Isaiah 6 is the first episode in a series that purports to present biographical information about events of the prophet’s life. It has been a source of enduring interest not only for theologians and biblical scholars but for artists who wanted to portray the divine throne room, and for authors of hymns both ancient (“Holy, Holy, Holy”) and modern (“Here I Am, Lord”).
The passage raises significant questions about what it means to be called as a prophet, and about divine judgment and hope beyond it. The answers, however, are unusual and difficult.
The passage begins with a notice that the oracle was delivered “in the year King Uzziah died,” which was 742 BCE. It was common in the ancient Near East to date events according to the regnal years of kings (see 1–2 Kings and Ezekiel). Not many oracles in Isaiah are dated this way, though; the only other examples in the book are at 14:28; 20:1; and 36:1 (which is borrowed from 2 Kings 18:13).
For a prophet, the claim to have been sent by God with a message was an important aspect of authority (for example, Amos 7:15). There has been some debate over whether Isaiah 6 represented Isaiah’s initial call to prophesy or merely a calling to a new mission. The exchange in 6:5–8 suggests that Isaiah was not accustomed to prophesying beforehand.
In the vision, Isaiah sees the Lord sitting on a lofty throne, with his robe filling the temple. The “throne” was formed by the massive cherubim (1 Kings 6:23–28) that were in the temple, an oversized form of a common ancient Near Eastern throne type in which the arms and seat were supernatural creatures. The “hem of the robe” was probably a curtain hiding the Holy of Holies from the main room of the temple, imagined as the only part of the Lord visible from outside.
Seraphim are elsewhere portrayed as flying serpents (14:29; 30:6). Here, they seem to be mythologized reflections of the Nehushtan, the bronze serpent on a pole that was said to have been built by Moses (Numbers 21:6–9) and later removed from the temple by Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:4). In this multisensory, supernatural symphony, it is as if the temple furnishings magically come to life in Isaiah’s sight, as in animated movies like “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and “Beauty and the Beast.”
Upon Isaiah’s protestation that he has unclean lips, one of the seraphs flies to him and touches his mouth with a hot coal. Purification of living things by fire is not a common motif in biblical texts about sin and purity, although unwanted and impure things were burned at times (for example, Leviticus 4:12, 21; 13:24–28).
The Lord’s question, “Whom shall I send?” is similar to the question in the divine council in 1 Kings 22:19–20. The prophets can be analyzed as messengers for the divine King, so that the entire enterprise of prophecy is comparable to the sending and receiving of messages from a human emperor.
Call narratives feature prominently in the accounts of many other prophets (Exodus 3:1–4:17; Jeremiah 1:1–10; Ezekiel 2:1–3:15, et cetera), and their literary form is fairly regular. To this point, Isaiah 6 follows the normal form of a call narrative: (1) divine confrontation; (2) introductory word; (3) commission. However, these are usually followed by (4) the prophet’s objection; and (5) divine reassurance. Isaiah 6 turns the form on its head, in that the prophet eagerly seeks the commission.
The decision to stop the lectionary selection at verse 8 is indefensible. The omission of verses 9–13 would seriously misrepresent the passage, and any preacher ought to include it. The end of the passage takes a turn that is foreshadowed by the prophet’s exclamation of woe in verse 5.
The Lord’s ensuing words are anything but reassuring. Indeed, the prognosis gets worse and worse: The prophet is called to tell the people to fail to understand, leading to the devastation of the whole land. This inversion may have been meant to emphasize the gravity of the message: Even with an eager and ideal prophet, the judgment will be severe.
In 6:10, the New Revised Standard Version translates “Make the mind of this people dull,” but the Hebrew says, “Make heavy the heart of this people,” and so an analogy to the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart in Exodus suggests itself. In both cases the divine action is portrayed as following the native inclination of the object to wrongdoing. In Exodus, Pharaoh was already slaughtering Hebrew babies, and here the people were already carrying out Isaiah 5’s list of sins.
