Isaiah Chapter 6

From The Open Bible Project

6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.

• (a) God does not show himself to man in his majesty but according as man’s capacity to comprehend him, that is, by visible signs as John the Baptist saw the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove.
• (b) As a judge ready to give sentence.
• (c) Of his garment, or of his throne.

6:2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew.

• (d) They were angels so called because they were of a fiery colour, to signify that they burnt in the love of God, or were light as fire to execute his will.
• (e) Signifying that they were not able to endure the brightness of God’s glory.
• (f) By which it was declared that man was not able to see the brightness of God in them.
• (g) Which declares the prompt obedience of the angels to execute God’s commandment.

6:3 One called to another, and said, "Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!"

• (h) This often repetition signifies that the angels cannot satisfy themselves in praising God, to teach us that in all our lives we should give ourselves to the continual praise of God.
• (i) His glory not only appears in the heavens but through all the world, and therefore all creatures are bound to praise him.

6:4 The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

• (k) Which was to confirm the prophet, that it was not the voice of man: and by the smoke was signified the blindness that would come on the Jews.

6:5 Then I said, "Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!"

• (l) He speaks this for two reasons, the one because he who was a mortal creature and therefore had more need to glorify God than the angels, did not do it, and the other because the nearer that man approaches to God, the more he knows his own sin and corruption.

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

• (m) Of the burnt offerings where the fire never went out.

6:7 He touched my mouth with it, and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven."

• (n) This declares that man cannot render due obedience to God, till he has purged us.

6:8 I heard the Lord's voice, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am. Send me!"

6:9 He said, "Go, and tell this people, 'You hear indeed, but don't understand; and you see indeed, but don't perceive.'

• (o) By which is declared that for the malice of man God will not immediately take away his word, but he will cause it to be preached to their condemnation, when as they will not learn by it to obey his will, and be saved: by this he exhorts the ministers to do their duty, and answers to the wicked murmurers, that through their own malice their heart is hardened, (Matthew 13:14; Acts 28:26; Romans 11:8).

6:10 Make the heart of this people fat. 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 turn again, and be healed."

6:11 Then I said, "Lord, how long?" He answered, "Until cities are waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land becomes utterly waste,

• (p) As he was moved with the zeal of God’s glory, so was he touched with a charitable affection toward the people.

6:12 And Yahweh has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

6:13 If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled; so the holy seed is its stock."

• (q) Meaning, the tenth part: or as some write, it was revealed to Isaiah for the confirmation of his prophecy that ten kings would come before their captivity, as were from Uzziah to Zedekiah.
• (r) For the fewness of them they will seem to be eaten up: yet they will later flourish as a tree, which in winter loses leaves, and seems to be dead, yet in summer is fresh and green.