Isaiah 65:12

Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Isaiah 65:12. Therefore will I number you to the sword — “Here the allusion to meni, which signifies number, is obvious.” And you shall all bow down to the slaughter — As you have bowed down to idols, which are my enemies, I will make you bow down to your enemies’ swords; because when I called — Namely, by my prophets, you did not answer by doing the things that I enjoined. But did evil before mine eyes — You sinned deliberately, choosing sinful courses, the things which I hated. It must be observed here, that though the Jews, in the time of Christ and his apostles, (the period, it seems, referred to,) were not guilty of such idolatries as those above mentioned, yet, as they manifested the same spirit of rebellion, perverseness, and enmity to God, he therefore threatens that he would number them to the sword, as criminals ordered for execution, which he accordingly did, sending the Roman armies to desolate their country, lay their cities level with the ground, and almost extirpate their whole nation.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

65:11-16 Here the different states of the godly and wicked, of the Jews who believed, and of those who persisted in unbelief, are set against one another. They prepared a table for that troop of deities which the heathen worship, and poured out drink-offerings to that countless number. Their worshippers spared no cost to honour them, which should shame the worshippers of the true God. See the malignity of sin; it is doing by choice what we know will displease God. In every age and nation, the Lord leaves those who persist in doing evil, and despise the call of the gospel. God's servants shall have the bread of life, and shall want nothing good for them. But those who forsake the Lord, shall be ashamed of vain confidence in their own righteousness, and the hopes they built thereon. Wordly people bless themselves in the abundance of this world's goods; but God's servants bless themselves in him. He is their strength and portion. They shall honour him as the God of truth. And it was promised that in him should all the families of the earth be blessed. They shall think themselves happy in having him for their God, who made them forget their troubles.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Therefore will I number you to the sword - There is undoubtedly an allusion here to the idol Meni mentioned in Isaiah 65:11, and a play upon the name, in accordance with a custom quite common in the sacred Scriptures. The word מניתי mâniytiy, 'I will number,' is derived from מנה mânâh, the same word from which מני menı̂y, is derived. The idea is, since they worshipped a god whose name denoted number - perhaps one who was supposed to number or appoint the fates of people - God would number them. He would determine their destiny. It would not be done by any idol that was supposed to preside over the destinies of people; not by blind fate, or by anyone of the heavenly bodies, but it would be by an intelligent and holy God. And thus numbering or determining their lot would not be in accordance with their expectations, imparting to them a happy fortune, but would be devoting them to the sword; that is, to destruction. The allusion is, probably, to the calamities which God afterward brought on them by the invasion of the Chaldeans.

And ye shall all bow down to the slaughter - This is evidently strong, and probably hyperbolic language, meaning that a large portion of the nation would be cut off by the sword. The allusion here is, I think, to the slaughter of the Jewish people in the invasion of the Chaldeans. The evil of idolatry prevailed, in the time of Isaiah, under the reign of Manasseh; and in the time of Zedekiah it had increased so much even in Jerusalem, that it was said, 'All the chief priests and the people transgressed very much after all the abominations of the pagan; and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem .... And they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, until there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young people with the sword, in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man or him that stooped for age; he gave them all into their hand 2 Chronicles 36:14, 2 Chronicles 36:16-17. It is possible, also, that this is intended to express a more general truth, and to intimate that when his people forsake him he will punish them; but the primary reference, it is proable, was to the slaughter caused by the Babylonians when they destroyed Jerusalem.

Because when I called - When I called you by the prophets to repentance and to my service (see Proverbs 1:24 ff.)

Ye did not answer - You showed the same disregard and contempt which a child does who suffers a parent to call him, and who pays no attention to it. One of the chief aggravations of human guilt is, that the sinner pays no attention to the calls of God. He pretends not to hear; or he hears to disregard it. No more decided contempt can be shown to the Almighty; no deeper proof of the stupidity and guilt of people can be furnished.

But did evil before mine eyes - (See the notes at Isaiah 65:3).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. number—"doom" you. Alluding to the "number," as Meni (Isa 65:11) means. Retribution in kind, the punishment answering to the sin (compare 2Ch 36:14-17).

