The Book of the Prophet Isaiah
Isaiah 6
Chapter VI · Vol. III, p. 1153
1 Isaiah, in a vision of the Lord in his glory, 5 being terrified, is confirmed for his message. 9 He showeth the obstinacy of the people unto their destruction. 13 A remnant shall be saved.
1 In thea year that king Uzziah died I bsaw also the cLORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his 1train2 filled the temple.
B.C. cir. 758.
a 2 Ki.15.7. 2 Ch.26.23.
b Eze.1.1. Ac.10.10,11; 2.17. 2 Co.12.2. Re.1.12.
c Jn.12.41. Ac.28.25; 7.56. Ex.24.10,11. 1 Ki.22.19. Da.7.9,10,13. Eze.1.26; 10.1. ch.9.6; 24.23; 52.13; 57.15. Am.7.1; 8.1; 9.1. 1 Ti.6.16; 1.17. Ps.9.5. Re.4.2.
1 Or, the skirts thereof, 1 Ki.8.10,11. Re.15.8. Ep.1.23; 3.19,21.
2 Train. The flowing portion of his robes.—C.
2 Above it dstood ethe seraphims: each one had six gwings; with twain he covered his hface, and with twain he covered his ifeet, and with twain he did jfly.
3 And one criedk unto another,3 and said, Holy,l holy, holy is the LORD of hosts: nthe whole earth is full of his glory.4
4 And the posts of the door5 movedo at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with psmoke.
5 Then said I, qWoe is me! for I am undone;6 because I am a man of runclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the sKing, the LORD of hosts.
6 Then tflew one of the seraphims unto me, having7 a ulive coal8 in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off vthe altar:
7 And xhe laid it9 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 ythe LORD, saying, zWhom shall I send, and who will go for aus? bThen said I, Here am I; send me.1
y Jn.12.41. Ac.28.25. 2 Sa.23.3.
z Ge.3.9,10. 1 Ki.22.19,20. Ex.4.10-12. Phi.2.21.
a Ge.1.26; 3.22. Mat.28.19. 2 Co.13.14. 1 Jn.5.7.
b Ex.3.11; 4.1,10,13. Je.1.6. Eze.3.14. Mat.4.20,22. Ac.9.6.
1 Heb. behold me.
9 And he said, Go, and tell cthis people, dHear ye 2indeed,3 but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
10 Makee the heart of this people gfat, 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 hhealed.
11 Then said I, LORD, ihow long? And he answered, jUntil the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,4
i Ps.6.3; 13.1. Re.6.10. Da.8.13.
j ch.1.7; 3.26; 36.1. 2 Ch.36.20. Mi.3.12. Da.9.26,27. Lu.21.24.
4 Heb. desolate with desolation.
12 And the LORD khave removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
13 But lyet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten:5 as a teil-tree, and as an oak, whose substance6 is in them when they cast their leaves, so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.
l ch.1.9; 4.3; 10.20-22. Je.5.10; 46.28. Zec.13.8,9. Ro.11.5,16,25,26. Mat.24.22. Ps.75.3.
5 Or, when it is returned and hath been bruised.
6 Or, stock or stem, Job 14.7-9.
Notes
Ver. 1. Christ's train, or skirts, may denote his glorious influences filling his manhood or his church. 2. The winged seraphim, or burning ones, may denote angels, zealous, active, and humble attendants of God, and his instruments in the dispensations of Providence; or zealous, active, and humble ministers of Christ. Their covering their face denotes their inability to comprehend the glorious nature and mysteries of God; their covering their feet imports their being ashamed of their best services before God. 6, 7. The live coal taken from the altar, denotes the powerful, quickening, and heart-inflaming word of the gospel, as coming from and through Jesus as our atoning sacrifice. 9, 10. Go, warn this people of their dreadful danger in using the outward means of grace to their own hurt: go, and with the utmost diligence instruct, exhort, rebuke, and threaten them; though abandoned by me to their own lusts, they will abuse all thy pains to render themselves more stupid, careless, unteachable, and obstinate, and so effectually prevent their own forgiveness, conversion, repentance, or reformation. 13. Yet notwithstanding the wretched case to which the Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syro-Grecians, and Romans shall reduce the nation, a remnant shall be found who shall, in due time, gladly seek the Lord. See introduction, ch. iv. sec. xviii.
