Izaija 66:21 Komentar

The scope of this chapter is much the same as that of the foregoing chapter and many expressions of it are the same; it therefore looks the same way, to the different state of the good and bad among the Jews at their return out of captivity, but that typifying the rejection of the Jews in the days of the Messiah, the conversion of the Gentiles, and the setting up of the gospel-kingdom in the world. The first verse of this chapter is applied by Stephen to the dismantling of the temple by the planting of the Christian church (Act 7:49, Act 7:50), which may serve as a key to the whole chapter. We have here, I. The contempt God puts upon ceremonial services in comparison with moral duties, and an intimation therein of his purpose shortly to put an end to the temple, and sacrifice and reject those that adhered to them (Isa 66:1-4). II. The salvation God will in due time work for his people out of the hands of their oppressors (Isa 66:5), speaking terror to the persecutors (Isa 66:6) and comfort to the persecuted, a speedy and complete deliverance (Isa 66:7-9), a joyful settlement (Isa 66:10, Isa 66:11), the accession of the Gentiles to them, and abundance of satisfaction therein (Isa 66:12-14). III. The terrible vengeance which God will bring upon the enemies of his church and people (Isa 66:15-18). IV. The happy establishment of the church upon large and sure foundations, its constant attendance on God and triumph over its enemies (Isa 66:19-24). And we may well expect that this evangelical prophet, here, in the close of his prophecy, should (as he does) look as far forward as to the latter days, to the last day, to the days of eternity.

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 66 This chapter treats of the same things as the former, the rejection of the unbelieving Jews, and the regard had to them that did believe; the conversion of that people in the latter day; the calling of the Gentiles, and the happy state of the church in the last times. The causes of the rejection of the Jews were their unworthy notions of God, as if he was confined to the temple of Jerusalem, and to be pleased with external sacrifices, now both at an end under the Gospel dispensation; a better sacrifice being offered, and a more spiritual worship set up everywhere; which notions are considered, Isa 66:1, and because they were set upon their ways and works, and rejected the Gospel of Christ, they are threatened with ruin, Isa 66:3 and the disciples of Christ, whom they excommunicated and persecuted, have a promise of divine appearance for them, while vengeance shall be taken on their enemies, their city and temple, Isa 66:5, nevertheless, in the latter day, there will be a large and sudden conversion of this nation of the Jews, which is signified by the birth of them, which will be matter of great joy to all the true lovers of the interest of Christ, Isa 66:7 and what will add to the prosperity, joy, and comfort of the church of Christ at this time, will be the bringing in of the fulness of the Gentiles, Isa 66:12 at which time the vials of God's wrath will be poured out upon antichrist and his followers, Isa 66:15 and the chapter is concluded with a fresh account of large conversions of men of all nations, and of the union of Jews and Gentiles in one church state, which shall long remain, and be undisturbed by enemies, who will be all slain, and their carcasses looked upon with contempt, Isa 66:18.

And I will also take of them for priests,.... That is, of the Gentiles, the brethren brought as an offering to the Lord; and therefore must respect Gospel times, when the Aaronic priesthood would be changed and cease, which admitted not of Gentiles, nor any of any other tribe in Israel, but the tribe of Levi; nor is this to be understood of the spiritual priesthood common to all believers, Pe1 2:5 since of those converted Gentiles brought, not all, but only some of them, would be taken for priests; and therefore can only be interpreted of the ministers of the word, who, in Old Testament language, are called priests, though never in the New Testament; but elders, bishops, overseers, pastors, and teachers. The first preachers of the Gospel were Jews, as the twelve apostles, the seventy disciples, Paul and Barnabas, and others; but when the Gospel was preached, and churches planted in the Gentile world, then priests, or pastors, or elders, were taken out from among them, and ordained over the churches everywhere; and which have continued, more or less, ever since; and will be more abundant in the latter day; whose work and office is not to offer up slain beasts, as the priests of old; but to point to the sacrifice of Christ, to the Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of men; and to teach the knowledge of crucified Christ, and the several doctrines and duties of the Christian religion, as the priests formerly taught the knowledge of the law, Mal 2:7, and for Levites, saith the Lord; this still more clearly shows that the prophecy belongs to the Gospel dispensation, and is to be understood figuratively and spiritually; for none but those of the tribe of Levi could be taken for Levites in a literal sense; but here Gentiles are said to be taken for such, and design men in Gospel churches. The Levites, as their name signifies, were such as were "joined" to others; they ministered to the priests, and assisted them, and had the charge of the temple, and the vessels of it, to whom deacons now answer; who are helps and assistants to the ministers of the word: their business is to serve tables, and to take care of the secular affairs of the church; so that this is a prophecy of the churches in the latter day being truly organized, and filled with proper officers, as well as with numerous members.

