8I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
9He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand. You see indeed, but don’t perceive.’
10Make 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 turn again, and be healed.”
8 I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
9 He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand. You see indeed, but don’t 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 turn again, and be healed.”
KJVKing James Version
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
Show all 3 translations
JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
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.'
9 And He said: 'Go, and tell this people: hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they, seeing with their eyes, and hearing with their ears, and understanding with their heart, return, and be healed.'
Matthew 13:14-15(v9)In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and…
Luke 8:10(v9)He said, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of God’s Kingdom, but to the rest in parables; that ‘seeing they may not see, and…
Mark 4:12(v9)that ‘seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest perhaps they should turn again, and their…
John 12:40(v9)“He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and would…
Acts 28:26-27(v9)saying, ‘Go to this people and say, in hearing, you will hear, but will in no way understand. In seeing, you will see, but will in no way…
Show all 50 cross-references
Romans 11:8(v9)According as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this…
Isaiah 29:13(v9)The Lord said, “Because this people draws near with their mouth and honors me with their lips, but they have removed their heart far from…
Exodus 4:10-13(v8)Moses said to Yahweh, “O Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before now, nor since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech,…
Isaiah 43:8(v9)Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears.
Isaiah 44:18-20(v9)They don’t know, neither do they consider: for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see; and their hearts, that they can’t understand.…
Acts 26:16-17(v8)But arise, and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you a servant and a witness both of the things…
Ephesians 3:8(v8)To me, the very least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
Acts 22:21(v8)“He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you out far from here to the Gentiles.’”
Matthew 13:15(v10)for this people’s heart has grown callous, their ears are dull of hearing, they have closed their eyes; or else perhaps they might perceive…
Isaiah 65:1(v8)“I am inquired of by those who didn’t ask. I am found by those who didn’t seek me. I said, ‘See me, see me,’ to a nation that was not…
Matthew 4:20-22(v8)They immediately left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his…
Acts 20:24(v8)But these things don’t count; nor do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I…
Isaiah 30:8-11(v9)Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever. For it is a…
Acts 28:27(v10)For this people’s heart has grown callous. Their ears are dull of hearing. Their eyes they have closed. Lest they should see with their…
Jeremiah 5:21(v10)‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don’t see, who have ears, and don’t hear:
Acts 28:25-28(v8)When they didn’t agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had spoken one word, “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the…
Deuteronomy 4:33-36(v8)Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as you have heard, and live? Or has God tried to go and…
Jeremiah 6:10(v10)To whom should I speak and testify, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they can’t listen. Behold, Yahweh’s word…
Genesis 3:8-10(v8)They heard Yahweh God’s voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of…
John 3:19-20(v10)This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.…
Genesis 1:26(v8)God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky,…
Genesis 11:7(v8)Come, let’s go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
Zechariah 7:11(v10)But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.
1 Kings 22:20(v8)Yahweh said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead?’ One said one thing; and another said another.
Isaiah 29:10(v10)For Yahweh has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets; and he has covered your heads, the seers.
Isaiah 63:17(v10)O Yahweh, why do you make us wander from your ways, and harden our heart from your fear? Return for your servants’ sake, the tribes of your…
Jeremiah 15:1-2(v9)Then Yahweh said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not turn toward this people. Cast them out of my sight,…
Ezekiel 1:24(v8)When they went, I heard the noise of their wings like the noise of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a noise of tumult like the…
Deuteronomy 2:30(v10)But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for Yahweh your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might…
Psalms 17:10(v10)They close up their callous hearts. With their mouth they speak proudly.
Ezekiel 3:6-11(v10)not to many peoples of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you can’t understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would…
Genesis 3:22(v8)Yahweh God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand, and also take of the…
Deuteronomy 32:15(v10)But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and…
Exodus 10:27(v10)But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he wouldn’t let them go.
Exodus 11:10(v10)Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, but Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he didn’t let the children of Israel go out…
Exodus 14:17(v10)Behold, I myself will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will go in after them. I will get myself honor over Pharaoh, and over…
Exodus 32:7-10(v9)Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, get down; for your people, who you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves! They have…
Psalms 119:70(v10)Their heart is as callous as the fat, but I delight in your law.
Isaiah 19:22(v10)Yahweh will strike Egypt, striking and healing. They will return to Yahweh, and he will be entreated by them, and will heal them.
Ezekiel 10:5(v8)The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.
Hosea 1:9(v9)He said, “Call his name Lo-Ammi; for you are not my people, and I will not be yours.
Acts 9:4(v8)He fell on the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
Exodus 7:3(v10)I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
Acts 3:19(v10)“Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the…
2 Corinthians 2:16(v10)to the one a stench from death to death, to the other a sweet aroma from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (20 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn v9Whereby is declared that for the malice of man…
Whereby is declared that for the malice of man God will not immediately take away his word, but he will cause it to be preached to their condemnation, when as they will not learn thereby to obey his will, and be saved: hereby he exhorteth the ministers to do their duty, and answereth to the wicked murmurers, that through their own malice their heart is hardened, Matt. 13:14; Acts 28:26; Rom. 11:8.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv8–10Isa 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the…
Isa 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here [am] I; send me.
Ver. 8. Whom shall I send?] "Lay hands upon no man rashly," but with deliberation. The mystery of the Trinity is well observed by some in the following words, as by others this, that ministers serve not men, but the only true God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. {1Co 4:1 2Co 5:21}
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Who shall go for us?] {a} God knew whom he would send, but he will have the prophet offer himself; for he loveth a cheerful server, and ministers must take the oversight of God’s flock, "not of constraint, but willingly." {1Pe 5:2}
Here am I; send me.] This was right, and this was wrought in him, not by base fear of punishment, - as we read of one Balthus, a dumb man, that wandering in a desert, and met with a lion, he was struck with such exceeding fear and trepidation, that thereupon the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake ever after - sed igne Dei tactus et actus est. {b} The seraph had comforted him, and this was the effect of it. The prophet, after the touch of the live coal, felt his gifts increased, his zeal kindled, and hence his forwardness thus to offer God his service. So ought such to do as find themselves fitted for the work: If thou hast not manchet, {c} said Bucer to Bradford, give the people barley bread, such as thou canst, it will be accepted. It is no small commendation to a man to addict himself to the ministry of the saints, as the house of Stephanas did, {1Co 16:15} and to be to every good work ready {Tit 3:1} - that is, forward and forthputting, cheerful and vigorous.
{a} Nobis, id est tribus Elohim sive personis Sanct. Trin. - Piscat.
{b} Pausanias.
{c} The finest kind of wheaten bread
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv8–10Whom shall I send, and who will go for…
Whom shall I send, and who will go for us, to deliver the following message? The change of the number,
I and
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us, is very remarkable; and both being meant of one and the same Lord, do sufficiently intimate a plurality of persons in the Godhead.
Here am I; send me: God’s last and great favour to him did both encourage and oblige him to be forward in God’s service.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v9God takes Isaiah at his word, and here sends…
God takes Isaiah at his word, and here sends him on a strange errand - to foretel the ruin of his people and even to ripen them for that ruin - to preach that which, by their abuse of it, would be to them a savour of death unto death. And this was to be a type and figure of the state of the Jewish church in the days of the Messiah, when they should obstinately reject the gospel, and should thereupon be rejected of God. These verses are quoted in part, or referred to, six times, in the New Testament, which intimates that in gospel time these spiritual judgments would be most frequently inflicted; and though they make the least noise, and come not with observation, yet they are of all judgments the most dreadful. Isaiah is here given to understand these four things: -
1. That the generality of the people to whom he was sent would turn a deaf ear to his preaching, and wilfully shut their eyes against all the discoveries of the mind and will of God which he had to make to them (Isa 6:9): "Go, and tell this people, this foolish wretched people, tell them their own, tell them how stupid and sottish they are." Isaiah must preach to them, and they will hear him indeed, but that is all; they will not heed him; they will no understand him; they will not take any pains, nor use that application of mind which is necessary to the understanding of him; they are prejudiced against that which is the true intent and meaning of what he says, and therefore they will not understand him, or pretend they do not. They see indeed (for the vision is made plain on tables, so that he who runs may read it); but they perceive not their own concern in it; it is to them as a tale that is told. Note, There are many who hear the sound of God's word, but do not feel the power of it.
