Names of God

Isaiahchapter 6

13 verses · ASV

This chapter sends 216 cross-references outward and receives 352 — heaviest partner: Isaiah.

Chapter summary

In the year King Uzziah dies, Isaiah sees the Lord on a throne, high and lifted up, his train filling the temple. Six-winged seraphim cry "Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts," the thresholds shake, and the house fills with smoke. Isaiah cries "Woe is me" as a man of unclean lips; a seraph touches his mouth with a live coal from the altar, declaring his iniquity taken away. Hearing "Whom shall I send?", Isaiah answers "Here am I; send me." His commission is a hardening word — hear but understand not, see but perceive not — the text Jesus applies to parable-hearing crowds (Matthew 13:14-15; cf. John 12:40; Acts 28:26-27). To "how long?" the answer is: until the cities lie waste; yet a tenth remains, and as a felled terebinth keeps its stock, the holy seed is the stump.

Drafted from Matthew Henry, Calvin, Gill, Clarke, JFB, and Barnes.

Context

Prophecy · Isaiah — see the Isaiah overview for the book's full setting.

3–13 Names of God

1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.

2 Above him stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts.

6 Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:

7 and he touched my mouth with it, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin forgiven.

8 And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I; send me.