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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Isaiah 66 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/isaiah/66.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/isaiah/66.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/isaiah/66-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../isaiah/">Isaiah</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../isaiah/65.htm" title="Isaiah 65">◄</a> Isaiah 66 <a href="../jeremiah/1.htm" title="Jeremiah 1">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-1.htm">Isaiah 66:1</a></div><div class="verse">Thus saith the LORD, The heaven <i>is</i> my throne, and the earth <i>is</i> my footstool: where <i>is</i> the house that ye build unto me? and where <i>is</i> the place of my rest?</div>LXVI.</span><p>(1) <span class= "bld">The heaven is my throne . . .</span>—We are left to conjecture the historical starting-point of this utterance of a Divine truth. Was the prophet condemning in advance the restoration of the temple on the return from Babylon, or, as some critics have supposed, the intention of some of the exiles to build a temple in the land of their captivity, as others did afterwards at Leontopolis in Egypt? Was he anticipating the vision of the Apocalypse, that in the new Jerusalem there was to be “no temple” (<a href="/revelation/21-22.htm" title="And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.">Revelation 21:22</a>)? Neither of these views is satisfactory, <a href="/isaiah/56-7.htm" title="Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.">Isaiah 56:7</a>; <a href="/isaiah/60-7.htm" title="All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you: they shall come up with acceptance on my altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.">Isaiah 60:7</a>, and the writings of Ezekiel, Haggai, Zechariah, all pre-supposing the existence of a new temple. It seems better to see in the words the utterance, in its strongest form, of the truth that God dwelleth, not in temples made with hands, that utterance being compatible, as in the case of Solomon himself (<a href="/2_chronicles/6-18.htm" title="But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house which I have built!">2Chronicles 6:18</a>), of our Lord (<a href="/context/john/2-16.htm" title="And said to them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.">John 2:16-17</a>; <a href="/context/john/4-21.htm" title="Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.">John 4:21-23</a>), of St. Stephen, who quoted this passage (<a href="/context/acts/7-48.htm" title="However, the most High dwells not in temples made with hands; as said the prophet,">Acts 7:48-50</a>), with the profoundest reverence for the visible sanctuary. Cheyne quotes a striking parallel from an Egyptian hymn to the Nile of the fourteenth century B.C., in which we find the writer saying of God, <span class= "ital">“</span>His abode is not known <span class= "bld">. . .</span> there is no building that can contain Him.” (<span class= "ital">Records of the Past, iv.</span> 109.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-2.htm">Isaiah 66:2</a></div><div class="verse">For all those <i>things</i> hath mine hand made, and all those <i>things</i> have been, saith the LORD: but to this <i>man</i> will I look, <i>even</i> to <i>him that is</i> poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">All those things . . .</span>—The sequence of thought runs thus:—God, the Maker of the universe, can need nothing that belongs to it. The most stately temple is to Him as the infinitely little. What He does delight in is something which is generically different, the spiritual life which answers to His own, the “contrite heart,” which is the true correlative of His own holiness. He who offers that is a true worshipper, with or without the ritual of worship; in its absence, all worship is an abomination to the Eternal. Here 1 and 2 Isaiah are essentially one in teaching. (Comp. <a href="/context/isaiah/1-11.htm" title="To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? said the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.">Isaiah 1:11-18</a>; <a href="/isaiah/57-15.htm" title="For thus said the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.">Isaiah 57:15</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-3.htm">Isaiah 66:3</a></div><div class="verse">He that killeth an ox <i>is as if</i> he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, <i>as if</i> he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, <i>as if he offered</i> swine's blood; he that burneth incense, <i>as if</i> he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">He that killeth an ox . . .</span>—The truth of the previous verse is emphasised by iteration, each clause presenting a distinct illustration of it. Chapter <a href="/context/isaiah/65-3.htm" title="A people that provokes me to anger continually to my face; that sacrifices in gardens, and burns incense on altars of brick;">Isaiah 65:3-11</a> had pointed to tendencies, not yet extinct, which led to open apostasy. Now the prophet declares that there may be as real an apostasy beneath an orthodox creed and an irreproachable ritual. Each act of the hypocrite’s worship is as an idolatrous abomination.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-4.htm">Isaiah 66:4</a></div><div class="verse">I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose <i>that</i> in which I delighted not.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">I also will choose their delusions . . .