Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 65:11

"But ye that forsake Jehovah, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for Fortune, and that fill up mingled wine unto Destiny;" — Isaiah 65:11 (ASV)

That forget my holy mountain ...—The words imply, like Isaiah 65:3-5, the abandonment of the worship of the Temple for a heathen ritual. But what follows points, as will be seen, to Canaanite rather than Babylonian idolatry, and, so far, favors the earlier date of the chapter. The same phrase occurs, however, in connection with the exiles in Psalm 137:5.

That prepare a table for that troop.—The Hebrew is “for the Gad,” probably the planet Jupiter, worshipped as the “greater fortune,” the giver of good luck. The Septuagint renders it “for the demon” or “Genius.” The name Baal-Gad (Joshua 11:17; Joshua 12:17) indicates the early prevalence of this worship in Syria. Phoenician inscriptions have been found with the names Gad-Ashtoreth and Gad-Moloch. The “table” points to the lectisternium (or “feast”), which was a prominent feature in Assyrian and other forms of polytheism.

Unto that number.—Here, again, we find the proper name of a Syrian deity, probably the planet Venus as the “lesser fortune.” Some scholars have found a name, Manu, in Babylonian inscriptions. Manât, one of the three deities invoked by the Arabs in the time of Muhammad, is probably connected with Meni the it (Cheyne). See Sayce, as in the note on Isaiah 65:4.