Isaiah 66:2

For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) All those things . . .—The sequence of thought runs thus:—God, the Maker of the universe, can need nothing that belongs to it. The most stately temple is to Him as the infinitely little. What He does delight in is something which is generically different, the spiritual life which answers to His own, the “contrite heart,” which is the true correlative of His own holiness. He who offers that is a true worshipper, with or without the ritual of worship; in its absence, all worship is an abomination to the Eternal. Here 1 and 2 Isaiah are essentially one in teaching. (Comp. Isaiah 1:11-18; Isaiah 57:15.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

66:1-4 The Jews gloried much in their temple. But what satisfaction can the Eternal Mind take in a house made with men's hands? God has a heaven and an earth of his own making, and temples of man's making; but he overlooks them, that he may look with favour to him who is poor in spirit and serious, self-abasing and self-denying; whose heart truly sorrows for sin: such a heart is a living temple for God. The sacrifice of the wicked is not only unacceptable, but a great offence to God. And he that now offers a sacrifice after the law, does in effect set aside Christ's sacrifice. He that burns incense, puts contempt upon the incense of Christ's intercession, and is as if he blessed an idol. Men shall be deceived by the vain confidences with which they deceive themselves. Unbelieving hearts, and unpurified consciences, need no more to make them miserable, than to have their own fears brought upon them. Whatever men put in the place of the priesthood, atonement, and intercession of Christ, will be found hateful to God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For all those things hath mine hand made - That is the heaven and the earth, and all that is in them. The sense is, 'I have founded for myself a far more magnificent and appropriate temple than you can make; I have formed the heavens as my dwelling-place, and I need not a dwelling reared by the hand of man.'

And all those things have been - That is, have been made by me, or for me. The Septuagint renders it, 'All those things are mine?' Jerome renders it, 'All those things were made;' implying that God claimed to be the Creator of them all, and that, therefore, they all belonged to him.

But to this man will I look - That is, 'I prefer a humble heart and a contrite spirit to the most magnificent earthly temple' (see the notes at Isaiah 57:15).

That is poor - Or rather 'humble.' The word rendered 'poor' (עני ‛ânı̂y), denotes not one who has no property, but one who is down-trodden, crushed, afflicted, oppressed; often, as here, with the accessory idea of pious feeling Exodus 24:12; Psalm 10:2, Psalm 10:9. The Septuagint renders it, Ταπεινὸν Tapeinon - 'Humble;' not πτωχόν ptōchon (poor). The idea is, not that God looks with favor on a poor man merely because he is poor - which is not true, for his favors are not bestowed in view of external conditions in life - but that he regards with favor the man that is humble and subdued in spirit.

And of a contrite spirit - A spirit that is broken, crushed, or deeply affected by sin. It stands opposed to a spirit that is proud, haughty, self-confident, and self-righteous.

And that trembleth at my word - That fears me, or that reveres my commands.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. have been—namely, made by Me. Or, absolutely, were things made; and therefore belong to Me, the Creator [Jerome].

look—have regard.

poor—humble (Isa 57:15).

trembleth at … word—(2Ki 22:11, 19; Ezr 9:4). The spiritual temple of the heart, though not superseding the outward place of worship, is God's favorite dwelling (Joh 14:23). In the final state in heaven there shall be "no temple," but "the Lord God" Himself (Re 21:22).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

For all those things hath my hand made; the heavens and the earth are the work of my hands, Genesis 1:1 John 1:3. (Some expound it of the temple and the sacrifices.)

All those things have been; they were not only made by God, but subsisted and were kept in being by him. These things were not therefore valued by him, nor could he have any need of or respect to any house, which is but a very little part of the earth; he having made the heavens and the earth, had all them at his command; and how could he need a temple, or wherein could he be advantaged from it? But God will look with a respect, and with a favourable eye, to him that hath

a broken and contrite spirit, whose heart is subdued to the will of God, and who is poor and low in his own eyes, Matthew 5:3 Luke 6:20, and who trembleth when he heareth God’s threatening words, nor ever heareth any revelation of the Divine will without a just reverence.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For all those things hath mine hand made,.... The heavens and the earth, which are his throne and footstool; and therefore, since he is the Creator of all things, he must be immense, omnipresent, and cannot be included in any space or place:

and all those things have been, saith the Lord; or "are" (l); they are in being, and continue, and will, being supported by the hand that made them; and what then can be made by a creature? or what house be built for God? or what need of any?

