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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 65:1 - 65:7
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The Lord's Refusal
v. 1. I am sought of them that asked not for Me, the Gentiles being represented as having access to the Lord and His mercy, although they were not members of God's covenant people; I am found of them that sought Me not, His free grace and mercy being revealed to all men without any merit or worthiness on their part. I said, Behold Me, behold Me! unto a nation that was not called by My name, that did not belong to Israel according to the flesh. The universality of the Gospel-message is here set forth in unmistakable terms. By way of contrast the Lord now describes the behavior of Israel.
v. 2. I have spread out My hands all the day, during the entire period when His covenant relation with Israel was in force, unto a rebellious people, stiff-necked and stubborn in all its actions, which walketh in a way that was not good, utterly at variance with God's holy will, after their own thoughts, which were always evil and therefore led to destruction; Cf Rom_11:7;
v. 3. a people that provoketh Me to anger continually to My face, with a bold impertinence that challenged the wrath of the Lord; that sacrificeth in gardens, in groves, after the manner of the heathen, and burneth incense upon altars of brick, like the idol-worshipers of Babylonia;
v. 4. which remain among the graves and lodge in the monuments, passing the night in hidden recesses, for the purposes of necromancy and Spiritism, which eat swine's flesh, a custom which was expressly forbidden in the Ceremonial Law, Lev_11:7, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels, Cf Lev_7:18; Lev_19:7;
v. 5. which say, Stand by thyself, thus declaring their rejection of Jehovah, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. Thus the idolaters give voice to the thoughts of their hearts, with whom they no longer desire to be identified, since they consider themselves members of a better religious class than His worshipers represent. These are a smoke in My nose, most disagreeable to Him, a fire that burneth all the day, causing consuming wrath to be kindled in Him.
v. 6. Behold, it is written before Me, so that He has it before His eyes all the time. I will not keep silence, this being God's answer upon their final appeal, Isa_64:12, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom, with a thoroughness which they would not be apt to forget,
v. 7. your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord, so that the guilt of both would be laid upon them, Exo_20:5, which have burned incense upon the mountains, in an excess of idolatry which had so often been rebuked by the Lord, and blasphemed Me upon the hills, where the worship of Baal, Ashtaroth, and other heathen idols was carried on. Therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom, letting them bear the full burden of their transgressions. As it was true then, so it is true today: "God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. " Gal_6:7.