I called, ye … not answer—"I called," though "none had called" upon Me (Isa 64:7); yet even then none "answered" (Pr 1:24). Contrast with this God and His people's mutual fellowship in prayer (Isa 65:24).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

You have offended in number, worshipping a multitude, a troop of idols; there shall be a great number of you perish by the sword; or possibly the term

number may refer to all in the next phrase, to let them know that none of them should escape. God saith he will number them, tell them out one by one to the sword.

You shall all bow down to the slaughter; as you have bowed down to idols, Isaiah 44:17, (which are mine enemies,) I will make you bow down to your enemy’s swords. I called you by my prophets, Zechariah 7:7,11,12: you did not answer by doing the things which I by them spoke to you for; but not considering that I saw you, or if considering it, yet not regarding it, you impudently did evil; yea, you sinned deliberately, choosing sinful courses, the things which I hated, which are (here as often) expressed by it meiosis, and called the things in which God delighteth not. In matters of worship we ought to choose nothing wherein God delighteth not; and reason as well as Scripture will assure us he can delight in nothing of that nature which himself hath not directed. It is observable, that ruin is here threatened to this people, not for their immoralities or lewd lives, but for their errors and superstitions in Divine worship. Other sins provoke God to wrath, but those of this nature alone are enough to ruin souls and nations.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Therefore will I number you to the sword,.... There is an elegancy in the expression, alluding to Meni, that number, they furnished a drink offering for, or trusted in; and since they did, God would number them, or appoint a number of them to the sword; or suffer them to be slain in great numbers, even from one end of their land to another, Jeremiah 12:12, they should be numbered and told out, or care taken that none of them should escape the sword of the Romans, or not be taken by them:

and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter; be obliged to submit to the conqueror, and lay down their necks to be sacrificed by him:

because, when I called, ye did not answer; when I spoke, ye did not hear; when Christ called unto them personally, to come and hear him, they turned a deaf ear to this charmer, charming so wisely, and would not attend upon his ministry, Proverbs 1:24, and when he called to them in the ministry of his apostles, they rejected him and his word with contempt; they put it away from them, contradicting and blaspheming it, Acts 13:45. The Targum is,

"because I sent my prophets, and ye turned not; they prophesied, and ye did not receive them:''

but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not; adhered to the traditions of the elders, and taught for doctrines the commandments of men; and which they chose and preferred to the word of God, and the Gospel of Christ; and these were things the Lord delighted not in, yea, abhorred; and their embracing and cleaving to them were evil in his sight; see Matthew 15:3.

Geneva Study Bible

Therefore will I {p} number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I {q} spoke, ye did not hear; but did evil before my eyes, and did choose that in which I delighted not.

(p) Seeing you cannot number your gods, I will number you with the sword.

(q) By my prophets, whom you would not obey.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. Render with R.V. I will destine you to the sword &c. There is a play upon words between the verb for “destine” (mânâh) and Měnî in Isaiah 65:11.

because when I called &c.] Cf. Isaiah 65:1-2.

but did evil before mine eyes &c.] Exactly as ch. Isaiah 66:4.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - Therefore will I number you; or, apportion you (maaithi) - a play upon the name of M'ni. The sword... slaughter. Not, perhaps, intended literally. Wicked men are God's sword (Psalm 17:13), and deliverance into their hand would be deliverance to the sword and slaughter. The exiles suffered grievously at the hands of their Babylonian masters (Isaiah 47:6; Isaiah 49:17, etc.). The character of their sufferings is given in the ensuing verses (vers. 13, 14). When I called, ye did not answer (see 2 Chronicles 36:15, 16; Proverbs 1:20-25; Isaiah 66:4). Isaiah 65:12

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Μήνη appears in μηναγύρθς equals μητραγύρθς as the name of Cybele, the mother of the gods. In Egyptian, Menhi is a form of Isis in the city of Hat-uer. The Ithyphallic Min, the cognomen of Amon, which is often written in an abbreviated form with the spelling men (Copt. MHIN, signum), is further removed.