Commentators who do not believe Isaiah spoke any positive words might seize on this text as proof that his calling was to ensure that the people would not “turn and be healed” (6:10). But this view is naïve about psychology and rhetoric. This oracle claims a direct encounter with God in the holiest part of the temple, in which a secret revelation was issued. Just like the later secrets of Daniel (12:4) or the Gospel writers (for example, Mark 7:36), this is designed to pique the hearers’ curiosity and impel them to consider the message and their fates. Isaiah’s negative prophecy, like Jonah’s, could still have been meant to generate a positive response (Jonah 3:4–10).
The prophet foresees the utter desolation of the land (6:11–13). Even the word “decimation” is not strong enough to describe the punishment prescribed: “If a tenth part remain in it, it will be burned again.” The ruination of the land would have particularly reflected the Assyrian devastation of Judah in 701 BCE, when the text was first composed, though the image of depopulation would have resonated again after the Babylonian conquest of 586.
This conclusion would have made ancient readers just as uncomfortable as it makes us. And so, at the very end of the chapter, a different scribe added a sudden turn toward hope. The original oracle would not have taken this turn; rather, the messianic hope for a “holy seed” was introduced later, after the exile (Ezra 9:2; Nehemiah 9:2; Isaiah 65:9). As Job said, “There is hope for a tree” (Job 14:7)—and hope sprang eternal for the stump as well.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
King of heaven and earth, As you cleansed Isaiah with a coal of fire to prepare him for proclaiming your word to the world, prepare us, so that we may know your bidding and carry out our callings with eagerness and urgency. Show the world greatness that cannot be contained any more than smoke or fire can be caught, in the name of the one who sacrificed everything to carry out your commands, Jesus Christ our sanctifier. Amen.
Isaiah 6 is the first episode in a series that purports to present biographical information about events of the prophet’s life. It has been a source of enduring interest not only for theologians and biblical scholars but for artists who wanted to portray the divine throne room, and for authors of hymns both ancient (“Holy, Holy, Holy”) and modern (“Here I Am, Lord”).
The passage raises significant questions about what it means to be called as a prophet, and about divine judgment and hope beyond it. The answers, however, are unusual and difficult.
The passage begins with a notice that the oracle was delivered “in the year King Uzziah died,” which was 742 BCE. It was common in the ancient Near East to date events according to the regnal years of kings (see 1–2 Kings and Ezekiel). Not many oracles in Isaiah are dated this way, though; the only other examples in the book are at 14:28; 20:1; and 36:1 (which is borrowed from 2 Kings 18:13).
For a prophet, the claim to have been sent by God with a message was an important aspect of authority (for example, Amos 7:15). There has been some debate over whether Isaiah 6 represented Isaiah’s initial call to prophesy or merely a calling to a new mission. The exchange in 6:5–8 suggests that Isaiah was not accustomed to prophesying beforehand.
In the vision, Isaiah sees the Lord sitting on a lofty throne, with his robe filling the temple. The “throne” was formed by the massive cherubim (1 Kings 6:23–28) that were in the temple, an oversized form of a common ancient Near Eastern throne type in which the arms and seat were supernatural creatures. The “hem of the robe” was probably a curtain hiding the Holy of Holies from the main room of the temple, imagined as the only part of the Lord visible from outside.
Seraphim are elsewhere portrayed as flying serpents (14:29; 30:6). Here, they seem to be mythologized reflections of the Nehushtan, the bronze serpent on a pole that was said to have been built by Moses (Numbers 21:6–9) and later removed from the temple by Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:4). In this multisensory, supernatural symphony, it is as if the temple furnishings magically come to life in Isaiah’s sight, as in animated movies like “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and “Beauty and the Beast.”
Upon Isaiah’s protestation that he has unclean lips, one of the seraphs flies to him and touches his mouth with a hot coal. Purification of living things by fire is not a common motif in biblical texts about sin and purity, although unwanted and impure things were burned at times (for example, Leviticus 4:12, 21; 13:24–28).
