the pious and persecuted portion of the nation. It is designed for their consolation and contains the assurance that Yahweh would appear on their behalf, and that they would be under his protecting care even though they were cast out by their brethren. To whom this refers has been a question among expositors, and it is perhaps not possible to determine with certainty. Rosenmuller supposes that it refers to the pious whom the ‘Jews and Benjaminites repelled from the worship of the temple.’ Grotius supposes that it refers to those ‘who favored Onias;’ that is, in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes.

Vitringa supposes that the address is to the apostles, disciples, and followers of the Lord Jesus, and that it refers to the persecution that would be stirred up against them by the Jewish people. This seems to me to be the most probable opinion:

1. Because the whole structure of the chapter (see the analysis) seems to refer to the period when the Messiah would appear.
2. Because the state of things described in this verse exactly accords with what occurred at the introduction of Christianity. Those who embraced the Messiah were excommunicated and persecuted; and those who did so believed, or professed to believe, that they were doing it for the glory of God.
3. The promise that Yahweh would appear for their joy, and for the confusion of their foes, is one that had a clear fulfillment in his intervention on behalf of the persecuted church.

Your brethren that hated you — No hatred of others was ever more bitter than that shown by the Jews toward those of their own nation who embraced Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. If this refers to his time, then the language is plain. But to whatever time it refers, it describes a state of things where the pious part of the nation was persecuted and opposed by those who were their kinsmen according to the flesh.

That cast you out — The word used here is one commonly employed to denote excommunication or exclusion from the privileges connected with the public worship of God. It is language that accurately describes the treatment the apostles and the early disciples of the Redeemer received from the Jewish people (see John 16:2, and the Acts of the Apostles generally).

For my name’s sake — This language closely resembles that which the Saviour used regarding his own disciples and the persecutions to which they would be exposed: ‘But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me’ (John 15:21; Matthew 24:9). I have no doubt that this refers to that period and to those scenes.

Said, Let the Lord be glorified — That is, they profess to do it to honor God, or because they suppose that he requires it. Or it means that even while they were engaged in this cruel persecution and these acts of excommunicating their brethren, they professed to be serving God and manifested great zeal in his cause.

This has commonly been the case with persecutors. The most malignant and cruel persecutions of the friends of God have often been carried out under the pretext of great zeal in his service and with a professed desire to honor his name. So it was with the Jews when they crucified the Lord Jesus.

So it is expressly said it would be when his disciples would be excommunicated and put to death (John 16:2). So it was, in fact, in the persecutions stirred up by the Jews against the apostles and early Christians (Acts 21:28–31).

So it was in all the persecutions of the Waldenses by the Papists, in all the horrors of the Inquisition, and in all the crimes of the Duke of Alva.

So it was in the bloody reign of Mary, and so it has always been in all ages and in all countries where Christians have been persecuted.

The people of God have suffered most from those who have been conscientious persecutors, and the most malignant foes of the Church have been found within the Church itself, persecuting true Christians under the great pretense of zeal for the purity of religion.

It is no evidence of piety that a person is full of conscientious zeal against those whom they choose to regard as heretics. And it should always be regarded as proof of a bad heart and a bad cause when someone endeavors to inflict pain and disgrace on others on account of their religious opinions, under the pretense of great regard for the honor of God.

But he shall appear to your joy — The sense is that God would manifest himself to his people as their vindicator and would ultimately rescue them from their persecuting foes. If this is applied to Christians, it means that the cause in which they were engaged would triumph. This has been the case in all persecutions. The effect has always been the permanent triumph and establishment of the cause that was persecuted.

And they shall be ashamed — How true this has been of the Jews who persecuted the early Christians! How entirely were they confounded and overwhelmed! God permanently established the persecuted; He scattered the persecutors to the ends of the earth!