</span>—The Hebrew noun conveys the thought of the turnings and windings of fortune—what has been called the irony of history. These are the instruments with which God, as it were, mocks and has in derision those who mock Him by their hypocrisy. Their choice did not delight Him; what He chooses will be far other than delightful for them. (Comp. <a href="/psalms/2-4.htm" title="He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.">Psalm 2:4</a>; <a href="/context/proverbs/1-24.htm" title="Because I have called, and you refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;">Proverbs 1:24-26</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-5.htm">Isaiah 66:5</a></div><div class="verse">Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">Hear the word of the Lord . . .</span>—The prophet turns from the hypocrites to the persecuted remnant. The self-righteous, self-exalting Pharisee (comp. <a href="/isaiah/65-5.htm" title="Which say, Stand by yourself, come not near to me; for I am holier than you. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all the day.">Isaiah 65:5</a>) repudiates, and, as it were, excommunicates, the true worshippers, and taunts them with their devotion to a God who does not help them. In words which find an echo in <a href="/matthew/27-42.htm" title="He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.">Matthew 27:42</a>, they said, “Let Jehovah glorify Himself, that we may look on your joy.” The prophet adds the doom that shall fall upon the mockers: “They, and not those whom they deride, shall be put to shame.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-6.htm">Isaiah 66:6</a></div><div class="verse">A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompence to his enemies.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">A voice of noise . . .</span>—The form reminds us of <a href="/isaiah/13-4.htm" title="The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts musters the host of the battle.">Isaiah 13:4</a>. The words represent dramatically the wonder with which men will behold the great judgments of God, proceeding, as with the thunders of Sinai (<a href="/amos/1-2.htm" title="And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.">Amos 1:2</a>; <a href="/joel/3-16.htm" title="The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.">Joel 3:16</a>), from the city and the temple, that seemed to have been given over to destruction.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-7.htm">Isaiah 66:7</a></div><div class="verse">Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">Before she travailed . . .</span>—The mother, as the next verse shows, is Zion; the man-child, born at last without the travail-pangs of sorrow, is the new Israel, the true Israel of God. The same figure has met us in <a href="/context/isaiah/49-17.htm" title="Your children shall make haste; your destroyers and they that made you waste shall go forth of you.">Isaiah 49:17-21</a>; <a href="/isaiah/54-1.htm" title="Sing, O barren, you that did not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you that did not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, said the LORD.">Isaiah 54:1</a>, and is implied in <a href="/matthew/24-8.htm" title="All these are the beginning of sorrows.">Matthew 24:8</a>. Its antithesis is found in <a href="/isaiah/37-3.htm" title="And they said to him, Thus said Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.">Isaiah 37:3</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-8.htm">Isaiah 66:8</a></div><div class="verse">Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? <i>or</i> shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">Shall the earth be made . . .</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">Shall a land be made to travail. </span>The usually slow processes of national development are contrasted with the supernatural rapidity of the birth and growth of the new Israel.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-9.htm">Isaiah 66:9</a></div><div class="verse">Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut <i>the womb</i>? saith thy God.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">Shall I bring to the birth . . .</span>—The implied thought is that God will not leave His work of national restoration unfinished. There shall not be that frustration of hopes when they seem just on the point of being fulfilled which the history of the world so often records. (Comp. <a href="/isaiah/37-3.htm" title="And they said to him, Thus said Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.">Isaiah 37:3</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-10.htm">Isaiah 66:10</a></div><div class="verse">Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her:</div>(10) <span class= "bld">Rejoice ye with Jerusalem . . .</span>—The holy city is still thought of as a mother rejoicing in her new-born child; friends and neighbours (<span class= "ital">i e., </span>the nations friendly to Israel) who had shown pity for her sufferings are now invited to participate in her joy.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-11.htm">Isaiah 66:11</a></div><div class="verse">That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">That ye may suck . . .</span>—The figure takes a new and bolder form. The friends who visit the rejoicing mother are invited to take their place with the new-born child, and to share his nurture. The underlying thought is, of course, that the heathen nations who had been friendly to Zion were to become converts, and be incorporated with her citizens.