Isaiah 65:1-25
1 I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.
2 I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
3 A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;
4 Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine's flesh, and brotha of abominable things is in their vessels;
5 Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose,b a fire that burneth all the day.
6 Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,
7 Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.
8 Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all.
9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
10 And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.
11 But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop,c and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.
12 Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.
13 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:
14 Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexationd of spirit.
15 And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name:
16 That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.
17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor comee into mind.
18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.
21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.
24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.
Isaiah 65:4. Which remain among the graves. The LXX add, dream. Perhaps Jude had this text in his eye, when he calls the wicked “filthy dreamers.”
See Augustine's city of God. Which eat swine's flesh, forbidden by the law, Leviticus 11:26, as less healthy than beef and mutton, and tending to scrophulous disease, as stated by Dr. Buchan.
Isaiah 65:10. The valley of Achor. This valley was very fertile, a presentiment of what the earth shall be in the latter day. Another prophet makes the same remark. Hosea 2:15.
Isaiah 65:11. Ye prepare a table for that troop. Hebrews for Gad, good fortune. They worshipped the stars, Mercury, Mars, and others, for good luck. The heathens worshipped them as a goddess, and exposed themselves to the satire of their poets.
Nullum numen abest, si sit prudentia: sed te Nos facimus, fortuna, deum cœloq; locamus. There wants no god where prudence doth preside, But we fond fools have fortune deified.
Isaiah 65:13. Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry. While the Romans besieged Jerusalem, the famine so prevailed in the city that they destroyed one another for food, and delicate women, as Moses had foretold, ate the fruit of their own bodies. Deuteronomy 28:56. Meanwhile, the christians, having been driven out by persecution, were growing rich in gentile cities; and on the approach of the Roman armies, those that remained fled to Pella beyond the Jordan, where they found peace and protection. Eusebius's Ecclesiastes Hist.
Isaiah 65:15. God shall slay thee, oh unbelieving Jew, as all the history of this people proves, since the burning of their city and temple by the Romans. Then God shall call his servants by another name Christians, after Christ their Saviour and their Lord. Surely this is a striking prediction. See the general Reflections at the end of this book.
Isaiah 65:16. Shall bless himself in the God of truth. באלהי אמן Bealohe Amen, in the God Amen. This is the title of Christ, of him who speaks, and no man can disannul his word. Revelation 3:14. These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness.
Isaiah 65:17. Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. Whatever part of the Jews may be gathered to their own land, will not, it would seem, continue long under their old dynasty. The Messiah's laws will soon supersede those of Moses, according to the current language of the new covenant.
REFLECTIONS.
This chapter opens with the calling of the gentiles, and the rejection of the jews. Romans 10:20. Consequently, though Isaiah addressed those awful things to the jews of his own times; yet he looked forwards to happier days. The Lord stretched out his hands to a rebellious and idolatrous people, who practised necromancy in burial grounds; and the Lord latterly stretched out his hands by our Saviour to a stiffnecked and obdurate age, However, the gospel was graciously welcomed among the gentiles.
The sin of eating the flesh and the broth of abominable things, and doing worse than the heathen, was peculiarly provoking to the Lord; and justifies the severe strokes of his providence in visiting upon them, both their own sins and the sins of their fathers.
When God destroyed the idolaters by the Babylonians, and the unbelievers by the Romans, he left a remnant, as the seeds in a cluster of grapes, in order that the counsel of his grace and love might take effect. A remnant returned from Babylon, to inherit the mountain of the Lord; and in the Roman times a remnant inherited the mountain of our christian Zion, while another, yea an unbelieving remnant was dispersed on the face of the whole earth.
From the seventeenth verse the promises of the restoration of Jerusalem, under a new heaven and a new earth, or an infinitely better state of things, are so far superior to anything that happened after the Babylonian captivity, that we must either understand them of the latter-day glory, or believe that the prophets were deranged, and the apostles wicked in applying them to the times of the restitution of all things. Acts 3:21. It is introduced with, “Behold, I create!” And surely a note of admiration was never better employed. It is the jewish and gentile converts made one in Zion, under an entire new heaven of government, grace and love, as illustrated in the general reflections at the end of this book.