CHAPTER LXV _We have here a vindication of God's dealings with the Jews_, 1, 2. _To this end the prophet points out their great hypocrisy, and_ _gives a particular enumeration of their dreadful abominations,_ _many of which were committed under the specious guise of_ _sanctity_, 3-5. _For the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 65:3. _THAT SACRIFICETH IN GARDENS, AND BURNETH INCENSE UPON_ _ALTARS OF BRICK_ - "Sacrificing in the gardens, and burning incense on the tiles"] These are instances of heathenish superstition, and idolatrous practices, to which the Jews were immoderately addicted before the Babylonish... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 65:4. _WHICH REMAIN AMONG THE GRAVES_] "For the purpose of evoking the dead. They lodged in desert places that demons might appear to them; for demons do appear in such places, to those who do believe in them." - _Kimchi_. _IN THE MONUMENTS_ - "In the caverns"] בנצורים _bannetsurim_, a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 65:5. _FOR I AM HOLIER THAN THOU_] So the _Chaldee_ renders it. קדשתיך kedashticha is the same with קדשתי ממך _kadashti_ _mimmecha_. In the same manner חזקתני _chazaktani_, Jeremiah 20:7, is used for חזקת ממני _chazacta mimmenni_, "thou art stronger than I." - L.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 65:6. _BEHOLD_, IT IS _WRITTEN BEFORE ME_] Their sin is registered in heaven, calling aloud for the punishment due to it. _I WILL - RECOMPENSE INTO THEIR BOSOM_] The bosom is the place where the Asiatics have their pockets, and not in their skirts like the inhabitants of the west. Thei... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 65:7. _YOUR INIQUITIES, AND THE INIQUITIES OF YOUR_ _FATHERS_ - "Their iniquities, and the iniquities of their fathers"] For the pronoun affixed of the second person חם _chem, your_, twice, read הם _hem, their_, in the third person; with the _Septuagint_ and _Houbigant_. - L.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 65:8. _A BLESSING_ IS _IN IT_] The Hebrews call all things which serve for food ברכה _berachah_, "a blessing." On this verse _Kimchi_ remarks: "As the cluster of grapes contains, besides the juice, the bark, and the kernels, so the Israelites have, besides the just, sinners among them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 65:9. _AN INHERITOR OF MY MOUNTAINS_ - "An inheritor of my mountain"] הרי _hari_, in the singular number; so the _Septuagint_ and _Syriac_; that is, of Mount Sion. See Isaiah 65:11 and Isaiah 56:7, to which Sion, the pronoun feminine singular, added to the verb in the next line, refers;... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 65:10. _SHARON - AND THE VALLEY OF ACHOR_] Two of the most fertile parts of Judea; famous for their rich pastures; the former to the west, not far from Joppa; the latter north of Jericho, near Gilgal.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 65:11. _THAT PREPARE A TABLE FOR THAT TROOP_ - "Who set in order a table for Gad"] The disquisitions and conjectures of the learned concerning Gad and Meni are infinite and uncertain: perhaps the most probable may be, that Gad means good fortune, and Meni the moon. "But why should we b... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 65:12. _THEREFORE WILL I NUMBER YOU_] Referring to _Meni_, which signifies _number_. "Rabbi Eliezar said to his disciples, Turn to God one day before you die. His disciples said, How can a man know the day of his death? He answered, Therefore it is necessary that you should turn to God... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 65:13. _MY SERVANTS SHALT EAT, BUT YE SHALL BE HUNGRY_] Rabbi Joachan ben Zachai said in a parable: There was a king who invited his servants, but set them no time to come to the feast. The prudent and wary who were among them adorned themselves; and, standing at the gate of the king's... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 65:15. _SHALL SLAY THEE__ _- "Shall slay you"] For והמיתך _vehemithecha, shall slay thee_, the _Septuagint_ and _Chaldee_ read והמיתכם _vehemithechem, shall slay you_, plural.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 65:17. _I CREATE NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH_] This has been variously understood. Some Jews and some Christians understand it _literally_. God shall change the state of the atmosphere, and render the earth more fruitful. Some refer it to what they call the Millennium; others, to a glor... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 65:18. _REJOICE FOR EVER_ IN THAT _WHICH I CREATE _- "Exult in the age to come which I create"] So in Isaiah 9:6 אבי עד abi ad, πατηρ του μελλοντος αιωνος, "the father of the age to come," _Sept_. See Bishop Chandler, Defence of Christianity, p. 136.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 65:19. _THE VOICE OF WEEPING, C._] "Because of untimely deaths shall no more be heard in thee for natural death shall not happen till men be full of days; as it is written, Isaiah 65:20: _There shall be no more thence an infant of days_, i.e., the people shall live to _three_ or _five h... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 65:20. _THENCE__ _- "There"] For משם _mishsham, thence_, the _Septuagint, Syriac_, and _Vulgate_, read שם _sham, there_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 65:22. _THEY SHALL NOT BUILD, AND ANOTHER INHABIT_] The reverse of the curse denounced on the disobedient, Deuteronomy 28:30: "Thou shalt build a house, and thou shalt not dwell therein; thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof." _FOR AS THE DAYS OF A TREE_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 65:23. _THEY SHALL NOT LABOUR IN VAIN_ - "My chosen shall not labour in vain"] I remove בחירי _bechirai, my elect_, from the end of the twenty-second to the beginning of the twenty-third verse, on the authority of the _Septuagint, Syriac_, and _Vulgate_, and a MS.; contrary to the divis... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 65:24. _BEFORE THEY CALL, I WILL ANSWER_] I will give them all they crave for, and more than they can desire.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Isaiah 65:25. _THE WOLF AND THE LAMB, C._] The glorious salvation which Jesus Christ procures is for men, and for men only: fallen spirits must still abide under the curse: "He took not on him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham." _SHALL FEED TOGETHER_] For כאחד _keechad, as one_, a... [ Continue Reading ]