Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 65:8
Thus saith the LORD, 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.
8. In the figure, the grape-cluster represents the nation as a whole, including many unworthy members, the “new wine” ( irsh, “must”) is the spiritual kernel of the nation, here called “my servants”; and the truth taught is that for the sake of the latter “the whole” shall not be annihilated in the judgement that is to come. It is an application to new circumstances of Isaiah’s doctrine of the Remnant (ch. Isa 6:13).
The words Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it have been thought, from their rhythm, to be the first line of one of the vintage songs often referred to in Scripture (cf. Jdg 9:27; Isa 16:10; Jer 25:30; Jer 48:33, &c.). It has further been conjectured that the words “Destroy not” ( ’al tashth) in the headings of four psalms (57, 58, 59, 75) refer to this song, naming its melody as the tune to which these Psalms were to be sung (W. R. Smith, O. T. in Jewish Church 2 , p. 209).
that I may not &c. ] (so as) not to destroy the whole.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
8 10. In spite of the gross idolatries denounced in the preceding section there is that in Israel which makes it precious in the sight of Jehovah, and ensures for it a brilliant future.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thus saith the Lord – This verse is designed to keep their minds from utter despair, and to assure them that they should not be utterly destroyed. See the analysis of the chapter.
As the new wine – The Hebrew word used here ( tyrosh), means properly must or new wine (see the notes at Isa 24:7). The Septuagint renders it here, ho rox, a grain or berry; meaning probably a good grape. The Chaldee renders it, As Noah was found pure in the generation of the deluge, and I said I would not destroy them, that I might rise up a generation from him, so will I do on account of my servants, that I may not destroy all. Jerome renders it, Granum – A kernel, or berry.
Is found in the cluster – Expositors have differed in the interpretation of this passage. The true image seems to be taken from collecting grapes when a large part of them were in some way damaged or spoiled – either by the quality of the vine, or by a bad season, or by having been gathered too early, or being suffered to remain too long in a heap. In such a case the vine-dresser would be ready to throw them away. But in the mass he would find a few that were ripe and good. While he was throwing away the mass, someone would say that a part was good, and would entreat him not to destroy it. So with the Jews. The mass was corrupt, and was to be cut off. But still a portion should be left. This is in accordance with the doctrine everywhere occurring in Isaiah and elsewhere in the Scriptures, that the whole Jewish nation should not be cut off, but that a remnant should be preserved (see the notes at Isa 6:13; compare Isa 1:9; Isa 7:3; Isa 10:21; Isa 11:11-16).
For a blessing – That which is regarded as a blessing; that is wine (compare Jdg 9:13).
So will I do – The whole nation shall not be cut off, but a remnant shall be kept and saved.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 65:8
Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster.
Gods regard far the faithful remnant of His people
As one does not destroy a cluster consisting of good and bad berries, because one would also destroy the Divine blessing contained in it, so Jehovah for His servants sake will not annihilate Israel. He will not destroy all indiscriminately; the sense is not the sap along with husk and shell (Knobel, Hahn), but: the berries having good sap along with the preponderant bad berries (J. H. Michaelis, Seinecke). (F. Delitzsch, D.D.) It is an application to new circumstances of Isaiahs doctrine of the remnant (Isa 6:13). (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)
Destroy it not
Destroy it not
View the passage in reference to–
I. GODS ANCIENT PEOPLE, THE JEWS.
II. CITIES AND NATIONS GENERALLY.
III. THE STATE OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES.
IV. PENITENT BACK SLIDERS.
V. YOUNG INQUIRERS.
VI. THOSE WHO ARE CALLED MOST UNPROMISING CHARACTERS. (J. G.Pearsall.)
Little things
Here we have four lessons taught us by a bunch of grapes.
I. THAT GREAT GOOD MAY BE STORED IN LITTLE THINGS. A bunch of grapes is a little thing, and yet there is a blessing in it. With a heart given to Jesus, a child is a sun which cannot but shine, a fountain which cannot but send out streams, a flower which cannot but fill the air with sweetness.
II. GOD ALONE PUTS THE BLESSING INTO LITTLE THINGS. In this He displays–
1. His wisdom.
2. His omnipotence
3. His condescension and compassion.
III. LITTLE THINGS ARE TO BE SPARED FOR THIS BLESSING IN THEM. There are plenty of little things which you are apt to despise because they are little, and yet, destroy them not, says God, for a blessing is in them.
1. Your vows and resolutions.
2. Your principles.
3. Your habits.
4. Your character.
5. Your friendships.
6. Your interest in the heathen.
IV. IF THE BLESSING IS LACKING IN THEM THEY WILL BE UNDONE FOP. EVER. Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it. As if it were said, If there were no blessing in it, then it might be destroyed. It is the blessing which delivers. If there is no blessing in us, we are doomed. The unprofitable servant hid his talent in the napkin, but he could not hide himself from his masters indignation. (J. Bolton.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. A blessing is in it] The Hebrews call all things which serve for food 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. Now as the cluster must not be destroyed because there is a blessing, a nutritive part in it; so Israel shall not be destroyed, because there are righteous persons in it. But as the bark and kernels are thrown away, when the wine is pressed out, so shall the sinners be purged away from among the just, and on their return from exile, shall not be permitted to enter into the land of Israel;” Eze 20:38.
For my servant’s sakes – “For the sake of my servant”] It is to be observed that one of the Koningsburg MSS. collated by Lilienthal points the word abdi, singular; that is, “my servant,” meaning the Messiah; and so read the Septuagint, which gives a very good sense. In two of my old MSS. it is pointed abadai, and abdi, “my servant,” this confirms the above reading.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
These words must be conceived as a gracious answer from God to the prophet, saying as Abraham, Gen 18:23,25, or as Moses, Exo 32:11-13, pleading Gods covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. To this God replieth that he intended no such severity, the unfaithfulness of men should not make his promise of no effect, Rom 3:3. His threatening should be made good upon the generality of this people, whose vine was of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah, Deu 32:32. But yet, as in a vineyard which is generally unfruitful, there may be some particular vine that brings forth fruit; or, as in a vine which is full of luxuriant branches that bring forth no fruit, there may be here and there a branch that bringeth forth fruit, and hath the hopes of new wine in the cluster; and as to such, the gardener bids his servant
Destroy it not, or them not, for they are fruitful; there is in them what speaketh Gods blessing, or what may be of use, and do us good.
So (saith God)
will I do for my servants sake, that I may not destroy them all; either for the sake of my servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with whom I anciently made a covenant; or for my servant Davids sake; or for the sake of such as are my elect at this time amongst them: see Jer 30:11; Amo 9:1.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. new wineas if somegrapes having good wine-producing juice in them, be found in acluster which the vinedresser was about to throw away as bad, and onesaith, c.
blessingthat is, goodwine-producing juice (compare Jdg 9:13Joe 2:14).
soGod will spare thegodly “remnant,” while the ungodly mass of the nation shallbe destroyed (Isa 1:9; Isa 6:13;Isa 10:21; Isa 11:11;Isa 11:12-16).
my servantsthe godlyremnant. But HORSLEY, “forthe sake of my servant, Messiah.“
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thus saith the Lord, as the new wine is found in the cluster,…. Now, lest the truly godly and gracious among these people should be distressed at such denunciations of wrath and destruction, it is suggested that these few, this remnant according to the election of grace, should be saved from the general ruin; as when men are about to cut down a vine, or pluck it up, or prune the unfruitful branches of it, a single cluster of grapes is observed upon it, in which new wine is supposed to be:
and one saith, destroy it not, for a blessing is in it; one that stands by, perhaps the owner of the vine, seeing it, says to his servant, spare the vine, do not cut it down; or do not cut off the branch on which the cluster is, for there is life and sap in it, and it may grow, and bring forth much fruit:
so will I do for my servants’ sake, that I may not destroy them all; as formerly he spared Noah at the deluge; of whom the Targum paraphrases the former clause; and Lot at the burning of Sodom; and Joshua and Caleb, when all the rest that came out of Egypt perished in the wilderness; so there would be, and were, a few whom God called by his grace, among the Jews, brought to the knowledge of Christ, and into a Gospel church state in Jerusalem; and these he preserved from the destruction of it, of which they had previous warning, and were directed to Pella, where they were safe: and so, wherever the truth of grace is, such shall not be destroyed; and which is a blessing, and a blessed work in the heart of man, and is a new thing there; and, like new wine, delightful to God and man; and like wine in the cluster, all grace, and all spiritual blessings are with it; and which must be tried by afflictions, to be brought into exercise, as the cluster is pressed; and which is found but in a few, like wine in a single cluster, concerning whom the Father says, destroy them not, being loved and chosen by him; and so says the Son, being redeemed by his blood; and the same says the Spirit, being regenerated and sanctified by his grace; and such being the servants of the Lord, and partakers of his grace, he will not suffer any of them to be destroyed; but encompasses them with his favour; holds them with his right hand; suffers no enemy to do them wrong, and guards them with his power.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
As the word ri’shonah (first of all) has clearly intimated that the work of the future will not all consist in the execution of penal justice, there is no abruptness in the transition from threatening to promises. “Thus saith Jehovah, As when the must is found in the cluster, men say, Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing within it, so will I do for the sake of my servants, that I may not destroy the whole. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and an heir of my mountains out of Judah, and my chosen ones shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.” Of the two co-ordinate clauses of the protasis ( Isa 65:8), the first contains the necessary condition of the second. Hattrosh (must, or the juice of the grapes, from yarash , possibly primarily nothing more than receipt, or the produce of labour) and ba’eshkol have both of them the article generally found in comparisons (Ges. 109, Anm. 1); signifies, as in Isa 45:24, “men say,” with the most general and indefinite subject. As men to not destroy a juicy cluster of grapes, because they would thereby destroy the blessing of God which it contains; so will Jehovah for His servants’ sake not utterly destroy Israel, but preserve those who are the clusters in the vineyard (Isa 3:14; Isa 5:1-7) or upon the vine (Psa 80:9.) of Israel. He will not destroy hakkol , the whole without exception; that is to say, keeping to the figure, not “the juice with the skin and stalk,” as Knobel and Hahn explain it, but “the particular clusters in which juice is contained, along with the degenerate neglected vineyard or vine, which bears for the most part only sour grapes (Isa 5:4) or tendrils without fruit (cf., Isa 18:5). The servants of Jehovah, who resemble these clusters, remain preserved. Jehovah brings out, causes to go forth, calls to the light of day ( ) as in Isa 54:16; here, however, it is by means of sifting: Eze 20:34.), out of Jacob and Judah, i.e., the people of the two captivities (see Isa 56:3), a seed, a family, that takes possession of His mountains, i.e., His holy mountain-land (Isa 14:25, cf., Psa 121:1, and har qodsh , which is used in the same sense in Isa 11:9; Isa 65:25). As “my mountain” is equivalent in sense to the “land of Israel,” for which Ezekiel is fond of saying “the mountains of Israel” (e.g., Isa 6:2-3), the promise proceeds still further to say, “and my chosen ones will take possession thereof” (viz., of the land, Isa 60:21, cf., Isa 8:21).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Promises of Mercy. | B. C. 706. |
8 Thus saith the LORD, 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 an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect 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 the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.