Ver. 1. Many commentators think this chapter should be placed first, as they conceive the foregoing prophecies must have been delivered at least as late as the reign of Ahaz. That they describe the days of Ahaz there can scarcely be a doubt; but that they were not delivered till then there is no reason to conclude. In ch. 1. 1 they are expressly called 'a vision,' the nature of which is to describe things future as if they were actually accomplished: because they were visibly represented to the eyes of the prophet. The word also in this verse seems to affirm that the previous vision was in an earlier part of the reign of Uzziah. C.
Ver. 2. Seraphims. Derived from a word signifying 'to burn,' a phrase currently applied to love, zeal, eloquence, and intense delight; thus, 'ardent love, ardent zeal,'—'words that burn,' 'did not our hearts burn,' are everyday expressions. In either or in all of these modes may the seraphs burn, or even in some other, to us, still unrevealed. C.
Ver. 5. The King. 'The King' foretold, Ps. 2. 6. 'The King' described, Ps. 45. 1. 'The King of glory,' Ps. 24. 10. By which familiar name the prophet acknowledges the Lord of hosts. That the prophet in the vision saw Christ in human form there can be no doubt, when the passage is deliberately compared with Jn. 12. 41. C.
Ver. 7. It will be observed that the live coal is taken from the altar. It was therefore part of the sacrificial fire. When it touched his lips his iniquity was taken away. There is therefore the idea of atonement. The meaning of the symbol is that the virtue of the sacrifice is imparted; an atoning work is completed. The great sacrifice of Christ, and its application to his people by the quickening power—the baptism by fire—of the Spirit of God, is here beautifully symbolized. P.
Ver. 10. Make the heart of this people fat, &c. That is, there are a people so unclean that the Lord, for punishment of their sin, delivers them over to judicial deafness and blindness: and commissions the prophet, by the preaching of the truth, to execute this righteous sentence upon a people who loved lies. See note on the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, Ex. 4. 21. C.
Ver. 13. 'And yet in it shall be (left) a tenth; and it shall recover (and serve for pasture) as the elm and the oak, which, when they cast their leaves, have the sap in them; so an holy seed shall be the sap thereof,' (Slack. De Dieu).—Teil-tree. Supposed the lime-tree. C.——Yet, after all the trials and desolations, a tenth, a very small and feeble remnant, shall remain in the country; and even this tenth shall be given up to destruction ('shall return to be eaten'), but not to utter destruction, for even as the oak and terebinth when cut down and but stumps remain, have still vitality in them, so shall the small remnant of the holy seed, the people of Israel, be. P.
Reflections.—O the infinite, the awful, the amiable glories of our Immanuel. Thrice happy are his servants, who stand in his presence, and triumph in his praise! And blessed be God that his glory has, or shall fill the whole earth; and that faithful ministers and established angels vie with one another in his work.—Clear views of Jehovah's perfections effectually humble the very best of men, and make them to look on themselves, and all around them, as inexpressibly mean, loathsome, and guilty. And God, by such deep humiliation, prepares men for great honours! Thrice happy are those ministers whom God has prepared for their work by the most humbling views of his glory, and the most powerful applications of his heart-cleansing and quieting promises! Great is the importance of a call to the ministerial office. And, alas! infinite is the hazard of such as without this, for the sake of honour or gain, treacherously pretend to be the ambassadors of Christ! But how dreadful is it when the clearest call, and the most faithful execution of it, do but issue in the aggravated wickedness and ruin of the hearers! Not the best of gospel ministrations can avail with sinners without the blessing of God and the almighty operation of his Spirit. And if spiritual judgments begin, we may look for temporal to follow.—But blessed be God that, for his own love and the preservation of the world, he finds faithful a remnant of real saints who, though in winters of adversity seem dead, yet again revive as the corn, grow as the lily, and bring forth fruit to his glory.