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-12.htm">Isaiah 66:12</a></div><div class="verse">For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon <i>her</i> sides, and be dandled upon <i>her</i> knees.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">Ye shall be borne upon her sides.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">upon the side, </span>or <span class= "ital">upon the knee, or hip. </span>(See Note on <a href="/isaiah/60-4.htm" title="Lift up your eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to you: your sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side.">Isaiah 60:4</a>.) The outward figure is now presented as in an inverted form, to express a new spiritual fact. The children of Zion will find a maternal tenderness and care at the hands of the heathen nations, who are to be as their “nursing mothers.” (Comp. 60:16.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-13.htm">Isaiah 66:13</a></div><div class="verse">As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">One whom his mother comforteth . . .</span>—The image of maternal love, with which the prophet’s mind is full, is presented in yet another aspect. The love which Zion <span class= "ital">gives, </span>the love which her children receive from the nations, are both but shadows of the infinite tenderness of Jehovah. In this instance the object of the mother’s love that comforts is not the child at the breast, but the full-grown man, returning, like the prodigal, to his home after long years of exile. The words are characteristic at once of the special tie which unites the son to the mother, almost more than to the father, in most Eastern nations, and, perhaps also, of the prophet’s personal memories of his own mother’s love.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-14.htm">Isaiah 66:14</a></div><div class="verse">And when ye see <i>this</i>, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and <i>his</i> indignation toward his enemies.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">Your bones shall flourish . . .</span>—“Heart” and “bones” stand respectively as symbols of the inner and outer life. The “bones,” the branches, so to speak, of the body, which had been dry and sere, should revive as with the sap of a new life, and be as the succulent herbage. His “hand,” <span class= "ital">i.e., </span>His manifested power, will show itself in love to His people, in indignation to their enemies.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-15.htm">Isaiah 66:15</a></div><div class="verse">For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.</div>(15) <span class= "bld">With his chariots . . .</span><span class= "ital">—i.e., </span>the storm-clouds sweeping on their way, while the lightnings and the winds do their work. (Comp. <a href="/psalms/18-10.htm" title="And he rode on a cherub, and did fly: yes, he did fly on the wings of the wind.">Psalm 18:10</a>; <a href="/psalms/68-33.htm" title="To him that rides on the heavens of heavens, which were of old; see, he does send out his voice, and that a mighty voice.">Psalm 68:33</a>)<span class= "bld"><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-16.htm">Isaiah 66:16</a></div><div class="verse">For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.</div>(16) <span class= "bld">Will the Lord plead . . .</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">will the Lord hold judgment. </span>The thoughts of the seer pass on to the retributive side of the Divine righteousness. Fire and sword have been used by the enemies of God against His people, and shall, in turn, be the instruments of His vengeance. The “sword” may, however, be the symbol of the Divine judgment, apart from any reference to its human instrument (<a href="/deuteronomy/32-41.htm" title="If I whet my glittering sword, and my hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to my enemies, and will reward them that hate me.">Deuteronomy 32:41</a>; <a href="/revelation/1-16.htm" title="And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shines in his strength.">Revelation 1:16</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-17.htm">Isaiah 66:17</a></div><div class="verse">They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one <i>tree</i> in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.</div>(17) <span class= "bld">They that sanctify themselves . . .</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">they that consecrate themselves <span class= "bld">. . .</span></span> As in <a href="/context/isaiah/65-3.htm" title="A people that provokes me to anger continually to my face; that sacrifices in gardens, and burns incense on altars of brick;">Isaiah 65:3-4</a>, the prophet has in his thoughts the apostates, who gloried in mingling heathen rites with the worship of Jehovah. Such a blending of incompatible elements was, as we have seen, eminently characteristic of the reign of Manasseh. We have no trace of anything corresponding to it among the. Babylonian exiles, either before or after their return. The “consecration” and “purification” are the initiatory rites of heathen mysteries, connected probably with the worship of Baal or Ashtoreth, or, as the context, with its reference to gardens and swine’s flesh, renders probable, with that of Thammuz. (See Note on <a href="/isaiah/64-4.htm" title="For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, O God, beside you, what he has prepared for him that waits for him.">Isaiah 64:4</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Behind one tree in the midst.