but to this man will I look. The Septuagint and Arabic versions read, by way of interrogation, "and to whom shall I look?" and so the Syriac version, which adds, "in whom shall I dwell?" not in temples made with hands; not in the temple of Jerusalem; but in the true tabernacle which God pitched, and not man; in Christ the antitypical temple, in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily, and in whom Jehovah the Father dwells personally; see Hebrews 8:2 as also in every true believer, who is the temple of the living God, later described, for these words may both respect Christ and his members; the characters well agree with him:

even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word; Christ was poor literally, and his estate and condition in this world was very low and mean, 2 Corinthians 8:9, or "afflicted" (m), as some render it, as he was by God, and by men, and by devils; or "humble" (n), meek and lowly, as the Septuagint and Targum; it was foretold of him that he should be lowly; and this character abundantly appeared in him, Zechariah 9:9 and he was of a "contrite" or broken spirit, not only was his body broken, but his spirit also; not through a sense of sin, and consciousness of it, but through his sorrows and sufferings:

he also trembled at the word of God; that is, had a suitable and becoming reverence of it; it was at the word of the Lord he assumed human nature; and according as his Father taught, and gave him commandment, so he spake; and, agreeably to it, laid down his life, and became obedient to death: and now the Lord looks, to him; he looks to him as his own Son, with a look of love, and even as in human nature, and is well pleased with all he did and suffered in it; he looked to him as the surety of his people, for the payment of their debts, and the security and salvation of their persons; and he now looks to his obedience and righteousness, with which he is well pleased, and imputes it to his people, and to his blood, sacrifice, and satisfaction, on account of which he forgives their sins, and to his person for the acceptance of theirs; and he looks to them in him, and has a gracious regard for them: they also may be described as "poor"; poor in spirit, spiritually poor, as they see and own themselves to be, and seek to Christ for the riches of grace and glory, which they behold in him, and expect from him; and are both "afflicted and humble", and become the one by being the other;

and of a contrite spirit, their hard hearts being broken by the Spirit and word of God, and melted by the love and grace of God; and so contrite, not in a mere legal, but evangelical manner:

and such tremble at the Word of God; not at the threatenings of wrath in it, or in a servile slavish manner; but have a holy reverence for it (o), and receive it, not as the word of man, but as the word of God: and to such the Lord looks; he looks on these poor ones, and feeds them; on these afflicted ones, and sympathizes with them; on these contrite ones, and delights in their sacrifices, and dwells with them, and among them; see Psalm 51:17.

(l) sunt, Forerius, Gataker. (m) "ad afflictum", Pagninus, Montanus. (n) "Ad humilem", Calvin, Tigurine version, Vitringa; "qui est pauper vel humilis", Munster. (o) Gussetius observes, that the word does not design a mere trembling, but care, pains, and labour to serve, as one friend has for another; and, when applied to the service of God, is no other than a generous fear, flowing from love. Vid. Ebr. Comment. p. 285.

Geneva Study Bible

For all these things hath my hand made, {b} and all these things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of {c} a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

(b) Seeing that both the temple and the things in it, with the sacrifices were made and done by his appointment, he shows that he has no need of it, and that he can be without them, see Geneva Ps 50:10.

(c) To him that is humble and pure in heart, who receives my doctrine with reverence and fear.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. all these things] i.e. the heavens and the earth, the whole visible creation. That the phrase refers to the Jewish community with its religious institutions (Duhm) is a thoroughly unnatural supposition. For have been read have come into being.

but to this man will I look (have regard) &c.] Cf. ch. Isaiah 57:15.

contrite is lit. “smitten”; it is the same word which is rendered “broken” or “wounded” (of the spirit) in Proverbs 15:13; Proverbs 17:22; Proverbs 18:14. In all the other passages where “contrite” is found in the E.V. (ch. Isaiah 57:15; Psalm 34:18; Psalm 51:17) it represents a formation from another root, meaning “to be crushed.”

trembleth at my word] Cf. Isaiah 66:5; Ezra 9:4; Ezra 10:3.

