Isaiah 65:11 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Bible Comments

But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.

But ye (are) they that ... forget my holy mountain - Moriah, on which the temple was.

That prepare a table for that troop - rather, Gad, the Babylonian god of fortune, the planet Jupiter answering to Baal or Bel. The Arabs called it 'the Greater Good Fortune;' and the planet Venus, answering to Meni, 'the Lesser Good Fortune,' (Gesenius, Kimchi, etc.) [So the Syriac and Vulgate translate, 'Fortunae;' the Septuagint, too daimonioo; the Chaldaic, to idols.] Tables were laid out for their idols with all kinds of viands (called by the Romans in subsequent ages lectisternia), and a cup containing a mixture of wine and honey, in Egypt especially on the last day of the year (Jerome). The Apocryphal book of Bel and the Dragon (Isaiah 65:3, etc.) mentions such feasts as offered to Bel.

Drink offering - rather, mixed drink.

Number - rather, meniy (H4507) (from maanah (H4487), to assign, or number, to which Isaiah 65:12 alludes). The Arabic term for fate is akin. As goddess of fortune, she was thought to number the fates of men. Vitringa understands Gad to be the sun, Meni the moon, or Ashtaroth or Astarte (1 Kings 11:33; Jeremiah 7:18). The Greek meen (G3375), a month, or the moon, is akin. Buxtorf understands it as the English version, the "number" of the stars, which were worshipped as gods. The Arabs, just before Muhammed's time, worshipped an idol. 'Manah.'

Isaiah 65:11

11 But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop,c and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.