Isaiah, in a vision of the Lord in his glory, 1-4, being terrified, has his apprehensions removed, 5-7. He offers himself and is sent to show the obstinacy of the people to their desolation, 8-12. A remnant shall be saved, 13.
1 In the year that king Uzziah died I also saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and elevated, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim. Each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said,
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts./
The whole earth is full of his glory."
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him who cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then I said,
"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 my eyes have seen the King,/
the LORD of hosts."
6 Then 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. 7 And he laid it upon my mouth and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips, and your iniquity is taken away and your sin purged."
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am. Send me." 9 And he said, "Go, and tell this people,
'In hearing you hear, but do not understand./
In seeing you see, but do not perceive.'
10 Make 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 convert and be healed."
11 Then I said, "Lord, how long?" And he answered,/
"Until the cities are wasted without inhabitant,/
the houses without man,/
and the land is utterly desolate,
12 And the LORD has moved men far away/
and there is a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
13 But yet in it shall be a tenth,/
and it shall return and be eaten./
As a terebinth and as an oak/
whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves,/
so the holy seed shall be its substance."
Matthew Henry Commentary - Isaiah, Chapter 6[➚]
[v.3] - Quoted in Revelation 4:8.
[v.9a] - "but do not understand... but do not percieve." - From Matthew Poole's Commentary: "The Hebrew words are imperative; yet they are not to be taken as a command what the people ought to do, but only as a signification and prediction. what by their own wickedness, and by God’s just judgment, they did and would do, as is manifest by Matthew 13:14, Acts 28:26, where they are so rendered. And imperative words among the Hebrews are frequently put for the future, as is well known to the learned. The sense is, Because you have so long heard my words, and seen my works, to no purpose, and have hardened your hearts, and will not learn nor reform, I will punish you in your own kind, your sin shall be your punishment. I will still continue my word and works to you, not in mercy, and for your good, but to aggravate your sin and condemnation; for I will blind your minds, and withdraw my Spirit, so that you shall be as unable, as now you are unwilling, to understand or perceive any thing that may do you good."
[v.9b] - Quoted in Matthew 13:14; Luke 8:10; Acts 28:26. See also, Romans 11:8.
[v.10] - Quoted in Matthew 13:15; Mark 4:12; John 12:40; Acts 28:27.