(Verse 21) Just as the sons of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. And I will take from among them priests and Levites, says the Lord. LXX: Just as the sons of Israel offer their sacrifices to me with Psalms in the house of the Lord; and I will take from among them priests and Levites, says the Lord. As they have been directed to the nations, and have proclaimed my glory to them, so they shall bring your brothers from all nations as an offering to the Lord, with horses, and chariots, and litters, and mules, and carts, and various vehicles, to the holy mountain Jerusalem, just as the sons of Israel used to do when their religion was established and the ceremonies of the Temple were observed, offering sacrifices with Psalms in the house of the Lord. Or, as it is written in Hebrew, they rendered it all with consonant voice in pure vessel: which they also offer until this day in the House of God, which is the Church, the sons of Israel who behold God with their mind, spiritual sacrifices with the fruits and virtues of their soul in pure vessels, that is, in holy bodies. Concerning which the Apostle writes: Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Holy Spirit dwells in you (1 Corinthians 3:16)? And I will select, says the Lord, priests and Levites from among them, so that those who are saved may proclaim the message to the nations. Of whom one spoke: Thus let a man consider us as ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God (I Cor. IV, 1). And Luke the evangelist says: Just as they handed down to us, who from the beginning saw and were ministers of the word. Of whom we also read above: You shall be priests to me, says the Lord (Isaiah LXI, 6). For just as a Jew is hidden, who is circumcised in spirit (Rom. II), of whom it is written: We are the circumcision, who serve God in spirit (Philipp. III, 3), and offer spiritual sacrifices pleasing to God, and sing with spirit and understanding: thus also the priests and Levites are hidden, who do not follow the order of their lineage, but the order of faith. Or certainly he does not speak of the Apostles and apostolic men, who were the leaders of the Church from the Jewish people, but of those mentioned above the nations, from the sea, from Africa, from Libya, from Cappadocia, from Italy, from Greece, from all the islands, the inhabitants of which had not first heard the Lord, nor seen His glory, and afterwards they turn into priests, so that those who were tail become the head, and those who were the head, turn into the tail.

“ ‘And I will take from them priests and Levites,’ says the Lord,” so that those who will be saved can preach to the Gentiles.” Concerning this, one author said, “Thus a person should regard us as ministers of Christ and dispensers of the mysteries of God,” and the Evangelist Luke wrote, “just as they delivered to us, who saw from the beginning and were ministers of the word.” We, too, read above about this very matter: “But you will be for me priests of the Lord.” For just as he who is circumcised by the Spirit is a Jew in hiding, of whom it is written “we are the circumcision who serve the Spirit of God and offer spiritual sacrifices pleasing to God and sing psalms with the Spirit and with the mind,” so also they are priests and Levites in hiding who follow not a genealogy but the order of faith. It is certain, at least, that this does not speak of the apostles or of apostolic men, who were the princes of the church from the people of the Jews, but it speaks instead of those Gentiles enumerated above, from the sea, from Africa, from Lybia, from Cappadocia, from Italy, from Greece, and from all the islands, the inhabitants of which have not yet had an opportunity to hear the Lord for the first time or to see his glory and afterward to be made priests, such that those who were the tail may become the head and those who were the head may become the tail.“For, like the new heaven and the new earth that I will cause to stand before me,” says the Lord, “so shall your seed and your name stand. From month to month and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh will come to adore the Lord in my presence in Jerusalem.” When the Lord says, “I will take from them priests and Levites,” he shows the old priesthood to have passed away, which was bound to the tribe of Levi, where there was no choice but only a succession by the order of nature in family posterity. For “when there is a change in the priesthood, it is necessary that there be a change in the law as well” and that election to the priesthood be conferred by no means according to blood lineage but according to merits and virtues, choosing people who will come from the islands of the Gentiles and proclaim the glory of the Lord.

“And I will take from them priests and Levites.” From whom? This is not yet so clear, meaning either those sent to call them out from the nations or from those who were thus called out. For the divine disciples served through Christ as priests. But many were called to the priesthood, and many are still called who are of Greek stock, once God has changed them into the newness of life and knowledge.

