Isaiah 66:3

The first part of the verse runs literally thus: "The slaughterer of the ox, a slayer of a man; the sacrificer of the sheep, a breaker of a dog's neck; the offerer of an oblation, swine's blood; the maker of a memorial of incense, one that blesseth vanity (i.e. an idol)"; four legitimate sacrificial acts being bracketed with four detestable idolatrous rites. The first member of each pair is probably to be taken as subj., the second as pred., of a sentence. But this leaves open a choice between two interpretations. (a) That the legal sacrificial action is as hateful in the sight of God as the idolatrous rite, so long as it is performed by unspiritual worshippers. (b) That he who does the first series of actions does alsothe second, i.e. combines the service of Jehovah with the most hateful idolatries. It is extremely difficult to decide which is the true sense. The words "as if" in E.V. are of course supplied by the translators, but the rendering is a perfectly fair one. The one fact that favours the second explanation (b) is that the latter part of the verse speaks of those who "delight in their abominations." Unless there be a complete break in the middle of the verse, which is unlikely, this would seem to imply that the abominations enumerated were actually practised by certain persons, who at the same time claimed to be worshippers of Jehovah. Cf. Isaiah 66:17; Isaiah 65:3-5; Isaiah 57:3-9.

as if he slew a man The reference may be either to murder merely or to human sacrifice; most probably the latter, since every other member of the sentence expresses a religious act. That human sacrifice was actually perpetrated by those spoken of may be safely inferred from ch. Isaiah 57:5.

breaketh a dog's neck "This sacrifice … seems … to be alluded to as a Punic rite in Justin xviii. 1. 10, where we read that Darius sent a message to the Carthaginians forbidding them to sacrifice human victims and to eat the flesh of dogs: in the connexion a religious meal must be understood." (W. R. Smith, Rel. of the Semites2, p. 291.) The whole paragraph should be consulted for other important references to the sacredness of the dog amongst the Semites. See also the note in Cheyne's Commentary.

he that offereth an oblation(see on ch. Isaiah 1:13) ( offereth) swine's blood See on ch. Isaiah 65:4.

burneth incense R.V. marg. maketh a memorial of incense. The Hebr. verb (hizkîr) is connected with "azkârâh, the technical name of the part of the meal offering which had to be burned with incense on the altar (cf. Leviticus 2:2; Leviticus 24:7).

blesseth an idol Lit. "vanity," but the rendering rightly expresses the sense; cf. ch. Isaiah 41:29.

Yea, they have chosen &c. These clauses form the protasis to (Isaiah 66:4. Render: As they have chosen … (Isaiah 66:4) so will I choose &c.

I also will choose with the same shade of meaning as in Isaiah 66:3 ("will find satisfaction in"). "The Orientals are fond of such antitheses" (Gesenius).