These two verses contain one of the most explicit declarations of the spirituality of religion to be found in the O.T., anticipating the principle enunciated by our Lord in John 4:24. It is not surprising that commentators have differed widely as to their precise significance in their present connexion. (1) The opinion of a few writers, that the prophet enters a protest against the rebuilding of the Temple at Jerusalem and desiderates a pure spiritual worship without sanctuary or sacrifice, is quite untenable. It is certain that no conception that would lead to a disparaging estimate of the Temple and its services can be attributed either to the second Isaiah or to any of his successors. (see to the contrary, ch. Isaiah 44:28, Isaiah 56:5; Isaiah 56:7, Isaiah 60:7, Isaiah 66:6; Isaiah 66:20 f. &c.) The idea suggested lies entirely beyond the most spiritual writers in the O.T.; and in the passages most nearly akin to this (e.g. Psalm 40:6; Psalm 50:8-15; Psalm 51:16 f.) there is no suggestion that a material sanctuary and ritual could be dispensed with. (2) Hitzig and some others have supposed a reference to a project entertained by some of the exiles to erect a Temple of Jehovah in Babylonia. Not only, however, is the assumption absolutely destitute of historical evidence, but it is almost incredible that such an intention should have entered the thoughts of any Jews in exile. (3) If the passage was written in the near prospect of a return to Palestine, there is but one explanation which is at all plausible. The prophet is thinking of the character of the mass of the people who are eagerly looking forward to the restoration of the national worship; and he warns them that Jehovah needs no temple, and that their whole service of Him will be vitiated by the want of a right religious disposition. In other words, the polemic is directed not against the existence of the Temple in itself, but against the building of it being undertaken by such men as those addressed. (4) If, on the other hand, the prophecy was written some time after the restoration, it seems impossible to evade the conclusion reached by Duhm and Cheyne, that the reference is to a design of the Samaritans to erect a rival temple to that of Jerusalem. This theory is perhaps less improbable than it may at first sight appear. In the first place we know that such a temple was actually erected on Mt. Gerizim some time after Nehemiah’s second reformation in Judæa (see Ryle’s note on Nehemiah 13:28); and it is to be supposed that the project had been talked of for some time previously. Nor is it any formidable objection to say that the argument here employed would tell equally against the pretensions of the sanctuary at Jerusalem. The prophet’s assertion must in any case be qualified by the fundamental principle of the Jewish religion that the validity of every act of worship rests on the positive enactment of Jehovah. While Jehovah needs no human service, He is graciously pleased to accept it if rendered in accordance with His expressed will. Now this sanction had been bestowed on the one sanctuary at Jerusalem, but could not possibly belong to any temple built elsewhere. The erection of such a temple could only be justified on the assumption that man could arbitrarily assign a dwelling-place to the Most High, and to show the futility of this assumption is the purpose of the prophet’s lofty declaration. The question turns largely on the interpretation of Isaiah 66:3. If that verse is rightly understood to mean that the worship of the parties spoken of was really infected by degrading superstitions, it may well be that the persons described are the Samaritans, and in that case it will follow almost of necessity that these are also addressed in Isaiah 66:1. At the same time, it must be admitted that if the erection of a schismatic Temple were referred to, we should have expected a much more explicit and vigorous condemnation of the project.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - All these things - i.e. heaven and earth hath mine hand made; i.e. have I, Jehovah, brought into existence. How, then, can I need that men should build me a house? All these things have been, saith the Lord. The sentence seems incomplete. Mr. Cheyne supplies, "I spoke." The sentence will then run, "I spoke, and all these things crone into being, saith Jehovah;" i.e. heaven and earth, and all things that are therein, came into being at my word (comp. Genesis 1:1; Genesis 2:1). But to this man will I look; i.e. though I have made all things and all men, I will not equally regard all. Him only will I respect who is of a poor and contrite spirit, etc. (comp. Isaiah 57:15). Isaiah 66:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Although the note on which this prophecy opens is a different one from any that has yet been struck, there are many points in which it coincides with the preceding prophecy. For not only is Isaiah 65:12 repeated here in Isaiah 66:4, but the sharp line of demarcation drawn in chapter 65, between the servants of Jehovah and the worldly majority of the nation with reference to the approaching return to the Holy Land, is continued here. As the idea of their return