Isaiah 66:1-3

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 66:1-4

Here, I. The temple is slighted in comparison with a gracious soul, Isa. 66:1, 2. The Jews in the prophet's time, and afterwards in Christ's time, gloried much in the temple and promised themselves great things from it; to humble them therefore, and to shake their vain confidence, both the prophets and Christ foretold the ruin of the temple, that God would leave it and then it would soon be desolate. After it was destroyed by the Chaldeans it soon recovered itself and the ceremonial services... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 66:1

Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne ,.... The third heaven, the heaven of heavens, where angels and glorified saints are, and some in bodies, as Enoch and Elijah, and where now Christ is in human nature; this is the seat of the divine Majesty, where he in a most illustrious manner displays his glory; and therefore we are to look upwards to God in heaven, and direct all our devotion to him there, and not imagine that he dwells in temples made with hands; or is confined to any place,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 66:2

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" F12 ויהיו sunt, Forerius, Gataker. ; 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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 66:3

He that killeth an ox, is as if he slew a man ,.... Not that killed the ox of his neighbour, which, according to law, he was to pay for; or that killed one for food, which was lawful to be done; but that slew one, and offered it as a sacrifice; not blamed because blind or lame, or had any blemish in it, and so unfit for sacrifice; or because not rightly offered, under a due sense of sin, and with repentance for it, and faith in Christ; but because all sacrifices of this kind are now... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 66:2

And all those things have been "And all these things are mine" - A word absolutely necessary to the sense is here lost out of the text: לי li , mine. It is preserved by the Septuagint and Syriac. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 66:3

He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man "He that slayeth an ox killeth a man" - These are instances of wickedness joined with hypocrisy; of the most flagitious crimes committed by those who at the same time affected great strictness in the performance of all the external services of religion. God, by the Prophet Ezekiel, upbraids the Jews with the same practices: "When they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it," Ezekiel... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 66:1

Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool (comp. Psalms 11:4 ; Psalms 103:19 ). The Hebrews, while they earnestly desired to have a material emblem of the presence of God in their midst, were deeply impressed with the feeling that no temple could be worthy of him, or other than most unworthy. "Will God," said Solomon, "indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heavens of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?" ( 1 Kings 8:27 ). And... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 66:1

God to be worshipped in buildings, though no building can be worthy of him. Of a surety, God "dwelleth not in temples made with hands" ( Acts 7:48 ) in any such sense as to be accessible in such places exclusively. There is truth, as well as grandeur, in the words— ''My altars are the mountains, and the ocean, Earth, air, sea, all that springs from the Great Whole, Who hath produced, and will receive, the soul." And it is always to be borne in mind that we are in his presence... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 66:1-2

( Vide homily on Isaiah 57:15 , Isaiah 57:16 .)—C. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 66:1-2

The place of God's rest. This passage should be associated with that second temple which was raised by the returned captives from Babylon, at the direction of Ezra and Nehemiah, and under the inspirations of the prophets Isaiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. A subtle peril lies in building any house for God. That peril lay in the building of the first house. It still lies in the erection of every new house. It is the danger of thereby limiting and materializing our idea of God. If, in our... read more

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