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2. That, forasmuch as they would not be made better by his ministry, they should be made worse by it; those that were wilfully blind should be judicially blinded (Isa 6:10): "They will not understand or perceive thee, and therefore thou shalt be instrumental to make their heart fat, senseless, and sensual, and so to make their ears yet more heavy, and to shut their eyes the closer; so that, at length, their recovery and repentance will become utterly impossible; they shall no more see with their eyes the danger they are in, the ruin they are upon the brink of, nor the way of escape from it; they shall no more hear with their ears the warnings and instructions that are given them, nor understand with their heart the things that belong to their peace, so as to be converted from the error of their ways, and thus be healed." Note, (1.) The conversion of sinners is the healing of them. (2.) A right understanding is necessary to conversion. (3.) God sometimes, in a way of righteous judgment, gives men up to blindness of mind and strong delusions, because they would not receive the truth in the love of it, Th2 2:10-12. He that is filthy let him be filthy still. (4.) Even the word of God oftentimes proves a means of hardening sinners. The evangelical prophet himself makes the heart of this people fat, not only as he foretels it, passing this sentence upon them in God's name, and seals them under it, but as his preaching had a tendency to it, rocking some asleep in security (to whom it was a lovely song), and making others more outrageous, to whom it was such a reproach that they were not able to bear it. Some looked upon the word as a privilege, and their convictions were smothered by it (Jer 7:4); others looked upon it as a provocation, and their corruptions were exasperated by it.
3. That the consequence of this would be their utter ruin, Isa 6:11, Isa 6:12. The prophet had nothing to object against the justice of this sentence, nor does he refuse to go upon such an errand, but asks, "Lord, how long?" (an abrupt question): "Shall it always be thus? Must I and other prophets always labour in vain among them, and will things never be better?" Or, (as should seem by the answer) "Lord, what will it come to at last? What will be in the end hereof?" In answer to this he is told that it should issue in the final destruction of the Jewish church and nation. "When the word of God, especially the word of the gospel, had been thus abused by them, they shall be unchurched, and consequently undone. Their cities shall be uninhabited, and their country houses too; the land shall be untilled, desolate with desolation (as it is in the margin), the people who should replenish the houses and cultivate the ground being all cut off by sword, famine, or pestilence, and those who escape with their lives being removed far away into captivity, so that there shall be a great and general forsaking in the midst of the land; that populous country shall become desert, and that glory of all lands shall be abandoned." Note, Spiritual judgments often bring temporal judgments along with them upon persons and places. This was in part fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, when the land, being left desolate, enjoyed her sabbaths seventy years; but, the foregoing predictions being so expressly applied in the New Testament to the Jews in our Saviour's time, doubtless this points at the final destruction of that people by the Romans, in which it had a complete accomplishment, and the effects of it that people and that land remain under to this day.
4. That yet a remnant should be reserved to be the monuments of mercy, Isa 6:13. There was a remnant reserved in the last destruction of the Jewish nation (Rom 11:5, At this present time there is a remnant); for so it was written here: But in it shall be a tenth, a certain number, but a very small number in comparison with the multitude that shall perish in their unbelief. It is that which, under the law, was God's proportion; they shall be consecrated to God as the tithes were, and shall be for his service and honour. Concerning this tithe, this saved remnant, we are here told, (1.) That they shall return (Isa 6:13; Isa 10:21), shall return from sin to God and duty, shall return out of captivity to their own land. God will turn them, and they shall be turned. (2.) That they shall be eaten, that is, shall be accepted of God as the tithe was, which was meat in God's house, Mal 3:10. The saving of this remnant shall be meat to the faith and hope of those that wish well to God's kingdom. (3.) That they shall be like a timber-tree in winter, which has life, though it has no leaves: As a teil-tree and as an oak, whose substance is in them even when they cast their leaves, so this remnant, though they may be stripped of their outward prosperity and share with others in common calamities, shall yet recover themselves, as a tree in the spring, and flourish again; though they fall, they shall not be utterly cast down. There is hope of a tree, though it be cut down, that it will sprout again, Job 14:7. (4.) That this distinguished remnant shall be the stay and support of the public interests. The holy seed in the soul is the substance of the man; a principle of grace reigning in the heart will keep life there; he that is born of God has his seed remaining in him, Jo1 3:9. So the holy seed in the land is the substance of the land, keeps it from being quite dissolved, and bears up the pillars of it, Psa 75:3. See Isa 1:9. Some read the foregoing clause with this, thus: As the support at Shallecheth is in the elms and the oaks, so the holy seed is the substance thereof; as the trees that grow on either side of the causeway (the raised way, or terrace-walk, that leads from the king's palace to the temple, Kg1 10:5, at the gate of Shallecheth, Ch1 26:16) support the causeway by keeping up the earth, which would otherwise be crumbling away, so the small residue of religious, serious, praying people, are the support of the state, and help to keep things together and save them from going to decay. Some make the holy seed to be Christ. The Jewish nation was therefore saved from utter ruin because out of it, as concerning the flesh, Christ was to come, Rom 9:5. Destroy it not, for that blessing is in it (Isa 65:8); and when that blessing had come, it was soon destroyed. Now the consideration of this is designed for the support of the prophet in his work. Though far the greater part should perish in their unbelief, yet to some his word should be a savour of life unto life. Ministers do not wholly lose their labour if they be but instrumental to save one poor soul.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv8–10Also I heard the voice of the Lord,.... The…
Also I heard the voice of the Lord,.... The Targum renders it, the voice of the Word of the Lord, as if it was the second Person, the Word, that was heard speaking; but it seems rather to be the voice of the first Person, the Father:
saying, Whom shall I send? to the people of Israel, to reprove them for their blindness and stupidity, and to threaten them, and foretell unto them their ruin and destruction; intimating that it was a difficult thing to pitch upon a proper person; and that there were but few that were fit to go on such an errand: this is spoken after the manner of men; otherwise the Lord knew whom to send, and whom he would send; and could easily qualify anyone he pleased, and send with such a message:
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and who will go for us? not directing his discourse to the seraphim, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi; as if he consulted with them: for who of all the creatures is the Lord's counsellor? but to the Son and Spirit, who it is certain were concerned in this mission; for the following words were said when Isaiah saw the glory of Christ, and spake of him, Joh 12:41 and they are expressly attributed to the Holy Ghost in Act 28:25 the Septuagint and Arabic versions, instead of "for us", read "unto this people"; and the Targum is,
"whom shall I send to prophesy? and who will go to teach?''
then said I, here am I, send me: for he who before thought himself undone, and unworthy to be employed in the service of God, now having a discovery and application of pardoning grace, freely offers himself to God: this shows the true nature and effect of an application of pardon; it gives a man freedom and boldness in the presence of God, and stimulates to a ready and cheerful obedience to his will, and engages him with the utmost alacrity in his service; so far is the doctrine of free and full pardon by the blood of Christ from being a licentious doctrine.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv8–10Who - To deliver the following message. The change…
Who - To deliver the following message. The change of the number, I and us, is very remarkable; and both being meant of one and the same Lord, do sufficiently intimate a plurality of persons in the Godhead.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv9–10Verse 9. And he said] לי li, to me,…
Verse 9. And he said] לי li, to me, two MSS. and the Syriac. Thirteen MSS. have ראה raah, in the regular form.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv8–9Isa 6:8. Also I heard the voice of the…
Isa 6:8. Also I heard the voice of the Lord — We have here the third part of this vision, comprehending, 1st, A trial of the disposition of the prophet, now sanctified, with his reply to the Lord, in this verse; 2d, The command delivered to him concerning the execution of the divine judgment upon the Jews, of blindness, &c., Isa 6:9-10; Isaiah 3 d, A more full and explicit declaration of a most grievous temporal judgment, which should be joined with the spiritual one, Isa 6:11-13. — Vitringa. Whom shall I send? — God asks this question, not as if he were unresolved whom to send, but that Isaiah might have an opportunity of voluntarily offering his service. And who will go for us? — To deliver the following message. The change of the number, I and us, is very remarkable; and both being meant of one and the same Lord, do sufficiently intimate a plurality of persons in the Godhead. Then said I, Here am I, &c. — God’s last and great favour to him both encouraged and obliged him to be thus forward in his service.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv8–10The voice of the Lord - Hebrew: “The voice…
The voice of the Lord - Hebrew: “The voice of Yahweh.” He had before been addressed by one of the seraphim.
Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? - The change of number here, from the singular to the plural, is very remarkable. Jerome, on this place, says that it indicates the ‘sacrament’ of the Trinity. The Septuagint renders it, ‘whom shall I send, and who will go to this people?’ The Chaldee, ‘whom shall I send to prophesy, and who will go to teach?’ The Syriac, ‘whom shall I send, and who will go?’ The Arabic has followed the Septuagint. The use of the plural pronouns “we and us,” as applicable to God, occurs several times in the Old Testament. Thus, Gen 1:26 : ‘And God said, Let us make man in our image;’ Gen 11:6-7 : ‘And Jehovah said, Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language.’ Such a use of the name of God in the plural is very common, but it is not clear that there is a reference to the doctrine of the Trinity. In some cases, it is evident that it cannot have such a reference, and that no “argument” can be drawn from the use of that plural form in favor of such a doctrine.
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Thus, in Isa 19:4, the expression ‘a cruel lord,’ is in the Hebrew in the plural, yet evidently denoting but one. The expression translated ‘the most Holy One,’ or ‘the Holy,’ is in the plural in Pro 9:10; Pro 30:3. In 1Sa 19:13, 1Sa 19:16, the plural form is applied to a “household god,” or an image; and the plural form is applied to God in Job 30:25, ‘my Makers’ (Hebrew); Ecc 12:1, ‘thy Creators’ (Heb,); Psa 121:5, ‘Yahweh is thy keepers’ (Hebrew); see also Isa 54:5; Isa 22:2; Isa 43:5; Isa 62:5. This is called by grammarians pluralis excellentice, or the plural form indicating majesty or honor. It is, in all countries, used in reference to kings and princes; and as God often represents himself as a “king” in the Scriptures, and speaks in the language that was usually applied to kings in oriental countries, no argument can be drawn from expressions like these in defense of the doctrine of the Trinity. There are unanswerable arguments enough in support of that doctrine, without resorting to those which are of doubtful authority.
That there are clearer intimations of the doctrines of the Trinity, than that contained in this and similar texts, is indubitable; but we must not set aside the early and somewhat obscure intimations of a doctrine, simply because it comes afterward to be exhibited with more fulness. Such is the plan of revelation; and, instead of despising early announcements, or deeming them useless, because better “proofs” of the doctrine in question can be found, we ought to admire the wisdom and goodness of God in this gradual development of truth. The same interest belongs to the work of thus tracing the rise and progress of truth in the Bible, as belongs to that of him who traces rivers to their fountain head, and proves that, far up amid mountains all but inaccessible, rises the tiny stream, on whose broad waters, as it nears the sea, navies float in proud array. No more visible, in its earlier outflowings, is this doctrine of the Trinity; yet by and by it is the element on which Christianity doats, and in which it lives and moves. Thus we see the unity and harmony of revelation in 11 ages; the doctrine is the same; the degree of manifestation only is different. The necessity of preserving and exhibiting this unity, gives to these early intimations an unspeakable importance; though some, through an excess of candor, would abandon them to the enemy. This text, and its parallels, Gen 1:26; Gen 3:22; Gen 11:7, exhibit the Trinity in Revelation’s dawn indistinctly - partially disclosed - revealing only a “plurality” of persons. As the light increases, the “three” persons are seen moving under the lifting shadows, until, in the New Testament, baptism is commanded in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and the existence and functions of each person are clearly unfolded.
The problem is, to account for the use of the plural number in these passages, consistently with the unity of God. The doctrine of the Trinity seems to furnish an easy and beautiful solution; but this solution has been rejected, not by Unitarians only, but by Trinitarians not a few. Various hypotheses have been offered: as, that in the creation of man Gen 1:26, God associated with himself the heavens and the earth; or, that he consulted with angels; or, meant simply to indicate the importance of the work; or, perhaps, to supply a lesson of deliberation! These crudities are by most, however, long ago abandoned as untenable; and the solution most generally approved by such as reject that of the Trinity, is that furnished by an appeal to the “style of majesty.” Oriental princes, it is alleged, from the most ancient times, used the plural number in publishing their decrees; and such is the style of royalty to this day. But, unfortunately for this theory, there is no evidence whatever that ancient potentates employed this style. “The use of the plural number by kings and princes, is quite a modern invention.” The Bible does not furnish any example of it. Nor is there any evidence that God himself, on especially solemn occasions, keeping out of sight, of course, the text in question, used such style; there is abundant evidence to the contrary, the singular number being used by Yahweh in the most sublime and awful declarations.
Besides this strange use of the plural number on the part of God himself, plural names (אלהים 'elohı̂ym, אדנים 'ădônâyı̂m) are frequently given to him by the writers of the Bible; the instances in which these names occur in the singular form, are the exceptions. The name usually rendered “God” in the English Bible, is almost invariably plural - אלהים 'elohı̂ym, Gods. That these plural forms are used of idols, as well as of the true God, is admitted; but as the special names of the true God came, in process of time, to be applied to idols, so would the special “form” of these names, and to tell us that these forms “are” so applied, is quite beside the question. We wish to know why, originally, such forms were applied to the “true” God; and it is no answer to tell us they are also applied to idols. ‘There is nothing more wonderful in the name being so used in the plural form, than in its being so used at all.
The same principle which accounts for the name God being given to pagan deities at all, will equally well account for its being given to them in the particular form in which it is applied to the true God.’ - “Wardlaw.” This is pointed and decisive; and renders it needless to speculate here on the mode in which the name, or the plural form of it, came to be transferred to false gods, or great men. On this point, see Dr. John Pye Smith’s “Scripture testimony to the Messiah.” It is further remarkable, that these plural appellatives are, for the most part combined with verbs and adjectives in the singular number; as, ‘Gods (he) created,’ Gen 1:1; and with plural adjuncts but rarely. Now, the ordinary rule of grammar might have been followed invariably, as well as in these few instances, or the departures from it might have been but few in number. That this is not the case, implies the existence of some very cogent reason, and cannot be regarded as the result, merely, of accident.
To account for the use of these plural names, our author has recourse to what is called the pluralis majestaticus, or excellentiae, according to which, nouns of dignity and majesty, in Hebrew, are said to be used in the plural form. But the existence of this pluralis majestaticus has never been proved. Its defense is now abandoned by the most skillful grammarians. Ewald repudiates it. And it is not a little remarkable, that some of the examples most relied on for proof of this “dignified plural,” are found, on examination, to possess nothing of the dignity, while more exact scholarship has reduced their plurality also. The examples alluded to, are, Exo 21:29, Exo 21:34; Exo 22:10, Exo 22:13; Isa 1:3; where the supposed plural form denotes the owner of oxen, of sheep, and of asses! - fit parties, doubtless, to be honored with the pluralis majestaticus. In truth, leaving out of view the plural appellatives applied to the Deity, that is, the appellatives in question, and which, therefore, cannot be adduced, there is no evidence whatever of this pretended rule. Had any rule of the kind existed, we should, without doubt, have found it exemplified, when kings, princes, nobles, generals, priests, and prophets figure on the sacred pages. That the pluralis excellentiae is not applied to them, is sufficient proof of its nonexistence; and should dispose rational and candid inquirers to acquiesce in the solution of the grammatical anomalies we have been considering, that is furnished by the doctrine of Trinity in Unity - the solution which, to say the least of it, is beset with fewest difficulties.
The language here idicates the “design” for which this vision was shown to Isaiah. It was to commission him to exhibit truth that would be extremely unpleasant to the nation, and that would have the certain effect of hardening their hearts. In view of the nature and effect of this message, God is represented as inquiring who would be willing to undertake it? Who had courage enough to do it? Who would risk his life? And it indicates, perhaps, that there were “few” in the nation who would be willing to do it, and that it was attended with self-denial and danger.
Here am I - This shows at once his confidence in God, and his zeal. He had been qualified for it by the extraordinary commission, and he was now ready to bear the message to his countrymen. In this attitude “we” should stand, prompt to deliver “any” message that God shall entrust to our hands, and to engage in “any” service that he calls on us to perform.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv8, 10For us. Hence arises a proof of the plurality…
For us. Hence arises a proof of the plurality of persons. (Calmet) --- Send me. Thus Isaias was an evangelical and apostolical prophet. (St. Jerome) (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv8–10I . . . us--The change of number indicates…
I . . . us--The change of number indicates the Trinity (compare Gen 1:26; Gen 11:7). Though not a sure argument for the doctrine, for the plural may indicate merely majesty, it accords with that truth proved elsewhere.