This is expounded by St. Paul, Rom. xi. 1-5, where, when, upon occasion of the rejection of the Jews, it is asked, Hath God then cast away his people? he answers, No; for at this time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. This prophecy has reference to that distinguished remnant. When that hypocritical nation is to be destroyed God will separate and secure to himself some from among them; some of the Jews shall be brought to embrace the Christian faith, shall be added to the church, and so be saved. And our Saviour has told us that for the sake of these elect the days of the destruction of the Jews should be shortened, and a stop put to the desolation, which otherwise would have proceeded to such a degree that no flesh should be saved, Matt. xxiv. 22. Now,
I. This is illustrated here by a comparison, v. 8. When a vine is so blasted and withered that there seems to be no sap nor life in it, and therefore the dresser of the vineyard is inclined to pluck it up or cut it down, yet, if ever so little of the juice of the grape, fit to make new wine, be found, though but in one cluster, a stander-by interposes, and says, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it; there is life in the root, and hope that yet it may become good for something. Good men are blessings to the places where they live; and sometimes God spares whole cities and nations for the sake of a few such in them. How ambitious should we be of this honor, not only to be distinguished from others, but serviceable to others!
II. Here is a description of those that shall make up this saved saving remnant. 1. They are such as serve God. It is for my servants’ sake (v. 8), and they are my servants that shall dwell there, v. 9. God’s faithful servants, however they are looked upon, are the best friends their country has; and those who serve him do therein serve their generation. 2. They are such as seek God, make it the end of their lives to glorify God and the business of their lives to call upon him. It is for my people that have sought me. Those that seek God shall find him, and shall find him their bountiful rewarder.
III. Here is an account of the mercy God has in store for them. The remnant that shall return out of captivity shall have a happy settlement again in their own land, and that by an hereditary right, as a seed out of Jacob, in whom the family is kept up and the entail preserved, and from whom, as from the seed sown, shall spring a numerous increase; and these typify the remnant of Jacob that shall be incorporated into the gospel church by faith. 1. They shall have a good portion for themselves. They shall inherit my mountains, the holy mountains on which Jerusalem and the temple were built, or the mountains of Canaan, the land of promise, typifying the covenant of grace, which all God’s servants, his elect, both inhabit and inherit; they make it their refuge, their rest and residence, so they dwell in it, are at home in it; and they have taken it to be their heritage for ever, and it shall be to them an inheritance incorruptible. God’s chosen, the spiritual seed of praying Jacob, shall be the inheritors of his mountains of bliss and joy, and shall be carried safely to them through the vale of tears. 2. They shall have a green pasture for their flocks, v. 10. Sharon and the valley of Achor shall again be as well replenished as ever they were with cattle. Sharon lay westward, near Joppa; Achor lay eastward, near Jordan. It is therefore intimated that they shall recover the possession of the whole land, that they shall have wherewith to stock it all, and that they shall peaceably enjoy it and there shall be none to disturb them nor make them afraid. Gospel-ordinances are the fields and valleys where the sheep of Christ shall go in and out and find pasture (John x. 9), and where they are made to lie down (Ps. xxiii. 2), as Israel’s herds in the valley of Achor, Hos. ii. 15.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Vs. 8-12: A CONTRAST BETWEEN THE FAITHFUL AND UNFAITHFUL
1. Within the nation that has forfeited its right to covenant fellowship with God, there is still a holy remnant through whom the promises of God will be faithfully fulfilled, (vs. 8-10).
a. God will not destroy the nation because of the holy remnant, (vs. 8; 1:9; Isa 10:21-22; Isa 48:9; Amo 9:8-9).
b. From Jacob, through the tribe of Judah, God will bring forth a true offspring, an “inheritor” of His mountains – the Christ (vs. 9a; Exo 15:17; Psa 2:8; Heb 1:2; Dan 7:13-14; Rev 11:15-18; Isa 65:9; Isa 63:17; Zec 2:12; Lu 132-33); since election is FOR SERVICE, His true servants (elect through identification with Christ – Eph 1:4; 2Th 2:13) will share the blessedness and greatness of His kingdom, (vs. 9b; Mat 25:31-40).
c. The blessings awaiting those who truly seek the Lord are illustrated by the rich fertility of Sharon, and the valley of Achor -which Hosea declares that God will give as a “door of hope”, (vs. 10; Hos 2:15).
1) At Achor the people of Israel humbled themselves to repudiate the sin of Achan and execute judgment as God required, (Joshua 7).
2) And there is hope for all who will humble themselves in the sight of God and reverently walk in the way of truth, (Psa 33:18; Psa 39:7).
2. Yet, those who have forsaken the Lord will bear the burden of their sins, (vs. 11-12; Isa 1:4; Isa 1:18; Jer 2:12-13; Deu 29:24-25).
a. Not only have they failed to “Seek first” the kingdom of God (Mat 6:33), they have utterly IGNORED IT (comp. Isa 2:2-3) – spreading a table for one idol, and providing an abundance of mixed wine for another, (vs. 11).
b. The rebellious and negligent are, thus, destined for sword and slaughter, (vs. 12a; Isa 66:16).
c. They refused to answer God’s call, or to obey His commandment, (vs. 12b; Isa 50:2; Isa 66:4; 2Ch 36:15-16; comp. Pro 1:24-33).
d. By deliberate choice they aroused God’s displeasure – doing that which was evil in His eyes, (vs. 12c).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
8. Thus saith Jehovah. Here the Prophet softens the preceding statement; for otherwise it would have been very hard to say that the iniquities of the fathers would be brought to remembrance in such a manner, that the Lord would destroy the fathers and the children along with them; and these things might strike believers with such horror as to lead them to think that their salvation was past all hope. We must therefore be carefully on our guard, and observe the reason why the Lord is angry with us; for he wishes to terrify us, so as to lead us to himself, and not so as to throw us into despair. For this reason he holds out hope to believers, that they may not lose courage; and, by exhibiting consolation, he encourages them to repentance. He confirms it by a comparison.
As if one found a grape in a cluster. As if a person who has determined to root out a vine that is inconvenient or injurious to him, and finds a fruit-bearing branch, shall spare it; so the Lord will refrain from tearing up those in which he shall find no strength or flavor. Formerly he complained that the people were useless, and even that they yielded bitter fruits. (Isa 5:2.) Isaiah retains the same comparison, but applies it in a different manner. “Though the people may be said to be an unfruitful and degenerate vine, yet there are still left some fruit-bearing branches which the Lord will not suffer to perish.
But this may be understood in two ways; either that the Lord will preserve his people for the sake of the elect, or that, when the reprobate are destroyed, he will rescue believers from destruction. There is a wide difference between these two interpretations. As to the first, we know that the wicked are sometimes spared on account of good men, whom God does not wish to destroy or to involve in the same judgment, as various examples of Scripture sufficiently shew. The Lord would have spared Sodom, if he had found but ten good men in it. (Gen 18:32.) All who sailed along with Paul, to the number of “two hundred and seventy-six,” (Act 27:37,) were “given to him” and rescued from shipwreck, that the power which He manifested in his servant might be more illustriously displayed. (Act 27:24.) The Lord blessed the house of Potiphar, and made it to prosper in all things, for the sake of Joseph who was in his family. (Gen 39:5.) There are other examples of the same kind, which every one will easily collect for himself.
But I approve more highly of the other interpretation, that the Lord will punish the sins of his people in such a manner as to have regard nevertheless to his own, and not to involve all universally in the same destruction. Nor does he mean only that believers shall be saved, but that a people shall be left amongst whom men shall call on his name. And the comparison ought to be carefully observed; for he shews that the remnant will be small, as compared with the multitude which was at that time, as has been already explained. (Isa 1:9.)
