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September 18, 2026 |
| Isaiah 65 | ||
Isaiah 65 is a prophecy that starts in one time and shifts to another, which is not unusual for Isaiah. It starts with God saying he is going to love another people because the Jews have been so bad. He spends some time there, but then he begins to talk about how he will bless the people who seek him and are truly his. Then he leaps into the future, even our future, to tell us what eternity will be like.
“I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me;
I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me.
I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’
To a nation which did not call on My name. (Isaiah 65:1)
In Romans 10:20, Paul quotes the first part of this verse as an answer to his question, "Didn't Israel know beforehand [that God would refocus on another people]?"
The point here is that all God needed to do was to make himself available to this other people, and they would turn to him.
In a prophecy about the return from Babylonian captivity, Jeremiah says:
Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you (Jeremiah 29:12-14)
Jesus says something similar:
Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock, and it will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7)
We need to be careful here. Later, in verse 12, God says, "I called, but you did not answer," as he is speaking to Israel. The correct way to understand verse 1 is that God made this same call to Israel.
I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people,
Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts, (Isaiah 65:2)
In Romans 10:21, Paul quotes the first part of this verse, also in answer to his question above, but here he specifically says that this part of Isaiah 65 is about Israel. So the answer to Paul's question is "Yes, at least they should have known."
The point here is that, from the very beginning, Israel wrestled against God. Despite the miracles they saw, they continued to do what they wanted.
God now begins a list of things that Israel does that make his blood boil.
A people who continually provoke Me to My face,
Offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on bricks,
4Who sit among graves and spend the night in secret places,
Who eat swine’s flesh,
And the broth of offensive meat is in their pots,
5Who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me,
For I am holier than you!’
These are smoke in My nostrils,
A fire that burns all the day. (Isaiah 65:3-5)
When God says, "to my face," he means out in the open and done intentionally. They don't try to hide what they are doing, but they revel in it. It's likely they had convinced themselves that what they were doing was just as good as what God said to do. That is what Judaism is doing now. They've convinced themselves that they don't need a temple.
The problem with "offering sacrifices in gardens" and "burning incense on bricks" was that God had said the temple was the only place for these to be done. There was an altar for sacrifices and an altar for incense, but the Jews were doing it their way.
The phrase "I am holier than you" is not a great translation. To God, there are no levels of holiness, so it isn't possible to be holier than someone else. There is only holy and common. A direct translation would be "I am set apart [from] you," but that doesn't mean anything to most Christians. It would be better as "I am holy, but you are not."
The thing that grieves God about this is the attitude that one person thinks he is better than another. It is God who declares a person holy, and he does so for his own purposes, not ours. This attitude is actually a breach of the murder commandment.
God says these three things are causes of his burning against Israel.
Behold, it is written before Me:
I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
I will even repay into their bosom,
7Both their own iniquities and the iniquities of their fathers together,” says Yahweh.
“Because they have burned incense on the mountains
And reproached Me on the hills,
Therefore I will measure their former work into their bosom.” (Isaiah 65:3-7)
The word "bosom" here confuses many people. If you think of the bosom as your place for the things that you love and protect, God can be understood as saying each person will be personally repaid. This goes along with what God says in Isaiah 3. The righteous will not be affected like the wicked will be.
The second time "bosom" is used, God is saying you did these things in the presence of the things you loved; I will repay you in the things you love (bosom).
God says they will even be repaid for what their fathers did. This seems unjust, and Ezekiel even says a son is not responsible for the sins of the father, but Jesus uses the same words as Isaiah does here. Which is correct?
There is no contradiction here. Jesus point was that if you fail to condemn your ancestors for their sins, then you become guilty of them as well. If you do condemn them, then Ezekiel is correct; you are not guilty.
Thus says Yahweh,
“As the new wine is found in the cluster,
And one says, ‘Do not make it a ruin, for there is benefit in it,’
So I will act on behalf of My slaves
In order not to make all of them a ruin. (Isaiah 65:8)
Here we see God considering whether he should wipe his people from existence. He reasons that something better can come out of something inferior. He also reasons that something that has no value to you still has intrinsic value that can benefit someone else. So God determines that he will not wipe out Israel. Instead something good will come out of them that will benefit his slaves, the people who have enslaved themselves to God. He is back to talking about the people from verse 1.
