Isa 65:3 | JFB | STEP | 3. continually-- answering to "all the day" ( ). God was continually inviting them, and they continually offending Him ( ). to my face-- They made no attempt to hide their sin ( ). Compare "before Me" ( ). in gardens-- (See on ; ; ). altars of brick-- Hebrew, "bricks." God had commanded His altars to be of unhewn stone ( ). This was in order to separate them, even in external respects, from idolaters; also, as all chiselling was forbidden, they could not inscribe superstitious symbols on them as the heathen did. Bricks were more easily so inscribed than stone; hence their use for the cuneiform inscriptions at Babylon, and also for idolatrous altars. Some, not so well, have supposed that the "bricks" here mean the flat brick-paved roofs of houses on which they sacrificed to the sun, &c. ( ; ).

‏ Isaiah 65:3

3. continually--answering to "all the day" (Is 65:2). God was continually inviting them, and they continually offending Him (De 32:21).

to my face--They made no attempt to hide their sin (Is 3:9). Compare "before Me" (Ex 20:3).

in gardens--(See on Is 1:29; Is 66:17; Le 17:5).

altars of brick--Hebrew, "bricks." God had commanded His altars to be of unhewn stone (Ex 20:25). This was in order to separate them, even in external respects, from idolaters; also, as all chiselling was forbidden, they could not inscribe superstitious symbols on them as the heathen did. Bricks were more easily so inscribed than stone; hence their use for the cuneiform inscriptions at Babylon, and also for idolatrous altars. Some, not so well, have supposed that the "bricks" here mean the flat brick-paved roofs of houses on which they sacrificed to the sun, &c. (2Ki 23:12; Jr 19:13).