Now, as to believers being often punished along with the reprobate, let us not think that it is wrong; for the Lord will often find in each of us enough of blame to afflict and punish us. Besides, he wishes to instruct and arouse us by his chastisements; and seeing that we have been joined to a certain people, and, as it were, ingrafted into their body, we undoubtedly ought not to think it strange if we, who may be said to be diseased members, shall share in the same strokes and pains. Yet the Lord moderates the punishment, so as not to tear up by the roots the elect plants.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
DESTROY IT NOT
Isa. 65:8. Thus saith the Lord, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it, &c.
Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God. Let it not, however, be supposed that God delights to destroy mens lives, or is capricious in the bestowment of rewards and punishments. The goodness and severity of God are not contradictions in the Divine nature, but the two halves of His perfect character (Exo. 34:6-7). The burden of our text is MERCY. HOW many applications may we make of the words, Destroy it not! Let us view the passage in reference to
I. GODS ANCIENT PEOPLE THE JEWS. The Jews at different parts of their history have resembled clusters of grapes, bruised, trodden down, and unfit for use. Yet God says to His Church, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it. Do you speak of the aversion and obstinacy of Israel? Let me ask, Wherein is the heart of a Jew worse than the heart of a Gentile? Is he self-righteous, and were not you, &c.?
II. CITIES AND NATIONS GENERALLY. Let our eye gaze on this great metropolis. But shall we yield to despondence? Never, whilst there are so many righteous men and intercessors. England has a blessing, yea, is not only blessed, but is a blessing, a blessing to the nations of the earth. And may we not believe that there are many nations God will not destroy because a blessing is in them?
III. THE STATE OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. A review of the history of the Church will lead many persons to say it is the history of declension and revival. But alas! has there been no period which may be called the dark ages? Yet, even in these times of apostacy, God has had a people, and among them men and women of eminent piety, who had not defiled their garments. The text should deter us from yielding to despondency and inactivity.
IV. T. PENITENT BACKSLIDERS. The tree decays and falls, but still there may be life in the root, and new shoots may be sent up. So was it with David and Peter, who not only sighed and wept, but brought forth fruits meet for repentance, and whose latter end testified to the grace of God that was in them. I urge backsliders not to despair.
V. YOUNG INQUIRERS. The fruits of righteousness at first may be immature. Many young professors are discouraged by harsh reproof, and questioning as to sincerity; because one or two grapes in the cluster are imperfect some would throw away the whole cluster. Let me give you a word of warning as well as encouragement. Though Christ will not destroy the bruised reed, nor the tender grapes, yet many destroyers are around you. Your dangers may not be open persecution, nor some of the supposed formidable temptations, but a number of small, trivial, almost imperceptible snares,little sins, falsely so-called. These are the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes. Be not afraid, none so gentle and loving as the great Vine-dresser, when even He comes with His pruning-knife.
VI. THOSE WHO ARE CALLED MOST UNPROMISING CHARACTERS. Have we never heard of a man of sterling piety, talent, liberality, and influence in the Church of God, who was once the most unruly and ill-disposed boy in the Sabbath-school, but who, owing to a kind and persevering teacher, received convictions and instructions that never were forgotten? Talk not of unpromising characters as hopeless. Did not John Newton seem unpromising when a captain on board a slave ship, &c. Some of the so-called unpromising characters are more hopeful than many who are not far from the kingdom of God. How infinitely valuable must be the soul of man! If you would not destroy a vine or cluster of grapes, how much less the soul. Will you, by indifference or unbelief, destroy your soul? The soul though fallen has a blessing in it. What encouragement is offered us. God is kinder than man, &c.J. G. Pearsall: The Christian World, Dec. 2, 1864.
Isa. 65:11-16. I. Apostate Israel and their curse. II. The true Israel and their blessing.
Isa. 65:11-12. Apostacy. I. Forsakes God. II. Forgets His ordinances. III. Bestows its devotion and energies upon false objects. IV. Meets with its merited doom (vol. i. p. 67).
Isa. 65:12. I. The gracious call of God. II. The impenitence of many. III. The inevitable result. (See p. 366.)Dr. Lyth.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(8) As the new wine . . .Literally, the must, or unfermented juice of the grape. The transition from the denunciations of the preceding verse is abrupt, and suggests the thought of an interval of time and absence of direct continuity. Possibly, however, a link may be found in the first of the amended translation, which prepares the way for something that is to follow. God chastens, but does not destroy.
Destroy it not . . .The thought is that as even one fruitful cluster of grapes will lead the vine-dresser to spare an otherwise fruitless vine in the hope of a fuller blessing in the future, so Jehovah will spare a sinful nation for the twenty or the ten righteous (Gen. 18:23-33). The words destroy it not are those which stand at the head of Psalms 57-59, as indicating the tune to which they were to be sung; and it is a natural inference that it may have been a popular vintage song, and therefore doubly apt for the prophets purpose. May we compare our own song of Wood-man, spare that tree? applied, as it has been, to the trees of ancient institutions.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Not all are to be so served. For, as an occasional cluster is ripe, and new wine (ever regarded as a blessing) is in it all the vintage season, so, in this mass of corrupted Israel is a small undefiled group, worthy to be culled out and saved. In a general way, Christ’s time and ministry are here very aptly illustrated; but that the prophet distinctly and exclusively meant this, may be venturesome to assert, unless it be viewed as perspective prophecy.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
A Remnant Will Be Saved, But Large Numbers Must First Face Judgment ( Isa 65:8-12 ).
During his inaugural call (chapter 6) Isaiah had been warned that the people of Judah/Israel would go through refinement after refinement because of the depths of their sinfulness. God had warned him not to expect easy results. Few of His so-called people would be saved. But in the end, He had promised, there would be a stump remaining, a holy seed (Isa 6:13).
Isa 65:8-10
‘Thus says Yahweh,
“As the wine dripping is found in the cluster,
And one says, ‘Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it’,
So will I do for my servants’ sakes,
That I may not destroy them all.
And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob,
And out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains,
And my chosen ones will inherit it,
And my servants will dwell there.
And Sharon will 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.” ’
The ‘wine dripping’ (tiros) is probably the juice that flows from the grapes before the treading of the winepress commence. If so it is apposite here. Israel are like grapes ready for the winepress of God’s wrath (Isa 63:3), but the early juice drippings represent the remnant. Such early drippings were in fact particularly potent (Hos 4:11). That is why men said, ‘Do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it.’
So the remnant will be preserved as so often in Isaiah (e.g. Isa 1:26-27; Isa 4:3; Isa 6:13; Isa 8:13-14 a; Isa 10:20-23), because they have a God-given quality different from the remainder.
‘So will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.’ There is no longer a thought of Israel as The Servant, it is the faithful in Israel who are now ‘His servants’, and it is for their sakes that He will refrain from destroying all. It is thus made clear that large numbers will yet perish like Edom, but that in response to Isaiah’s pleas, and the work of the Servant/Anointed One, not all will perish. The holy seed, the ‘many’ for whom the Servant suffered will be spared (Isa 53:11-12).
‘And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains, and my chosen ones will inherit it, and my servants will dwell there.’ God reveals His determination to fulfil His promises to the patriarchs, here represented by Jacob. Such continuing seed and the reception of the land as their inheritance were two foundation pillars of Israel’s belief patterns. Now He guarantees that He will fulfil both the promise of the seed and the promise of the land (Gen 13:15; Gen 28:13-14). They are the inheritors, and they will inherit it. And those who are faithful to Him, His servants, will dwell there.
Note the use of the plural ‘My chosen ones’, and ‘My servants’, Their destiny as the chosen Servant (Isa 42:1; Isa 44:1) has been performed by Another, and through His redemptive work (Isa 52:13 to Isa 53:12) they now carry on His work. Israel is to find its fulfilment in Him Who is the fulfilment of the ideal of Israel. It is He Who is ‘Israel’, the true representation of Israel, which is why they are no more described as Israel. And they are no more the Servant, for they failed in that responsibility also, while God’s prime purpose in Abraham has been fulfilled in the Anointed One. The faithful, however, are still His chosen and still His servants.
And after God had carried out His judgment as described in Isa 39:6-7 Jacob’s seed did come forth from him and inherit the land, and His chosen ones and His servants did dwell there. Unlike Edom their judgment was not final. And it was finally they who possessed Edom, and Edomites were forced to be circumcised and become members of the covenant and were absorbed into ‘Israel’ so that Edom was no more. But that was a fulfilment to a people not yet made fully holy.
The promise, however, was intended to offer more than the literal secondary fulfilment, and had they been able to see forward they would have looked at it in that way, for they would have taken it as a promise that, made truly holy, they would finally partake in the everlasting kingdom (Isa 4:3). As often with Isaiah the prophecies include strands and tendencies which are fulfilled at different times.
‘And Sharon will 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.’ Sharon was to the west and Achor to the east, thus the whole land is in mind. The promise is that once again the land will be fruitful. Sharon was first to be made a desert under God’s judgments (Isa 33:9), thus this restoration follows that event. The valley of Achor (‘troubling’) was the place where the sin of Achan was purged by his death (Jdg 7:24-25), and had clearly become symbolic of trouble, for according to Hos 2:15 that troubled valley was to become a door of hope when God began to act, and here it is to become a place where cattle could rest. So the troubled places will become blessed. Unlike the devastated Edom, and those of His people who will experience similar judgment, His true responsive people will prosper. The picture indicates the future prosperity of His true people in terms that they would appreciate, and their final blessing in the new heavens and the new earth.
‘For my people who have sought me.’ Such blessings would be for those who sought Yahweh.
Isa 65:11-12
‘But you who forsake Yahweh,
Who forget my holy mountain,
Who prepare a table for Fortune,
And who fill up mingled wine for Destiny,
I will destine you to the sword,
And you will all bow down to the slaughter,
Because when I called, you did not answer,
When I spoke you did not hear,
But you did what was evil in my eyes,
And chose that in which I did not delight.’
