The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz
Isaiah the son of Amoz
This is not Amos the inspired herdsman.
It is his glory simply that he was the father of Isaiah. Like many another he lives in the reflected glory of his offspring. The next best thing to being a great man is to be the father of one. (S. Horton.)
Isaiah’s father
The rabbis represent his father Amoz as having been a brother of King Amaziah; but, at any rate, if we may judge from his illustrious son’s name, which means “salvation is from Jehovah,” he was loyal to the national faith in days clouded by sore troubles, political danger threatening from without, and deep religious decay pervading all classes of the community. (C. Geikie, LL. D.)
The vision of Isaiah
The word “vision” is used here in the wide sense of a collection of prophetic oracles (Nahum 1:1; Obadiah 1:1). As the prophet was called a “seer,” and his perception of Divine truth was called “seeing,” so his message as a whole is termed a “vision.” (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)
The time when Isaiah prophesied
Why does the Bible tell us so particularly the time when Isaiah prophesied? Does not the thinker belong to all the ages Does not the poet sing for all time? Why weight the narrative with these thronelogical details? Because you can only judge either a man or his message by knowing the circumstances of his time. If you take a geologist a new specimen he not only wants to know its genus and species, but the matrix out of which it was hewn. The best men not only help to make their times, but their times help to make them. He who is moulded entirely by his surroundings is a human jelly fish--of no account. He who is not influenced at all by “the play of popular passion”--the set of public opinion--is an anachronism, a living corpse. (S. Horton.)
Isaiah’s manly outspokenness
It is a living man who speaks to us. This is not an anonymous book. Much value attaches to personal testimony. The true witness is not ashamed of day and date and all the surrounding chronology; we know where to find him, what he sprang from, who he is, and what he wants. (J. Parker, D. D.)