Isaiah 6
Isaiah’s Vision and Calling
In this section, Isaiah described his divine call to prophetic ministry and Israel’s response to his message.
Isaiah has gone to some length to describe Judah’s spiritual and moral corruption before he mentions God’s call to him to be a prophet. His reason for doing this seems to be that he wants his readers to see why God called him. - Don Fleming
King Uzziah Died
Vs. 1 - In the year that King Uzziah died
Uzziah reigned as king in Judah for 52 years. His life and rule are described in 2 Chronicles 26. Most scholars date the end of his reign and the beginning of Isaiah’s ministry at around 740 BC.
2 Chronicles 26:3-5, 16, 21-23 - Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem…He did what was right in the Lord’s sight just as his father Amaziah had done. He sought God throughout the lifetime of Zechariah, the teacher of the fear of God. During the time that he sought the Lord, God gave him success.
But when he became strong, he grew arrogant, and it led to his own destruction. He acted unfaithfully against the Lord his God by going into the Lord’s sanctuary to burn incense on the incense altar.
So King Uzziah was diseased to the time of his death. He lived in quarantine with a serious skin disease and was excluded from access to the Lord’s temple, while his son Jotham was over the king’s household governing the people of the land.
Now the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz wrote about the rest of the events of Uzziah’s reign, from beginning to end. Uzziah rested with his ancestors, and he was buried with his ancestors in the burial ground of the kings’ cemetery, for they said, “He has a skin disease.” His son Jotham became king in his place.
King Uzziah’s death marked the end of an era of prosperity unequaled in Judah’s history. Yet this era brought with it the corruption that Isaiah has just described, and left the people with no respect for God and no knowledge of what his holiness demanded of them. - Don Fleming
When Uzziah died, most people in the nation would have felt a great loss. Who would lead them next, and would he provide for them all that Uzziah had? Assyria was growing in power and ambition to the east, so the threat of foreign invasion was real. Israel needed a strong king. At such a time Isaiah received a vision of Israel’s true king, Yahweh, who was more than adequate to provide for His people. - Thomas Constable
Isaiah’s Call to Ministry
Throne of God
Vs. 1 - I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne
God revealed Himself to Isaiah in a manner few have experienced. Taken into the Lord's heavenly temple in a vision, the prophet saw the Creator seated on His throne. Isaiah's vision of the Lord captures the immensity and glory of Yahweh, for the prophet could describe only the train of His robe, not His face. - Ligonier Teaching Fellows
Woe Is Me
Vs. 5 - Then I said: Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips
The vision of God’s holiness makes Isaiah realize that not only are the people among whom he lives sinful, but so too is he. Therefore, before he can be God’s messenger to others, his own sin must be cleansed. - Don Fleming
In the presence of such holiness, Isaiah felt the weight of his own sinfulness. He feared for himself because he knew that God did not tolerate uncleanness in his presence. - Tremper Longman III
Willing Messenger
Vs. 8 - Here am I. Send me.
Note the balance of divine sovereignty and human choice in His words: He would send someone, but that someone needed to be willing to go. God’s grace to him in not consuming him, but rather cleansing him, motivated Isaiah to volunteer to be God’s servant. - Thomas Constable
Rejected Message
Vs. 9-10 - Go! Say to these people: Keep listening, but do not understand; keep looking, but do not perceive. Make the minds of these people dull; deafen their ears and blind their eyes
The Lord proceeded to give Isaiah specific instructions about what He wanted him to do and what the prophet could expect regarding his ministry (Isaiah 6:9-10), his historic-political situation (Isaiah 6:11-12), and his nation’s survival (Isaiah 6:13).
The effect of Isaiah’s preaching would not be that the people would repent, but that they would harden their hearts against his messages. The Apostle John quoted this verse (and Isaiah 53:1) in reference to the Jews’ inability in Jesus’ day to believe on Him (John 12:40). John then added, "These things Isaiah said, because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him" (John 12:41). Isaiah may or may not have realized that his words had prophetic significance, in addition to being applicable to his own situation. - Thomas Constable
Constable also notes that every gospel record author, as well as the apostle Paul, quoted the words God spoke to Isaiah concerning Israel’s refusal to receive Him. (Matthew 13:14-15; Mark 4:10-12; Luke 8:10; John 12:39-41; Acts 28:26-27; Romans 11:8).
Israel’s Judgment And Hope
Until When?
Vs. 12 - the Lord drives the people far away
When Isaiah asked how long his message would be rejected, God answered that His people would refuse to listen until the day He allowed them to be overtaken by their enemies.
The Lord took full responsibility for this judgment, though He used other nations as His instruments to execute it. - Thomas Constable
Remnant
Vs. 13 - Like the terebinth or the oak that leaves a stump when felled, the holy seed is the stump.
From the beginning of his ministry, Isaiah was told that very few people would heed his warnings. His people would mostly reject his message. However, God did promise to preserve a remnant of the receptive, symbolized here as a “tenth” that would remain in the land and as a “stump” left in the ground after a tree is felled.
