Isaiah 6:2 - Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

Bible Comments

The Prophet's Call

This c., which recounts the prophet's call and commission, would stand first in a chronological arrangement of the book. The opening words remind us of the vision of Micaiah (1 Kings 22:19), and we should compare the visions of Jeremiah and Ezekiel which inaugurated their prophetic activity. In St. John's vision (Revelation 4) the same anthem, 'Holy, holy, holy,' is sung by the six-winged living creatures round about the throne. Isaiah's vision foreshadows such leading elements of his thought as, (1) the majesty of God, (2) the uncleanness of the people, (3) his conviction that he had a divine message for them, (4) their stubbornness and heedlessness, (5) the necessity of judgment, (6) the idea of the remnant.

1-4. Isaiah's vision of Jehovah enthroned and the worship of heaven. 5-7. He confesses his sin and is absolved. 8-13. He receives his prophetic commission.

Isaiah 6:1-13

1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

4 And the posts of the doora moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone;b because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:

7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; sendc me.

9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understandd not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.

10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterlye desolate,

12 And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.

13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.