Whom . . . who--implying that few would be willing to bear the self-denial which the delivering of such an unwelcome message to the Jews would require on the part of the messenger (compare Ch1 29:5).
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Here am I--prompt zeal, now that he has been specially qualified for it (Isa 6:7; compare Sa1 3:10-11; Act 9:6).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv8–108. Voice of the Lord — The seraphs’ voices…
8. Voice of the Lord — The seraphs’ voices are hushed at the “voice” of Jehovah. From amid the Presence a great inquiry reaches the prophet’s ear. It is an inquiry which Jehovah is ever making; namely, for preachers and missionaries to a dying world. Whom shall I send, and who will go, are the divine queries. The first query implies that whoever goes should first receive his commission from Jehovah; he should be sent, and not go before he is sent. The second implies that he should freely will to go; he should heartily accord with his commission.
For us — The plural may here, as elsewhere, be the plural of royalty, by which kings speak of themselves as we and us. Or, it may include with Jehovah himself his attendant court of seraphim. Or, as many eminent commentators, it may denote the trinity, indicated in the thrice “holy” uttered by the seraphim.
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Here am I — And this is the man who a few minutes ago was agonized with fear for his life because in his impurity he had seen God. Touched with the heavenly fire he now faces with bold joy the divine Presence, and announces himself ready for any message.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv8–108. Now for the first time Isaiah hears the…
8. Now for the first time Isaiah hears the voice of God, the purification of his lips having fitted him for personal converse with Jehovah and spiritual sympathy with His purposes.
who will go for us?] The plural is not that of majesty, but includes the “council of the holy ones” (Psa_89:7), or the angelic “hosts of heaven” (1Ki_22:19 f.).
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Here am I; send me] The spontaneity and self-abandonment of this response are characteristic of Isaiah. He is as yet ignorant of the nature of his commission, yet he freely accepts it; and throughout life he never felt his message to be a grievous burden, as Jeremiah often did.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv8–10(8) Also I heard the voice of the Lord.—The…
(8) Also I heard the voice of the Lord.—The work of cleansing has made the prophet one of the heavenly brotherhood. He is as an angel called to an angel’s work. (Comp. Jdg_2:1; Jdg_5:23; Mal_3:1.) He had before seen the glory of Jehovah, and had been overwhelmed with terror. Now he hears His voice (Joh_10:4), and it rouses him to self-consecration and activity.
Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?—The union of the singular and plural in the same sentence is significant. The latter does not admit of being explained as a pluralis majestatis, for the great kings of Assyria, and Babylon, and Persia always spoke of themselves in the singular (Records of the Past, passim), and the “plural of majesty” was an invention of the servility of the Byzantine court. A partial explanation is found in the fact that here, as elsewhere (1Ki_22:19 : Job_1:6; Job_2:1; and perhaps Gen_1:26; Gen_11:7), Jehovah is represented as a king in council. Christian thought has, however, scarcely erred in believing that the words were as a dim foreshadowing of the truth, afterwards to be revealed, of a plurality within the Unity. (See Note on Isa_6:3.) Psa_110:1, which Isaiah may have known, suggested at least a duality. The question reveals to the prophet that there is a work to be done for Jehovah, that He needs an instrument for that work. It is implied that no angel out of the whole host, no man out of the whole nation, offers to undertake it. (Comp. Isa_63:3; Isa_63:5.) The prophet, with the ardour for work which follows on the sense of pardon, volunteers for it before he knows what it is. He reaches in one moment the supreme height of the faith which went forth, not knowing whither it went (Heb_11:8).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv8–10Vers. 8-13. THE PROPHET ENTRUSTED WITH A SPECIAL MISSON.…
Vers. 8-13. THE PROPHET ENTRUSTED WITH A SPECIAL MISSON. We do not know what special call Isaiah had had previously. Perhaps he had been brought up in the "schools of the prophets." Perhaps, when the "word of the Lord" came to him, he had accepted the fact as sufficient call. Now, however, he had, in vision, a clear and distinct call and mission (vers. 8, 9). He was told to "go," and instructed as to what he was to say (vers. 9, 10). As before (Isaiah 1-5.), while in the main he was to denounce woe, he was still to proclaim the survival of a remnant (vers. 1012).
Whom shall I send?. (comp. 1Ki_20:20) Such questions enable those who wait in the courts of heaven to show their zeal and readiness. Who will go for us? Some explain the plural pronoun as used of the Almighty and those with whom he is consulting. But he does not really "consult" his creatures, (infra, Isa_40:14 Rev_11:3-4) nor do his messengers do his errands for them. The plural form is best explained by the light which ver. 3 throws on it, as indicative of the doctrine of the Trinity. (comp. Gen_1:26)
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HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM Ver. 8. The call of God.
"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me." The symbol of the seraphim had been on the prophet"s head, and the voice of the Lord had come to his conscience and his heart. The live coal had touched his lips. Prophets, apostles, teachers, must be sent of God. Other qualifications are appropriate and excellent, but this is indispensable.
I THE DIVINE QUERY. "Whom?" Then God takes thought about Divine government in human history. Just as Nature expresses, in all her forms of beauty, his skill and care, so in grace God is observant of character, and watchful for the wisest means. He knows the secret places of grace and genius, and he can call them forth at the appropriate time. Isaiah now; Paul in the great epoch to come.
II THE ELECTIVE HONOR. "Whom shall I send?" Here we have the sublime election to privilege, so far as responsibility is concerned, which, rightly considered, explains God"s calling of Jews then, and Jews and Gentiles now. It is not an election to salvation, but to a status of honor and influence in witnessing for him. "Send!" Then God is the great Father of all human spirits, not willing that any should perish. The Jewish Church was a city set on a hill to enlighten others; the salt to save the world from death and putrefaction.
III THE QUICK RESPONSE. There is no hesitation. "Here am I" Men should fulfill their own prayers. They ask for grace and strength to work and give. Let them inquire within whether they cannot turn supplication into consecration. "Here am I" How few say that! They look round and exclaim, "Send others!" "Send reel" says the prophet, fulfilling the commission which makes him the great evangelic spirit of the Old Testament. W.M.S.
On God"s errand.
Our thought is naturally divided into
I THE DIVINE DEMAND. "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?
1. There are some demands God makes of us all. He requires that we should hearken when he speaks; that we should be especially attentive to his Son; (Mat_17:5) that we should accept Jesus Christ as our Lord, Savior, Friend, Exemplar; that we should honor him before the world.
2. There are other demands he makes of most of Ms children. That they should actively engage in the work of extending his kingdom; that they should suffer some kind of persecution for his sake.
3. There remain some demands he only makes of a few. Work requiring specially hard toil, or particular preparation in study, or unusual tact and versatility, or exceptional powers of mind or body. Then he says, "Whom (of all my servants) shall I send; and who will go?
II THE INDIVIDUAL RESPONSE. "Here am I; send me." In order to say this wisely and rightly, there must be:
1. Thorough devotedness; half-heartedness will never succeed on such errands as these.
2. Special qualification, by native faculty or favorable antecedents.
3. Freedom from other and more pressing obligations. These conditions being fulfilled, all the highest considerations the will of Christ, the pitiful necessities of the sons of want and sorrow and shame, the example of the noblest, the recompense of the righteous combine to say, "Go, and the Lord be with you. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv8–10Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying,…
Isa_6:8
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send?
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Messengers wanted
I. THE PERSON WANTED, as described in the questions, Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us? The person wanted is viewed from two points. The person wanted has a Divine side: Whom shall I send? Then he has a human aspect: Who will go for Us? But the two meet together--the human and Divine unite in the last words, for Us. Here is a man, nothing more than a man of human instincts, but clad through Divine grace with superhuman, even with Divine authority. Let us look, then, at this two-sided person.
1. He is Divinely chosen.
2. Cheerfully willing.
3. Sent by the Three-One. When we tell others the story of the Cross we speak for God the Father. Nor must we forget our tender Redeemer. Moreover, that blessed Spirit, under whose dispensatorial power we live at the present hour, He has no voice to speak to the sons of men audibly except by His people; and though He works invisibly and mysteriously in the saints, yet He chooses loving hearts, and compassionate lips, and tearful eyes to be the means of benediction.