Isaiah 65:11The prophecy now turns again to those already indicated and threatened in Isaiah 65:1-7. "And ye, who are enemies to Jehovah, O ye that are unmindful of my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Gad, and fill up mixed drink for the goddess of destiny - I have destined you to the sword, and ye will all bow down to the slaughter, because I have called and ye have not replied, I have spoken and ye have not heard; and ye did evil in mine eyes, and ye chose that which I did not like." It may be taken for granted as a thing generally admitted, that Isaiah 65:11 refers to two deities, and to the lectisternia (meals of the gods, cf., Jeremiah 7:18; Jeremiah 51:44) held in their honour. שׁלחן ערך is the other side of the lectum sternere, i.e., the spreading of the cushions upon which the images of the gods were placed during such meals of the gods as these. In the passage before us, at any rate, the lectus answering to the shulchân (like the sella used in the case of the goddesses) is to be taken as a couch for eating, not for sleeping on. In the second clause, therefore, ממסך למני והממלאים (which is falsely accentuated in our editions with tifchah mercha silluk, instead of mercha tifchah silluk), ממסך מלּא signifies to fill with mixed drink, i.e., with wine mixed with spices, probably oil of spikenard. מלּא may be connected not only with the accusative of the vessel filled, but also with that of the thing with which it is filled (e.g., Exodus 28:17). Both names have the article, like הבּעל. הגּד is perfectly clear; if used as an appellative, it would mean "good fortune." The word has this meaning in all the three leading Semitic dialects, and it also occurs in this sense in Genesis 30:11, where the chethib is to be read בּגד (lxx ἐν τύχῃ). The Aramaean definitive is גּדּא (not גּדא), as the Arabic 'gadd evidently shows. The primary word is גּדד (Arab. 'gadda), to cut off, to apportion; so that Arab. jaddun, like the synonymous ḥaḍḍun, signifies that which is appointed, more especially the good fortune appointed. There can be no doubt, therefore, that Gad, the god of good fortune, more especially if the name of the place Baal-Gad is to be explained in the same way as Baal-hammn, is Baal (Bel) as the god of good fortune. Gecatilia (Mose ha-Cohen) observes, that this is the deified planet Jupiter. This star is called by the Arabs "the greater luck" as being the star of good fortune; and in all probability it is also the rabb-el-bacht (lord of good fortune) worshipped by the Ssabians (Chwolsohn, ii. 30, 32). It is true that it is only from the passage before us that we learn that it was worshipped by the Babylonians; for although H. Rawlinson once thought that he had found the names Gad and Menni in certain Babylonian inscriptions (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, xii. p. 478), the Babylonian Pantheon in G. Rawlinson's Monarchies contains neither of these names. With this want of corroborative testimony, the fact is worthy of notice, that a Rabbi named 'Ulla, who sprang from Babylon, explains the דרגשׁ of the Mishna by דגדא ערסא (a sofa dedicated to the god of prosperity, and often left unused) (b. Nedarim 56a; cf., Sanhedrin 20a).

(Note: The foreign formula of incantation given in b. Sabbath 67a, ובושכי עושדי ל וסינוק ידג דג (according to the glosses, "O Fortune, give good fortune, and be not tardy day and night"), also belongs here; whereas the name of a place not far from Siloah, called Gad-yavan (Gad of Greece), contains some allusion to the mythology of Greece, which we are unable to trace. In the later usage of the language Gad appears to have acquired the general meaning of numen (e.g., b. Chullin 40a; דהר גד, the mountain-spirit); and this helps to explain the fact that in Pehlewi גדמן signifies majesty in a royal, titular sense (see Vuller's Lex.; and Spiegel in the Indische Studien, 3, 412).)

But if Gad is Jupiter, nothing is more probable than that Meni is Venus; for the planet Venus is also regarded as a star of prosperity, and is called by the Arabs "the lesser luck." The name Meni in itself, indeed, does not necessarily point to a female deity; for meni from mânâh, if taken as a passive participial noun (like גּרי בּריה, a creature), signifies "that which is apportioned;" or if taken as a modification of the primary form many, like גּדי, טלי, צבי, and many others, allotment, destination, fate. We have synonyms in the Arabic mana-n and meniye, and the Persian bacht (adopted into the Arabic), which signify the general fate, and from which bago-bacht is distinguished as signifying that which is exceptionally allotted by the gods. The existence of a deity of this name meni is also probably confirmed by the occurrence of the personal name עבדמני on certain Aramaeo-Persian coins of the Achaemenides,

(Note: See Rdiger in the concluding part of the thes. p. 97.)

