1Isaiah's vision of the Lord in his glory: 5he is terrified; an angel removeth the ground of his apprehensions: 8he offereth himself, and is sent to shew the obstinacy of the people unto their destruction. 13A remnant shall be saved.
1IN thea year that king 1Uzziah died 2I saw also 3the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and 4his train filled the temple.
a 2 Kings 15:7.
1 Hebr. Uzziahu.
2 In a prophetic vision. See Gen. 15 on verse 1.
3 Understand the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Compare verses 3 and 8. Therefore this vision is applied to the Lord Christ, John 12:40, 41, and to the Holy Ghost, Acts 28:25, 26, 27.
4 That is, the borders or hems of His garments, namely, of Royal robes, with which the Lord was arrayed.
2Above it 5stood 6the seraphims: 7each one had sixb wings; with twainc he 8covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he 9did fly.
5 Namely, as servants waiting upon the service of the Lord. Compare Dan. 7:10; Rev. 4:6, 7.
6 The Hebrew word means properly burning; thus the angels of the Lord are called, because they are zealous, yea burning in zeal, to execute the command of the Lord. Or, because they burn and consume the wicked like a fire. Or, because they appear in fiery color, namely, red, like fire.
7 Hebr. six wings, six wings the one. See the annotation Gen. 7 on verse 2.
b Rev. 4:8.
c two
8 Unto a sign of reverence which they bare unto God the Lord; or because they were not able to endure the brightness of His glory.
9 Namely, to perform the command of God speedily; for, the angels are ministering spirits, Psalm 34:7; 91:11; Heb. 1:14.
3And 10one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy,dis the LORD of hosts: 11the whole earth is full of his glory.
10 Hebr. this cried unto this.
d Rev. 4:8.
11 Hebr. the fullness of the whole earth is his honour or glory, that is, all the works of the Lord, which are in the entire world, they give testimony and are a clear proof and demonstration of His glory, Psalm 24:1; Rom. 1:20.
412And the posts of the door moved at the voice 13of him that cried, and 14the house 15was filled with smoke.
12 Hereby is intimated the fierce anger of God, as Isa. 5:25: the hills did tremble. And understand here the posts of the temple.
13 That is, of every one of the seraphims, as verse 3.
14 Namely, the house of God, that is, the temple.
15 This was likewise a token or evidence of God’s anger, smoke and vapor issuing out of His nostrils.
5 ¶ 16Then said I, Woe is me! for 17I am undone; 18because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people 19of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
16 Or, Therefore, namely, because I saw those signs of God’s wrath, Who was ready to exercise His judgments.
17 Or, for I perish. Other, I am dumb, or, I am dead, that is, I must presently die, namely, because I, who am a man of unclean lips, have seen the Lord. See the annotation Gen. 16:13; Exod. 24:11; Deut. 5:25, 26: Judges 13:22.
18 That is, I am a poor sinful man. By the faultiness of the lips, that is, of the words, where into a man easily slips, does he understand his entire sinful state. Compare verse 7, and further James 3:2.
19 That is, a people, who worship idols, is bent to lying, and slow to worship, honor and thank the true God, and to edify their neighbor.
6Then 20flew one of the seraphims unto me, 21having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off 22the altar:
20 Namely, by God’s appointment, for they stood by the Lord, ready to receive His commands, and to execute the same at His pleasure.
21 This glowing or burning coal was a sign of the burning off or burning away of sin, that is, of the cleansing and pardoning of sin.
22 Understand here the altar of burnt offering, upon which fire was kept continually, this altar being a type of Christ and of His sacrifice for our sins. See Heb. 13:10.
7And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, 23this hathe touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin 24purged.
23 Namely, this glowing or burning coal, which I have taken from of the altar. Hereby is signified that the pardon of sin proceeds from the sacrifice of Christ, which was represented by the sacrifices of the altar. In like manner, that the Holy Ghost, like unto a fire, burns away sins and consumes them.
e Jer. 1:9; Dan. 10:16.
24 Other, graciously covered.
8Also I heard 25the voice of the Lord, saying, 26Whom shall I send, and who will go 27for us? Then said I, 28Here am I; send me.
25 Namely, the voice of the Father, speaking to the Son and the Holy Ghost. Compare this with Gen. 1:26.
26 Namely, unto the rebellious people of the Jews, to preach unto them My decree concerning their blindness and ruin.
27 Namely, in the service of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; for, it is God alone Who calls and sends the prophets. Compare Gen. 1:26; 3:22.
28 Here the prophet now willingly offers his ready service, being strengthened and confirmed by God, being now far more willing and ready, than Moses, Exodus 3, or Jeremiah, Jeremiah 1.
9¶And he said, Go, and tell 29this people, Hearf ye indeed, 30but understand not; and see ye indeed, but 31perceive not.
