Isaiah 57:5

Enflaming yourselves with idols. Literally, “the ones inflaming themselves among the oaks.” These are the “sons of the sorceress” and the “seed of the adulterer and the whore” of v. 3. Isaiah here gives a vivid description of the orgiastic excitement of the religious rites practiced by the fertility cults of the time (see Vol. II, pp. 38-40). In Rom. 1:24-32 Paul seems to refer to these licentious practices carried on in the name of religion.

Slaying the children. The apostate Jews whom Isaiah here addresses were also guilty of offering human sacrifices (see on Lev. 18:21; 20:2; cf. 2 Kings 16:3, 4; 2 Chron. 28:3, 4; Jer. 19:5; Eze. 16:20). This horrible practice was, at times, carried on in the Valley of Hinnom, immediately to the south of Jerusalem (2 Kings 23:10; Jer. 7:31; 19:5, 6).