II. THE PERSON OFFERING HIMSELF. Here am I; send me. The person offering himself is described in the chapter at very great length--he must be an Isaiah. Being an Isaiah, he must--
1. Have felt his own unworthiness. Notice how it was that Isaiah was made to feel his unworthiness.
(1) By a sense of the presence of God.
(2) Isaiah saw the glory of Christ.
(3) It will strike you, too, that the particular aspect in which this humiliation may come to us will probably be, a sense of the Divine holiness, and the holiness of those who see His face.
2. We must possess a sense of mercy.
3. The man who will be acceptable must offer himself cheerfully. Here am I. How few of us have in very deed given ourselves to Christ it is with most professors, Here is my half-guinea, here is my annual contribution; but how few of us have said, Here am I.
4. The person who thus volunteered for sacred service gave himself unreservedly. He did not say, Here am I; use me where I am, but send me. Where to? No condition as to place is so much as hinted at.
5. He gives obediently, for he pauses to ask directions. It is not, Here am I; away I will go, but Here am I; send me. Some people get into their head a notion that they must do something uncommon and extraordinary, and though it may be most irrational, it is for that very reason that the scheme commends itself to their want of judgment. Because it is absurd, they think it to be Divine; if earthly wisdom does not justify it, then certainly heavenly wisdom must be called in to endorse it. Now, I conceive that you will find that whenever a thing is wise in Gods sight it is really wise, and that a thing which is absurd is not more likely to be adopted by God than by man; for though the Lord does use plans which are called foolish, they are only foolish to fools, but not actually foolish.
III. THE WORK WHICH SUCH PERSONS WILL BE CALLED TO UNDERTAKE. Isaiahs history is a picture of what many and many a true Christian labourer may expect. Isaiah was sent to preach very unpleasant truth, but like a true hero he was very bold in preaching it. Isaiah is very bold, says the apostle. Now, if you are called of God either to preach or teach, or whatever it is, remember the things you have to preach or teach will not be agreeable to your hearers. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Militia-Christians
Some people are militia Christians--they serve the King with a limitation, and must not be sent out of England; but others are soldier-Christians, who give themselves wholly up to their Lord and Captain; they will go wherever He chooses to send them. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Copyhold-Christians
Some professors appear to belong to God by copyhold. They grant a limited kind of Divine right to their energies and substance; but there are many clauses which limit the holding. I hope that you are Gods portion upon an absolute freehold. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Gods call for servants
Several questions arise as we read these words. Why is God asking for service instead of discharging the work Himself? He can speak in tones which would make the proudest quail; He can unfold a majesty before which the whole nation should be subdued. Or again, if He needs service, why does He wait for volunteers? Why does He not compel servants to enter upon this mission, as He imposed on Moses the task of leading the people of Israel out of the land of bondage?
I. THE DIVINE CALL:--Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?
1. Why should God thus ask human service? We cannot doubt for a moment how independent our glorious God might be of all mere human resources.
(1) The great purposes which God seeks to accomplish can best be achieved through human instrumentality. God craves from men, not the unconscious response which the mown grass makes to the showers, or dewdrops to the sunlight. He desires intelligent, trustful, loving union with Himself, and it may be that such ends as these are better obtained through human instrumentality than by an overpowering exhibition of the Divine majesty and glory. As the light comes to us through the atmosphere, which lessens its dazzling power, so that we are illuminated instead of being blinded with excess of light, so God gives to us His commands and messages through human tongues and language, lest we should be overpowered.
(2) God means to educate His servants by using them for His purposes. When He says, Whom shall I send, it is not that He is destitute of angelic hosts who would thankfully accept the commission. He knows how our human hearts will be educated by the very ministry we render.
2. Notice what is involved in such a call as this. When God says, Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us, He pledges Himself to endue with authority, and to endow with all needful gifts, the man who answers the call.
II. THE RESPONSE OF THE PROPHET. Here am I; send me.
1. What could have led the prophet to offer himself for a Divine mission? How had he the courage to step forward and volunteer? Did he not shrink from the vast issues involved in the work? Did he not understand the dangers into which he would plunge? Did he not know how hard it would be to reach mens hearts around him with the solemn message? He knew it all, but he stepped forward in the simplicity of a perfect faith, and said, Here am I; send me. You will perceive in the foregoing verse an account of his preparation for receiving this call. He was prepared by a sense of pardoning love. In the fulness of a loving, grateful heart, he stepped forward and accepted the mission.
2. Notice the willingness with which the prophet offered himself. He steps forward as one who feels it an honour, and is ready for any sacrifice which the honour may entail. This is the light in which we may wisely look on Christian service.
III. THE DIVINE ACCEPTANCE OF THE PROPHETS OFFER. God said, Go. You have just that very simple succession of events. God asking for service, the prophet offering himself, and God accepting his services. If God has given you aptitude in dealing with the experiences of men, go into the homes of the poor and destitute, ministering consolation to their sorrows. If God has given you warm sympathies with the young, go into the ranks of the Sunday school, draw young hearts around you, and win them to Christ. If God has given you influence with men, go to the drunkard and the fallen and seek to reclaim them from the depths of degradation in which they are sunk. If God has given you the tongue of the wise to speak a word in season, which shall be as apples of gold in pictures of silver, go and use the power in private talk with the men you meet in daily life. (C. B. Symes, B. A.)
The commission of a sinful but cleansed man
Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? Why does the Lord ask that question with such anxiety when He has all those shining seraphs standing at His side, and each one of them with six wings? Why was Isaiah, the son of Amoz, a man of unclean lips, and a man woeful and undone, so accepted, and so sent? Seraphs, not sinners, should surely be the preachers of such holiness as that of the God of Israel, and the heralds of such a Saviour--that is what we would have expected. But Gods thoughts in these things are not as our thoughts. This has always been Gods way in choosing and in ordaining and in sending both prophets, and psalmists, and priests, and preachers for His Church on earth. Only once did God choose a completely sinless preacher. Always, but that once, God has chosen sinful men; and, not seldom, the most sinful of men He could get to speak to their fellow men about sin and salvation. Gabriel might come with his six wings and his salutation to announce to Mary that the fulness of time had come and that the Word was to be made flesh, but it was John, the son of Zacharias, who was not that light, who was sent to preach repentance to the vipers of his day, and to urge them to flee from the wrath to come. And just as for the awakening and the warning of sinners, so for the edification and the comfort of saints. For every high priest is taken from among men, who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. Isaiah, accordingly, of all men on the earth at that moment, and of all angels in heaven, was the man chosen of God to preach repentance to Jerusalem, and to prophesy to her the coming of her Messiah. And he preached on all these matters as no angel in all heaven could have preached, he preached as only a leper could preach to his brother lepers, and as only one undone man could preach to other undone men. Just hear him in his first sermon. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his masters crib. Ah! sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers. Why should ye be stricken any more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores. All Gods seraphs taken together could not preach like that. It takes a great sinner to preach as well as to hear like that. You must have a man of men to see, and to feel, and to say things like that. And then, on the other hand, no seraph of them all, with all his wings, had seen down so deep, and had come up so close to the holiness of God as Isaiah had seen and had come close. The seraphs cry Holy, holy, holy, to one another, but they do not know what they are saying. The seraphs are innocent children. And He whom they so innocently praise charges His seraphs with folly. But, Woe is me! for I am undone! The Lord likes to hear that. This young preacher, then, having seen both sin and holiness as no seraph ever saw these terrible things, proceeds in his sermon in this way: Wash you, make you clean; cease to do evil, learn to do well; judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow: though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Every syllable of all that is out of Isaiahs own experience. Preaching like that never yet came out of the schools of the prophets, any more than it ever came out of the mouth of an angel. Isaiah had done it all to himself, and had had it all done unto him of God. (A. Whyte, D. D.)
The challenge of service
I. THE CHALLENGE. Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? The Lords ordinary manner of appointing His messengers is to select them Himself, and without consulting them send them to do their work. He commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh with every consideration for Jonahs fitness, and no consideration for Jonahs tastes. The work is always more important than the man, for the man has a brief life, and the work is immortal. It ought not, therefore, to be expected that the Lord should regard anything in choosing a servant for duty but that servants qualifications for the duty. But there are exceptions to this rule of selection for work. When the task is a peculiarly hazardous one; when the performance of it demands the highest attributes of the intellect, the rarest qualities of the heart, and an extraordinary stimulus of inspiration, it is better that these gifts should go to the work under the impulse of a self-moving passion rather than under the enforcement of command. The General of an army wisely relaxes the routine discipline of duty when in the fortunes of the campaign the troops have to face the desperate service of some forlorn hope. Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? is the proclamation from the Commanders tent, and a storming party of volunteers is told off, to mount the breach and take the van of danger.