Second, the exaltation of their return, first, as to their worthiness: and I will take of them to be priests, which was literally fulfilled in the Jews, and also in the apostles, above: you shall be called the priests of the Lord: to you it shall be said: you ministers of our God (Isa 61:6).

This chapter treats of the same subject with the foregoing. God, by his prophet, tells the Jews, who valued themselves much on their temple and pompous worship, that the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; and that no outward rites of worship, while the worshippers are idolatrous and impure, can please him who looketh at the heart, Isa 66:1-3. This leads to a threatening of vengeance for their guilt, alluding to their making void the law of God by their abominable traditions, their rejection of Christ, persecution of his followers, and consequent destruction by the Romans. But as the Jewish ritual and people shadow forth the system of Christianity and its professors; so, in the prophetical writings, the idolatries of the Jews are frequently put for the idolatries afterwards practiced by those bearing the Christian name. Consequently, if we would have the plenitude of meaning in this section of prophecy, which the very content requires, we must look through the type into the antitype, viz., the very gross idolatries practiced by the members of Antichrist, the pompous heap of human intentions and traditions with which they have encumbered the Christian system, their most dreadful persecution of Christ's spiritual and true worshippers, and the awful judgments which shall overtake them in the great and terrible day of the Lord, Isa 66:4-6. The mighty and sudden increase of the Church of Jesus Christ at the period of Antichrist's fall represented by the very strong figure of Sion being delivered of a man-child before the time of her travail, the meaning of which symbol the prophet immediately subjoins in a series of interrogations for the sake of greater force and emphasis, Isa 66:7-9. Wonderful prosperity and unspeakable blessedness of the world when the posterity of Jacob, with the fullness of the Gentiles, shall be assembled to Messiah's standard, Isa 66:10-14. All the wicked of the earth shall be gathered together to the battle of that great day of God Almighty, and the slain of Jehovah shall be many, Isa 66:15-18. Manner of the future restoration of the Israelites from their several dispersions throughout the habitable globe, Isa 66:19-21. Perpetuity of this new economy of grace to the house of Israel, Isa 66:22. Righteousness shall be universally diffused in the earth; and the memory of those who have transgressed against the Lord shall be had in continual abhorrence, Isa 66:23, Isa 66:24. Thus this great prophet, after tracing the principal events of time, seems at length to have terminated his views in eternity, where all revolutions cease, where the blessedness of the righteous shall be unchangeable as the new heavens, and the misery of the wicked as the fire that shall not be quenched. This chapter is a continuation of the subject of the foregoing. The Jews valued themselves much upon their temple, and the pompous system of services performed in it, which they supposed were to be of perpetual duration; and they assumed great confidence and merit to themselves for their strict observance of all the externals of their religion. And at the very time when the judgments denounced in Isa 65:6 and Isa 65:12 of the preceding chapter were hanging over their heads, they were rebuilding, by Herod's munificence, the temple in a most magnificent manner. God admonishes them, that "the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands;" and that a mere external worship, how diligently soever attended, when accompanied with wicked and idolatrous practices in the worshippers, would never be accepted by him. This their hypocrisy is set forth in strong colors, which brings the prophet again to the subject of the former chapter; and he pursues it in a different manner, with more express declaration of the new economy, and of the flourishing state of the Church under it. The increase of the Church is to be sudden and astonishing. They that escape of the Jews, that is, that become converts to the Christian faith, are to be employed in the Divine mission to the Gentiles, and are to act as priests in presenting the Gentiles as an offering to God; see Rom 15:16. And both, now collected into one body, shall be witnesses of the final perdition of the obstinate and irreclaimable. These two chapters manifestly relate to the calling of the Gentiles, the establishment of the Christian dispensation, and the reprobation of the apostate Jews, and their destruction executed by the Romans. - L.

And for Levites - For ללוים laleviyim, fifty-nine MSS., (eight ancient), have וללוים velaleviyim, adding the conjunction ו vau, which the sense seems necessarily to require: and so read all the ancient versions. See Jos 3:3, and the various readings on that place in Kennicott's Bible.

