Isaiah Chapter 65

From The Open Bible Project

65:1 "I am inquired of by those who didn't ask; I am found by those who didn't seek me: I said, See me, see me, to a nation that was not called by my name.

  • It is prophecied that the Gentiles will be found by God. Matt. 21:43 -KC
  • (a) Meaning, the Gentiles who know not God, would seek him, when he had moved their heart with his Holy Spirit, (Romans 10:20).

65:2 I have spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts;

  • (b) He shows the reason for the rejection of the Jews, because they would not obey him or any admonition of his prophets, by whom he called them continually and stretch out his hand to draw them.
  • (c) He shows that to delight in our own fantasies is the declining from God and the beginning of all superstitions and idolatry.

65:3 a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens, and burning incense on bricks;

  • (d) Which were dedicated to idols.
  • (e) Meaning their altars, which he thus named by contempt.

65:4 who sit among the graves, and lodge in the secret places; who eat pig's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;

  • (f) To consult with spirits, and to conjure devils, which was forbidden.
  • (g) Which was contrary to God�s commandment, (Leviticus 11:7; Deuteronomy 14:8).

65:5 who say, Stand by yourself, don't come near to me, for I am holier than you. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all the day.

  • (h) He shows that hypocrisy is always joined with pride and contempt of others.
  • (i) Their punishment will never have an end.

65:6 "Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, yes, I will recompense into their bosom,

  • (k) So that the remembrance of it cannot be forgotten.

65:7 your own iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together," says Yahweh, "who have burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed me on the hills; therefore will I first measure their work into their bosom."

  • God's judgment will include the sins of this people and their father's sins together. Compare to Mattew 23:32-36, 1 Thessalonians 2:16. Jesus says that upon the scribes and Pharisees may come all the righteous blood shed on earth. He told them to "fill up the measure of your fathers' guilt and that this judgment would occur sometime during their generation. It happened in AD 70. Luke 21:22 -KC
  • (l) Will be both punished together: and this declares how the children are punished for their fathers faults, that is, when the same faults or like are found in them.

65:8 Thus says Yahweh, "As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, 'Don't destroy it, for a blessing is in it:' so will I do for my servants' sake, that I may not destroy them all.

  • (m) That is, it is profitable: meaning that God will not destroy the faithful branches of his vineyard, when he destroys the rotten stocks, that is, the hypocrites.

65:9 I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains; and my chosen shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.

65:10 Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down in, for my people who have sought me.

  • (n) Which was a plentiful place in Judea to feed sheep, as Achor was for cattle.

65:11 "But you who forsake Yahweh, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mixed wine to Destiny;

  • (o) By the multitude and number he means their innumerable idols of whom they thought they could never have enough.

65:12 I will destine you to the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not hear; but you did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I didn't delight."

  • (p) Seeing you cannot number your gods, I will number you with the sword.
  • (q) By my prophets, whom you would not obey.

65:13 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, "Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be disappointed;

  • God is distinguishing between his servants, the Christians, vs. his rebellious people. -KC
  • (r) By these words, eat and drink, he means the blessed life of the faithful, who have always had consolation and full contentment of all things in their God, though sometimes they lack these corporal things.

65:14 behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall wail for anguish of spirit.

65:15 You shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen; and the Lord Yahweh will kill you; and he will call his servants by another name:

  • New name given by God. Isaiah 62:2, Isaiah 66:22, Revelation 2:17, Revelation 3:12-KC
  • (s) Meaning, that he would call the Gentiles, who would abhor even the very name of the Jews for their infidelities sake.
  • (t) Than by the name of the Jews.

65:16 so that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from my eyes.

  • (u) By blessing, and by swearing is meant the praising of God for his benefits, and the true worshipping of him, who will not be only in Judea, but through all the world.
  • (x) I will no longer permit my Church to be desolate as in times past.

65:17 "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

  • The first "heaven and earth" was the Temple system. The new one is from God, not made with man's hands. 2 Peter 3:13 Peter was looking for it. Revelation 21:1 God creates it. -KC
  • (y) I will so altar and change the state of my church, that it will seem to dwell in a new world.

65:18 But be you glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.

65:19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and there shall be heard in her no more the voice of weeping and the voice of crying.

  • No more crying compare to Isaiah 25:8, 30:19, 35:10, 51:11, Revelation 7:17, 21:4. -KC

65:20 "There shall be no more there an infant of days, nor an old man who has not filled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, and the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.

  • (z) Meaning, in this wonderful restoration of the Church there would be no weakness of youth, nor infirmities of age, but all would be fresh and flourishing: and this is accomplished in the heavenly Jerusalem, when all sins will cease, and the tears will be wiped away.
  • (a) By which he shows that the infidels and unrepentant sinners have no part of this benediction.

65:21 They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.

  • (b) He proposes to the faithful the blessings which are contained in the law, and so under temporal things comprehends the spiritual promises.

65:22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

65:23 They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for calamity; for they are the seed of the blessed of Yahweh, and their offspring with them.

65:24 It shall happen that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain," says Yahweh.

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