On the other hand there is no guaranteed blessing for all. Those who forsake Yahweh and forget His dwellingplace (His holy mountain), indulging rather in idolatrous behaviour, will be subject to judgment by the sword. And this will be because when He called they did not respond, but continued in their sinfulness and refused to do the things that would please Him. This happened again and again, and one outstanding example is the final destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of the people under the Romans (Luk 21:24), a specific example of the rejection of the old Israel, which had been replaced by the new as described in Isa 65:1.
‘Who forget my holy mountain.’ They went regularly into the mountains to perform sexual rites before Baal, but had no time for the one mountain that counted.
‘Who prepare a table for Fortune (Gad), and who fill up mingled wine for Destiny (Meni – ‘apportionment’).’ Fortune (Gad) was a widely worshipped Syrian god. Compare Baal-gad – ‘Lord of Good Fortune’, in Jos 11:17, and Migdal-gad – ‘Fortress Tower of Good Fortune’ in Jos 15:37. Meni means ‘apportionment’ related to the affecting of destiny. Both gods were connected therefore with the affecting of destiny. Their names are found on inscriptions both separately and together. It was all the more absurd therefore that they who were thought powerful enough to affect the future had to be wined and dined. These were Canaanite gods, confirming the Canaanite setting for the prophecy, and such gods are only known to have affected Israel in pre-exilic times. This causes great difficulty to those who try to date these prophecies later and have to try to explain this away.
‘I will destine you to the sword, and you will all bow down to the slaughter.’ Note the play on ‘destiny’. It is Yahweh rather than these false gods Who can determine these people’s destiny. And instead of bowing to these false gods they will have to bow to slaughter.
‘Because when I called, you did not answer, when I spoke you did not hear, but you did what was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight.’ The reason for their punishment is made clear. God called them and spoke to them, but they neither responded nor heard. Rather they chose to go against His will, doing what they knew Yahweh saw as evil, and refusing to do what they knew He would delight in. And they finally rejected His Servant (Joh 1:11).
So Yahweh’s answer to Isaiah’s pleas is that a remnant will be saved, an unexpected remnant (Isa 65:1), but that large numbers will face His judgment because they go their own ways and refuse to respond to Him. In spite of his promises of a coming Deliverer Isaiah was well aware that much had to happen before He could do His work. But one thing he did know, eventually that work would be brought to completion. And he now closes his book with a vision of what is to come.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
A Remnant Saved
v. 8. Thus saith the Lord, v. 9. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, v. 10. And Sharon, v. 11. But ye are they that forsake the Lord, that forget My holy mountain, v. 12. Therefore will I number you to the sword, v. 13. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, v. 14. behold, My servants shall sing for joy of heart, v. 15. And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto My chosen, v. 16. that he who blesseth himself in the earth,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Isa 65:8-10. Thus saith the Lord, &c. Thus, &c. as when one findeth a good grape in the cluster, and sayeth, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it, &c. Lowth. See ch. Isa 10:22-23 where a promise similar to this is given. The proposition of divine grace, respecting the faithful, is contained in the 8th verse, and more fully explained in the 9th and 10th. In chap. 17: we have a simile of nearly the same kind, and equally elegant with that in Isa 65:8. The meaning is, that if in a bunch of bad grapes a good one or two be found, full of good juice, wherein is the blessing, the vintager selects it from the rest, and does not destroy it, as expecting it to come to perfection; so God would not destroy the whole nation of the Jews, but preserve it for the sake of a few righteous persons to be found among them. It is added in the next verse, that to these faithful worshippers of God, as a reward of their duty and constancy, should be granted the secure inhabitation and possession of the land of Canaan, and of Jerusalem, built upon the holy mountains, here called the mountains of God; together with the free use of the flourishing fields and meadows of that country; such as were Scharon and Achor. See Hos 2:15. Son 2:1. Achor was a valley to the north of Jericho, opposite to the town of Ai, where Achan was put to death, and which was remarkably fertile. Jos 7:26.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2. Not All Israel Shall Be Cast Off
Isa 65:8-12
8Thus saith the Lord,
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.
9And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob,
And out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains:
And mine elect shall inherit it,
And my servants shall dwell there.
10And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks,
And the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in,
For my people that have sought me.
117But ye are they that forsake the Lord,
That forget my holy mountain,
That prepare a table for that 89troop,
And that 10furnish the drink-offering unto that 11 number.
12Therefore will I number 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 did evil before mine eyes,
And did choose that wherein I delighted not.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. This section stands to the one which precedes it in the same relation (Isa 65:1-7) in which this latter stands to the prayer in 63 and 64. For as the Prophet in Isa 65:1 sqq. opposes the expectation [?] that all Israel will be saved (Isa 64:7-8), so Isa 65:8 sqq. repels the opposite error that all Israel will be cast off. This opinion might have been drawn from Isa 65:2 sqq. For there Israel is quite generally designated as a rebellious people to which the Lord spreads out His hands in vain, that provokes Him by defiant idolatry, and therefore will have to bear the whole burden of the guilt accumulated from their fathers. It might accordingly ,be supposed that Israel should be entirely cast off, and their place taken by the Gentiles (Isa 65:1). This misunderstanding the Prophet here combats. He compares Israel with a cluster of grapes on which many berries may be rotten. Is the whole cluster, therefore, cast away? No! much of the blessing of God is still therein. So for His servants sake the Lord will not destroy all Israel (Isa 65:8). He will yet cause to come forth from the remnant a race that will consist of the elect of the Lord, and that will possess the holy land (Isa 65:9). This will be fertile in all its parts and be fitted for excellent pasture (Isa 65:10). But they who forget the Lord and set their heart on the false gods of the land of the Exile (Isa 65:11) shall for their disobedience be extirpated (Isa 65:12).
2. Thus saith the Lordsought me.
Isa 65:8-10. The image does not appear to me to be correctly explained when the intended antitheses are supposed to be: only stalk and husks should be destroyed, not the berries; or, only the degenerate vine or vineyard (Isa 5:4; Isa 18:5) is to be destroyed, not the grapes. For who needs to be told that he should not treat the berries as the stalk and husk, or that he should spare the grapes but destroy the vine or vineyard? Whence are grape-clusters to be had if the latter are destroyed? It seems to me that the Prophet has in his mind a bunch of grapes on which together with many bad and rotten berries, there are some good ones. One is tempted to throw away such a cluster entirely. The Prophet forbids this. [The image really presented by the Prophet, as Vitringa clearly shows, and most later writers have admitted, is that of a good cluster, in which juice is found, while others are unripe or rotten.Alexander. has the article which the Hebrew was wont to employ in comparisons. See Ges.Gr. 109. Note 1.D. M.]. There is a blessing in it seems to be taken in a double sense: 1) Even the smallest quantity of the noble fruit is valuable and not to be despised; 2) God can bless even the smallest quantity, i. e., He can multiply it (Joh 6:9; Joh 6:12). [The simple, obvious meaning is: A blessing is in the cluster, because new wine, which was considered a blessing (Jdg 9:13; Isa 62:8), is in it.D. M.]. is used as Isa 25:9; Isa 45:24; Isa 57:14. For His servants sake the Lord will not entirely destroy Israel. For these are the true Israelites. They prove that Israel is capable and worthy to continue to exist. There shall, therefore, seed (posterity) yet proceed out of Israel, that shall possess the mountains of Canaan (comp. Isa 14:25, and in a wider sense Isa 49:11). This shall be a holy seed (Isa 6:13). For only the elect of the Lord shall possess it (the land, which is ideally contained in ), and His servants shall dwell therein. [My mountains is supposed by Vitringa to denote Mount Zion and Moriah, or Jerusalem as built upon them; but the later writers more correctly suppose it to describe the whole of Palestine, as being an uneven, hilly country. See the same use of the plural in Isa 14:25, and the analogous phrase, mountains of Israel, repeatedly employed by Ezekiel (Isa 36:1; Isa 36:8; Isa 38:8). The adverb at the end of the sentence properly means thither, and is never perhaps put for there, except in cases where a change of place is previously mentioned or implied.Alexander.D. M.] Isa 65:10. The land shall be fertile and glorious. Sharon shall be pasture for sheep, the valley of Achor a pasture for black cattle. Sharon is the well-known fertile plain in the west of Palestine, stretching from Caesarea northwards to Carmel (comp. on Isa 33:9; Isa 35:2). Achor is the valley in the east of the tribe of Judah, in which, according to Jos 7:24-26, Achan was stoned. This valley is further mentioned only in Jos 15:7; Hos 2:17. It must have been a stony place, for according to Jos 7:25 sq., there were there stones enough to stone Achan, together with all belonging to him, and to raise up a great heap of stones. In Hos 2:17 [E. V. 15] it is said that the valley of Achor will be unto converted and restored Israel a door of hope. This means: When Israel, returning from the Exile, shall pass through the valley of Achor, it shall be to them no more a monument of the wrath of God, which it formerly was, with its heap of stones and its stony ground; but even this valley shall be to them a door of hope, for the place shall be altered. There shall be seen in it the traces of the blessing which, according to Isa 65:20 sqq., shall be spread over the whole land. Then, according to this passage, the valley of Achor shall become a fertile pasture, even more fertile than Sharon, for sheep are content with much poorer pasture than neat-cattle (comp. Herzog) R. Enc. VI., p. 150; Si tibi lanitium curae, fuge pabula laeta.VirgilGeorg. III., 384).
