Isaiah 65:1-12

E. REFINING OF ZION, CHAPTER 65
1. CLEANSED

TEXT: Isaiah 65:1-12

1

I am inquired of by 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, that walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts;

3

a people that provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens, and burning incense upon bricks;

4

that sit among the graves, and lodge in the secret places; that eat swine's flesh, and broth of adominable things is in their vessels;

5

that say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me, for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.

6

Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, yea, I will recompense into their bosom,

7

your own iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith Jehovah, that have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I first measure their work into their bosom.

8

Thus saith Jehovah, 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 and inheritor of my mountains; and my chosen 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 herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.

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;

12

I will destine 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 ye did that which was evil in mine eyes, and chose that wherein I delighted not.

QUERIES

a.

What is the practice of sitting among graves (verse four)?

b.

Where is the valley of Achor?

c.

Who is Fortune?

PARAPHRASE

This is what the Lord says in answer to Zion's complaint: While some seek Me and do not find Me, others who never before sought Me will find Me! I will reveal Myself to a people I have not chosen. However, the rebellious people I have chosenwith whom I have been continually pleading to come to Methey have chosen to follow their own evil ideas and desires. These people of Mine insult Me continually, and Blatantly to My face, worshiping in the idol-gardens and burning incense to images on heathen altars. They go out at night to the graveyards and other secret places to hold seances and try to contact the dead; they indulge in the pagan rituals of eating swine's flesh and rotten food. These have so completely given themselves over to pagan ritual and mystery-cults they think they have attained extra-ordinary sanctity and do not wish to associate with their fellow countrymen so they say, Stay away from me, you are not in the same class as I am in wisdom and religion. The Lord says of these, They are as vexatious and repulsive to Me as smoke in the nose from a fire that smolders continually. I have been recording their deeds and I have written down a decree that I will no longer restrain Myself toward these rebels. I am going to pay them with a full penalty for their rebellion. I am going to dump this entire mess of ungodliness they have made right back into their laps. I am going to punish them, not only for their own sins, but also for the sins of their forefathers too, says the Lord, because their forefathers taught them to worship idols on the hilltops and profane My name and insult My name; I will pay them back for the centuries of profanity with which they profaned Me.
But I will not destroy them all, says the Lord; just as one does not want to throw away a cluster of grapes because there are some good grapes mixed with the bad ones, so there are some good people in Zion I do not want to destroy. There are a few in Zion who are My good servants. I will save a small group and these will provide seed to form a people who will receive the inheritance and the dwelling I have promised them. This inheritance and dwelling place will be one of prosperity and security like Sharon 'S plains and the valley of Achor for those who seek Me. But as for the rest of you, who worship the gods of Good Luck and Destiny, and who forsake My temple and forget Me, I will destine you to slaughter by your enemy's sword. You are marked for the slaughter because when I plead with you to come to Me you did not answer My pleading; when I commanded, you did not obey. In fact, you deliberately did what I had said was evil and your every desire was what I told you was undesirable to Me.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 65:1-7 SIN REPAID: It may have appeared up to this point in Isaiah's prophecy that he was pronouncing doom upon the whole nation. However, the prayer in chapter 64 shows that there was a small remnant of people who had turned to the Lord for help. This small group had the testimony of Isaiah bound up and sealed among them and were the prophet's disciples. They had turned to the teaching and to the testimony (cf. Isaiah 8:16-20). Chapter 65 is the verification that Isaiah had been declaring all along the whole nation was not to be doomed but that there would be a sifting and God would indeed answer the prayer for deliverance by the remnant. Those who blaspheme the Lord will be recompensed with judgment; those who trust Him will become a seed and provide heirs to Judah's promises.

