Isaiah 65 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Isaiah 65

Judgment and Salvation

65:1   I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me;
    I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.
  I said, “Here I am, here I am,”
    to a nation that was not called by¹ my name.
2   I spread out my hands all the day
    to a rebellious people,
  who walk in a way that is not good,
    following their own devices;
3   a people who provoke me
    to my face continually,
  sacrificing in gardens
    and making offerings on bricks;
4   who sit in tombs,
    and spend the night in secret places;
  who eat pig’s flesh,
    and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels;
5   who say, “Keep to yourself,
    do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.”
  These are a smoke in my nostrils,
    a fire that burns all the day.
6   Behold, it is written before me:
    “I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
  I will indeed repay into their lap
7     both your iniquities and your fathers’ iniquities together,
      says the LORD;
  because they made offerings on the mountains
    and insulted me on the hills,
  I will measure into their lap
    payment for their former deeds.”²
8   Thus says the LORD:
  “As the new wine is found in the cluster,
    and they say, ‘Do not destroy it,
    for there is a blessing in it,’
  so I will do for my servants’ sake,
    and not destroy them all.
9   I will bring forth offspring from Jacob,
    and from Judah possessors of my mountains;
  my chosen shall possess it,
    and my servants shall dwell there.
10   Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks,
    and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,
    for my people who have sought me.
11   But you who forsake the LORD,
    who forget my holy mountain,
  who set a table for Fortune
    and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny,
12   I will destine you to the sword,
    and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter,
  because, when I called, you did not answer;
    when I spoke, you did not listen,
  but you did what was evil in my eyes
    and chose what I did not delight in.”
13   Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:
  “Behold, my servants shall eat,
    but you shall be hungry;
  behold, my servants shall drink,
    but you shall be thirsty;
  behold, my servants shall rejoice,
    but you shall be put to shame;
14   behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart,
    but you shall cry out for pain of heart
    and shall wail for breaking of spirit.
15   You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse,
    and the Lord GOD will put you to death,
    but his servants he will call by another name,
16   so that he who blesses himself in the land
    shall bless himself by the God of truth,
  and he who takes an oath in the land
    shall swear by the God of truth;
  because the former troubles are forgotten
    and are hidden from my eyes.

New Heavens and a New Earth

17   “For behold, I create new heavens
    and a new earth,
  and the former things shall not be remembered
    or come into mind.
18   But be glad and rejoice forever
    in that which I create;
  for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,
    and her people to be a gladness.
19   I will rejoice in Jerusalem
    and be glad in my people;
  no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
    and the cry of distress.
20   No more shall there be in it
    an infant who lives but a few days,
    or an old man who does not fill out his days,
  for the young man shall die a hundred years old,
    and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
21   They shall build houses and inhabit them;
    they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22   They shall not build and another inhabit;
    they shall not plant and another eat;
  for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
    and my chosen shall long enjoy³ the work of their hands.
23   They shall not labor in vain
    or bear children for calamity,⁴
  for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD,
    and their descendants with them.
24   Before they call I will answer;
    while they are yet speaking I will hear.
25   The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
    the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
    and dust shall be the serpent’s food.
  They shall not hurt or destroy
    in all my holy mountain,”
      says the LORD.

Footnotes

[1] 65:1 Or that did not call upon
[2] 65:7 Or I will first measure their payment into their lap
[3] 65:22 Hebrew shall wear out
[4] 65:23 Or for sudden terror

Commentary

v1: Words referring to the church in Rom 10.20; these are the Gentiles who were previously ignorant of God.

v2: Israel had become a rebellious people. They walked in a way that was not good. They therefore forfeited, albeit temporarily, the blessings of God.

v3: They provoked God to anger, shamelessly following idolatry, home made worship (references to "gardens" and "bricks" indicate that the idolatry was found in individual households).

v4: Idolatry led to them associating with the death; perhaps a form of occultism. They neglect the distinction between clean and unclean, eating swine's flesh. False religion leads away from godly living.

v5: Through all this wrong doing, the people still claimed to know God. They claimed to be 'holier than you,' maintaining an elitist isolationism. Such hypocrisy is smoke in His nostrils.

v6-7: The inevitability of judgment. "It is written," even before God, and He is true to all His words. God will repay, measure into their hearts, bringing disasters upon Israel. He sent famine and disease, and powerful Gentile nations. Even the children would suffer as a result of their fathers' sins.

This verse, like others, indicates that Israel as a nation had to suffer for her rebellion against God.

v8: God's mercy is seen. Israel was not totally destroyed, for a blessing is in it. Since a few good grapes are found in the cluster, so the Lord will not destroy it. 'There is a blessing in it,' He says, and ensures its preservation. He will not destroy the righteous with the wicked.

For the people of Israel, therefore, a testimony remained, and with a promise for the future.

v9: There remains a promise for Jacob. Israel remained "my elect" and "my servants," and God will remain true to those promises.

v10: Restoration, as the people seek Him afresh, contrasting with v1. Achor will no longer be trouble (Josh 7.26), but a blessing.

v11-12: Some sought idols, rejecting the precious things of God. They were numbered for the sword. There was good reason, for they rejected the true God, and pursued idols.

v13-16: God's servants called by another name, Jesus, not Jacob. Those who choose evil will now suffer judgment. The servants of God are those who have entered into a new relationship with Christ; they are set apart, enjoying God's blessings, and a testimony in this world. The Lord God knows those who are His; and He makes a distinction with those who are not.

Notice that some seek to curse the servants of God (v15); but He will defend His own; He is faithful to His servants.

The last words of v16 introduce us to Isaiah's closing words, "the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes."

v17-19: New heavens and a new earth, as in Rev 22.1; the old is passed away, to be remembered no more. Past regrets and rebellions, sorrows and sicknesses; none shall come to mind.

In God's new creation, whether for Jew or Christian, the past has gone; otherwise past memories would bring sorrow or regret, or temptation; and clearly these will have no place in the new creation.

There is joy in the Lord and His people together. The prophet repeatedly uses "joy" and "rejoice" and "delight." Jerusalem in particular will be a delight for God, which she was created for.

v20-22: The millennial kingdom, as God blesses His people beyond measure; in Rev 20-21, this actually precedes the new heavens and the new earth. Contrast 62.8-9, Deut 28.16,34, where others enjoyed the fruit of Israel's labour.

v23-25: A time of peace and comfort and prosperity for God's people; no more conflict. As in 11.6-9, even wild animals share in this peace and reconciliation.