NOTES for Isa 66:1-24
The condemnation of empty ritualism is expressed in such harsh terms that it might seem to condemn all ritual, which would be strange after all the detailed descriptions of Temple activities and of the Temple’s very structure. But the prophetic words do not deny the need for ritual actions; they remind us of the purpose for which they are performed. They help us come into contact with the higher reality of God, who surpasses everything conceivable and inconceivable and reveals to us what we cannot arrive at by our own thinking.
The book is drawing to a close, and its most important revelations pass before us once more in condensed form. Each is astonishing in its own way, yet even against this background the prophecy of priests and Levites whom the Lord will take from all nations is striking. It speaks here of the brothers of the prophet’s hearers, but is this only brotherhood according to the flesh? Are not all who come to God, thereby becoming part of God’s people, called to become brothers and sisters?