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Chapter 66: The Conclusion
In this final chapter of Isaiah the focus is on:
- God's ultimate judgment and final restoration (66:1-14a).
- The final wrath and glory of God (66:14b-24).
The oracle in 66:1-6 appears to return to the rebuilding of the Temple after the return form the exile. God's claim to sovereign authority recalls Psalm 24:1-3 and God's protest in verses 1-2a recalls Yahweh's words to David when he suggested building a "house" for God in 2 Samuel 7:5-7 and 1 Kings 8:16 and 27. St. Stephen will quote from Isaiah 66:1-2 in Acts 7:48-50.
Isaiah 66:1-2 ~ Yahweh Delights in the Humble
Isaiah returns to the topic of rebuilding the Jerusalem Temple after the return from exile.
Question: In 65:25b God says, "No hurt, no harm will be done on all my holy mountain." And in Psalm 24:3 the psalmist asks, Who shall go up to the mountain of Yahweh? Who shall take a stand in his holy place? What is the answer to this question in Psalm 24:4-5 that agrees with what Yahweh says in Isaiah 66:2b and what is the point?
Answer: The psalmist writes, The clean of hands and pure of heart, whose heart is not set on vanities, who does not swear an oath in order to deceive. Such a one will receive blessing from Yahweh, saving justice from the God of his salvation. The point is that the physical rebuilding and the external liturgical rites must not take precedence over genuine inner humility, devotion, and purity of heart accompanied by sincere acceptance of the word of God.
Isaiah 66:3-4 ~ The Lord Despises Pagan Worship
Verses 66:3-4 are an attack on insincere religious practices and pagan practices.
Question: What are the four legitimate expressions of religious practice that Isaiah compares with four idolatrous practices that are an abomination to the Lord and what is the point?
Answer:
- Sacrifice of a bull compared to pagan human sacrifice.
- Sacrifice of a lamb compared to the pagan offering of a strangled dog.
- Legitimate blood sacrifice compared to the pagan offering of pig's blood.
- Legitimate offering of incense compared to illicit offerings of incense.
The idea is that worship that is merely external or is an expression of someone else's idea of worship other than God-ordained worship is as evil as though it were idolatry.
Isaiah 66:5-14a ~ Encouragement for the Faithful and the Rebirth of Jerusalem
These are Isaiah's words of consolation to God's faithful remnant, and the passage begins with two commands to "Listen" in verses 5 and 6.
Question: In verse 5b those who hate and oppress the faithful make what challenge to God? How is it similar to what occurred in Matthew 27:39-40; Mark 15:30 and Luke 23:35?
Answer: They say if He is real let Him show Himself in some mighty act. This challenge is reminiscent of those who taunted Jesus on the Cross by saying "If he is really the son of God let him [prove it and] come down from the cross."
Isaiah 66:18-24 ~ The Eschatological Discourse
In 66:18-21 God summons the Gentile nations to Zion and from among them He will send out some Gentiles to far distant lands to proclaim His glory to "all your brothers" "the descendants of the Jews who are either still in exile or have been lost into the Gentile world. These will be brought back like an offering to God's "holy mountain" that is the universal Church of the new Jerusalem. This is one of the clearest calls for universal salvation in the Old Testament.
The "survivors" of the nations are the converts who will be sent to preach the faith to the ends of the earth. Do not missing the significance of these missionaries being converts from Gentile paganism. The list of Gentile regions is similar to Ezekiel 27:10-13. Tarshish is probably Spain; Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal and Javan are all Greek territories but they represent the entire Gentile world that is called to enter into the new Zion of the spiritually redeemed Church.
The oracles end with a final warning about the divine punishment and eternal judgment that awaits the wicked and those who traffic in injustice: 24 And on their way out they will see the corpses of those who rebelled against me; for their worm will never die nor their fire be put out, and they will be held in horror by all humanity. Jesus will use the metaphor of "the worm that does not die" to describe the punishment earned by the sin of leading a someone who had faith away from God in Mark 9:48, but anyone who is the downfall of one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown into the sea with a great millstone hung round his neck ... it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell where their worm will never die nor their fire be put out. For everyone will be salted with fire (Mk 9:42-49). It also recalls a warning from Sirach: Do not swell the ranks of sinners, remember that the retribution will not delay. Be very humble since the recompense for the godless is fire and worms (Sir 7:16-17/17-19).