3. But ye are theydelighted not. Isa 65:11-12. What in verse 8 had been denied in reference to all Israel is here affirmed in reference to a part. The wicked Israelites shall certainly perish. These are described as those that forsake Jehovah (comp. on Isa 1:28. The expression occurs further only Isa 1:24; Isa 1:28), that forget the holy mountain of Jehovah. The writer has here evidently exiles in his eye, who in a heathen land were seduced to worship the local gods of the heathen, and so forgot the worship that prevailed in their own country, and the place where their fathers worshipped God. Such forgetting must often have happened in the Exile, and have been for the faithful Israelites a subject of great grief and vexation. We see this from Psa 137:5-6 [?]. In what follows the Prophet specifies more particularly the idolatry of those apostates, while he describes them as those who prepare a table for Gad, and fill for Meni mixed drink. The Prophet here speaks of a cultus of which there is no mention in the history of the people before the Exile. He has evidently in his mind the so-called lectisternia. That these lectisternia were observed by the Babylonians is proved from Bar 6:26, and from Bel and the Dragon, Isa 65:11 sqq. What Herodotus (I. 181) relates of the golden table, which stood in the highest room of the temple-tower beside the , seems to have reference to such a lectisternium (comp. Leyrer in Herz.R. E. 13, p. 470). As an appellative noun, means fortune, good luck. As the name of a divinity, it denotes the star of fortune, of which the Babylonians had two, Jupiter and Venus (comp. DunckerGesch. des Alterth., Vol. I, p. 117; Plutarch de Is. et Osir, 48). The Arabs named the former Great Fortune, and the latter Little Fortune. Many are disposed to connect , which is found only here, with , , and to understand it of the moon (comp. especially Knobelin loc.). The matter is not yet decided. (comp. Pro 23:30, and in reference to the verb, Isa 5:22; Isa 19:14) is mixed wine, spiced wine (see on Isa 5:22). With allusion to the name , the Lord threatens these sinners that He will number (Isa 53:12) them to the sword, and they all must bow down (Isa 10:4; Isa 44:1-2,) to be slaughtered, because they did not answer to the call of the Lord, yea, did not even hearken to His word, but did that which the Lord regarded as evil, and chose what displeased Him. For recurring expressions see Isa 66:4; Isa 56:4. The expression occurs first in Num 32:13, then frequently in Deut, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Chron. It is found once in the Psalms (Isa 51:6), three times in Jeremiah (Jer 7:30; Jer 18:10; Jer 32:30). It occurs in Isaiah only here and Isa 66:4 (comp. Isa 38:3). What was remarked in regard to Isa 65:3-5 a applies to Isa 65:11-12. If they portray an idolatry specifically Babylonian which the Jews practised in exile, the verses are an interpolation. [Delitzsch, who is inclined to identify with Jupiter, confesses that it is only from this place in Isaiah that we know that Gad was worshipped by the Babylonians. The Babylonian Pantheon, in RawlinsonsMonarchies, does not contain this name. The application of the name Meni is admitted to be doubtful. We could as easily connect the worship and the divinities mentioned here with Egypt, Syria, or Arabia, as with Babylonia. The Jews that fled to Egypt had their Lectisternia there (Jer 44:17-19), and the destruction with which Isaiah threatens the apostates that he has in mind, is denounced by Jeremiah against the idolatrous Jews in Egypt. Jer 44:12-14. Moreover, the Jews had their Lectistenia in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem before the captivity (Jer 7:17-18) But suppose that the worship here described by Isaiah could be proved to be distinctively and exclusively Babylonian, must the real Isaiah be supposed to be ignorant of it? Knowing the disposition of the Jews to follow the ways of the heathen around them, he could anticipate, even without Divine inspiration, that many of the captive Jews would practise the peculiar religious rites of the Babylonians. Even an anti-supernaturalist could defend the genuineness of Isa 65:11-12; much more one who believes that a true Prophet of God could utter a definite prediction. We may add that verse 13 supposes the sins mentioned in Isa 65:11-12 as the ground of the threatening which it contains, and cannot be connected immediately with Isa 65:10. Henderson, who thinks that the terms in Isa 65:11 may have been borrowed from the nomenclature of idolaters, takes Gad as meaning Fortune and Meni Fate, and applies the passage to the impenitent and worldly Jews of the restoration, who had no god but riches, and regarded human affairs as governed by fortune.D. M.].
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isa 65:1-2. Our Lord has said, He that seeketh findeth (Mat 7:8). How, then, does it come that the Jews do not find what they seek, but the heathen find what they did not seek? The Apostle Paul puts this question and answers it, Rom 9:30 sqq.; Isa 10:19 sqq.; Isa 11:7. [See also Isa 10:3]. All depends on the way in which we seek. Luther says: Quaerere fit dupliciter. Primo, secundum praescriptum verbi Dei, et sic invenitur Deus, Secundo, quaeritur nostris studiis et consiliis, et sic non invenitur. The Jews, with exception of the (Rom 11:7), sought only after their own glory and merit. They sought what satisfies the flesh. They did not suffer the spirit in the depths of their heart to speak,the spirit which can be satisfied only by food fitted for it. The law which was given to them that they might perceive by means of it their own impotence, became a snare to them. For they perverted it, made what was of minor importance the chief matter, and then persuaded themselves that they had fulfilled it and were righteous. But the Gentiles who had not the law, had not this snare. They were not tempted to abuse the pdagogical discipline of the law. They felt simply that they were forsaken by God. Their spirit was hungry. And when for the first time Gods word in the Gospel was presented to them, then they received it the more eagerly in proportion to the poverty, wretchedness and hunger in which they had been. The Jews did not find what they sought, because they had not a spiritual, but a carnal apprehension of the law, and, like the elder brother of the prodigal son, were full, and blind for that which was needful for them. But the Gentiles found what they did not seek, because they were like the prodigal son, who was the more receptive of grace, the more he needed it, and the less claim he had to it. [There is important truth stated in the foregoing remarks. But it does not fully explain why the Lord is found of those who sought Him not. The sinner who has obtained mercy when he asks why? must have recourse to a higher cause, a cause out of himself, even free, sovereign, efficacious grace. It is of God that showeth mercy, Rom 9:16. Though in after-communion God is found of those that seek Him (Pro 8:17), yet in the first conversion He is found of those that seek Him not; for therefore we love Him, because He first loved us. Henry. D. M.].
2. On Isa 65:2. Gods long-suffering is great. He stretches out His hands the whole day and does not grow weary. What man would do this? The disobedient people contemns Him, as if He knew nothing, and could do nothing.
3. On Isa 65:2. It is clear from this verse gratiam esse resistibilem. Christ earnestly stretched out His hands to the Jews. He would, but they would not. This doctrine the Remonstrants prove from this place, and rightly too, in Actis Synodi Dodrac. P. 3. p. 76. Leigh. [The grace of God which is signified by His stretching out His hands can be, and is, resisted. That figurative expression denotes warning, exhorting, entreating, and was never set forth by Reformed theologians as indicating such grace as was necessarily productive of conversion. The power by which God quickens those who were dead in sins (Eph 2:5), by which He gives a new heart (Eze 36:26), by which He draws to the Son (Joh 6:44-45; Joh 6:65), is the grace which is called irresistible. The epithet is admitted on all hands to be faulty; but the grace denoted by it is, from the nature of the case, not resisted. Turrettin in treating De Vocatione et Fide thus replies to this objection, Aliud est Deo monenti et vocanti externe resistere; Aliud est conversionem intendenti et efficaciter ac interne vocanti. Prius asseritur Isa. lxv. 2, 3. Quum dicit Propheta se expandisse tot die manus ad populum perversum etc., non posterius. Expansio brachiorum notat quidem blandam et benevolam Dei invitationem, qu illos extrinsecus sive Verbo, sive beneficiis alliciebat, non semel atque iterum, sed quotidie ministerio servorum suorum eos compellando. Sed non potest designate potentem et efficacem operationem, qu brachium Domini illis revelatur qui docentur Deo et trahuntur a Patre, etc. Locus XV.; Quaestio VI .25.D. M.].
4. On Isa 65:2. (Who walk after their own thoughts.)
Duc me, nec sine, me per me, Deus optime, duci.
Nam duce me pereo, te duce certus eo.
[If our guide be our own thoughts, our way is not likely to be good; for every imagination of the thought of our hearts is only evil. Henry. D. M.].
5. On Isa 65:3 sq. The sweetest wine is turned into the sourest vinegar; and when Gods people apostatize from God, they are worse than the heathen (Jer 3:11). Starke.
6. On Isa 65:5. [I am holier than thou. A deep insight is here given us into the nature of the mysterious fascination which heathenism exercised on the Jewish people. The law humbled them at every turn with mementoes of their own sin and of Gods unapproachable holiness. Paganism freed them from this, and allowed them (in the midst of moral pollution) to cherish lofty pretensions to sanctity. The man, who had been offering incense on the mountain-top, despised the penitent who went to the temple to present a broken and contrite heart. If Pharisaism led to a like result, it was because it, too, had emptied the law of its spiritual import, and turned its provisions into intellectual idols. Kay. D. M.].
7. On Isa 65:6-7. The longer God forbears, the harder He punishes at last. The greatness of the punishment compensates for the delay (Psa 50:21). Starke after Leigh.
8. On Isa 65:8 sqq. [This is expounded by St. Paul, Rom 11:1-5, where, when upon occasion of the rejection of the Jews, it is asked Hath God then cast away His people? He answers, no; for, at this time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. This prophecy has reference to that distinguished remnantOur Saviour has told us that for the sake of these elect the days of the destruction of the Jews should be shortened, and a stop put to the desolation, which otherwise would have proceeded to that degree that no flesh should be saved. Mat 24:22. Henry. D. M.].
