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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 6:8 - 6:13
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The Mission of the Prophet
v. 8. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, of the All-powerful, the great Ruler of the universe, saying, Whom shall I send? the call being for volunteers to proclaim the atonement set forth in the vision just vouchsafed the prophet. And who will go for Us? the persons of the Trinity here consulting together in this very important matter. Then said I, Here am I; send me. The prophet, in the spirit of voluntary service wrought by the Lord, a principal requisite for the proper and effective ministry of the Word, is ready to undertake the task.
v. 9. And He said, Go and tell this people, to which He no longer refers as His people, but as strangers, in the third person, Hear ye indeed, constantly within reach of the Word of God, but understand not, the words making no impression upon mind and heart; and see ye indeed, namely, the great works of God by which He reveals Himself to mankind, but perceive not, not really grasping their significance or applying them to their own condition. The judgment of God is now proclaimed as carried out upon the Jews during eight centuries and more.
v. 10. Make the heart of this people fat, insensitive to impressions for good, so that feeling, reason, and will would become callous, and make their ears heavy, the hearing of the mind becoming impaired beyond the possibility of understanding, and shut their eyes, namely, those of the spirit, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, that is, be converted, and be healed. Note that the members or organs spoken of are given in inverted order in the second part of the sentence, to increase its impressiveness. It is the judicial hardening, the judgment of obduration, which is here described, for if people deliberately and maliciously reject God's offers of salvation, He may punish them in the manner here described, so that the message which otherwise works salvation becomes to them a savor of death unto death. Cf 2Co_2:16; Mat_13:14-15; Mar_4:12; Luk_8:10; Joh_12:40; Act_28:26-27. It is not that God works obduration, but He surrenders the godless to their evil will; He withdraws from their hearts with His Holy Spirit.
v. 11. Then said I, Lord, how long? that is, how long would this hardening continue? And He answered, Until the cities be wasted, altogether desolate, without inhabitant, and the houses without man, without a protector, and the land be utterly desolate, literally, "made desolate a desert,"
v. 12. and the Lord have removed men far away, by having them led away into exile, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
v. 13. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return and shall be eaten, literally, "And if there is yet in it a tenth, it will once more become subject to devouring"; as a teil-tree, a terebinth, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, a mere stump being left, when they cast their leaves, when they are felled, so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof, the stump or stem. Thus the obduration upon Israel would continue until the last wrath would come upon Israel, resulting in its destruction. And yet, after the trunk would be hewn down, the stump which remained would bring forth new shoots, a people consecrated to God. As in Israel, so in all the nations of the world the Lord has His holy seed, people who by His grace accept the Gospel and are saved.