</span>—The noun “tree” is a conjectural explanation. The Hebrew text <span class= "ital">gives </span>the “one” in the masculine, and is explained as referring either (1) to the Hierophant, who led the worshippers; or (2), as with a contemptuous reluctance to utter the name of the false deity, to Thammuz. The Hebrew margin gives “one” in the feminine, and this may have been meant for the <span class= "ital">Asherah, </span>the “grove,” or Phallic symbol of idolatrous worship. If we adopt the masculine, and refer it to Thammuz, the word may connect itself with the lamentations of the Syrian maidens over Thammuz (Adonis) as over an only son. (Comp. Milton, <span class= "ital">Paradise Lost, </span>i.)<p><span class= "bld">The abomination.</span>—The word stands in <a href="/leviticus/7-21.htm" title="Moreover the soul that shall touch any unclean thing, as the uncleanness of man, or any unclean beast, or any abominable unclean thing, and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which pertain to the LORD, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.">Leviticus 7:21</a>; <a href="/leviticus/11-11.htm" title="They shall be even an abomination to you; you shall not eat of their flesh, but you shall have their carcasses in abomination.">Leviticus 11:11</a>, for various kinds of unclean beasts, among which the mouse, or jerboa, still eaten by the Arabs, was conspicuous (<a href="/leviticus/11-29.htm" title="These also shall be unclean to you among the creeping things that creep on the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind,">Leviticus 11:29</a>). It is probable that all these, as well as the swine’s flesh, were used in the idolfeasts. In any case the apostate worshippers would seem to have exulted in throwing off the restraints of the Mosaic law.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-18.htm">Isaiah 66:18</a></div><div class="verse">For I <i>know</i> their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.</div>(18) <span class= "bld">For I know their works . . .</span>—The Hebrew has no verb, either—as in the <span class= "ital">Quos ego </span><span class= "bld">. . .</span> of Virgil, <span class= "ital">Æn., 1:1</span>39—for the sake of emphasis, or through an accidental omission in transcription. <span class= "ital">I know </span>is supplied by many versions and commentators; <span class= "ital">I will punish </span>or <span class= "ital">I have seen </span>by others. The thought, in any case, is that the eye of Jehovah sees the evil things that are done in the secret places, caves or groves, in which the heathen rites were celebrated.<p><span class= "bld">All nations and tongues . . .</span>—The phrase, though not incompatible with Isaiah’s authorship, is specially characteristic of the prophets of the Exile (<a href="/daniel/3-4.htm" title="Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,">Daniel 3:4</a>; <a href="/daniel/3-7.htm" title="Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.">Daniel 3:7</a>; <a href="/daniel/3-29.htm" title="Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.">Daniel 3:29</a>; <a href="/daniel/4-1.htm" title="Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied to you.">Daniel 4:1</a>; <a href="/zechariah/8-23.htm" title="Thus said the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.">Zechariah 8:23</a>).<p><span class= "bld">They shall come, and see my glory.</span>—The “glory” in the prophet’s thoughts is that of Jehovah manifested in His righteous judgments on open enemies and concealed apostates.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-19.htm">Isaiah 66:19</a></div><div class="verse">And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, <i>to</i> Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, <i>to</i> Tubal, and Javan, <i>to</i> the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.</div>(19) <span class= "bld">I will set a sign among them . . .</span>—The “sign” may be one of supernatural terror in the work of judgment, or, as the context makes more probable, of supernatural deliverance. The thought of a “remnant” to be saved is still characteristically dominant, and that “remnant” is to act as heralds of Jehovah to the far-distant nations who had not been sharers in any open antagonism to Israel, and who were, therefore, not involved in the great judgment. Of these the prophet names Tarshish, either definitely for Spain, or vaguely for the far west.<p><span class= "bld">Pul </span>is not found elsewhere as the name of a nation, and stands probably for “Phut,” as in the LXX., found in common with “Lud” in <a href="/ezekiel/27-10.htm" title="They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in your army, your men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in you; they set forth your comeliness.">Ezekiel 27:10</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/30-5.htm" title="Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.">Ezekiel 30:5</a>, and standing for an African people (Phint, or Phet) on the east coast of Northern Africa.<p><span class= "bld">Lud, </span>joined with “Pul” here, in <a href="/ezekiel/27-10.htm" title="They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in your army, your men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in you; they set forth your comeliness.">Ezekiel 27:10</a> with Phut, and with Ethiopia and Libya in <a href="/ezekiel/37-5.htm" title="Thus said the Lord GOD to these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live:">Ezekiel 37:5</a>, stands, in the judgment of most scholars, not for the Lydians of Asia Minor, but for an African nation, the Ludim of <a href="/genesis/10-13.htm" title="And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,">Genesis 10:13</a> and <a href="/jeremiah/46-9.htm" title="Come up, you horses; and rage, you chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.">Jeremiah 46:9</a>, where they are named, as here, as famous for their skill as archers. On the other hand, Mr. Sayce (Cheyne, 2:287) identifies “Pul” with the Apuli of Italy and “Lud,” with the Lydian soldiers, by whose help Psammitichus made himself independent of Assyria.