9. On Isa 65:15. The judgment which came upon Israel by the hand of the Romans, did not altogether destroy the people, but it so destroyed the Old Covenant, i.e., the Mosaic religion, that the Jews can no more observe its precepts in essential points. For no Jew knows to what tribe he belongs. Therefore, they have no priests, and, consequently, no sacrifices. The Old Covenant is now only a ruin. We see here most clearly that the Old Covenant, as it was designed only for one nation, and for one country, was to last only for a certain time. If we consider, moreover, the way in which the judgment was executed, (comp. Josephus), we can truly say that the Jews bear in themselves the mark of a curse. They bear the stamp of the divine judgment. The beginning of the judgment on the world has been executed on them as the house of God. But how comes it that the Jews have become so mighty, so insolent in the present time, and are not satisfied with remaining on the defensive in their attitude toward the Christian church, but have passed over to the offensive? This has arisen solely from Christendom having to a large extent lost the consciousness of its new name. There are many Christians who scoff at the name of Christian, and seek their honor in combating all that is called Christian. This is the preparation for the judgment on Christendom itself. If Christendom would hold fast her jewel, she would remain strong, and no one would dare to mock or to assail her. For she would then partake of the full blessing which lies in the principle of Christianity, and every one would be obliged to show respect for the fruits of this principle. But an apostate Christendom, that is ashamed of her glorious Christian name, is something more miserable than the Jews, judged though they have been, who still esteem highly their name, and what remains to them of their old religion. Thus Christendom, in so far as it denies the worth and significance of its name, is gradually reaching a condition in which it will be so ripe for the second act of the judgment on the world, that this will be longed for as a benefit. For, this apostate Christendom will be the kingdom of Antichrist, as Antichrist will manifest himself in Satanic antagonism to God by sitting in the temple of God, and pretending to be God (2Th 2:3 sqq.). [We do not quite share all the sentiments expressed in this paragraph. We are far from being so despondent as to the prospects of Christendom, and think that there is a more obvious interpretation of the prophecy quoted from 2 Thess., than that indicated.D. M.].
10. On Isa 65:17. [If we had only the present passage to testify of new heavens and a new earth, we might say, as many good interpreters do, that the language is figurative, and indicates nothing more than a great moral and spiritual revolution. But we cannot thus explain 2Pe 3:10-13. The present earth and heavens shall pass away; (comp. Isa 51:6; Psa 102:25-26). But how can we suppose that our Prophet here refers to the new heavens and new earth, which are to succeed the destruction of the world by fire? In the verses that follow Isa 65:17, a condition of things is described which, although better than the present, is not so good as that perfectly sinless, blessed state of the redeemed, which we look for after the coming of the day of the Lord. Yet the Apostle Peter (2Pe 3:13) evidently regards the promise before us of new heavens and a new earth, as destined to receive its accomplishment after the conflagration which is to take place at the end of the world. If we had not respect to other Scriptures, and if we overlooked the use made by Peter of this passage, we should not take it literally. But we can take it literally, if we suppose that the Prophet brings together future events not according to their order in time. He sees the new heavens and new earth arise. Other scenes are disclosed to his prophetic eye of a grand and joy-inspiring nature. He announces them as future. But these scenes suppose the continued prevalence of death and labor (Isa 65:20 sqq.), which, we know from definite statements of Scripture, will not exist when the new heaven and new earth appear (comp. Rev 21:1-4). The proper view then of Isa 65:17 is to take its prediction literally, and to hold at the same time that in the following description (which is that of the millennium) future things are presented to us which are really prior, and not posterior to the promised complete renovation of heaven and earth. Nor should this surprise us, as Isaiah and the other Prophets place closely together in their pictures future things which belong to different times. They do not draw the line sharply between this world and the next. Compare Isaiahs prophecy of the abolition of death (Isa 25:8) in connection with other events that must happen long before that state of perfect blessedness.D. M.].
11. On Isa 65:20. [The extension of the Gospel every where,of its pure principles of temperance in eating and drinking, in restraining the passions, in producing calmness of mind, and in arresting war, would greatly lengthen out the life of man. The image here employed by the Prophet is more than mere poetry; it is one that is founded in reality, and is designed to convey most important truth. Barnes. D. M.].
12. On Isa 65:24. [It occurs to me that an erroneous application is frequently made of the promise, Before they call, etc. This declaration is made in connection with the glory and blessedness of the last days. It belongs specifically to the millennium. There are, indeed, occasions when God even now seems to act according to this law. (Comp. Dan 9:23). But Paul had to pray thrice before he received the answer of the Lord (2Co 12:8). Compare the parable of the importunate widow, Luk 18:1-7. The answer to prayer may be long delayed. This is not only taught in the Bible, but is verified in Christian experience. But the time will come when the Lord will not thus try and exercise the faith of His people.D. M.].
13. On Isa 65:25. If the lower animals live in hostility in consequence of the sin of man, a state of peace must be restored to them along with our redemption from sin. J. G. Mueller in Herz. R.-Encycl. xvi. p. 45. [By the serpent in this place there seems every reason to believe that Satan, the old seducer and author of discord and misery, is meant. During the millennium he is to be subject to the lowest degradation. Compare for the force of the phrase to lick the dust, Psa 72:9; Mic 7:17. This was the original doom of the tempter, Gen 3:14, and shall be fully carried into execution. Comp. Rev 20:1-3. Henderson. D. M.].
14. On Isa 66:1. [Having held up in every point of view the true design, mission and vocation of the church or chosen people, its relation to the natural descendants of Abraham, the causes which required that the latter should be stripped of their peculiar privileges, and the vocation of the Gentiles as a part of the divine plan from its origin, the Prophet now addresses the apostate and unbelieving Jews at the close of the old dispensation, who, instead of preparing for the general extension of the church and the exchange of ceremonial for spiritual worship, were engaged in the rebuilding and costly decoration of the temple at Jerusalem. The pride and interest in this great public work, felt not only by the Herods but by all the Jews, is clear from incidental statements of the Scriptures (Joh 2:20; Mat 24:1), as well as from the ample and direct assertions of Josephus. That the nation should have been thus occupied precisely at the time when the Messiah came, is one of those agreements between prophecy and history, which cannot be accounted for except upon the supposition of a providential and designed assimilation. Alexander after Vitringa. D. M.].
15. On Isa 66:1-2. What a grand view of the nature of God and of the way in which He is made known lies at the foundation of these words! God made all things. He is so great that it is an absurdity to desire to build a temple for Him. The whole universe cannot contain Him (1Ki 8:27)! But He, who contains all things and can be contained by nothing, has His greatest joy in a poor, humble human heart that fears Him. He holds it worthy of His regard, it pleases Him, He enters into it, He makes His abode in it. The wise and prudent men of science should learn hence what is chiefly necessary in order to know God. We cannot reach Him by applying force, by climbing up to Him, by attempting to take Him by storm. And if science should place ladder upon ladder upwards and downwards, she could not attain His height or His depth. But He enters of His own accord into a child-like, simple heart. He lets Himself be laid hold of by it, kept and known. It is not, therefore, by the intellect [alone] but by the heart that we can know God.
16. On Isa 66:3. He who under the Christian dispensation would retain the forms of worship of the ancient ritual of shadows would violate the fundamental laws of the new time, just as a man by killing would offend against the foundation of the moral law, or as he would by offering the blood of dogs or swine offend against the foundation of the ceremonial law. For when the body, the substance has appeared, the type must vanish. He who would retain the type along with the reality would declare the latter to be insufficient, would, therefore, found his salvation not upon God only, but also in part on his own legal performance. But God will brook no rival. He is either our All, or nothing. Christianity could tolerate animal sacrifices just as little as the Old Testament law could tolerate murder or the offering of abominable things.
17. On Isa 66:5. [The most malignant and cruel persecutions of the friends of God have been originated under the pretext of great zeal in His service, and with a professed desire to honor His name. So it was with the Jews when they crucified the Lord Jesus. So it is expressly said it would be when His disciples would be excommunicated and put to death, Joh 16:2. So it was in fact in the persecutions excited against the apostles and early Christians. See Act 6:13-14; Act 21:28-31. So it was in all the persecutions of the Waldenses, in all the horrors of the Inquisition, in all the crimes of the Duke of Alva. So it was in the bloody reign of Mary; and so it has ever been in all ages and in all countries where Christians have been persecuted. Barnes.D. M.].
18. On Isa 66:10. The idea which is presented in this verse is, that it is the duty of all who love Zion to sympathize in her joy. The true friends of God should rejoice in every real revival of religion, they should rejoice in all the success which attends the Gospel in heathen lands. And they will rejoice. It is one evidence of piety to rejoice in her joy; and they who have no joy when souls are born into the kingdom of God, when He pours down His Spirit and in a revival of religion produces changes as sudden and transforming as if the earth were suddenly to pass from the desolation of winter to the verdure and bloom of summer, or when the Gospel makes sudden and rapid advances in the heathen world, have no true evidence that they love God and His cause. They have no religion. Barnes.D. M.
19. On Isa 66:13. The Prophet is here completely governed by the idea that in the glorious time of the end, love, maternal love will reign. Thus He makes Zion appear as a mother who will bring forth with incredible ease and rapidity innumerable children (Isa 66:7-9). Then the Israelites are depicted as little children who suck the breasts of their mother. Further, the heathen who bring back the Israelites into their home, must do this in the same way in which mothers in the Orient are wont to carry their little children. Lastly, even to the Lord Himself maternal love is ascribed (comp. Isa 42:14; Isa 49:15), and such love as a mother manifests to her adult son. Thus the Israelites will be surrounded in that glorious time on all sides by maternal love. Maternal love will be the characteristic of that period.
