Isaiah 65:3

A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face,.... They committed their sins openly, without any fear of the divine Being, and in defiance of him, not at all awed by his omniscience and

A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick; A people that provoketh me to anger continually - answering to "all the day" (Isaiah 65:2).

A people that provoketh me to anger: that the Jews are the people here intended is without question; the prophet, speaking of the calling of the Gentiles upon their rejection, reckons up their sins which were the causes. For though their rejecting and crucifying of Christ was that sin which was the proximate cause; yet God did but visit on that generation their iniquities, and the iniquities of their fathers together, they having by that act filled up their measure. They had provoked God continually to anger to his face. To my face; either in his temple, the place where he used to manifest himself; or (considering what followeth) more probably the phrase signifieth their impudence, not taking notice of God’ s omnipresence and omniscience. The particular provocations instanced in are deviations in the matter of Divine worship. Sacrificing in gardens is one thing instanced in; and burning incense on brick, or altars of brick, is another, : there was a particular altar of gold appointed for incense, . God commanded, ,25, that his altars should be made of earth, or rough stone. This people transgressed both these laws; sacrificing in gardens, for which the prophet reflected on them, , and again ; whether in gardens consecrated to idols, or in such gardens, as the heathens worshipped idols in, is not much material for us to know; and burning incense upon altars of brick, directly contrary to the Divine rule. Their worship was doubtless idolatrous, and these phrases signify committing idolatry; but the expressing that sin by these phrases lets us know that the doing contrary to the direction of the Divine rule in God’ s worship is a great part of the sinfulness of idolatry.

Isaiah 65:3 A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;Ver. 3. A people that provoketh me to my face.] As it were for the nonce, in despite and defiance of me. Siquis me in faciem depalmaret, vix indignius essera laturus: I could almost as well bear a blow on the face. And burneth incense upon altars of brick.] Erected on the house tops. They should have offered on the golden altar only. Lateres - per meiosin cum contemptu.

(3) That sacriflceth in gardens.—It is not without significance, as bearing on the date of the chapter, that the practice was common in Judah under Ahaz. (Comp. Isaiah 1:29, Mi. 5; Ezekiel 20:28.) Burneth incense upon altars of brick.—Literally, on the bricks, and possibly, therefore, on the roofs of houses, as was common in the idolatrous practices of Judah (2 Kings 23:12; Jeremiah 19:13). By some interpreters the words are referred, though with less probability, to the brick altars which the exiles are supposed to have used at Babylon, and were forbidden by the Law (Exodus 20:24-25).

Verse 3. That sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick - "Sacrificing in the gardens, and burning incense on the tiles"] These are instances of heathenish superstition, and idolatrous practices, to which the Jews were immoderately addicted before the Babylonish captivity. The heathen worshipped their idols in groves; whereas God, in opposition to this species of idolatry, commanded his people, when they should come into the promised land, to destroy all the places wherein the Canaanites had served their gods, and in particular to burn their groves with fire, Deuteronomy 12:2-3. These apostate Jews sacrificed upon altars built of bricks; in opposition to the command of God in regard to his altar, which was to be of unhewn stone, Exodus 20:26. Et pro uno altari, quod impolitis lapidibus Dei erat lege constructum, coctos lateres et agrorum cespites hostiarum sanguine cruentabant. "And instead of one altar which, according to the law of God, was, to be constructed of unhewn stones, they stained the bricks and turfs of the fields with the blood of their victims." Hieron. in loc. Or it means, perhaps, that they sacrificed upon the roofs of their houses, which were always flat, and paved with brick, or tile, or plaster of terrace. An instance of this idolatrous practice we find in 2Kg 23:12, where it is said that Josiah "beat down the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made." See also Zephaniah 1:5. Sir John Chardin's MS. note on this place of Isaiah is as follows: "Ainsi font tous les Gentiles, sur les lieux eleves, et sur les terrasses, appellez latcres, parceque sont faits de briq." "Who dwell in the sepulchres, and lodge in the caverns," for the purposes of necromancy and divination; to obtain dreams and revelations. Another instance of heathenish superstition: so Virgil: - Huc dona sacerdos Cum tulit, et caesarum ovium sub nocte silenti Pellibus incubuit stratis, somnosque petivit: Multa modis simulacra videt volitantia miris, Et varias audit voces, fruiturque deorum Colloquio, atque imis Acheronta affatur Avernis. AEn. vii. 86. - L. "Here in distress the Italian nations come, Anxious, to clear their doubts, and learn their doom. First, on the fleeces of the slaughtered sheep, By night the sacred priest dissolves in sleep: When in a train, before his slumbering eye, Thin airy forms and wondrous visions fly. He calls the powers who guard the infernal floods, And talks inspired, familiar with the gods." PITT. There was a practice exactly like this which prevailed among the Highlanders of Scotland; an authentic account of this is given by Sir Walter Scott, in a note on his poem called The Lady of the Lake. It is as follows: - "The Highlanders, like all rude people, had various superstitious modes of inquiring into futurity. One of the most noted was the Taghairm, mentioned in the text.

3–5. Description of their illegal and superstitious cults.

A people - This verse contains a specification of the reasons why God had rejected them, and brought the calamities upon them. That provoketh me to anger - That is, by their sins. They give constant occasion for my indignation.

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.