Isaiah 65:4

Which remain among the graves,.... In order to practise necromancy, to consult the dead, where they imagined demons and departed spirits haunted, and of whom they fancied they might get knowledge of

Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; Which remain among the graves - namely, for purposes of

They remained among the graves, either there expecting revelations by dreams, or there consulting with devils, who were thought to delight in such places; or to practise necromancy, all which were forbidden, . And they lodged in the monuments; the Hebrew word here used gives advantage to interpreters to vary in their senses. The word signifies only places kept or observed; some interpret it of idol temples; some of caves and dens, in which the heathens used to worship their idols; some of tombs or monuments for dead persons: besides the idolatry of the thing, there was in it a sinful imitation of the heathens, and a swerving from the rule which God had given them. They also ate swine’ s flesh, contrary to the Divine law, ; and they endured in their vessels broth of abominable things; so the word is used, Jude 6 19,23: others read it, parts or pieces of abominable things; that is, broth, or pieces of such flesh as was to the Jews unclean by the law, Leviticus 11. Every creature of God is good, but God’ s prohibition had made the flesh of divers creatures an abominable thing to the Jews, they might not touch their flesh, ; but they, taking the measures of their duty from their appetite, or from their reason, concluding from natural principles, made no conscience of the positive law of God. This was their iniquity, which is further aggravated in the next verse.

Isaiah 65:4 Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’ s flesh, and broth of abominable [things is in] their vessels;Ver. 4. Which remain among the graves.] Which use necromancy and consult with devils - as Saul did, and died for it - contrary to Deuteronomy 18:11. See Isaiah 8:19 Mark 5:5. This they had learned from the heathens, with whom it was common, as Tertullian teacheth. And lodge in the monuments.] As believing that there they should dream dreams divinatory, or have revelations in the night. By such ill arts as these, Timotheus Herulus made himself bishop of Alexandria, A.D. 467; and Boniface VIII duped Celestine V of the Popedom, A.D. 1295. Some render it, that lodge with the kept ones, i.e., with their idols, which they were fain to keep, for fear they should be stolen. That eat swine’ s flesh.] Which was flatly forbidden; and which those martyrs in the Maccabees would rather die than do. But these belly gods, who, like swine, had their souls only to keep their bodies from putrifying, securely violated this plain law - gratifying their lusts, and making their gut their god. And broth of abominable things is in their vessels.] They had animos in patinis, catinis, calicibus, &c. Therein they kept the broth of their swine’ s flesh, which they offered, and in offering eat of. But what saith one from this text? Men must not only abhor the devil’ s beef, but his broth too; all occasions, appearances. Jun., Piscat. Porcus quasi spurcus. - Rupert.

(4) Which remain among the graves.—Probably the rock graves of Palestine, which, although they were ceremonially unclean, were not unfrequently used as dwellings (Matthew 8:28; Mark 5:3). The charge may be one merely of neglecting the precepts of the Law, but possibly also may imply that the graves were frequented, as in Isaiah 8:19; Isaiah 29:4, for necromantic purposes. Lodge in the monuments . . .—Here, again, the words probably point to practices more or less idolatrous, and common among the heathen of the time. Jerome (in loc.) notes the fact that men went to sleep in the crypts of the Temple of Æsculapius, in the hope of gaining visions of the future, and translates in delubris idolorum.Which eat swine’s flesh.—The flesh of swine was apparently forbidden, not on sanitary grounds only or chiefly, but because that animal was sacrificed in the festivals of Thammuz (Ezekiel 8:14), or Adonis. (Comp. Isaiah 66:17.) It may be noted, as against the view that the verse points to the practices of the Babylonian exiles, that no reference to swine has been found in any cuneiform inscriptions. In Egypt, as in Palestine, it was looked upon as unclean (Herod. ii. 47, 48). On the worship of Thammuz, see an article by the Rev. A. H. Sayce, in the Contemporary Review for September, 1883. Broth of abominable things.—The words indicate, as before, a sacrificial feast of unclean meats, and therefore connected with a violation of the Mosaic law, possibly with some form of heathen mysteries or divination from the viscera of slaughtered animals. The word occurs here and in Isaiah 66:3, once in Deuteronomy (Isaiah 29:17), and frequently in Leviticus (Leviticus 11:11; Leviticus 11:13; Leviticus 18:26; Leviticus 18:30).

Verse 4. Which remain among the graves] "For the purpose of evoking the dead. They lodged in desert places that demons might appear to them; for demons do appear in such places, to those who do believe in them." - Kimchi. In the monuments - "In the caverns"] בנצורים bannetsurim, a word of doubtful signification. An ancient MS. has בצורים batstsurim, another בצרים batstsurim, "in the rocks;" and Le Clec thinks the Septuagint had it so in their copy. They render it by εντοιςστηλαιοις, "in the caves." Which eat swine's flesh] This was expressly forbidden by the law, Leviticus 11:7, but among the heathen was in principal request in their sacrifices and feasts. Antiochus Epiphanes compelled the Jews to eat swine's flesh, as a full proof of their renouncing their religion, 2Mac. 6:18; 7:1. "And the broth of abominable meats," for lustrations, magical arts, and other superstitious and abominable practices. In their vessels] For כליהם keleyhem, a MS. had at first בכליהם bichleyhem. So the Vulgate and Chaldee, (and the preposition seems necessary to the sense,) "in their vessels."

4. The first two lines read: Who sit in the graves, and pass the night in secret (lit. guarded) places. The practice of “sitting in graves” is undoubtedly rooted in the worship of ancestors (Schwally, Das Leben nach dem Tode, pp. 68, 71), and the object probably was to obtain oracles from the dead. The phrase “pass the night” seems to point to the custom known to the ancients as incubation: “ubi stratis pellibus hostiarum incubare soliti erant, ut somniis futura cognoscerent” (Jerome). This idea is expressed by the LXX. (which runs the two clauses into one): κοιμῶνταιδιὰἐνύπνια; i.e. for the purpose of obtaining dream-oracles. But whether the “secret places” are connected with the “graves” is uncertain. which eat swine’s flesh] in sacrificial meals; in any case a violation of the Law (Deuteronomy 14:8; Leviticus 11:7). From the fact that wild pigs are mentioned in the cuneiform inscriptions (Jensen, Zeitschrift fόr Assyriologie, Vol. i. pp. 306 ff.) it has been inferred that the Jews were tempted into this during the Exile. But the swine was “forbidden food to all the Semites,” being sacred to more than one deity, and used in sacrifice only in some exceptional rites (W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites2, pp. 218, 290 f., 351). It is probably such mystic sacrifices that are here referred to; and there was no place where lax Jews were more likely to be enticed into them than in their own land. broth of abominable things] Such creatures as are enumerated in Isaiah 66:17. The “sacrifices are boiled and yield a magical hell-broth” (W. R. Smith, Marriage and Kinship, p. 310). “Broth” is the rendering of the Qμrκ (mβrβq, Judges 6:19 f.); the Kμthξb has a word (pβrβq) which might mean “piece” (sing.), although it does not occur elsewhere.

Which remain among the graves - That is, evidently for purposes of necromancy and divination. They do it to appear to hold converse with the dead, and to receive communications from them.

3-5. Sacrificeth in gardens — Entering on heathen worship in the face of Jehovah’s temple, within the precincts of Jerusalem — perhaps within the courts of great houses wherein were gardens. In this, daring impiety is charged.