Isaiah 6 · ESV Study Bible

Woe to the Wicked

Isaiah’s Vision of the Lord

ISAIAH 6 [†]In the year that s King Uzziah died I t saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train [1] of his robe filled the temple. 2[†]Above him stood the seraphim. Each had u six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3[†]And one called to another and said:

u “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;

v the whole earth is full of his glory!” [2]

4[†]And w the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and x the house was filled with smoke. 5And I said: “Woe is me! y For I am lost; z for 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 a King, the LORD of hosts!”

6[†]Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7And he b touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

8[†]And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for c us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9[^][†]And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

d “‘Keep on hearing, [3] but do not understand;

keep on seeing, [4] but do not perceive.’

10 e Make the heart of this people f dull, [5]

and their ears heavy,

and blind their eyes;

g lest they see with their eyes,

and hear with their ears,

and understand with their hearts,

and turn and be healed.”

11[†] Then I said, h “How long, O Lord?”

And he said:

“Until i cities lie waste

without inhabitant,

and houses without people,

and the land is a desolate waste,

12 and the LORD removes people far away,

and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

13[^] j And though a tenth remain in it,

it will be burned [6] again,

like a terebinth or an oak,

whose stump k remains

when it is felled.”

l The holy seed [7] is its stump.

ISAIAH—NOTE ON 6:1–13 Grace—through Judgment—for Isaiah. God’s grace leads Isaiah from “Woe is me!” (v. 5) to “Here I am!” (v. 8). This vision seems to recount Isaiah’s commission as a prophet. His book conveys the lasting impression of this vision of God in his infinite holiness.

ISAIAH—NOTE ON 6:1–12:6 God Redefines the Future of His People: “Your Guilt Is Taken Away.” God’s grace will preserve a remnant of his people to enjoy forever his messianic kingdom and to fulfill the purpose for which he called them. That grace spreads from Isaiah (6:1–13) to the southern kingdom of Judah (7:1–9:7) to the northern kingdom of Israel (9:8–11:16), bringing God’s people to the “wells of salvation” (12:1–6).

ISAIAH—NOTE ON 6:3 Holy, holy, holy. The threefold repetition intensifies the superlative (cf. Rev. 4:8). Holiness implies absolute moral purity and separateness above the creation (see note on Isa. 1:4). his glory. This is a technical term for God’s manifest presence with his covenant people. It was seen in the cloud in the wilderness (Ex. 16:7, 10); it moved in to “fill” the tabernacle (Ex. 40:34–35) and then the temple (1 Kings 8:11), where the worshipers could “see” it (Ex. 29:43; Ps. 26:8; 63:2). Several passages look forward to the day when the Lord’s glory would fill the earth, i.e., the whole world will become a sanctuary (Num. 14:21; Ps. 72:19; Hab. 2:14; cf. Isa. 11:9); and the esv footnote suggests that the seraphic cry shares this anticipation. Other texts in Isaiah also look forward to the revealing of the Lord’s glory to the world (11:10; 35:2; 40:5; 58:8; 59:19; 60:1–2; 66:18). John 1:14 asserts that this glory was present in Jesus.

ISAIAH—NOTE ON 6:9–10 God decrees that the prophet’s ministry will have a hardening effect on his own generation, whose character was laid bare in chs. 1–5. The NT quotes this text to explain why some reject the good news of the gospel (cf. Matt. 13:14–15 par.; John 12:39–40; Acts 28:25–27). The openness of faith is a gift of grace, but the unresponsive hearer finds that the message only hardens him to God’s gracious purposes (cf. Isa. 29:9–10; 42:18–25; 65:1–7; Luke 2:34; John 9:39; Acts 7:54; Rom. 11:7–10, 25; 2 Cor. 2:15–16; 1 Pet. 2:8).

ISAIAH—NOTE ON 6:2 the seraphim. Fiery angelic beings (the Hb. word serapim means “flames”). Six wings suggest remarkable powers. The references to face and feet, with their capacity for speech in vv. 3 and 7, and “his hand” in v. 6, imply composite creatures, such as are represented in ancient Near Eastern art. he covered. Even a perfect, superhuman creature humbles himself before the all-holy God.

ISAIAH—NOTE ON 6:1 In the year. Around 740 B.C. King Uzziah died, marking the end of a lengthy era of national prosperity (see 2 Chronicles 26). Uzziah had contracted leprosy for flouting God’s holiness, and his son Jotham had been his co-regent for about 10 years (2 Chron. 26:16–21). I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne. The undying King holds court above. The words high and lifted up appear elsewhere in Isaiah (Isa. 52:13; 57:15) and seem to be part of his distinctive style (see Introduction: Date). John 12:38–41 brings two of these together, implying that John saw the servant of Isa. 52:13–53:12 as not only messianic, but divine. The temple in Jerusalem modeled the temple in heaven (cf. Heb. 9:24; Rev. 4:1–4).

ISAIAH—NOTE ON 6:11–13 God’s discipline will leave only a remnant of his people—the holy seed—like a single stump left after a forest has been burned over. The remaining believers are set apart for God by the same grace that saved Isaiah. They are the heirs of God’s promises to Abraham, and thus the only hope for the whole world (see 10:20–23; 11:1–10).