26. And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, 27. None shall slumber nor sleep; Neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, 28. Whose arrows are sharp, And all their bows bent; Their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, 29. Their roaring shall be like a lion, They shall roar like young lions; yea, they shall roar, 30. And they shall roar against them in that day like the And if one look unto the land, behold darkness and distress, 1 And the light is darkened in the clouds thereof. 1 Gr. om. and the light is darkened, and reads simply in their perplexity. terrible blow; what that will be becomes clear in the splendid description of the Assyrian army that follows. Isaiah does not indeed name them here any more than Amos does in 6:14, but there is no more doubt here than there. 26-29. Jehovah will raise a military signal, as a rendezvous, to a nation from afar, i.e. the Assyrians, and hiss to them, as a beekeeper to attract his bees (cf. 7: 18). And behold! With this appeal the magnificent description of the Assyrian host commences their rapidity of movement, their unwearied persistence, the excellence of their deadly weapons, the invincible rush of their horses and chariots, their thunderous roar as they leap upon their prey. 30. This verse heightens the terror of Israel's doom, described in vs. 29 not only defeat, but distress and darkness. As the 5:30 THE PROPHET'S CALL (Chap. 6) In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train text, however, appears to be somewhat confused (cf. the Greek version), and the verse strongly resembles 8: 22, it has been supposed by some to be a later insertion, consolatory to Israel, describing the fate of the Assyrian. "Over him there shall be a roaring, etc." For a poetical translation of this passage, see Introduction, p. 13. Chap. 6. There are few things more impressive in literature than this account of the inaugural vision of Isaiah. In few and simple words he leads us into the august presence of the Lord whose glory fills the whole earth, he lets us hear the music of the choir of the seraphim, he carries us, so far as human words may, into the secret of his call and consecration, and the mysterious atmosphere of the supernatural lies about the whole wonderful scene. We should expect the story of the call, which came at the beginning of his ministry, to appear at the beginning of his book. There is, however, as we have seen, a certain propriety in Chap. I as a frontispiece; besides, it is plain that the story of the call was written some time after his experience of it. Even if it be too much to say that vss. 9 f. are best explained as a retrospective glance at a relatively unsuccessful ministry, the very first sentence, In the year that King Uzziah died, seems to look back upon that event from a later day. The chapter was probably intended to introduce the group of prophecies in 7: 1-9: 7 which gather round Ahaz and the ominous events of 735 B.C. 1. In the year that King Uzziah died (740 B.C.). The king who, in the course of his long, brilliant, and successful reign, had done so much for the security and prosperity of Judah (2 Chron. 26), died. But Jehovah did not die; in that very year, Isaiah saw him as the Lord, sitting upon a throne. The invisible King sits upon an everlasting throne. Isaiah does not attempt to describe him. He does not see him, for his eyes are humbly cast down - he sees nothing but the sweep of his garments. The vision takes place in the temple. The word, which may be translated palace, has been referred to the heavenly temple (cf. Ps. II: 4), but it is more natural to refer it to the temple at Jerusalem. The young prophet, meditating in the temple upon his country's future and his own, may well have received his revelation there. In any case, the vision is colored by his experience of the temple worship. The majesty and exaltation of the Lord have already been powerfully treated in 2: 10-19; this is one of the leading thoughts of Isaiah. 2. filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he 3. did fly. And one cried to another, and said, 4. "Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of his glory." And the foundations of the thresholds were moved 2. The Lord is sitting, and his ministers, the seraphim, are standing, therefore they appear above him. The seraphim are not angels. The same word is used of the serpents by which the Israelites were plagued in the wilderness (Num. 21:6-9); and when we consider that in antiquity serpents were considered to guard the thresholds of temples, and that at this very time there was a brazen serpent in the temple at Jerusalem (2 Kings 18: 4), it is natural to suppose that the seraphim of the vision were in this way suggested to the imagination of the prophet. They were, however, very different in appearance from ordinary serpents, as they had wings two to cover their faces, for they must not look upon the Lord any more than man may (vs. 5; 1 Kings 19:13), two to cover the nether portions of their body, which would have been otherwise exposed, and two with which they could fly in the service of their Lord (cf. vs. 6). . 3. Their song was probably responsive- one would call to another the first line (Holy ) being answered by the second (the whole earth. ). The word holy appears primarily to have involved the idea of separation, and was thus admirably fitted, as an epithet of Deity, to express the distance that separates God from man. He is separated from, and elevated above, the limitations of that which is human. But though the word had originally no moral connotation, it very naturally acquired one in course of time. Human weakness expresses itself conspicuously in sin, and from this, too, God is separated. That the word here involves a moral idea is shown by Isaiah's horror at the consciousness of his guilt in such a holy presence. As a consequence of his holiness (in both senses majesty and purity), his glory fills the whole world; he is Lord alike of nature and of the moral order. The seraphic song is more than a prayer: "Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come." The eyes of those mysterious servants see beyond all the sins and confusions of history, beyond the wicked kingdom and the dead king, to that eternal world where God's name is already hallowed and his kingdom already come. 4. The song is followed by a mysterious shaking, and the temple Rev. 15:8 at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled 5. with smoke. Then said I, 6. "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 mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a 1 live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the 7. tongs from off the altar: and he touched my mouth with it, and said, "Lo, this hath touched thy lips; And thine inquity is taken away, and thy sin 2 purged." 8. And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 1 m. hot stone. 2 m. expiated. began to fill with smoke — whether from the altar fire (vs. 6), or, as Duhm has suggested, from the mouth of the seraphim (cf. Ezek. 1: 13 f.); in either case, perhaps a weird symbol of the divine displeasure with the man of unclean lips." 5. The shaking, the song, the smoke, above all the holy presence, throw Isaiah into terror. According to an ancient idea, the sight of God brings death (cf. Jud. 13: 22, Exod. 19:21); especially does the unclean Isaiah feel that he must perish. Besides his own sin, the taint of his environment is upon him he dwells in the midst of a people of unclean lips. 6, 7. His sin is concentrated, as it were, upon his lips, which, to the prophet or preacher, constitute the great instrument of service. Before service is possible, the sin must be burned off these. So, with a hot stone, such as was used in transferring heat, one of the seraphic servants, who needs no bidding from his Lord, touched the sinful lips, burnt up the sin upon them, and solemnly pronounces that it is now purged, removed, covered. It is interesting and of great significance that, although the scene of this forgiveness is the temple, it is effected without sacrifice. 8. It is the consecrated man who hears the divine voice, and the "Whom shall I send, And who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I; send me." 9. And he said, "Go, and tell this people, 'Hear ye indeed, but understand 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; ears, Mat. 13:14 f. Mk. 4:12 Lk. 8:10 Acts. 28:26 f. And understand with their heart, and turn again, Jn. 12:40 and be healed." words which he hears are a call to service. The impulse to service |