is associated immediately with that of the erection of a new temple, there is nothing at all to surprise us, after what we have read in Isaiah 65:8., in the fact that Jehovah expresses His abhorrence at the thought of having a temple built by the Israel of the captivity, as the majority then were, and does so in such words as those which follow in Isaiah 66:1-4 : "Thus saith Jehovah: The heaven is my throne, and the earth my footstool. What kind of house is it that ye would build me, and what kind of place for my rest? My hand hath made all these things; then all these thing arose, saith Jehovah; and at such persons do I look, at the miserable and broken-hearted, and him that trembleth at my word. He that slaughtereth the ox is the slayer of a man; he that sacrificeth the sheep is a strangler of dogs; he that offereth a meat-offering, it is swine's blood; he that causeth incense to rise up in smoke, blesseth idols. As they have chosen their ways, and their soul cheriseth pleasure in their abominations; so will I choose their ill-treatments, and bring their terrors upon them, because I called and no one replied, I spake and they did not hear, and they did evil in mine eyes, and chose that in which I took no pleasure." Hitzig is of opinion that the author has broken off here, and proceeds quite unexpectedly to denounce the intention to build a temple for Jehovah. Those who wish to build he imagines to be those who have made up their minds to stay behind in Chaldea, and who, whilst their brethren who have returned to their native land are preparing to build a temple there, want to have one of their own, just as the Jews in Egypt built one for themselves in Leontopolis. Without some such supposition as this, Hitzig thinks it altogether impossible to discover the thread which connects the different vv. together. This view is at any rate better than that of Umbreit, who imagines that the prophet places us here "on the loftiest spiritual height of the Christian development." "In the new Jerusalem," he says, "there will be no temple seen, nor any sacrifice; Jehovah forbids these in the strongest terms, regarding them as equivalent to mortal sins." But the prophet, if this were his meaning, would involve himself in self-contradiction, inasmuch as, according to Isaiah 56:1-12 and 60, there will be a temple in the new Jerusalem with perpetual sacrifice, which this prophecy also presupposes in Isaiah 66:20. (cf., Isaiah 66:6); and secondly, he would contradict other prophets, such as Ezekiel and Zechariah, and the spirit of the Old Testament generally, in which the statement, that whoever slaughters a sacrificial animal in the new Jerusalem will be as bad as a murderer, has no parallel, and is in fact absolutely impossible. According to Hitzig's view, on the other hand, v. 3a affirms, that the worship which they would be bound to perform in their projected temple would be an abomination to Jehovah, however thoroughly it might be made to conform to the Mosaic ritual. But there is nothing in the text to sustain the idea, that there is any intention here to condemn the building of a temple to Jehovah in Chaldaea, nor is such an explanation by any means necessary to make the text clear. The condemnation on the part of Jehovah has reference to the temple, which the returning exiles intend to build in Jerusalem. The prophecy is addressed to the entire body now ready to return, and says to the whole without exception, that Jehovah, the Creator of heaven and earth, does not stand in need of any house erected by human hands, and then proceeds to separate the penitent from those that are at enmity against God, rejects in the most scornful manner all offerings in the form of worship on the part of the latter, and threatens them with divine retribution, having dropped in Isaiah 66:3-4 the form of address to the entire body. Just as in the Psalm of Asaph (Psalm 50) Jehovah refuses animal and other material offerings as such, because the whole of the animal world, the earth and the fulness thereof, are His possession, so here He addresses this question to the entire body of the exiles: What kind of house is there that ye could build, that would be worthy of me, and what kind of place that would be worthy of being assigned to me as a resting-place? On mâqōm menūchâthı̄, locus qui sit requies mea (apposition instead of genitive connection). He needs no temple; for heaven is His throne, and the earth His footstool. He is the Being who filleth all, the Creator, and therefore the possessor, of the universe; and if men think to do Him a service by building Him a temple, and forget His infinite majesty in their concern for their own contemptible fabric, He wants to temple at all. "All these" refer, as if pointing with the finger, to the world of visible objects that surround us. ויּהיוּ (from היה, existere, fieri) is used in the same sense as the ויהי which followed the creative יהי. In this His exaltation He is not concerned about a temple; but His gracious look is fixed upon the man who is as follows (zeh pointing forwards as in Isaiah 58:6), viz., upon the mourner, the man of broken heart, who is filled with reverential awe at the word of His revelation.