<p><span class= "bld">Tubal </span>(comp. <a href="/ezekiel/27-13.htm" title="Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were your merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in your market.">Ezekiel 27:13</a>; <a href="/context/ezekiel/38-2.htm" title="Son of man, set your face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,">Ezekiel 38:2-3</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/39-1.htm" title="Therefore, you son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus said the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:">Ezekiel 39:1</a>) points to the shores of the Black Sea and tribes of Scythian extraction.<p><span class= "bld">Javan </span>(Ionia), <a href="/genesis/10-2.htm" title="The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.">Genesis 10:2</a>, is here used widely for any Greek settlements, and points probably to those on the Black Sea, which, together with Tubal and Meshech, carried on an active slave-trade with Tyre (<a href="/ezekiel/27-3.htm" title="And say to Tyrus, O you that are situate at the entry of the sea, which are a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus said the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, you have said, I am of perfect beauty.">Ezekiel 27:3</a>). It completes the list of nations named as representing the far-off lands that had not before heard of the God of Israel, but were now to know Him through the preaching of the remnant.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-20.htm">Isaiah 66:20</a></div><div class="verse">And they shall bring all your brethren <i>for</i> an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.</div>(20) <span class= "bld">They shall bring all your brethren . . .</span>—The offering is the <span class= "ital">minchah, </span>the bloodless meatoffering of the Levitical law (<a href="/context/leviticus/2-1.htm" title="And when any will offer a meat offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense thereon:">Leviticus 2:1-2</a>). The underlying thought is that the returning exiles would be the most acceptable offering that could be brought to Jehovah. The same idea appears in <a href="/zephaniah/3-10.htm" title="From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring my offering.">Zephaniah 3:10</a>, and a similar one, transferred, however, to the Gentile converts, in <a href="/romans/15-16.htm" title="That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.">Romans 15:16</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Upon horses, and in chariots . . .</span>—The list of the modes of transport, as in <a href="/zechariah/14-15.htm" title="And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague.">Zechariah 14:15</a>, points to the various habits of the many nations who are to be sharers in the work.<p><span class= "bld">As the children of Israel . . .</span>—The “clean offering” is, as before, the <span class= "ital">minchah. </span>The heathen, or, perhaps, even the chariots and litters on which they brought the exiles, are as the “clean vessels” in which the <span class= "ital">minchah </span>was brought to the Temple.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-21.htm">Isaiah 66:21</a></div><div class="verse">And I will also take of them for priests <i>and</i> for Levites, saith the LORD.</div>(21) <span class= "bld">I will also take of them for priests . . .</span>—We are left to determine whether the promise is that even Gentile converts should be enrolled among the priests and Levites of the new Jerusalem, or that Israelites of the non-priestly tribes should be so enrolled. Was the prophet breaking down in thought the middle wall of partition, or clinging to its maintenance? <a href="/isaiah/61-6.htm" title="But you shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: you shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall you boast yourselves.">Isaiah 61:6</a> seems in favour of the latter view, and we are probably right in looking on this thought, that of all Israel being eligible for the priesthood, as that which was in the prophet’s mind. Like other such thoughts, however, it was capable of expansion, so as to include the whole Israel of God, who were by faith the children of Abraham. (Comp. <a href="/1_peter/2-5.htm" title="You also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.">1Peter 2:5</a>; <a href="/1_peter/2-9.htm" title="But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light;">1Peter 2:9</a>, with <a href="/exodus/19-6.htm" title="And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.">Exodus 19:6</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-22.htm">Isaiah 66:22</a></div><div class="verse">For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.</div>(22) <span class= "bld">As the new heavens and the new earth . . .</span>—The transformation of <a href="/isaiah/65-17.htm" title="For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.">Isaiah 65:17</a> is pre-supposed, but that future kingdom of God shall perpetuate the historical continuity of that which has preceded it. Israel (the prophet’s range of vision seems limited to the outward Israel, while St. Paul extends it to the spiritual) shall still exist. The ideal represented by that name will have an indestructible vitality.