This translation uses the word "slaves," which is the correct translation. Others muffle the meaning with "servants."
I will bring forth a seed from Jacob,
And a possessor of My mountains from Judah;
Even My chosen ones shall possess it,
And My slaves 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. (Isaiah 65:9-10)
The "seed" is obviously Jesus, and "possessor" means that he will be king, but then there is a shift from talking about him to talking about a future world, which we must presume that he will bring. His true followers will live there.
The reason for mentioning Sharon and Achor is not clear. Sharon is in the northwest of Israel; Achor is on the northern border of Judah, west of Jericho. Some believe these are given as two geographic points to define an area, but I find that unconvincing, not only because that is a small part of Israel and excludes Jerusalem, but also because it does not include the greatest of the mountains of Israel.
Sharon - the name means "plain", a flat land. Originally it was a fertile area for growing; later, because of changes the Israelites had made, it became swampy and uninhabitable. Once Israel came into existence again, the swamps were pumped out, and it became "Israel's most densely populated area" (some AI).
Valley of Achor - the name means "trouble" or "disturbance." "It is historically significant as the site where Achan and his family were executed by stoning for stealing devoted items from Jericho, an act that caused Israel’s initial defeat at Ai" (some AI).
I don't have an explanation for why these two were chosen. There doesn't seem to be a geographic reason nor a metaphorical reason.
But you who forsake Yahweh,
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 what was evil in My eyes
And chose that in which I was not pleased.” (Isaiah 65:11-12)
Having described how well he will treat the people who seek him, God switches back to bad-mouthing those who don't seek him.
When he says "holy mountain," he is referring to the temple and everything that goes with it: the priesthood, the sacrifices, atonement for sin, and God himself.
Then he refers to some practices that offend him. The words "fortune" and "destiny" are capitalized to indicate that they are proper nouns, not just words. The Hebrew words behind them are "Gad" and "Meni." They are the personifications of fortune (luck) and destiny.
It was common practice in the world of that time, and even later in the Roman period, to worship these personifications through sacrifices. For Gad (Luck), people would spread (fill up) a table with meats and drinks as a meal for good luck from the gods. For Meni (Destiny), it was filling your cups with mixed wine. Our practice of toasting is probably similar.
God does not appreciate it when a person makes any sacrifice other than those he has prescribed. They are not to him, and they are not harmless.
God responds with a play on the name of Meni, saying, "I will destine (manah) you for the sword." Then he says, "you will bow down to slaughter. Apparently bowing down was part of those sacrifices.
Then God says, "I spoke but you didn't hear", "called but you didn't answer." That reflects back to verse 1, "I said, ‘Here am I, here am I’," and we see that God didn't only call to Christians.
Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh,
“Behold, My slaves will eat, but you will be hungry.
Behold, My slaves will drink, but you will be thirsty.
Behold, My slaves will be glad, but you will be put to shame.
14Behold, My slaves will shout joyfully with a merry heart,
But you will cry out with a pained heart,
And you will wail with a broken spirit. (Isaiah 65:13-14)
The New Covenant People are contrasted with the Jews who didn't hold to the Old Covenant and / or rejected the New Covenant. Remember that this was written about 800 years before Jesus.
There is a piece out of place in these contrasts - the last line. I think it belongs with the next set of verses topically though it belongs here poetically.
You will leave your name for a curse to My chosen ones,
And Lord Yahweh will put you to death.
But My slaves will be called by another name,
16Because he who is blessed in the earth
Will be blessed by the God of truth,
And he who swears in the earth
Will swear by the God of truth;
Because the former distresses are forgotten,
And because they are hidden from My sight! (Isaiah 65:15-16)
Their character, or lack thereof, will be scorned by New Covenant people. There have been Christians who spit the word "Jew" out of their mouths. Christianity was anti-Semitic until after World War 2.
The phrase "I will put you to death" has certainly been fulfilled. We naturally think of World War 2, but that wasn't the only time that Jews were killed, not even close.
