Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 66:5

"Hear the word of Jehovah, ye that tremble at his word: Your brethren that hate you, that cast you out for my name`s sake, have said, Let Jehovah be glorified, that we may see your joy; but it is they that shall be put to shame." — Isaiah 66:5 (ASV)

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!