1. In the year that King Uzziah died it seemed as if the last hope of the people of God had expired with him.
2. The nature of the work may be inferred from the condition of the people. They were an old and not a young nation: they were wicked and not ignorant: the two fountains of power, the Church and the State, were corrupt at their sources, authority of every kind was on the side of licentiousness; and since, with all this, the outward forms of order and of piety were preserved, the people grew up to be as remarkable for their hypocrisy as for their immorality. It has always been supposed that, whether in the case of a nation, or an individual, suffering is a powerful moralist; and that a mind which is proof against the humbling and cleansing effects of pain is reprobate and beyond redemption. The people of Israel and Judah had been punished by every species of chastisement; invasion, captivity, pestilence, famine, and sword, nothing that a people loves or a man cherishes had been left untouched; from the sole of the nations foot to the crown of her head, the lash of retribution had been laid on so heavily that nothing was to be seen but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores. Yet they continued to revolt more and more. This was the state of things for which the Lord demanded a voluntary workman. Who will be a bearer of evil tidings? who will reprove kings for My sake? Who will expose and denounce wickedness in high places? Who will proclaim the insincerity of the priests, their robbery of the flock, and the fiction of their ceremonial? Who will go to the market places and declare the dishonesty of their traffic? Who will beard the army and charge the soldiers with cowardice and treason? Who will be hated of all men, and be the victim of the conspiracies of the crafty, of the insults of the street rabble, and of the desertion of false and incompetent friends? Who will endure to fail; to be simply a witness; to speak without convincing; to sow without a harvest?
3. The voice of the Lord cries loudly in the midst of the Churches of today, inviting voluntary service for difficult work; missionary work abroad and missionary work at home.
II. THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE CHALLENGE, Here am I; send me. Looking at this acceptance by itself, it seems an extraordinary sacrifice on the part of Isaiah. He was a youth, probably not more than eighteen or nineteen, when he answered the Lords challenge; he was a member of the first circle of the Jewish aristocracy, and, according to some authorities, a prince of the royal blood. He was nurtured in the soft and sumptuous luxuriance of palaces. There had been in his training everything to satisfy sense and to kindle ambition. Having great natural parts and a fine genius, and commanding both means and leisure, the career of a great State ruler, or a Church dignitary, or the easy splendour of an intellectual voluptuary, any or all of these distinctions were within reach of the gifted kinsman of Uzziah. Youth as he was, his social position and quick observation enabled him to appreciate the service demanded in the challenge. He knew the people to whom the message would be sent; he conjectured what the character of that message would be; and what kind of service awaited the man who should deliver it; that it would be hard, unthankful, and dangerous; and yet this youth, born to be a fine gentleman, accepted a task which might well have made the strongest and most experienced natures shrink, Here am I; send me! Let us seek the explanation of this simplicity, devotion, and courage in that which went before the acceptance of the challenge. (E. Jenkins, LL. D.)
Visions of God
I. THE VISION OF GOD TO THE SOUL. The vision of God to the soul implies these two facts, namely, that God can communicate, speak, and make Himself manifest and known to the soul, and that the soul has capacity to receive what God makes known, or communicates to it. This capacity has been impaired, more or less, in all human beings.
II. THE VISION OF GOD HAS EFFECTS UPON THE SOUL. It has a creative power that calls several new forces into action.
1. The sense of sin.
2. The sense of forgiveness.
3. The sense of duty.
4. Power to perform duty. (W. Thomas.)
The Divine call for missionaries
I. Let us gaze upon THE VISION OF GLORY which Isaiah saw. It was necessary for him to see it in order that he might be brought into the condition of heart out of which should come the full consecration expressed in--Here am I; send me. Observe what he saw.
1. The supreme glory of God. See the patience of His infinite majesty,--He sits in calm glory upon His eternal throne. Nor is it a mean throne either, nor one of little dignity; it is high and lifted up. It is not merely above all other thrones by way of greater power, but over them all by way of supreme dominion over them.
2. The court of the great King. He beheld the glorious attendants who perpetually perform homage, nearest to His throne.
3. The perpetual song, for these sacred beings continually cried, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory. While you praise His holiness do not forget His power, but adore Him as Jehovah of hosts. And then dwell, that you may feel a missionary spirit, on that last part of the song, The whole earth is filled with His glory, for so it really is in one sense. Jehovah of hosts is the fulness of the whole earth. Turn this ascription, for it may be so read, into a wish: Let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Read it, if you please, as a prophecy: The whole earth shall be filled with His glory, and then go you forward, O ye servants of the Most High, with this resolve, that in His hands you will be the means of fulfilling the prophecy by spreading abroad the knowledge of His name among the sons of men.
II. Let us now turn our thoughts to THE VISION OF ORDINATION. This man Isaiah was to go forth in Jehovahs name, but in order to preparation for so high an embassage he must undergo a process peculiar but necessary.
III. When a man is prepared for sacred work he is not long before he receives a commission. We come, then, to think of THE DIVINE CALL. Notice the particular kind of man for whom this voice is seeking. It is a man who must be sent, a man under impulse, a man under authority--Whom shall I send? But it is a man who is quite willing to go, a volunteer, one who in his inmost heart rejoices to obey--Who will go for Us? What a strange mingling this is! Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel, and yet taking the oversight of the flock of God not by constraint but willingly.
IV. Now comes the last point, THE EARNEST RESPONSE. Here am I; send me.
1. I think I see in that response a consciousness of his being in a certain position which no one else occupied, which rendered it incumbent upon him to say, Here am I.
2. Then, he makes a full surrender of himself. Isaiah gave himself up to the Lord none the less completely because his errand was so full of sadness. He was not to win men, but to seal their doom by putting before them truth which they would be sure to reject.
3. Then comes Isaiahs prayer for authority and anointing. If we read this passage rightly we shall not always throw the emphasis upon the last word,
me, but read it also thus, Here am I, send me. He is willing to go, but he does not want to go without being sent. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Here am I; send me
Whole-hearted service
Here am I; send me. These few simple words express the crisis, the turning point in the life of Isaiah. If he had never uttered these words you would never have heard of him. But the uttering of these words in profound sincerity from the bottom of his heart made him one of the greatest of the prophets of God. The very first condition of whole-hearted service is the conviction that the cause which we serve will ultimately prevail. The day is coming when the Christian religion will prevail everywhere, when the will of God will be done on earth as literally and really as angels do it in heaven. Even now things are not as they seem. Even now the glory of God fills the whole earth. So young Isaiah realised in days much darker and more ominous than these. (H. P. Hughes, M. A.)
The birth of the true missionary
In the fellowship of the cleansing, the fellowship of the Cross, the missionary is born. (R. J. Campbell, M. A.)
Seeing and saying
Men must see before they can say. (R. J. Campbell, M. A.)
Ecstasy and self-immolation
Bless God for any ecstasy that leads to self-immolation. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Seers and servants
We must become seers before we can become servants. (S. Cox, D. D.)
Experience to be used for the benefit of others
Isaiah saw the King that he might serve the King. He was convinced of sin that he might convince his fellows, he was purged from his iniquity that he might proclaim the love, the sacrifice, which takes away the iniquity of us all. (S. Cox, D. D.)
The whole life should be devoted to God
Though at times he had to rebuke princes and to pronounce the doom of nations, yet it was his whole life that he dedicated to God, with all its petty details of daily conduct. It was part of his work to live with the prophetess he took to wife according to a Divine law; to name and train his children so that little Immanuel and little Maher-shalal-hash-baz should be for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts. And, in like manner, God sends us to our own people, to our kinsfolk and acquaintance. (S. Cox, D. D.)
To let the love out
If there were no humanity to save, none but our own, yours and mine, the fellowship of the cleansing would still be ours, but we would be seeking for something to do to express to the Christ our sense of what that fellowship had brought. Two sisters brought this fact home to me. One was weak, suffering, dying, though the other did not know it at the time. The one who was watching by the bedside said, It seems dreadful to be so helpless, to feel I can do so little to assuage the suffering of the dear one. I can do nothing whatever. If I only could do something that hurts, hurts me, I think I should feel better, to let my love out. I know what she meant quite well--to let the love out. The love that we bear the dear Redeemer compels us to see the Divine in mankind. There is a sweet and holy sympathy born of that urgent desire to let the love out which was born in the fellowship of the cleansing. (R. J. Campbell, M. A.)