THE HUMBLE COMFORTED, THE UNGODLY CONDEMNED, AT THE LORD'S APPEARING: JERUSALEM MADE A JOY ON EARTH. (Isa. 66:1-24) heaven . . . throne . . . where is . . . house . . . ye build--The same sentiment is expressed, as a precautionary proviso for the majesty of God in deigning to own any earthly temple as His, as if He could be circumscribed by space (Kg1 8:27) in inaugurating the temple of stone; next, as to the temple of the Holy Ghost (Act 7:48-49); lastly here, as to "the tabernacle of God with men" (Isa 2:2-3; Eze 43:4, Eze 43:7; Rev 21:3). where--rather, "what is this house that ye are building, &c.--what place is this for My rest?" [VITRINGA].

of them--the Gentiles. priests . . . Levites--for spiritual worship: enjoying the direct access to God which was formerly enjoyed by the ministers of the temple alone (Pe1 2:9; Rev 1:6).

The latter, having been incorporated into the priestly congregation of Jehovah (Isa 61:6), are not even excluded from the priestly and Levitical service of the sanctuary. "And I will also add some of them to the priests, to the Levites, saith Jehovah." Hitzig and Knobel suppose mēhem to refer to the Israelites thus brought home. But in this case something would be promised, which needed no promise at all, since the right of the native cohen and Levites to take part in the priesthood and temple service was by no means neutralized by their sojourn in a foreign land. And even if the meaning were that Jehovah would take those who were brought home for priests and Levites, without regard to their Aaronic or priestly descent, or (as Jewish commentators explain it) without regard to the apostasy, of which through weakness they had made themselves guilty among the heathen; this ought to be expressly stated. But as there is nothing said about any such disregard of priestly descent or apostasy, and what is here promised must be something extraordinary, and not self-evident, meehem must refer to the converted heathen, by whom the Israelites had been brought home. Many Jewish commentators even are unable to throw off the impression thus made by the expression mēhem (of them); but they attempt to get rid of the apparent discrepancy between this statement and the Mosaic law, by understanding by the Gentiles those who had been originally Israelites of Levitical and Aaronic descent, and whom Jehovah would single out again. David Friedlnder and David Ottensosser interpret it quite correctly thus: "Mēhem, i.e., of those heathen who bring them home, will He take for priests and Levites, for all will be saints of Jehovah; and therefore He has just compared them to a clean vessel, and the Israelites offered by their hand to a minchâh." The majority of commentators do not even ask the question, in what sense the prophet uses lakkōhănı̄m lalevayyim (to the priests, to the Levites) with the article. Joseph Kimchi, however, explains it thus: "הכהנים לצורך, to the service of the priests, the Levites, so that they (the converted heathen) take the place of the Gibeonites (cf., Zac 14:21), and therefore of the former Cananaean nethı̄nı̄m" (see Khler, Nach-exil. Proph. iii. p. 39). But so interpreted, the substance of the promise falls behind the expectation aroused by מהם וגם. Hofmann has adopted a more correct explanation, viz.: "God rewards them for this offering, by taking priests to Himself out of the number of the offering priests, who are added as such to the Levitical priests." Apart, however, from the fact that ללוים לכהנים cannot well signify "for Levitical priests" according to the Deuteronomic הכהנים, since this would require הלוים לכהנים (inasmuch as such permutative and more precisely defining expressions as Gen 19:9; Jos 8:24 cannot be brought into comparison); the idea "in addition to the priests, to the Levites," is really implied in the expression (cf., Isa 56:8), as they would say לאשּׁה לקח and not לאשׁה, and would only use לנּשׁים לקח in the sense of adding to those already there. The article presupposes the existence of priests, Levites (asyndeton, as in Isa 38:14; Isa 41:29; Isa 66:5), to whom Jehovah adds some taken from the heathen. When the heathen shall be converted, and Israel brought back, the temple service will demand a more numerous priesthood and Levitehood than ever before; and Jehovah will then increase the number of those already existing, not only from the מובאים, but from the מביאים also. The very same spirit, which broke through all the restraints of the law in Isa 56:1-12, is to be seen at work here as well. Those who suppose mēhem to refer to the Israelites are wrong in saying that there is no other way, in which the connection with Isa 66:22 can be made intelligible. Friedlnder had a certain feeling of what was right, when he took Isa 66:21 to be a parenthesis and connected Isa 66:22 with Isa 66:20. There is no necessity for any parenthesis, however. The reason which follows, relates to the whole of the previous promise, including Isa 66:21; the election of Israel, as Hofmann observes, being equally confirmed by the fact that the heathen exert themselves to bring back the diaspora of Israel to their sacred home, and also by the fact that the highest reward granted to them is, that some of them are permitted to take part in the priestly and Levitical service of the sanctuary.