The new Jerusalem is a symbol for the Church established in the glorious new age of man. In 66:24 God's enemies lie dead outside the walls of the new Jerusalem, just as in the past, corpses, filth, and refuse lay in the Valley of Hinnon outside the city of the old Jerusalem were huge fires were constantly burning (Jos 15:8; 2 Chr 28:3; Mk 9:45-48). This is why Jesus used the Valley of Hinnon or Gehenna as His symbol for the Hell of the damned in the Greek text (see for example Mt 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mk 9:43, 45, 47; Lk 12:5). In contrast to the perpetual worship offered by the righteous in verses 22-23, the wicked and the godless who are God's enemies and the enemies of His Church will suffer a judgment of endless punishment.
Ezekiel 25 - 26
Chapter 25 ~ Prophecies Against Israel's Neighbors: Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia
Ezekiel 25:1-7 ~ Against the Ammonites
Question: Who were the Ammonites? See Gen 12:5; 19:30-38.
Answer: They were the descendants of Abraham's nephew Lot and his incestuous union with his younger daughter. The younger daughter gave birth to a son whom she named Ben-Ammi, and he became the ancestor of all the Ammonites. The Ammonites were therefore distant relatives of the Israelites.
The Ammonites occupied the territory on the east side of the Jordan River between the Arnon and Jabbok rivers. They first encountered the Israelites during the Exodus (Num 21:24-35; Dt 2:16-37). Later, they joined an alliance with the Moabites and Amalekites against the Israelites during the era of the Judges, but the Judges Ehud and Jephthah led the tribal armies of Israel and defeated them (Judg 3:13-23; 11:32-33).
Ezekiel 25:8-11 ~ Against Moab
Question: Who were the Moabites? See Gen 12:5; 19:30-38; Ruth 4:13-17.
Answer: They were the descendants of Abraham's nephew Lot and his incestuous union with his elder daughter. The elder daughter gave birth to a son whom she named Moab, and he became the ancestor of all the Moabites. The Moabites were, therefore, distant relatives of the Israelites and the Davidic kings since King David's great-grandmother was the Moabitess Ruth, the wife of Boaz of the tribe of Judah.
Ezekiel 25:12-14 ~ Against Edom
The keyword in the oracles against Edom and Philistia is "vengeance" (verses 14 twice and 17 twice). Teman was a southerly part of Edom but sometimes also refers to Edom as in Jeremiah 49:20. Dedan was an Arab tribe southeast of Edom (Is 21:13; Jer 49:8).
Question: What was the origin of the Edomites? See Gen 25:19-28; 36:21, 31.
Answer: Edom was the twin brother of Jacob-Israel. The Edomites are also a people who are historically related to Israel.
Ezekiel 25:15-17 ~ Against the Philistines
The Philistines were allies of Judah in the revolt against the Babylonians, but they also had a long history of enmity against Israel. They were a maritime people, related ethnically to the ancient Greeks who migrated out of the Aegean basin and into Canaan during the turbulent period of the early 12th century BC. They established five major cities along the coastal strip of southwestern Canaan that belonged to Egypt until the end of the 19th Egyptian Dynasty (ended 1185 BC).
Chapters 26:1-28:19 ~ The Judgment Against Tyre
Yahweh said this to me, "Make yourself thongs and yokes and put them on your neck. Then send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon, through their envoys accredited to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem ...Yahweh Sabaoth, God of Israel, says this: ... For the present, I have handed all these countries over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant ..."
Jeremiah 27:2-6
The section devoted to the judgment against the Phoenician city-state of Tyre divides into four parts:
- The indictment and judicial sentence against Tyre (26:1-14).