Every church member should be a missionary
In looking over a certificate of membership which I had received from a church in New York, concerning one of its members who was a sailor, I was pleased to observe that at the back of the certificate there were directions given to the member; and the first one was this, You are to remember that as a member of this church going upon a voyage, you are sent by us as missionary. You are to understand that you and every other member of the church are bound to spread abroad the Saviours name. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Ready to obey
Of a man chosen by the church council of a Uganda mission, to act as father to the boys and see that they kept out of mischief, a missionary writes: An ordination candidate, whose name is Jacob the elephant, an extremely nice, sensible man, was suggested, and I was much struck by his reply when asked if he would undertake the post. He at once said, Is it for me to choose my work? You tell me what to do, and I am ready to obey. (Christian Endeavour.)
The missionary spirit
General Booth once wanted fourteen recruits for India. He had his whole company about him, and he said: This is very dangerous work, and it requires great self-sacrifice. I might detail you for the work, but I will not detail any one of you. I will tell you what I will do: if any of you want to volunteer for it, you will have the privilege to do so after one hour. Go away now and pray about it. They went away and prayed about it, and at the end of the hour General Booth said, Are any of you willing to undertake this work? And fourteen stalwart men stepped forward and said, We are ready to sad tomorrow morning. (A. H. Bradford, D. D.)
A true missionary
Speaking at Exeter Hall, in 1886, James Chalmers said, in reference to his New Guinea experiences: Recall the twenty-one years; give me back all its experiences, give me its shipwrecks, its standings in the face of death; give it me surrounded by savages with spears and clubs; give it me back again with spears flying about me and the club knocking me to the ground; give it me back, and I will still be your missionary. (Sunday School Chronicle.)
Send me:
David Brainerd prayed for such a complete absorption in the Divine will that he might become utterly indifferent to every outward circumstance of discomfort and trial, if only he could make known the love of Christ. He says in his journal:--Here am I, Lord, send me; send me to the ends of the earth; send me to the rough and savage pagans of the wilderness; send me from all that is called comfort in the earth; send me even to death itself, if it be but in Thy service and to promote Thy kingdom. (Sunday School Chronicle.)
Save one
A man once rose in one of Mr. Moodys meetings, and gave his experience. I have been for five years on the Mount of Transfiguration. How many souls did you lead to Christ last year? was the sharp question that came from Mr. Moody, in an instant. Well, I dont know, was the astonished reply. Have you led any? persisted Mr. Moody. I dont know that I have, answered the man. Well,--said Mr. Moody, we dont want that kind of mountain-top experience. When a man gets so high that he cant reach down and save poor sinners, there is something wrong. (Sunday School Chronicle.)
Every Christian should be an evangelist
Dr. Howard Crosby used to say, When will New York city be evangelised? Ill tell you--when every Christian becomes an evangelist. (Christian Endeavour.)
Gods call: the anti-slavery and other crusades
Those who do the best work in the worlds redemption, and yet may never preach a sermon, have had a call to accomplish it. The call may have been felt only as an overwhelming and disinterested desire to accomplish some noble end, but it has been as truly there as if seraphim had announced it. Such great movements as the anti-slavery crusade are full of instances. Of Thomas Clarkson it is recorded that when about twenty-four years of age, after having composed and read a Latin prize essay at Cambridge University, he travelled to London to assist in founding a society for the suppression of the slave trade. Overwhelmed with the awfulness of the traffic he had been denouncing, he alighted from his horse, and sitting by the roadside prayed that God would raise up some devoted champion of the oppressed African. Suddenly the thought flashed into his mind that he should offer himself to this cause. How he, under this overmastering feeling, ultimately surrendered the clerical life for which he was preparing, how he laboured till the slave trade was excised from the body politic, and how he was followed in a true apostolic succession by William Wilberforce, in the further attack upon domestic slavery, is recorded in the pages of history. Wilberforce, too, passed through times of deep self-conflict till the necessary new habits of mind and life were formed. He, in turn, gave place to such men as Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton and Joseph Sturge, who also were called and ordained by the Spirit of God to the Christlike work of securing liberty to the captive. Prison reformers and uplifters of the criminal, like John Howard, Elizabeth Fry, and Sarah Martin, passed through periods of probation, when there seemed to be in their minds a prophetic stir of coming duties outside the usual sphere of their daily lives. (F. Sessions.)
Richard Knills call
I was studying for the ministry, with a view to labour in England; it happened that there was a missionary meeting in the neighbourhood, and one of the ministers said to me, Come to me over, and bring the students with you, it will do them good,--and as one inducement he said, There is an eminent Scotch minister in town, Dr. Waugh, who is to preach. We went--and, I have no doubt, we went praying to receive a blessing. Dr. Waugh took for his text that beautiful verse in Isaiah, It shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. In the first part of his subject he spoke of the perishing condition of the man who was ignorant of the Gospel, and he said, It is a fact, there are four hundred millions of our fellow creatures in this deplorable condition, without God, and without hope. After he had dwelt on this, he spoke of the infinite wisdom and goodness of God, which had provided a remedy for perishing sinners. After speaking on this for some time he stopped, and looking around on the congregation, he said, This trump cannot blow of itself, we must have men to blow it,--pardoned sinners--redeemed men--those who have tasted the love of Christ, and who feel for their fellow creatures--those who know what a precious Saviour Christ is, from sweet experience. We want such men--the heathen are perishing, and will perish, unless Gods remedy is sent to them--that remedy is in your possession. He then paused again, and looking around, as if wanting to fix his eyes on some object, he said in a moving manner, Is there one disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ who has love enough for his Divine Master in his heart to say, Here am I; send me? Oh, when he said that, I felt it thrill through my soul, and I silently said to Him who searcheth my heart, Lord, I will go. It was a memorable day to me, I can never forget it. The sermon was soon ended; the congregation was broken up; my friends went to dine; I was invited to dine with my fellow students; I had no appetite for food, my heart was full--and I said to a friend, Can you procure me a garret, where I can spend the remainder of the day in fasting and prayer? He procured it for me; and in that garret I spent some of the happiest and most solemn moments of my life; and seeing the agony of Him whose blood was shed a sacrifice for my sins, I said, Lord, I will go. (R. Knill.)
Ready for service
When the Moravian Brethren in Germany were carrying on their great mission work in heathen lands, Zinzendorf, their distinguished leader, sent one day for one of the ministers, and said to him, Will you go to Greenland tomorrow as a missionary? The minister, after a moments hesitation, said, Yes, if the shoemaker can finish the boots which I have ordered of him by tomorrow, I will go. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)
Gods call: Cobden and Bright
Cobden and Bright believed--to quote the language of the former - that a moral and even religious spirit might be infused into the question of the repeal of the Corn Laws. The story of Mr. Brights dedication to this most beneficent idea is admirably reproduced in Vinces life of the great Tribune. There came to his souls vision no forthshadowing of Gods glory in any manmade temple, but the story is thus told by himself: I was at Leamington when Mr. Cobden called upon me. I was then in the depths of grief,--I might almost say of despair,--for the light and sunshine of my house had been extinguished. All that was left on earth of my young wife, except the memory of a sainted life and of a too brief happiness, was lying still and cold in the chamber above us. Mr. Cobden called upon me as a friend, and addressed me, as you may suppose, with words of condolence. After a time he looked up and said, There are thousands of homes in England at this moment where wives, mothers, and children are dying of hunger. Now, he said, when the first paroxysm of your grief is passed, I would advise you to come with me, and we will never rest till the Corn Law is repealed. I accepted his invitation. I knew that the description he had given me of the homes of thousands was not an exaggerated description. I felt in my conscience that there was a work that someone must do. From that time we never ceased to labour hard on behalf of the resolution we had made. In this case a Lancashire manufacturer brought the call, but surely the angels of sorrow and sympathy assisted in the consecration, and the Holy One of Israel worked with His servant. (F. Sessions.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v8Isa_6:8. Then said I, Here am I, send me.
VOLUNTEER SERVICE
Isa_6:8. Then said I, Here am I, send me.