20. On Isa 66:19 sqq. The Prophet describes remote things by words which are borrowed from the relations and conceptions of his own time, but which stand in strange contrast to the reality of the future which he beholds. Thus the Prophet speaks of escaped persons who go to Tarshish, Pul, Lud, Tubal, and Javan. Here he has rightly seen that a great act of judgment must have taken place. And this act of judgment must have passed on Israel, because they who escape, who go to the Gentiles to declare to them the glory of Jehovah, must plainly be Jews How accurately, in spite of the strange manner of expression, is the fact here stated that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was proclaimed to the Gentiles exactly at the time when the old theocracy was destroyed! How justly does he indicate that there was a causal connection between these events! He did not, indeed, know that the shattering of the old form was necessary in order that the eternal truth enclosed in it might be set free, and fitted for filling the whole earth. For the Old Covenant cannot exist along with the New, the Law cannot stand with equal dignity beside the Gospel. The Law must be regarded as annulled, in order that the Gospel may come into force. How remarkably strange is it, however, that he calls the Gentile nations Tarshish, Pul, Lud, etc. And how singular it sounds to be told that the Israelites shall be brought by the Gentiles to Jerusalem as an offering for Jehovah! But how accurately has he, notwithstanding, stated the fact, which, indeed, still awaits its fulfilment, that it is the conversion of the heathen world which will induce Israel to acknowledge their Saviour, and that they both shall gather round the Lord as their common centre! How strange it sounds that then priests and Levites shall be taken from the Gentiles also, and that new moon and Sabbath shall be celebrated by all flesh in the old Jewish fashion! But how accurately is the truth thereby stated that in the New Covenant there will be no more the priesthood restricted to the family of Aaron, but a higher spiritual and universal priesthood, and that, instead of the limited local place of worship of the Old Covenant, the whole earth will be a temple of the Lord! Verily the prophecy of the two last chapters of Isaiah attests a genuine prophet of Jehovah. He cannot have been an anonymous unknown person. He can have been none other than Isaiah the son of Amoz!
HOMILETICAL HINTS
1. On Isa 65:1 sq. [I. It is here foretold that the Gentiles, who had been afar off, should be made nigh, Isa 65:1. II. It is here foretold that the Jews, who had long been a people near to God, should be cast off, and set at a distance, Isa 65:2. Henry, III. We are informed of the cause of the rejection of the Jews. It was owing to their rebellion, waywardness and flagrant provocations, Isa 65:2 sqq.D. M.]
2. On Isa 65:1-7. A Fast-Day Sermon. When the Evangelical Church no more holds fast what she has; when apostasy spreads more and more, and modern heathenism (Isa 65:3-5 a) gains the ascendency in her, then it can happen to her as it did to the people of Israel, and as it happened to the Church in the Orient. Her candlestick can be removed out of its place.[By the Evangelical Church we are not to understand here the Church universal, for her perpetuity is certain. The Evangelical Church is in Germany the Protestant Church, and more particularly the Lutheran branch of it.D. M.]
3. On Isa 65:8-10. Sermon on behalf of the mission among the Jews. Israels hope. 1) On what it is founded (Israel is still a berry in which drops of the divine blessing are contained); 2) To what this hope is directed (Israels Restoration).
4. On Isa 65:13-16. [The blessedness of those that serve God, and the woful condition of those that rebel against him, are here set the one over against the other, that they may serve as a foil to each other. The difference of their states here lies in two things: 1) In point of comfort and satisfaction, a. Gods servants shall eat and drink; they shall have the bread of life to feed, to feast upon continually, and shall want nothing that is good for them. But those who set their hearts upon the world, and place their happiness in it, shall be hungry and thirsty, always empty, always craving. In communion with God and dependence upon Him there is full satisfaction; but in sinful pursuits there is nothing but disappointment. b. Gods servants shall rejoice and sing for joy of heart; they have constant cause for joy, and there is nothing that may be an occasion of grief to them but they have an allay sufficient for it. But, on the other hand, they that forsake the Lord shut themselves out from all true joy, for they shall be ashamed of their vain confidence in themselves, and their own righteousness, and the hopes they had built thereon. When the expectations of bliss, wherewith they had flattered themselves, are frustrated, O what confusion will fill their faces! Then shall they cry for sorrow of heart and howl for vexation of spirit. 2) In point of honor and reputation, Isa 65:15-16. The memory of the just is, and shall be, blessed; but the memory of the wicked shall rot. Henry.D. M.]
5. On Isa 66:1-2. Carpzov has a sermon on this text. He places it in parallel with Luk 18:9-14, and considers, 1) The rejection of spiritual pride; 2) The commendation of filial fear.
6. On Isa 66:2 Arndt, in his True Christianity I. cap. 10, comments on this text. He says among other things: The man who will be something is the material out of which God makes nothing, yea, out of which He makes fools. But a man who will be nothing, and regards himself as nothing, is the material out of which God makes something, even glorious, wise people in His sight.
7. On Isa 66:3. [Saurin has a sermon on this text entitled Sur l Insuffisance du culte exterieur in the eighth volume of his sermons.D. M.]
8. On Isa 66:13. As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you. These words stand, let us consider it, 1) In the Old Testament; 2) In the heart of God always; 3) But are they realized in our experience? Koegel in Aus dem Vorhof ins Heiligthum, II. Bd., p. 242, 1876.
9. On Isa 66:24. The punishment of sin is twofoldinward and outward. The inward is compared with a worm that dies not; the outward with a fire that is not quenched. This worm and this fire are at work even in this life. He who is alarmed by them and hastens to Christ can now be delivered from them.[It is better not to fall into this fire and never to have any experience of this worm, even though, as some imagine, eternity should not be eternal, and the unquenchable fire might be quenched, and the worm that shall never die, should die, and Jesus and His apostles should not have expressed themselves quite in accordance with the compassionate taste of our time. Better, I say, is better. Save thyself and thy neighbor before the fire begins to burn, and the smoke to ascend. Gossner.D. M.]
Footnotes:
[7]But ye who forsake Jehovah.
[8]Gad.
[9]Gad.
[10]fill for the goddess of fortune a mingled drink.
[11]Meni.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
With an eye to this gracious promise, the Holy Ghost here sets forth, under the similitude of a poor apparently dry and fruitless vine, how the mercy for Israel is preserved, and how at length it shall be accomplished. To all human observation, the vine brings forth nothing; but there is one who looks on and knows all, who takes notice of a cluster in which the new wine is found. My beloved, (said the Church, speaking of Jesus) is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi, Son 1:14 . Sweet consideration! Jesus in our nature, became the preservative of our poor blighted nature, all along from the fall. For though not then openly appearing in substance of our flesh; yet the Church subsisted in him, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, Rev 13:8 ; Col 1:17 . Hence therefore, He that looked on, and who could this be, but He that felt so highly interested in the preservation of his Church and people, as to become, from everlasting, the Church’s Husband, Head, and Surety? said, Destroy it not; there is a blessing in it. Jesus, the promised seed, is in it, and must come out of it for its salvation. And hence Jehovah saith, For my servant’s sake, I will not destroy them all. There is a remnant according to the election of grace; and hence Sharon and Achor shall flourish and open a door of hope to poor transgressing Israelites, to make one fold with the Gentile church. Here shall they lie down, and in Christ’s pasture shall they be fed. The Reader will not forget, as a farther confirmation of those blessed promises, and in proof that the eye of the Lord, at the time of delivering them, was looking on the very spot where Jesus, in after ages, should open the gospel, and give testimony to those truths that Sharon was near to Joppa, on the west, and Achor lay to the eastward, near Jordan, the sacred river, where the Lord Jesus entered on his ministry.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 65:8 Thus saith the LORD, 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.
Ver. 8. Thus saith the Lord. ] This he saith in effect, I will not destroy the righteous with the wicked, but still reserve a “seed,” a remnant; and this he setteth forth by a fine and fit comparison; even as the husbandman, if he find any wine in the cluster, that is, any life or sap in the vine, cutteth it not down utterly.
So will I do for my servants’ sake.] Few though they be, even as one cluster of grapes upon a vine, yet because they are botri mustei, clusters full of new and sweet wine, full of the juice of piety, they shall be preserved.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 65:8-12
8Thus says the LORD,
As the new wine is found in the cluster,
And one says, ‘Do not destroy it, for there is benefit in it,’
So I will act on behalf of My servants
In order not to destroy all of them.
9I will bring forth offspring from Jacob,
And an heir of My mountains from Judah;
Even My chosen ones shall inherit it,
And My servants will dwell there.
10Sharon will be a pasture land for flocks,
And the valley of Achor a resting place for herds,
For My people who seek Me.
11But you who forsake the LORD,
Who forget My holy mountain,
Who set a table for Fortune,
And who fill cups with mixed wine for Destiny,
12I will destine you for the sword,
And all of you will bow down to the slaughter.
Because I called, but you did not answer;
I spoke, but you did not hear.
And you did evil in My sight
And chose that in which I did not delight.
Isa 65:8 As the new wine is found in the cluster This is a metaphor that says that even in a cluster of grapes which contains some bad fruit there are always some good grapes. This is the beginning of a discussion that runs from Isa 65:8 to Isa 65:10 which states that a remnant of Jews (see Special Topic: The Remnant, Three Senses ) will be faithful to YHWH. However, Isa 65:11-13 show the complete rejection and judgment of those of Judah who continue to reject God. This is the beginning of the painful but true emphasis that judgment will begin with the house of God. There is a form of our religion in which God takes no pleasure. God looks at the heart (cf. Isa 29:13).