The apostle Paul helps us understand that these final verses of Isaiah's book have to do with the Messiah's kingdom (the church) for he quotes Isaiah 65:1-2 in Romans 10:20-21 as fulfilled at the preaching of the gospel and its reception by Gentiles. Isaiah is predicting that a refining, sorting, culling process is going to take place as a consequence of the Babylonian captivity and the subsequent centuries of the Jewish indignation (cf. our comments Daniel, College Press, pages 343-353 and 429-435). From the Babylonian captivity, through the restoration of the Jewish commonwealth, through the Seleucid domination and the Maccabean revolt, and through the early Roman domination the Jewish nation would undergo a spiritual sifting until thoroughly prepared (with a remnant of godly servants like Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Simeon, Anna, etc.) for the new creation (Isaiah 66:18-24) (the Messiah's Zion). This sifting must take place because of the abominable rebellion of a majority of Israel in Isaiah's day. Many of these rebels will never find Jehovah even though He has plead with them (through prophets and leaders) for century after century. They would not give up their idols. So it is predicted that God will have a people turn to Him in the future who had never inquired about Him before. This will be the goiy (singular of goiym), Isaiah 65:1 substantiates Ephesians 3:1-6 that Jehovah did not in ancient times make known to the Gentiles the messianic program as He did to the Jews. But Isaiah 65:1 predicts a time when the Gentiles would find Him; the Gentiles will behold Him and they will be called by His name. The time will come, says Isaiah, when God will reveal Himself and invite the Gentiles, behold Me, behold Me! That invitation will be through the preaching of the gospel of Christ says Paul in Romans 10:14-21.

But until the time comes for Jehovah to open the messianic kingdom to the Gentiles, He spreads out His hands all the day to a rebellious people. Jehovah was more than patient, more than merciful, more than just with Israel. Century after century He plead with them through His prophets (cf. 2 Chronicles 24:18-19; 2 Chronicles 36:15-16; Jeremiah 7:13; Luke 11:50, etc.). But they would not listen (cf. Hosea 11:1-2; Hosea 12:10-14; Micah 2:6-11; Isaiah 30:8-11; Jeremiah 5:3; Jeremiah 6:16-19; Jeremiah 7:27-28; Jeremiah 8:5-6, etc.). The Hebrew word soorer is translated rebellious but is more specifically, stubborn. They have their own ways and their own ideas and they stubbornly refuse God's thought and ways. With centuries of evidence behind them that God's ways result in good and man's result in evil, they still reject God's ways! The Hebrew phrase in verse three, ha-'am hammake-'isiym, is literally, the people, the ones angering me to My face continually. The Hebrew word is actually stronger than provokeit emphasizes anger! The sin of Israel here depicted is insensitive and blatant. Knowing it angers Jehovah, they persist; not only do they persist, they invent new ways to provoke Him.

1.

Sacrificing in gardens: making the ritual offerings in the groves of trees and flower gardens dedicated to pagan idols (see comments Isaiah 57:1-8).

2.

Burning incense upon bricks: incense is usually associated with prayer. They were praying to idols by burning incense upon brick altars.

3.

Sit among graves, and lodge in the secret places: apparently this refers to the practice of trying to contact the dead. The Hebrew word loon is translated lodge in in secret places but means simply, lodge all night. They were practicing the common pagan ritual of necromancy which was strictly forbidden by their scriptures (cf. Deuteronomy 18:11; 1 Samuel 28:3; Isaiah 57:9). Jerome refers to a practice called incubation in the temples of the idols where they were accustomed to lie upon the skins of the victims stretched upon the ground, to gather future events from their dreams.

4.

Eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable things: Swine's flesh was offered by the heathen in sacrifice to their idols and then eaten as a ritual of dedication and holiness (cf. 2Ma. 6:18-22; 2Ma. 7:1-2). It was forbidden for the Hebrews (cf. Leviticus 11:7 ff; Deuteronomy 14:8). The Hebrew word pigguliym is translated abominable things and according to Ezekiel 4:14; Leviticus 7:18; Leviticus 19:7 it is things that are legally unclean. Young calls it rotten things; Keil and Delitzsch says the word means a stench, a putrefaction, broth made either of such kinds of flesh or such parts of the body as were forbidden by the law. It was a disgusting and revolting practice evidently a part of pagan cultic worship.

