ar as standing under the dominion of idolatry in chap. lxv. 3: "The
people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face, that
sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon the bricks;" comp.
ver. 7: "Who have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me
upon the hills;" chap. lxvi. 17: "They that sanctify themselves and
purify themselves in the gardens behind one in the midst, who eat
swine's flesh, and the abominations, and mice, shall be consumed
together, saith the Lord." Idolatry is the service of nature, and was,
therefore, chiefly practised [Pg 181] in places where nature presents
herself in all her splendour, as in gardens and on the hills. The
gardens are mentioned in a similar way in chap. i. 29: "Ye shall blush
on account of the _gardens_ that ye have chosen." (On the words which
precede in that verse: "For they shall be ashamed of the _oaks_ which
ye have desired," chap. lvii. 5 offers an exact parallel: "Who inflame
themselves among the _oaks_ under every green tree.") In chap. lxv. 11,
they are denounced who forsake the Lord, forget His holy mountain (on
which, at the time when this was written, the temple must still have
stood), who prepare a table to _Fortune_, and offer drink-offerings to
_Fate_. The second main form of sinful apostacy--hypocrisy and dead
ceremonial service--is only rarely mentioned by the Prophet (in chap.
lvii., lxvi.), while he always anew reverts to idolatry. Now _this
absolutely prevailing regard to idolatry can be accounted for, only if
Isaiah be the author of the second part._ From Solomon, down to the
time of the exile, the disposition to idolatry in Israel was never
thoroughly broken. During Isaiah's ministry, it came to the fullest
display under Ahaz. Under Hezekiah it was kept down, indeed; but with
great difficulty only, as appears from the fact that, under the reign
of Manasseh, who was a king after the heart of the people, it again
broke openly forth; comp. 2 Kings xxi. 1-18; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 1-18; 2
Kings xxi. 6, according to which Manasseh made his own son to pass
through the fire. But it is a tact generally admitted, and proved by
all the books written during and after the exile, that, with the
carrying away into exile, the idolatrous disposition among the people
was greatly shaken. This fact has its cause not only in the deep
impression which misery made upon their minds, but still more in the
circumstance that it was chiefly the godly part of the nation t