with which Frst associates the personal name Achiman (see his Lex.), combining מן with Μήν, and מני with Μήνη, as Movers (Phnizier, i. 650) and Knobel have also done. מן and מני would then be Semitic forms of these Indo-Germanic names of deities; for Μήν is Deus Lunus, the worship of which in Carrae (Charran) is mentioned by Spartian in chapter vi. of the Life of Caracalla, whilst Strabo (xii. 3, 31, 32) speaks of it as being worshipped in Pontus, Phrygia, and other places; and Μήνη is Dea Luna (cf., Γενείτη Μάνη in Plut. quaest. Romans 52, Genita Mana in Plin. h. n. 29, 4, and Dea Mena in Augustine, Civ. 4, 11), which was worshipped, according to Diodorus (iii. 56) and Nonnus (Dionys. v. 70 ss.), in Phoenicia and Africa. The rendering of the lxx may be quoted in favour of the identity of the latter with מני (ἑτοιμάζοντες τῷ δαιμονίῳ (another reading δαίμονι τράπεζαν καὶ πληροῦντες τῇ τύχῃ κέρασμα), especially if we compare with this what Macrobius says in Saturn. i. 19, viz., that "according to the Egyptians there are four of the gods which preside over the birth of men, Δαίμων Τύχη ̓́Ερωσ ̓Ανάγκη. Of these Daimōn is the sun, the author of spirit, of warmth, and of light. Tychē is the moon, as the goddess through whom all bodies below the moon grow and disappear, and whose ever changing course accompanies the multiform changes of this mortal life."

(Note: See Ge. Zoega's Abhandlungen, edited by Welcker (1817), pp. 39, 40.)

In perfect harmony with this is the following passage of Vettius Valens, the astrologer of Antioch, which has been brought to light by Selden in his Syntagma de Diis Syris: Κλῆροι τῆς τύχης καὶ τοῦ δαίμονος σημαίνουσιν (viz., by the signs of nativity) ἣλιον τε καὶ σελήνην. Rosenmller very properly traces back the Sept. rendering to this Egyptian view, according to which Gad is the sun-god, and Meni the lunar goddess as the power of fate. Now it is quite true that the passage before us refers to Babylonian deities, and not to Egyptian; at the same time there might be some relation between the two views, just as in other instances ancient Babylonia and Egypt coincide.

But there are many objections that may be offered to the combination of מני (Meni) and Μήνη: (1.) The Babylonian moon-deity was either called Sı̄n, as among the ancient Shemites generally, or else by other names connected with ירח (ירח) and châmar. (2.) The moon is called mâs is Sanscrit, Zendic mâo, Neo-Pers. mâh (mah); but in the Arian languages we meet with no such names as could be traced to a root mân as the expansion of mâ (to measure), like μήν μήνη), Goth. mena; for the ancient proper names which Movers cites, viz., ̓Αριαμένησ ̓Αρταμένης, etc., are traceable rather to the Arian manas equals μένος, mens, with which Minerva (Menerva, endowed with mind) is connected. (3.) If meni were the Semitic form of the name for the moon, we should expect a closer reciprocal relation in the meanings of the words. We therefore subscribe to the view propounded by Gesenius, who adopts the pairing of Jupiter and Venus common among the Arabs, as the two heavenly bodies that preside over the fortunes of men; and understands by Meni Venus, and by Gad Jupiter. There is nothing at variance with this in the fact that 'Ashtoreth (Ishtar, with 'Ashērâh) is the name of Venus (the morning star), as we have shown at Isaiah 14:12. Meni is her special name as the bestower of good fortune and the distributor of fate generally; probably identical with Mant, one of the three leading deities of the prae-Islamitish Arabs.

(Note: See Krehl, Religion der vorislamischen Araber, p. 78. Sprenger in his Life of Mohammad, 1862, compares the Arabic Manât with מני.)

The address proceeds with umânı̄thı̄ (and I have measured), which forms an apodosis and contains a play upon the name of Meni, Isaiah 65:11 being as it were a protasis indicating the principal reason of their approaching fate. Because they sued for the favour of the two gods of fortune (the Arabs call them es-sa'dâni, "the two fortunes") and put Jehovah into the shade, Jehovah would assign them to the sword, and they would all have to bow down (כּרע as in Isaiah 10:4). Another reason is now assigned for this, the address thus completing the circle, viz., because when I called ye did not reply, when I spake ye did not hear (this is expressed in the same paratactic manner as in Isaiah 5:4; Isaiah 12:1; Isaiah 50:2), and ye have done, etc.: an explanatory clause, consisting of four members, which is repeated almost word for word in Isaiah 66:4 (cf., Isaiah 56:4).