Isaiah 6

Isaiah 6 follows chapters 1–5, which rebuke Judah's sin and announce judgment. The immediately preceding chapter, Isaiah 5, ends with the Song of the Vineyard and a series of "woe" pronouncements. Chapter 6 is Isaiah's first-person account of his own call.

Outline

• Verses 1–4 In the year King Uzziah died, Isaiah sees the Lord seated on a throne, high and lifted up. Seraphim, each with six wings, call to one another, crying "Holy" three times; at the sound the posts of the door shake, and the temple is filled with smoke.
• Verse 5 Isaiah cries out, "Woe is me!" because he is a man of unclean lips, dwelling among a people of unclean lips, and yet he has seen the King, the LORD.
• Verses 6–7 One of the seraphim touches his mouth with a live coal taken from the altar and declares that his iniquity is taken away and his sin purged.
• Verse 8 The Lord asks, "Who will go for us?" and Isaiah answers, "Send me."
• Verses 9–10 The LORD gives him his commission: he is to tell the people that they will hear and see but not understand, and he is to make their heart fat.
• Verses 11–13 Isaiah asks, "How long?" The answer is: until the cities are laid waste and the people are removed far away. Even if a tenth remains, it will be consumed again; yet, like the stump of a felled tree, a holy seed will remain.

Key Verses

• Isaiah 6:3 "Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts": a threefold proclamation of God's holiness, echoed in the doxologies of Christian worship and in Revelation 4:8.
• Isaiah 6:8 "Here am I; send me": a classic verse of response to God's call.
• Isaiah 6:9 "Hear ye indeed, but understand not": quoted several times in the New Testament.

People and Places

• Isaiah: the prophet who witnessed and recorded this scene.
• Uzziah: a long-reigning king of Judah. The year of his death, commonly placed around 740 BC, is the setting of the vision.
• Seraphim: six-winged heavenly beings. As a name for heavenly beings, the term appears in the Bible only in this chapter; it is understood to be related to a Hebrew word meaning "to burn."
• The temple: commonly understood as the Temple in Jerusalem, though some interpret it as a heavenly temple seen in the vision.

Points for Reflection

• Timing of the call: This call narrative appears not at the opening of the book but in chapter 6. Interpreters are therefore divided between viewing it as Isaiah's initial call and viewing it as the recommissioning of a prophet already active in ministry.
• "Us" (verse 8): Since the early church, Christian tradition has sometimes read this as an intimation of the Trinity. Another interpretation sees it as a reference to a heavenly council of God and the celestial beings surrounding him.
• Making the heart fat (verses 9–10): Some readings emphasize God's sovereign judgment, while others see it as a pronouncement of the consequences upon a people who persistently refused to listen.
• The altar from which the coal was taken: The text does not specify whether it was the altar of incense or the altar of burnt offering.
• Connections to the New Testament: Verses 9–10 are quoted in Matthew 13:14–15, Mark 4:12, John 12:40, and Acts 28:26–27. Verse 41 of John 12 connects the glory Isaiah saw with Christ. In Revelation 4, six-winged living creatures likewise cry "Holy" three times.
• The stump (verse 13): This is read as expressing the idea that a remnant survives even amid judgment, and it is sometimes read together with "the stem of Jesse" in Isaiah 11:1.

In the Korean Church

• Verse 8 is frequently preached at mission dedication services, missionary commissioning services, and times of commitment at retreats.
• Verses 5–7 are often used in sermons describing how a worshiper comes to recognize his or her sin and is cleansed.
• The hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty" celebrates the threefold praise found in this chapter and in Revelation 4.