The Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 56:7

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

My house of prayer. In Solomon's address to God at the dedication of the temple, its character, as a house of prayer, is abundantly laid down (1 Kings 8:29-53). And no doubt it was used for the purpose of prayer, as well as for the purpose of sacrifice, from its first erection to its final destruction.

But the purpose of sacrifice so far predominated, in fact, over the other, that the expression, "my house of prayer," comes upon us in this place to some extent as a surprise. The prophet seems to anticipate the time when the temple should be emphatically a προσευχή the legal sacrifices having received their fulfilment (Isaiah 53:10), and being thenceforth superfluous and out of place.

For all people; rather, for all the peoples. All the ends of the earth were to see the salvation of God (Psalms 98:3); "All nations were to fall down before him; all people to do him service" (Psalms 72:11).

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