Those who became initiates into the pagan mystery cults did so through secret rituals and orders. They went out in the dark of night to the groves and hilltops; they talked in a cryptic language about mysterious rites and ceremonies; they glanced and smiled knowingly when asked about their worship. All of this made the cult worshipers consider themselves the in group, the wise people, and, religiously above everyone else. Any person not a member of the cult was considered ignorant, unsophisticated and not one with whom to be associated. Therefore, they said (literally), Be off to yourself, that is, Stay away from me, you do not know all the secret things I know and we just are not in the same class of people. Such arrogance by men who have rejected goodness and purity for wickedness and rottenness vexes Jehovah (The absolutely righteous One) like the smoke smoldering from a garbage heap in the nostrils of a man.
The Hebrew word shillametiy comes from the root shalam which primarily means complete, entire, finish, make good, repay, or requite. It is translated in verse six recompense. The Hebrew kheygam is from khooq which means lap, or bosom. Jehovah has written down in His heavenly books the bill of goods on these profane, blasphemous people and He is going to pay them back and dump the whole mess into their laps. Sin pays wages (Romans 6:23). Jehovah has ordered His moral creation so that man and nature may receive in their own persons the due penalty for their error (Romans 1:28). When men plow iniquity, they reap injustice; when they sow falsehood, they eat the fruit of lies (cf. Hosea 10:13). God is not mocked, what a man sows, that shall he reap (Galatians 6:7-10). Generations of men reap the fruit of lies because they follow willingly in the lies of their ancestors (cf. 2 Chronicles 33:9; 2 Kings 24:3; Jeremiah 15:4 for the classic illustration of this in Manasseh). The idolatry and blasphemy characterized by Isaiah here was practiced by the Hebrews from the days of Solomon (cf. Hosea 4:13; Isaiah 57:7; Jeremiah 2:20; Jeremiah 3:6 ff; Jeremiah 17:2, etc.). Those who dance must pay the fiddler. Israel and Judah paid the consequences of their idolatrous indulgence with sword, pestilence and famine for centuries and centuries until they finally filled up the cup of their iniquity by rejecting Jehovah's Servant, the Messiah, and forfeited their birthright, lost their national identity and surrendered their only salvation.

Isaiah 65:8-12 SEED REPLANTED: Out of the captivities Jehovah will refine a small remnant. When the husbandman of a vineyard gathers clusters of grapes he does not throw away a whole cluster if he sees some good grapes in it. So Jehovah saw in this rotten nation a few good people who would be a blessing to the world and form the messianic remnant. The Lord did not destroy the whole nation, (cf. Jeremiah 46:28). Many died of famine, pestilence and the sword during the Babylonian attacks (606, 597, 586 and 582). Many fled into the hills and caves of Palestine from the Babylonian attacks and died there of starvation. Jeremiah says there were approximately 4,600 Jews taken back to Babylon as captives. The number is 10,000 in 2 Kings 24:14 plus some additional ones later (2 Kings 25:8-17). A few of the very poor and physically infirm were left in Judea to farm the land. In addition, some whom the emperor of Babylon gave special favors, such as Jeremiah, and roving bands of deserting soldiers also remained (see comments Old Testament History, by Smith & Fields, College Press, pgs. 665-676, and First and Second Kings, by James E. Smith, College Press, pgs. 733-755). Altogether, about 15,000 were deported to Babylon from Judea. The Assyrian emperor, Sargon, noted on an inscription (discovered in 1842 by Botta) that he took 27,290 Jews captive from the northern ten tribes (Israel) when that nation fell in 722 B.C. About 42,000 people were taken captive between 722 B.C. and 582 B.C. (140 years). Some 50,000 returned at the release of the captives granted by the edict of Cyrus (536 B.C.). From the fall of the northern ten tribes (Israel) to the return to Palestine was 186 years. The Hebrew nation was begun at the exodus with approximately 2,500,000 people (see Old Testament History, Smith & Fields, College Press, pg. 155). After its purging through Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, it was begun again with 50,000. That is about a two-percent remnant!

