The question posed in Isa 66:1 is
“Where is the house that ye build unto me?”. It is a text that is taken to
firmly indicate the absence of the temple, and it is used to prove that the
oracle of which it is a part is post-exilic. It has also been used as evidence
for the post-exilic nature of Isaiah 56-66 as a whole. However, a contrary
proposal is that the text is using the metaphorical figure of a temple for the
faithful; in fact, this is certain.
1) God asserts that heaven is his
throne which suggests that the point of the text is to declare that this place
is God’s actual temple. The earth is a footstool, a function elsewhere
predicated of the ark, which further suggests that it is not the temple with
which God is concerned: i.e., the place of the ark, because the earth is his
actual footstool.
2) Heaven and earth are “all
those things” that God’s hand has made. This echoes Gen 1:31,
And God saw all things
that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. Gen 1:31 (KJV
revised)
This shows that the point of Isa
61:1 is not about what can be made by men, because everything has been
made by God. Hence, Isa 66:2 says that “all those things have been”.
3) The point being made is “to
this person will I look, even to the person who is poor and of a contrite
spirit, and trembleth at my word”. This echoes Isa 57:15,
For thus saith the high and lofty
One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in
the high and holy place, with him also that is of a
contrite and humble spirit, to revise the spirit of the humble, and to revise
the heart of the contrite ones. Isa 57:15 (KJV)
The echoes here are several even
though the vocabulary is different:
i) God is “high” and “inhabits
eternity”, likewise, heaven is his throne; ii) he “dwells” in a high and holy
place but also with a certain type of person, likewise, God “Looks” to a
certain type of person; and iii) God look to the “contrite”, “humble” and “poor”
in spirit.
4) The question, “Where is the
house that ye build unto me?” is the parallel contrasting clause to “but to
this person will I look”: there is heaven and earth which God has made on the
one hand, and there is a house/temple or a certain kind of person on the other
hand. This parallelism is indicated by the play on words ‘êzeh and ‘el-zeh
(“where is this” and “to this”) in the two statements.
5) That this is what God wants is
further reinforced by the contrast in Isa 66:3—sacrifices and oblations were
being offered, but they were not what God wanted. If all that is being offered
are sacrifices of animals (v. 3) in a temple, this is not enough because what God
wants is the spiritual house of a man’s faith.
God’s question, “Where is the
house that ye build unto me?” (v. 1) is not about the absence of a literal
temple in Jerusalem. The temple had been burned (Isa 64:11) and denuded of its
treasures (2 Kgs 18:15-16), and materials to repair and beautify the temple
were promised (Isa 60:13). But a lack of repair work on the temple is not the
complaint of Isa 66:1, which is instead about “building”. Rather, the “house”
is a metaphor for the faithful in the land with whom God sought to rest.
The mention of “rest” secures
this line of exposition. This “rest” is that which comes through the teaching
of spirit-gifted prophets:
Whom shall he teach knowledge? and
whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the
milk, and drawn from the breasts. 10 For precept must be upon
the precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a
little, and there a little: 11 For with mocked (לענ) lips and
another tongue will he speak to this people. 12 To whom he said,
That is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest;
and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. Isa 28:9-12 (KJV
revised)
This teaching contrasts with the
lies which the rulers of Jerusalem were pursuing in their agreement with hell
during the Assyrian invasion. Those who had the spirit at this time were giving
refreshing and rest through their teaching, if only the rulers of Jerusalem
would listen.
During the siege, the spirit was
bestowed (Isa 28:11) and God taught the people to have faith in a foundation
stone of a new house with was Hezekiah, and remain in the city (Isa 28:16). It
was in their possession of this faith that God promised the people “rest”. When
therefore God asks again, “Where is the place of my rest?” (Isa 61:1), he asks
about those faithful with whom he could dwell. (Andrew Perry, “Marginal Notes:
Isa 66:1,” Christadelphian Ejournal of Biblical Interpretation [January 2008]:
63-65)
