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

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.

For all those things hath my hand made; the heavens and the earth are the work of my hands, . (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, , and who trembleth when he heareth God’ s threatening words, nor ever heareth any revelation of the Divine will without a just reverence.

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.Ver. 2. For all those things hath my hand made.] And could not I, then, have made myself a house without your help if I had listed or needed? Required I a temple for any other use or purpose but for the furtherance of your faith in Christ and love one to another? "These things have I made," yet these all I regard not in comparison. But To this man will I look,] viz., With special intimation of my care and kindness - q.d., To thee be it spoken, I have an eye to thee. Even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit.] Sept., Humble and quiet, Vera Sabbata agens, that being poor in spirit hath a Sabbath of spirit, comforting himself in the Lord his God: to such God looketh. He cannot look upwards, saith one, because he hath none above him; nor on either side, because he hath none equal unto him: therefore he is said to look down, and that also upon the humble and broken-hearted, with singular delight and complacence. Humilitas est thronus sapphirinus in quo Deus cum maiestate residet. And trembleth at my word,] viz., With a filial fear flowing from faith in Christ, trembling at the threatenings before they come into execution. This is a point of singular prudence, for God therefore threateneth that he may not inflict punishment: but ‘ they that tremble not in hearing, shall be crushed to pieces in feeling,’ said that martyr. What, then, will be the end of such as hear the menaces of God’ s mouth no otherwise than they do the stories of foreign wars or the predictions of a prognostication, which they think may come to pass, and it may be not? ηουχον.

(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.)

Verse 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.

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; Psalms 34:18; Psalms 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. Psalms 40:6; Psalms 50:8-15; Psalms 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.

For all those things hath mine hand made - That is the heaven and the earth, and all that is in them.

2. All those things hath mine hand made — The heavens and the earth just mentioned, the universe created by me — those are to me an infinitely more magnificent temple than man can make.