Isaiah 66:24

Look upon the carcases. Better, “look upon the corpses.” This verse must be understood in the light of the principles outlined in comments on Isa. 65:17. The language is further evidence that Isaiah’s description is in terms of how the new heavens and earth would have been established if the nation of the Jews had accepted its divine destiny. Before the new earth of which John speaks (Rev. 21; 22) becomes the abode of the righteous and worshipers journey to the New Jerusalem, every trace of sin will have been removed and no dead bodies will remain to mar the perfection of that Eden restored (see 2 Peter 3:10). Hence Isaiah’s words must not be taken to apply directly to the future new earth state. Secondary application must be made in harmony with the statements of later inspired writers who have informed us how God’s eternal purposes will be accomplished through the Christian church (see pp. 37, 38).

Those who apply this verse to the eternal punishment of souls in an ever-burning hell do well to note that it is corpses that are being observed, not sentient, disembodied souls in torment. Such a misapplication of the prophecy also ignores the principles noted above.

Worm. Heb. tole‘ah, here probably the maggot. The same Hebrew word is used in Ex. 16:20; Job 25:6; Ps. 22:6; Isa. 14:11. The picture is that of maggots preying upon the dead bodies.

Shall not die. By the same misapplication noted above some have understood this expression as figuratively denoting endless life for the wicked. However, the expression in the Hebrew is a simple imperfect, a tense that denotes incomplete action and merely means that at the point of time under consideration the action of the verb is not yet complete. The tense does not necessarily imply that the action will never be completed. For example, the imperfect tense is employed in Gen. 2:25 in the statement concerning Adam and Eve that they “were not ashamed.” The statement was not a prediction that they would never be ashamed. That they later were ashamed is definitely implied in Gen. 3:7. A suggested translation of the Hebrew tense that conveys this shade of meaning is “their worm had not died yet.”

Quenched. The Hebrew tense here is the same as in the expression “their worm shall not die.” Hence the clause may be translated, “their fire has not yet been quenched” (see above under, “shall not die”). That the expression, “neither shall their fire be quenched,” does not mean fires that will burn forever is evident from the prediction in Jer. 17:27, where Jerusalem is threatened with such a conflagration. The fires were kindled (2 Chron. 36:19), but they have long since burned out. Unquenchable fires are simply fires that no one will, or can, quench. However, when they have consumed that upon which they prey they naturally go out.

The Bible thus clearly defines fires that shall not be “quenched.” It may further be observed that the Hebrew of Isa. 66:24 is poetic in form and that the expressions “their worm shall not die” and “neither shall their fire be quenched” are parallel. The meaning of the second expression, which is clearly defined, thus suggests the interpretation that ought to be given to the first.

On Jesus’ use and application of the words of Isa. 66:24 see on Mark 9:44.

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