The Lord’s question, “Whom shall I send?” is similar to the question in the divine council in 1 Kings 22:19–20. The prophets can be analyzed as messengers for the divine King, so that the entire enterprise of prophecy is comparable to the sending and receiving of messages from a human emperor.
Call narratives feature prominently in the accounts of many other prophets (Exodus 3:1–4:17; Jeremiah 1:1–10; Ezekiel 2:1–3:15, et cetera), and their literary form is fairly regular. To this point, Isaiah 6 follows the normal form of a call narrative: (1) divine confrontation; (2) introductory word; (3) commission. However, these are usually followed by (4) the prophet’s objection; and (5) divine reassurance. Isaiah 6 turns the form on its head, in that the prophet eagerly seeks the commission.
The decision to stop the lectionary selection at verse 8 is indefensible. The omission of verses 9–13 would seriously misrepresent the passage, and any preacher ought to include it. The end of the passage takes a turn that is foreshadowed by the prophet’s exclamation of woe in verse 5.
The Lord’s ensuing words are anything but reassuring. Indeed, the prognosis gets worse and worse: The prophet is called to tell the people to fail to understand, leading to the devastation of the whole land. This inversion may have been meant to emphasize the gravity of the message: Even with an eager and ideal prophet, the judgment will be severe.
In 6:10, the New Revised Standard Version translates “Make the mind of this people dull,” but the Hebrew says, “Make heavy the heart of this people,” and so an analogy to the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart in Exodus suggests itself. In both cases the divine action is portrayed as following the native inclination of the object to wrongdoing. In Exodus, Pharaoh was already slaughtering Hebrew babies, and here the people were already carrying out Isaiah 5’s list of sins.
Commentators who do not believe Isaiah spoke any positive words might seize on this text as proof that his calling was to ensure that the people would not “turn and be healed” (6:10). But this view is naïve about psychology and rhetoric. This oracle claims a direct encounter with God in the holiest part of the temple, in which a secret revelation was issued. Just like the later secrets of Daniel (12:4) or the Gospel writers (for example, Mark 7:36), this is designed to pique the hearers’ curiosity and impel them to consider the message and their fates. Isaiah’s negative prophecy, like Jonah’s, could still have been meant to generate a positive response (Jonah 3:4–10).
The prophet foresees the utter desolation of the land (6:11–13). Even the word “decimation” is not strong enough to describe the punishment prescribed: “If a tenth part remain in it, it will be burned again.” The ruination of the land would have particularly reflected the Assyrian devastation of Judah in 701 BCE, when the text was first composed, though the image of depopulation would have resonated again after the Babylonian conquest of 586.
This conclusion would have made ancient readers just as uncomfortable as it makes us. And so, at the very end of the chapter, a different scribe added a sudden turn toward hope. The original oracle would not have taken this turn; rather, the messianic hope for a “holy seed” was introduced later, after the exile (Ezra 9:2; Nehemiah 9:2; Isaiah 65:9). As Job said, “There is hope for a tree” (Job 14:7)—and hope sprang eternal for the stump as well.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
King of heaven and earth,
As you cleansed Isaiah with a coal of fire to prepare him for proclaiming your word to the world, prepare us, so that we may know your bidding and carry out our callings with eagerness and urgency. Show the world greatness that cannot be contained any more than smoke or fire can be caught, in the name of the one who sacrificed everything to carry out your commands, Jesus Christ our sanctifier. Amen.
HYMNS
Send me, Jesus ELW 809, UMH 497
Rejoice, ye pure in heart! ELW 874, H82 556, 557, UMH 160, NCH 55, 71
Isaiah in a vision did of old ELW 868
Isaiah the prophet has written of old NCH 108
CHORAL
We wait for thy loving kindness, O God, William McKie