We may see from Psalm 51:9 what the link of connection is between Isaiah 66:2 and Isaiah 66:3. So far as the mass of the exiles were concerned, who had not been humbled by their sufferings, and whom the preaching of the prophet could not bring to reflection, He did not want any temple or sacrifice from them. The sacrificial acts, to which such detestable predicates are here applied, are such as end with the merely external act, whilst the inward feelings of the person presenting the sacrifice are altogether opposed to the idea of both the animal sacrifice and the meat-offering, more especially to that desire for salvation which was symbolized in all the sacrifices; in other words, they are sacrificial acts regarded as νεκρὰ ἔργα, the lifeless works of men spiritually dead. The articles of hasshōr and hasseh are used as generic with reference to sacrificial animals. The slaughter of an ox was like the slaying (makkēh construct with tzere) of a man (for the association of ideas, see Genesis 49:6); the sacrifice (zōbhēăch like shâchat is sometimes applied to slaughtering for the purpose of eating; here, however, it refers to an animal prepared for Jehovah) of a sheep like the strangling of a dog, that unclean animal (for the association of ideas, see Job 30:1); the offerer up (me‛ōlēh) of a meat-offering (like one who offered up) swine's blood, i.e., as if he was offering up the blood of this most unclean animal upon the altar; he who offered incense as an 'azkârâh (see at Isaiah 1:13) like one who blessed 'âven, i.e., godlessness, used here as in 1 Samuel 15:23, and also in Hosea in the change of the name of Bethel into Beth 'Aven, for idolatry, or rather in a concrete sense for the worthless idols themselves, all of which, according to Isaiah 41:29, are nothing but 'âven. Rosenmller, Gesenius, Hitzig, Stier, and even Jerome, have all correctly rendered it in this way, "as if he blessed an idol" (quasi qui benedicat idolo); and Vitringa, "cultum exhibens vano numini" (offering worship to a vain god). Such explanations as that of Luther, on the other hand, viz., "as if he praised that which was wrong," are opposed to the antithesis, and also to the presumption of a concrete object to מברך (blessing); whilst that of Knobel, "praising vainly" ('âven being taken as an acc. Adv.), yields too tame an antithesis, and is at variance with the usage of the language. In this condemnation of the ritual acts of worship, the closing prophecy of the book of Isaiah coincides with the first (Isaiah 1:11-15). But that it is not sacrifices in themselves that are rejected, but the sacrifices of those whose hearts are divided between Jehovah and idols, and who refuse to offer to Him the sacrifice that is dearest to Him (Psalm 51:19, cf., Psalm 50:23), is evident from the correlative double-sentence that follows in Isaiah 66:3 and Isaiah 66:4, which is divided into two masoretic verses, as the only means of securing symmetry. Gam ... gam, which means in other cases, "both ... and also," or in negative sentences "neither ... nor," means here, as in Jeremiah 51:12, "as assuredly the one as the other," in other words, "as ... so." They have chosen their own ways, which are far away from those of Jehovah, and their soul has taken pleasure, not in the worship of Jehovah, but in all kinds of heathen abominations (shiqqūtsēhem, as in many other places, after Deuteronomy 29:16); therefore Jehovah wants no temple built by them or with their co-operation, nor any restoration of sacrificial worship at their hands. But according to the law of retribution, He chooses tha‛ălūlēhem, vexationes eorum (lxx τὰ ἐμπαίγματα αὐτῶν: see at Isaiah 3:4), with the suffix of the object: fates that will use them ill, and brings their terrors upon them, i.e., such a condition of life as will inspire them with terror (megūrōth, as in Psalm 34:5).