Isaiah's commission to preach divine hardening (6:9-10) becomes the most quoted Old Testament text about spiritual blindness, cited by both Jesus and Paul to explain Israel's rejection.
Isaiah 6
Isaiah's Call and Commission
1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.
2Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew.
3One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!”
4The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
5Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Armies!”
6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar.
7He touched my mouth with it, and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven.”
8I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
9He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand. You see indeed, but don’t perceive.’
10Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.”
11Then I said, “Lord, how long?” He answered, “Until cities are waste without inhabitant, houses without man, the land becomes utterly waste,
12and the LORD has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many within the land.
13If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed, as a terebinth, and as an oak whose stump remains when they are cut down, so the holy seed is its stump.”
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Theme
Isaiah receives his prophetic calling through a dramatic vision of God's throne room, where seraphim proclaim God's holiness and glory. Overwhelmed by his own sinfulness in God's presence, Isaiah is cleansed by a seraph with a burning coal and responds to God's call for a messenger. However, his commission involves delivering a message of judgment that will harden hearts until the land faces devastation, though a holy remnant will survive.
Context
This pivotal chapter establishes Isaiah's prophetic authority and introduces the themes of judgment and remnant that will dominate his subsequent oracles against Judah and the nations.
Key Themes
Outline
- 1-4 Vision of God's Throne Isaiah sees the Lord enthroned with seraphim declaring His holiness while the temple shakes with divine presence.
- 5-7 Isaiah's Confession and Cleansing Recognizing his unworthiness before God's holiness, Isaiah confesses his sin and receives purification from a seraph.
- 8 The Divine Call and Response God seeks a messenger and Isaiah eagerly volunteers for the mission.
- 9-13 The Difficult Commission God assigns Isaiah to preach a message that will harden hearts and bring judgment, lasting until exile and devastation leave only a remnant.
Isaiah's Call and Commission
6:1–6:13 prophecy vision solemn
Isaiah receives his prophetic calling through a dramatic vision of God's holiness, experiencing cleansing from sin and commissioning for ministry. The passage includes God's difficult message about Israel's spiritual blindness and coming judgment, yet hints at a holy remnant.
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Isaiah's commission to preach divine hardening (6:9-10) becomes the most quoted Old Testament text about spiritual blindness, cited by both Jesus and Paul to explain Israel's rejection.
Insights
Cross-References
Connected passages across Scripture
Isaiah 6:2 4 references
Lexicals 4
Ezekiel 1:11 Lexical
Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above. Two wings of each one touched another, and two covered their b…
2 Chronicles 5:8 Lexical
For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above.
Isaiah 30:6 Lexical
The burden of the animals of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, of the lioness and the lion, the viper…
Isaiah 14:29 Lexical
Don’t rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpent’s root an adde…
Isaiah 6:6 2 references
Isaiah 6:7 5 references
Lexicals 5
Isaiah 27:9 Lexical
Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be forgiven, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he make…
Jeremiah 18:23 Lexical
Yet, LORD, you know all their counsel against me to kill me. Don’t forgive their iniquity. Don’t blot out their sin from…
Leviticus 10:17 Lexical
“Why haven’t you eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, since it is most holy, and he has given it to you…
Proverbs 16:6 Lexical
By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for. By the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.
Leviticus 4:35 Lexical
He shall remove all its fat, like the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest shall…
Isaiah 6:9 2 references
Quotations 2
Isaiah 6:13 1 reference
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Word-by-word original language
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