The phrase "My slaves will be called by another name" is interesting. It isn't referring to a name like Christian. It refers to a character, just as "leave your name" does. In Revelation and other places, there are references to God's people being given a new name, a new character.
“For behold, I am creating a new heavens and a new earth;
And the former things will not be remembered or come upon the heart. (Isaiah 65:17)
This very closely parallels what Revelation says.
And I saw new Heavens and a new Earth, for the former Heavens and the former Earth had departed, and the Sea was no more. (Revelation 21:1)
The verses in Revelation that follow this also echo the verses from Isaiah that follow here.
Peter also talks about this while discussing the destruction of the Earth that comes with Judgement Day.
While you expect and eagerly desire the coming of the Day of God in which the Heavens, being tested by fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements, when set on fire, shall melt. 13 But according to his promise, we look for the New Heavens and the New Earth, in which dwells righteousness. (2 Peter 3:12-13)
The promise that Peter refers to is this verse in Isaiah and a similar one in Isaiah 66:22.
But be joyful and rejoice forever in what I create;
For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing
And her people for joy.
19I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be joyful in My people;
And there will no longer be heard in her
The voice of weeping and the voice of crying. (Isaiah 65:18-19)
God clearly states that there will be a new Earth, new Heavens, and new Jerusalem where God's people will be eternally joyful. We have to wonder why the Sadducees couldn't believe in a resurrection.
The phrase "I will also rejoice in Jerusalem" has more in it than can be translated to English. Hebrew has very few prepositions, so it's up to the listener to figure out the intent of the speaker by considering context. The preposition translated here as "in" can have many meanings. In English we have different words for each of these meanings. The primary meanings of this Hebrew preposition include "in," "at," "on," and "with." So the phrase "I will also rejoice in Jerusalem" is actually saying that God will be in Jerusalem "with" his people.
From other prophecies, we see the same idea.
No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days,
Or an old man who does not fulfill his days;
For the youth will die at the age of one hundred,
And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred
Will be thought accursed. (Isaiah 65:20)
This is a very cryptic verse that has tripped up many people. Appendix A has a complete discussion of it.
They will build houses and inhabit them;
They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22They will not build and another inhabit;
They will not plant and another eat;
For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people,
And My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands.
23They will not labor in vain,
Or bear children for terror;
For they are the seed of those blessed by Yahweh,
And their offspring with them. (Isaiah 65:21-23)
The point of the house and vineyard is not the house or the vineyard. It is that there will be no taking, stealing, plundering, inheriting, or loss of any kind. What a person does will be his until it is worn out, which goes back to verse 20.
The "lifetime of a tree" phrase doesn't mean the same thing to us as to Isaiah. He knew olive trees, which have very long lifetimes. There are some in Jerusalem now that people suspect may go back to Jesus' time.
Even so, the point is not that people will live long lives and then die. The point comes in the words that follow: "[they] will wear out the work of their hands," which means that they will outlive the things that they make. In our current lives, there are things we can build, like houses, that will outlive us. In fact it is considered a good thing to have left some good things behind that will live on after our deaths.
And it will be that before they call, I will answer, and while they are still speaking, I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil nor act corruptly in all My holy mountain,” says Yahweh. (Isaiah 65:24-25)
This calling and answering, and speaking and listening, echoes a theme in this prophecy that began with the first verse. It changes here to become his people calling and God answering. The point in this is that his people will have anything they want. That will be OK because his people will not be corrupt or do evil.
Like so many other descriptions in this chapter, we have to consider that the mentions of animals may be metaphorical. If so, the message behind them is that there will be no killing or violence.
The phrase "dust will be the serpent’s food" is a little different, but still metaphorical. It is a reference to Genesis 3, where the punishment for the serpent was to eat dust. But even those words in Genesis were metaphorical, where dust refers to people, who were made from dust. So the message behind the phrase here is that Satan, who will have been thrown into the Lake of Fire by that time, will be there with all the dust he could ever eat, and he will deceive no longer.
Isaiah says the strangest things in this chapter when he talks about children and old people. We know that people will live eternally in this time, so why are we hearing about people dying? There is a lot of thinking to do to get the answer, so I've included a separate study on that topic as an appendix here.