For new wine see Special Topic below.
SPECIAL TOPIC: BIBLICAL ATTITUDES TOWARD ALCOHOL AND ALCOHOL ABUSE
Isa 65:10-11 For My people who seek Me.
But you who forsake the LORD This shows a new concept in the OT. God had always dealt in a corporate aspect with the nation. The entire nation was blessed or the entire nation was cursed (i.e., Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28-29). Now we are coming to the individualized focus of Eze 18:32; Eze 30:10-19; and Jer 31:29-30, where there is a distinction within the people of God as to those who believe and those who do not believe (cf. Deu 29:24-28). Later in chapter 66 there will be a distinction between all mankind, of those who reject and those who receive YHWH.
Isa 65:11 you who forsake the LORD The VERB (Qal PARTICIPLE, BDB 736 I, KB 806) means to abandon or to leave. It is regularly used of forsaking God (cf. Deu 28:20; Deu 31:16; Jdg 10:10; Jer 1:16; Jon 2:8). They abandoned YHWH for idols (cf. 2 Kings 9-22; 2Ch 36:13-21). God will forsake them (cf. Deu 31:17; Isa 41:17; Isa 49:14; Isa 54:7).
Who set a table for Fortune,
And who fill cups with mixed wine for Destiny The term Fortune (BDB 151 II, KB 176 II) and the Hebrew Destiny (BDB 584, KB 602) are names for pagan gods, possibly relating to the worship of planetary deities (cf. Jer 7:18; Jer 44:17), which was the worship of the queen of heaven. It is certain that these terms refer to idolatrous worship of some type!
Isa 65:12
NASBI will destine you for the sword
NKJVI will number you for the sword
NRSV, NJBI will destine you to the sword
Notice the play on the VERB (Qal PERFECT, BDB 584, KB 599), which is used as a title for a false god in Isa 65:11, Destiny (BDB 584).
Because I called, but you did not answer This is a summary of Isa 65:1-7. God continually loved them and called them but they refused and rejected His call (cf. Isa 41:28; Isa 50:2; Isa 66:4; Hos 11:2).
The last lines of Isa 65:12 are repeated in Isa 66:4.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Thus saith the LORD. Note the frequent occurrence of this expression in predicting these new things.
As = According as.
new wine. Hebrew. tirosh. App-27. Here is further reference to the new Israel. See notes on Isa 65:1.
My servants’ sake. Some codices, with one early printed edition, and Septuagint, read “servant’s (singular): i.e. Messiah (see note on Isa 37:35): = “for the sake of My servant”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 65:8-12
Isa 65:8-10
“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’ sake, that I may not destroy them all. And 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. 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.”
The terse message of these verses is: Yes, Israel shall indeed be destroyed, but not all of them. Those who shall inherit God’s holy mountain shall be those, and only those, who have “sought” the Lord (Isa 65:10).
“Destroy it not …” (Isa 65:8). “The vintagers when they see a cluster with only a few sound grapes in it say, `Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it,’ so for the sake of those who are faithful to God,” he will not destroy all of Israel. Kidner noted that in this passage Isaiah united the themes of “The Righteous Remnant,” and that of “The Vineyard,” joining many other scholars in stressing the evidences of the unity of the whole prophecy. On this verse, Hailey wrote that, “The Canaanites were cast out of the land because of moral corruption (Deu 9:3-5); and Israel would retain it only upon the condition of their faithfulness to God (Lev 18:24-30; Deu 4:37-40).
Isa 65:11-12
“But ye that forsake Jehovah, and forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for Fortune, and that fill up mingled wine unto Destiny; 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.”
Here we have an outcropping of the Jews propensity for worshipping “the host of heaven” (Act 7:42). “The planet Jupiter was worshipped as the god Fortune; and the planet Venus was worshipped, sometimes as Second Fortune, or as Destiny. “In due course, those who worship Destiny will indeed receive their well-merited destiny. Note the word-play. Note the stern words, “I will destine you to the sword.”
Isa 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. Jer 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 2Ki 24:14 plus some additional ones later (2Ki 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. 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. Isa 6:13). Jehovah is going to bring forth a seed out of Jacob (Isa 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 (Isa 65:1)! Those who came to Jesus, the Messiah, inherited the rest God had promised His chosen (cf. Heb 3:1 to Heb 4:13). Those who came to Zion, the N.T. church, inherited Jehovahs mountain (cf. Heb 12:22-29). Jehovah promised to multiply the seed to inherit the messianic promises (cf. 2Sa 7:12-17; Isa 44:3; Isa 54:3; Isa 59:21; Isa 66:22; Jer 33:19-22, etc.). And the seed was multiplied and did include the Gentiles (cf. Rom 4:1-23; Rom 8:12-17; Rom 9:6-8; Gal 3:16; Gal 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. Eze 34:1-31; Jer 33:14-26; Hos 3:5; Joe 3:1-3; Amo 9:11-15; Oba 1:21; Mic 5:2-4; Zep 3:9-20; Zec 12:1 to Zec 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 (Achans execution, Jos 7:24-26); it was a doorway of hope for chastened Israel (Hos 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. Mal 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 Isa 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 Isa 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.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Isa 6:13, Jer 30:11, Joe 2:14, Amo 9:8, Amo 9:9, Mat 24:22, Mar 13:20, Rom 9:27-29, Rom 11:5, Rom 11:6, Rom 11:24-26
Reciprocal: Gen 18:26 – General Gen 18:32 – I will not Gen 19:22 – for Gen 30:27 – the Lord 2Ki 11:2 – they hid him 2Ch 22:11 – she slew him not Isa 10:21 – return Isa 19:24 – shall Isa 35:2 – the glory Jer 23:8 – General Eze 14:22 – therein Mic 5:5 – when the Joh 11:15 – for 2Co 8:9 – for Eph 1:4 – as Rev 7:3 – Hurt not
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 65:8-10. Thus saith the Lord These words may be conceived as a gracious answer from God to the prophet, pleading Gods covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. To this God replies, that he intended no such severity as the utter destruction of the whole nation; that the unfaithfulness of men should not make his promise to the ancient patriarchs of none effect, Rom 3:3; that his threatening should be made good upon the generality of this people, whose vine was of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah, Deu 32:32. As the new wine is found in the cluster, &c. As in a vineyard, which is generally unfruitful, there may be some vine that brings forth fruit; or as in a vine that is full of luxuriant branches, that bring forth no fruit, there may be here and there a bunch that contains good grapes, and as to such, the gardener bids his servants destroy it not, for there is in them what speaks Gods blessing. So So
(saith God) will I do for my servants sake, that I may not destroy them all Namely, for the sake of my servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will bring a seed out of Jacob A small number, which shall be as a seed, from whence others shall spring, Rom 9:27-29. And out of Judah God further promises to bring out of Judah an inheritor of his mountains That is, of the country of Judea, which was mountainous. God calls them his mountains, because he had chosen that country before all others. Though this may first refer to the return of the Jews out of the captivity of Babylon into their own land, yet, according to this whole prophecy, it must ultimately respect their restoration to the land of Canaan, after their conversion to Christianity. And mine elect shall inherit it My chosen ones, namely, such as should embrace Christianity, termed by St. Paul, the election of grace, (Rom 11:5-7,) who, in consequence of repentance toward God, and faith in Jesus of Nazareth as the true Messiah, should become, with the Gentile Christians, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, to offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks After they are restored, as mentioned above, to their own land. Sharon was a place of great fruitfulness for pastures. It was become like a wilderness, but God here promises that it should again be a place for the flocks. And the valley of Achor a place, &c. Achor was a valley to the north of Jericho, opposite to the town of Ai, where Achan was put to death, and which was remarkably fertile, Jos 7:26. For my people that have sought me Lest the wicked, idolatrous Jews should apply this promise to themselves, God here limits it to the people who should seek him, that is, should turn to him in true repentance and faith, and seek his favour. That the words have the force of such a limitation appears from what follows.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 65:8-12. The Righteous shall Inherit the Land, but their Opponents shall be Slaughtered.Yahweh says, Even as the vintagers say when they see a cluster with only a few sound grapes in it, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it, so for the sake of those who are faithful to Me I will not utterly destroy My people. The righteous survivors shall possess the holy land. From Sharon (p. 28)the maritime plain between Joppa and Carmelto the valley of Achorin the neighbourhood of Jerichothe plains shall teem with cattle. But you who deliberately ignore My Temple and its ritual, spreading instead a meal for the gods Fortune and Destinyyou will I destine (a terrible jest) to destruction, because ye were deaf to all My appeals, defying My will.
Isa 65:8. Destroy . . . in it: possibly the opening words of a popular vintage song.
Isa 65:11. table: the rite of the shewbread is probably to be traced to this custom of preparing banquets (lectisternia) for the gods (Lev 24:5-9*).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
65:8 Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and [one] saith, Destroy it not; for a {m} 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.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Consistent faithfulness 65:8-16
The Lord proceeded to explain that even though He would destroy the ungodly, He would also spare the truly godly among His people (cf. Gen 18:23-25).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Yahweh promised not to destroy the whole nation (cluster of grapes), but just the sinners among them (the bad grapes). The whole nation constituted His servants, but most of them were unprofitable servants.
"Reading chs. 40-55 alone might give one the impression that all that is necessary to be part of the remnant is to believe God’s promises to deliver. Chs. 56-66 make plain that those who are truly the servants of God are those who believe his promises enough to obey his covenant." [Note: Ibid., p. 646.]