29 Here the Lord says not: my people, because they were gone away from Him, but He says: this people.
f Mat. 13:14; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10; John 12:40; Acts 28:26; Rom. 11:8.
30 As if the Lord would say: Thou shalt labor in vain, in teaching and instructing this people, nevertheless go thy ways, and do that which I command thee, to convince them of their obstinacy.
31 As if the Lord would say: Ye shall indeed hear the words of these prophecies, but do not understand them. And this shall take place by My just judgment, Who will in this manner punish your stubbornness and rebellion, namely, with blindness and hardening. In this sense these words are used in the New Testament, Mat. 13:14.
1032Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and 33shut their eyes; lestg they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, 34and 35be 36healed.
32 Namely, by the preaching of My Word. By these words the Lord will not signify what His Word preached properly and in its own nature works and effects in men, but He foretells what would follow upon the preaching of it in the wicked Jews, namely, that they would not only thereby not convert themselves, but grow rather yet more stubborn and more obstinate, as God in His just judgment would give them over to a perverse and reprobate mind.
33 Or, anoint, smear their eyes.
g Jer. 5:21.
34 Or, and he healeth them; namely, God.
35 Namely, the people.
36 Namely, by forgiving their sins, Mark 4:12. See Psalm 30:2.
11Then said I, Lord, 37how long? And he answered, Until 38the cities be 39wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly 40desolate,
37 Namely, shall this desolation of the people continue? Other, how long shall this blindness and hardness of the people last?
38 Namely, the cities in Judah.
39 Other, be surely wasted, namely, by the many and several assaults of the enemies of the people of the Jews. As touching the blindness of the people, namely, of the Jews, the same has often happened before the coming of Christ, especially in Christ’s time, as appears Mat. 13:14; Mark 4:12, and elsewhere; yea, it continues still unto this day, as appears by far in the greatest part of the Jews that are this day alive; and shall continue still so long, until the fullness of the Gentiles shall be come in, Rom. 11:25.
40 That is, be utterly wasted, so that no man do dwell anymore in it, and therefore the same remains uncultivated. Examples of this desolation see in the reign of king Hezekiah, 2 Kings 18; of Manasseh, 2 Chronicles 33; of Josiah, 2 Chronicles 35; of Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, 2 Kings 25 and 2 Chronicles 36, and especially after Christ’s ascension.
12And the LORD have removed 41men 42far away, and there be a great 43forsaking 44in the midst of the land.
41 Namely, the people of the Jews.
42 Namely, into captivity in Babylon. Here the prophet gives to understand that it was the work of God that the Jews were carried away captive to Babylon.
43 Understand that forsaking whereby this people was forsaken by God, and delivered to their enemies in the time of the Babylonian captivity.
44 Or, in the innermost part of the land, namely, of the land of Judah.
13¶But yet in it shall be 45a tenth, and 46it shall return, and shall be eaten: 47as a 48teil tree, and as an 49oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so 50the holy seed shall be the substance 51thereof.
45 That is, a small company, in comparison to the great number of those who shall be carried away and destroyed. The prophet would intimate that this people shall not utterly perish altogether one with another.
46 Other, but it shall be grazed again; for, some understand by this tenth part, those who were left in the land of Judah after that the people were carried away captive, and from thence went down into Egypt, and all perished most miserably. Others understand by the tenth part, the Jews who would return from the Babylonian captivity, and were to suffer much at the hands of the kings of Syria and Egypt, in the time of the Maccabees, and at last of the Romans, and all this by reason of their great and manifold sins.
47 This is a promise for the comfort and consolation of the godly, that, namely, the tribe of Judah would not utterly perish or be destroyed, but that because of some holy children of God, who were found in it, it would be kept and preserved until Christ would come in the flesh.
48 Or, elm tree. In the Hebrew text two words are used, both of them signifying an oak or oak tree. For one of them some translators render an elm-tree; others a lime-tree. Others expound the Hebrew words thus: but as by oaks which stand at the gate Schallecheth, the entry hath a firm prop (or stay) so shall the holy seed be his firm prop (or stay). According to this exposition, the prophet compares here the godly unto oaks, wherewith the king’s entry was supported and under-propped, or by the path or street that was raised on high, by which they passed from Solomon’s house into the temple, of which see 1 Kings 10:5; 2 Kings 12:20; 1 Chron. 26:16; 2 Chron. 9:4, 11.
49 See the previous annotation.
50 That is, the remnant of the godly, that is, the godly children descended from godly parents; as if he said: God bears yet in some measure with the corrupt tree in respect of the good branches that sprang from it. For some few godly one’s sake, God does sometimes spare many wicked ones, Gen. 18:32.
51 Namely, of that land, that is, of the inhabitants of that land. Other, of that tenth part; it is all one, or to one effect.