Isaiah 6:1-8, (9-13) 7 February 2010

Isaiah 6:1-8, (9-13)

[6:1-8] A Vision of God in the TempleIn the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.’
The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’

[6:9-13]
And he said, ‘Go and say to this people:
“Keep listening, but do not comprehend;
keep looking, but do not understand.”
Make the mind of this people dull,
and stop their ears,
and shut their eyes,
so that they may not look with their eyes,
and listen with their ears,
and comprehend with their minds,
and turn and be healed.’
Then I said, ‘How long, O Lord?’ And he said:
‘Until cities lie waste
without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
and the land is utterly desolate;
until the Lord sends everyone far away,
and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land.
Even if a tenth part remains in it,
it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak
whose stump remains standing
when it is felled.’
The holy seed is its stump.

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The official lectionary, Revised Common Lectionary, for today is Isaiah 6:1-8, Bible Workbench included verses 9-13. The official lectionary is straightforward in the context of 8th century BCE Hebrew writing. It ends with, “Here I am; send me!” No doubt the right response when your god asks, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

Verses 6:9-13 are a bit more problematic for me. Is God sending Isaiah to harden the people’s hearts so that they will not listen or understand? On the other hand, is he to warning them of the consequences if they do not listen? My Universalist leanings lead me to prefer the latter reading. In doing so I realize that I’m imposing my values on a 2700 year old text from another culture. The notes for this passage in the New Oxford Annotated Bible suggest that the passage serves to explain why Isaiah failed to influence king Ahaz at the time of the Syro-Ephraimite war (734 BCE).


Food for thought: Have you ever been called and what was your response?