With those statistics in mind, one is much more impressed with the promise of Jehovah to Isaiah concerning the holy seed (cf. Isaiah 6:13). Jehovah is going to bring forth a seed out of Jacob (Isaiah 65:9) and this seed shall be replanted in the land and it shall produce servants to inherit the spiritual blessings which shall come through the messianic kingdom. Isaiah has a goal in mind for the seed of Jacob beyond the physical return of the Jews to Judea because the seed is to consist not only of Jews but of Gentiles as well (Isaiah 65:1)! Those who came to Jesus, the Messiah, inherited the rest God had promised His chosen (cf. Hebrews 3:1 to Hebrews 4:13). Those who came to Zion, the N.T. church, inherited Jehovah's mountain (cf. Hebrews 12:22-29). Jehovah promised to multiply the seed to inherit the messianic promises (cf. 2 Samuel 7:12-17; Isaiah 44:3; Isaiah 54:3; Isaiah 59:21; Isaiah 66:22; Jeremiah 33:19-22, etc.). And the seed was multiplied and did include the Gentiles (cf. Romans 4:1-23; Romans 8:12-17; Romans 9:6-8; Galatians 3:16; Galatians 3:28-29).

The restful, prosperous pastoral scene is figurative of the spiritual rest and prosperity that will be inherited by the people of the Good Shepherd (cf. Ezekiel 34:1-31; Jeremiah 33:14-26; Hosea 3:5; Joel 3:1-3; Amos 9:11-15; Obadiah 1:21; Micah 5:2-4; Zephaniah 3:9-20; Zechariah 12:1 to Zechariah 14:21). Sharon 'S plain was well known for its fertility and Achor is probably the same as the Wadi Kelt which descends through a deep ravine from the Judean hills and runs between steep banks south of the modern Jericho to the Jordan river. In all the five places where it is mentioned it is described as the -emek, the arable valley of Achor. Hosea pictures the comforting aspect of the terrible event for which the valley is famous (Achan's execution, Joshua 7:24-26); it was a doorway of hope for chastened Israel (Hosea 2:15).

Gesenius identifies Fortune (Heb. gad) and Destiny (Heb. meniy) with Jupiter and Venus, the Greater and Lesser Good Fortunes of the astrologers. However, the ISBE (Vol. I, pg. 299) says, ... it is more probable that they are the two beautiful starclusters that stand on the head and the shoulder of the Bull at the old commencement of the zodiac. the Hyades and Pleiades. Both groups were considered traditionally as composed of seven stars; and the two names. taken together give the meaning of the -Fortunate Number,-' i.e., seven. The. spreading of the table and mingling the wine to Gad and Meniy at the beginning of the year to secure good fortune throughout its course, were therefore held about the time of the Passover, as if in parody, if indeed they were not a desecration of it; heathen rites added to one of the most solemn services of Jehovah.

Jehovah will save a seed through the process of refining and purifying (cf. Malachi 3:1-4), but as for those who make a mockery of His commandments and think they can blaspheme Him by adding heathen rites to their worship, He will arrange for their destiny to be the slaughter of war. There is a very obvious sarcasm in the use of the word meniy (destiny) in Isaiah 65:12. The people worshiped and trusted in the god Destiny; Jehovah will show them who controls destiny! They will receive a destiny which they deserve, for when Jehovah called, they did not answer and when He commanded they did not (shama-' hear) obey. It is well to note here that God came to His people by words (a propositional revelation, not mystical and subjective) and those words were to be obeyed, not merely noticed or felt. It is also well to note that those to whom the revelation came had the freedom to choose and chose to disobey. The Hebrew syntax is interesting in the last phrase of Isaiah 65:12; the construction (... that which I delighted not in, you chose) puts emphasis on that in which Jehovah delighted not! The Lord is justified in His rejection of these people for they have, in fact, rejected, mocked and deliberately chosen against Him.

QUIZ

1.

Who are those who found Jehovah having not sought Him?

2.

Who are the rebellious people being sought by Jehovah?

3.

Name the abominable practices of the rebellious people.

4.

Why did they consider themselves holier than others?

5.

How does God recompense them?

6.

What is the figure of the new wine in the cluster?

7.

Who were the seed brought forth?