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-23.htm">Isaiah 66:23</a></div><div class="verse">And it shall come to pass, <i>that</i> from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.</div>(23) <span class= "bld">From one new moon to another . . .</span>—Under the Mosaic law Israelites were bound, at least in theory, to attend the temple at the three great feasts. In the new Jerusalem, as the prophet thought of it, the pilgrimages would be both more frequent and more universal. Every sabbath and new moon would witness not Israel only, but “all flesh,” thronging into the courts of the temple. It lies in the nature of the case that the words never have received, and never can receive, a literal fulfilment. The true realisation is found in the new Jerusalem of <a href="/context/revelation/21-22.htm" title="And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.">Revelation 21:22-27</a>, of the perpetual sabbatism of <a href="/hebrews/4-9.htm" title="There remains therefore a rest to the people of God.">Hebrews 4:9</a>, and even that glorious vision is but the symbol of spiritual realities.<span class= "bld"><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/isaiah/66-24.htm">Isaiah 66:24</a></div><div class="verse">And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.</div>(24) <span class= "bld">And they shall go forth . . .</span>—As at the close of Isaiah 48, 57, each ending a great section of the volume, so here, the vision of restoration and blessedness is balanced by that of the righteous condemnation of the wicked. The outward imagery is suggested, as in <a href="/joel/3-12.htm" title="Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.">Joel 3:12</a>; <a href="/zechariah/14-12.htm" title="And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.">Zechariah 14:12</a>, by that of the great battle of the Lord (<a href="/context/isaiah/66-15.htm" title="For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.">Isaiah 66:15-16</a>). Those who are slain in that battle are thought of as filling the valleys round about Jerusalem, especially the valley of Jehoshaphat (“Jehovah judges “), devoured by worms, or given to the flames. Taken strictly, therefore, the words do not speak of the punishment of the souls of men after death, but of the defeat and destruction upon earth of the enemies of Jehovah. The words that tell us that “the worm shall not die” and that “the fire shall not be quenched” point, however, to something more than this, to be read between the lines. And so those words became the starting-point of the thoughts of later Judaism as to Gehenna (<a href="//apocrypha.org/ecclesiasticus/8-17.htm" title="Consult not with a fool; for he cannot keep counsel.">Ecclesiasticus 8:17</a>; <a href="//apocrypha.org/judith/16-17.htm" title="Woe to the nations that rise up against my kindred! the Lord Almighty will take vengeance of them in the day of judgment, in putting fire and worms in their flesh; and they shall feel them, and weep for ever.">Judith 16:17</a>, and the Targum on this passage), of the words in which our Lord Himself gave utterance to what, at least, seemed to express those thoughts (<a href="/context/mark/9-44.htm" title="Where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.">Mark 9:44-48</a>), of the dominant eschatology of Christendom. Even so taken, however, with this wider range, it is still a question whether the words are to be taken literally or figuratively (though this, perhaps, is hardly a question), whether the bodies, which represent souls, are thought of as not destroyed, but only tormented, or as consumed to nothing, by the fire and by the worm, whether those two agents represent sufferings of sense or spirit. The one aspect of the future life which they tend to exclude is that which presents the idea of a suffering that may be purifying. That idea is not without apparent support in other passages of Scripture (<span class= "ital">e.g., </span><a href="/context/romans/5-17.htm" title="For if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)">Romans 5:17-21</a>; <a href="/romans/11-32.htm" title="For God has concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy on all.">Romans 11:32</a>; <a href="/1_peter/3-19.htm" title="By which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison;">1Peter 3:19</a>; <a href="/1_peter/4-6.htm" title="For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.">1Peter 4:6</a>); but we cannot say that it entered into the prophet’s thoughts here. What he emphasises is the eternal antagonism between the righteousness of God and man’s unrighteousness, and this involves the punishment of the latter as long as it exists. In any case there is a strange solemnity in this being the last word of the prophet’s book of revelation, even as there is a like awfulness in the picture of the final judgment, which appears in <a href="/matthew/25-46.htm" title="And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.">Matthew 25:46</a>, at all but the close of our Lord’s public teaching. Cheyne quotes a singular rubric of the Jewish ritual, that when this chapter, or Ecclesiastes 12, or Malachi 3, was read in the synagogue, the last verse but one should be repeated after the last, so that mercy might appear as in the end triumphant after and over judgment.<p>#define description=DESC<p>#define abbreviation=ABBR<p>#define comments=CMTS<p>#define version=3<p><span class= "bld"><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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