The Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 65:5

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

Stand by thyself; i.e. "keep aloof—come not into contact with me; for mine is a higher holiness than thine, and I should be polluted by thy near approach." Initiation into heathen mysteries was thought to confer on the initiated a holiness unattainable otherwise.

Thus the heathenized Jew claimed to be holier than the true servants of Jehovah. These are a smoke … a fire (comp. Psalms 18:8, "There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured; coals were kindled by it").

The heathenized Jews are fuel for the wrath of God, which kindles a fire wherein they burn continually (comp. Isaiah 66:24).

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