Seraph

Biblical Text

The only passage in which seraphim appear as heavenly beings is Isaiah 6:1-7. In the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and above it stood the seraphim. Each seraph had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. The seraphim cried one to another, "Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory" (Isaiah 6:3). When Isaiah lamented that he was a man of unclean lips, one of the seraphim came with a live coal from the altar in his hand, laid it on Isaiah's lips, and declared that his sin was purged. Isaiah then responded, "Here am I; send me" (Isaiah 6:8).

Word and Background

The Hebrew word saraph is related to a verb meaning "to burn" and is commonly interpreted as "burning one." The same word refers to the "fiery serpents" of the wilderness in the account of the bronze serpent in Numbers 21:6-8 and in Deuteronomy 8:15, and to the "fiery flying serpent" in Isaiah 14:29 and 30:6. For this reason, some scholars regard the seraphim as serpent-like beings or connect them with the winged-serpent imagery of the ancient Near East. However, because Isaiah 6 describes the seraphim as having faces, feet, and hands, their appearance cannot be determined with certainty.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

The cry of the seraphim stands at the center of a scene in which a person, confronted with the holiness of God, becomes aware of his sin and, after being cleansed, receives a call. The four living creatures of Revelation 4:8 likewise have six wings and cry day and night, "Holy, holy, holy." This scene recalls both Isaiah 6 and the description of the living creatures in Ezekiel 1. In addition, John 12:41 records that Isaiah spoke these things "when he saw his glory," thereby linking Isaiah's vision to Jesus Christ.

Interpretations and Issues

• Are they angels? Scripture does not directly call the seraphim "angels," but most traditions understand them as a class of angels. They are generally regarded as distinct from the cherubim, who guarded the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24) and whose figures were fashioned atop the ark of the covenant. Nevertheless, the four living creatures of Revelation combine features of both kinds of beings.
• Angelic rank: The idea that the seraphim form the highest rank of angels arose from later tradition, such as the angelic hierarchy set forth by Pseudo-Dionysius around the fifth or sixth century. No such ranking appears in the biblical text. The story that Satan was originally a seraph is likewise a later tradition without basis in Scripture.
• The threefold "Holy": Since the patristic era, many churches have read this repetition as an allusion to the Trinity. Other interpreters, viewing it as a Hebrew idiom in which a word is repeated for emphasis, understand it simply as an emphatic statement of holiness.

In the Korean Church

• Reginald Heber's hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty," based on Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 4:8, is widely sung as hymn no. 8 in the New Korean Hymnal.
• Isaiah 6:8 is frequently cited in sermons for the commissioning of missionaries and for dedication services, as well as in sermons on the theme of calling.
• Churches that celebrate Holy Communion according to a prescribed liturgy, such as the Anglican Church of Korea, sing the Sanctus ("Holy, holy, holy"), drawn from Isaiah 6:3, during the eucharistic prayer.