- The first lament over Tyre (26:15-21).
- The second lament over Tyre (27:1-36).
- Judgment against the king of Tyre (28:1-19)
Ezekiel 26:1-14 ~ Against Tyre
The eleventh year, on the first of the month, is March/April 587 BC (according to the Liturgical calendar). However, the Greek Septuagint reads "the twelfth year" and the "first month," which is March/April 586 BC, a year after the burning of Jerusalem and the exile of most of the survivors. We have been assuming all the dates are based on the Liturgical calendar since Ezekiel is a priest. The first month in the liturgical calendar is March/April (Ex 12:1-2). See a chart on the liturgical and civil calendars of Israel
Question: Why was Israel "the Gateway to the Nations"? Locate Israel on a map of the ancient world and identify the two great trade highways of "The Way of the Sea" and "The King's Highway."
Answer: Located on a land bridge between continents, the land of Israel connected Africa to Asia Minor and Mesopotamia. Two great trade routes bordered Israel. "The Way of the Sea" ran from Egypt north and south along the Mediterranean coast on Israel's western border into Asia Minor. The other great trade route was "The King's Highway," running up the east side of the Jordan River, north-south on Israel's eastern border into Mesopotamia.
Question: What is Tyre's crime against Jerusalem?
Answer: Tyre intended to profit from Jerusalem's destruction by claiming her material wealth as a trading capital in the region. However, her greater crime is her hubris in thinking that she could control or influence God's divine plan for Israel and the region.
Ezekiel 26:15-21 ~ First Lament Over Tyre
Tyre was one of the most, if not the most, important of the trading centers on the Mediterranean. Therefore, any reversal in fortune for Tyre meant a reversal of fortune for her trading partners: 18 Now the islands are trembling on the day of your fall; the islands of the sea are terrified by your end.
While the city suffered during the siege of Nebuchadnezzar's army, composed of warriors from his vassal states across the Levant and Mesopotamia, Tyre was not, as far as the historical record relates, conquered by the Babylonians who made a treaty with the city and ended the siege. The prophecy of Tyre's destruction was not historically fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar but by Alexander the Great. In 332 BC, Alexander the Great built a causeway from the mainland to the island, breached the walls, massacred the citizens, and razed the city's walls as an example for the rest of the cities of the Levant and Mesopotamia not to resist his Greek army.
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A Daily Defense
.DAY 223 Purgatory and the Work of Christ
CHALLENGE: “Purgatory contradicts the finished work of Christ. If Christ paid for all our sins on the cross, there is nothing left to be done.”
DEFENSE: Christ’s work is finished, but it’s not applied all at once.
Christ died on the cross “once for all” (Heb. 10:10), but the resulting grace is applied to us over the course of the Christian life.
Sometimes, a grace is given to us instantaneously. When we first come to God to be forgiven and justified, we receive these graces instantaneously.
But even after being forgiven and justified, we still struggle with sin and its consequences. Although it is God’s will that the eternal consequences of our sins be forgiven, Christian experience shows that it is not his will that we be made perfect all in a flash.
Throughout the Christian life, we continue to struggle with sin and, by God’s grace, to grow in holiness. This happens through the process known as sanctification. Thus Paul prays, “May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23).
Many people die in God’s friendship rather than in mortal sin, but few of us have been fully freed from sin and its consequences. Consequently, we need to be purified before we enter heaven for Scripture tells us that “nothing unclean shall enter it” (Rev. 21:27).
Heaven is being fully united with God, and since he is infinitely holy, nothing that is still impure can be fully united with him. Consequently, Scripture exhorts us to seek “the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14).
If nothing impure enters heaven then, between death and heaven, there must be a purification. As the final purification of the elect, purgatory can be thought of as simply the final stage of sanctification, where we are fully freed and liberated from sin and its consequences.
Rather than conflicting with the finished work of Christ, the process of sanctification—and its final stage, purgatory—is an outgrowth of Christ’s work. It is one of the ways his grace is applied to us.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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