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This is a chapter of autobiography. Here is disclosed the secret of the wonderful energy with which for more than half a century Isaiah prosecuted his ministry. He is the Paul of the Old Testament. Allowance being made for difference of phraseology, there is a striking resemblance between the call of Isaiah and of Paul (comp. chap. 6 with Acts 9). Both sought to serve the heavenly King; and both received a commission to work, spiritual and catholic beyond all conceptions of their time,—the one penning the Gospel of the suffering Messiah, the other vindicating the truth that the Gospel is God’s message to the world. The text reminds us—
I. Of the Christian’s offer of service. The offer of service which the prophet madewas—
1. Free. He spoke spontaneously, and not as the result of pressure from without [751]
2. Truthful. Unlike one of the sons in the parable (Mat_21:30), he meant what he said.
3. Bold. It was made concerning an unknown mission. The justification of the boldness of his offer is, that it was made to God, who always qualifies His servants for the tasks to which He calls them.
4. Personal. The prophet placed at God’s disposal, not some of his property merely, but himself.
5. It involved the most complete self-surrender. All thought of self control the prophet resigned. He placed himself as an instrument in God’s hands. He was ready to go where, when, and on what errand God might determine [754] Such are the offers of service in which God delights.
[751] H. E. I., 3633–3639.
[754] H. E. I., 3618–3626.
II. Of the steps that lead up to this offer. The offer may take men by surprise, but there has always been preparation for it, as there has been long preparation for the lightning that leaps suddenly from the sky. Such offers as the prophet made are preceded—
1. by a vision of God, of the thrice Holy One, filling the soul with awe, and causing it to tremble (Isa_6:1-4).
2. By self-prostration of spirit, a conviction of utter sinfulness (Isa_6:5). This is the invariable result of a true vision of God (Exo_3:2; Jos_5:14; Jdg_6:22; Jdg_13:22; Luk_5:8; Rev_1:17). This is also a prime condition of fitness for service.
3. By the touch of a mediator (Isa_6:6-7). “They that be struck down by visions of God’s glory shall soon be raised up again by visits of His grace.” Blessed is the man who has both visions. A sense of pardon is essential to large usefulness. Imperfect realisation of forgiveness is one of the most frequent causes of weakness in Christian service.
4. By a moral transformation. The offerer has become a new man from the centre outwards. Now he can hear God’s voice: “I heard,” &c. It is a voice to which now he feels he must respond: “Here am I,” &c. In some degree every Christian is thus prepared. These essentials of service are also essentials of Christian life. These experiences are at once your credentials and your powers.
III. That God always accepts offers of service for which there has been this preparation, and that bear these marks. He never rejects true volunteers. Offers hastily made and half-meant He passes by (Jos_24:18-19; Joh_2:23-25); but genuine, whole-hearted offers of service, He in variably accepts.
In conclusion, let us lay up in our memories three facts in connection with service.
1. True service is not incompatible with failure. We are too apt to connect failure with incompetency in the servant. Many do fail through incompetency, but not all. The prophet divinely called and most royally endowed may fail, because of the moral obduracy and perverseness of those to whom he is sent (Isa_6:9-10).
2. True service is not incompatible with sorrow (Isa_6:11-12). That man is inhuman who without profound grief can behold the perversity of sinners, and the calamities with which in consequence they are visited.
3. True service will never be left without reward. Multitudes may reject the prophet’s message, yet there will be “a tenth” who will accept it and be saved.—J. R. Wood.
MESSENGERS WANTED
Isa_6:8. Also, I heard the voice of the Lord, &c.
I. God wants messengers unto sinful men. Tidings concerning sin and salvation, mercy and deliverance, God’s grace and man’s misery, must be published. Might send seraphim and the angel host. God elects to send men to their fellow-men. “Whom shall I send?” is not the inquiry of a divine perplexity, but the stimulative question of one who calls for willing workers.
II. God especially qualifies His messengers. How does He in an especial manner fit men for His highest service?
1. By an awe-inspiring sight of Himself.
2. By distressing convictions of personal sin.
3. By sanctifying all the faculties to His use.
III. God’s call should meet with a ready response. He desires volunteers, “Who will go for us?” The constraint of love is the omnipotent motive force.
1. The call is heard individually. “I heard the voice of the Lord.”
2. The call provokes self-surrender. “Here am I.”
3. The call demands entire self-abandonment. “Send me”—anywhere, on any errands, at any time, in any capacity.
IV. How may we ascertain that we are required to become messengers of the living God?
1. By the separating voice of God.
2. By the discipline of preparation.
3. By the openings of beckoning opportunities. The “joy of the Lord” will be our strength when most we feel the pressure of “the burden of the Lord.”—Matthew Braithwaite.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v8The Mission of the Prophet
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.
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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.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv8, 10General Information:
General Information:
Isaiah continues to describe his vision.
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the voice of the Lord say
Here "voice" represents the Lord himself. AT: "the Lord say" (See: Synecdoche)
Whom shall I send
It is implied that Yahweh will send someone to speak his message to the people of Israel. AT: "Whom shall I send to be a messenger to my people" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
who will go for us
It seems "us" refers to Yahweh and the members of his heavenly council to whom he is speaking. (See: Inclusive "We")
this people
"the people of Israel"
Listen, but do not understand; see, but do not perceive
Possible meanings are 1) the imperatives "do not understand" and "do not perceive" express what God is causing to happen. AT: "You will listen, but Yahweh will not let you understand; you will look carefully, but Yahweh will not allow you to understand" or 2) the imperatives "Listen" and "see" express the idea of "if." AT: "Even if you listen you will not understand; even if you look carefully, you will not understand" (See: Imperatives - Other Uses)
Listen, but do not understand; see, but do not perceive
You can state clearly the understood information. AT: "Listen to Yahweh's message, but do not understand what it means; look at what Yahweh is doing, but do not realize what it means" (See: Ellipsis)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv8–106:8 Who will go for us? The Lord spoke…
6:8 Who will go for us? The Lord spoke in the presence of his angels, the heavenly council (see also 1 Kgs 22:19-22; Jer 23:18, 22). • Here I am: The prophet was so overcome by the grace of God in cleansing him that he willingly committed himself to a lifetime of ministry.
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v9 Whereby is declared that for the malice of man…
Whereby is declared that for the malice of man God will not immediately take away his word, but he will cause it to be preached to their condemnation, when as they will not learn thereby to obey his will, and be saved: hereby he exhorteth the ministers to do their duty, and answereth to the wicked murmurers, that through their own malice their heart is hardened, Matt. 13:14; Acts 28:26; Rom. 11:8.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Isa 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the…
Isa 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here [am] I; send me.
Ver. 8. Whom shall I send?] "Lay hands upon no man rashly," but with deliberation. The mystery of the Trinity is well observed by some in the following words, as by others this, that ministers serve not men, but the only true God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. {1Co 4:1 2Co 5:21}
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Who shall go for us?] {a} God knew whom he would send, but he will have the prophet offer himself; for he loveth a cheerful server, and ministers must take the oversight of God’s flock, "not of constraint, but willingly." {1Pe 5:2}
Here am I; send me.] This was right, and this was wrought in him, not by base fear of punishment, - as we read of one Balthus, a dumb man, that wandering in a desert, and met with a lion, he was struck with such exceeding fear and trepidation, that thereupon the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake ever after - sed igne Dei tactus et actus est. {b} The seraph had comforted him, and this was the effect of it. The prophet, after the touch of the live coal, felt his gifts increased, his zeal kindled, and hence his forwardness thus to offer God his service. So ought such to do as find themselves fitted for the work: If thou hast not manchet, {c} said Bucer to Bradford, give the people barley bread, such as thou canst, it will be accepted. It is no small commendation to a man to addict himself to the ministry of the saints, as the house of Stephanas did, {1Co 16:15} and to be to every good work ready {Tit 3:1} - that is, forward and forthputting, cheerful and vigorous.
{a} Nobis, id est tribus Elohim sive personis Sanct. Trin. - Piscat.
{b} Pausanias.
{c} The finest kind of wheaten bread
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Whom shall I send, and who will go for…
Whom shall I send, and who will go for us, to deliver the following message? The change of the number,
I and
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us, is very remarkable; and both being meant of one and the same Lord, do sufficiently intimate a plurality of persons in the Godhead.
Here am I; send me: God’s last and great favour to him did both encourage and oblige him to be forward in God’s service.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v9 God takes Isaiah at his word, and here sends…
God takes Isaiah at his word, and here sends him on a strange errand - to foretel the ruin of his people and even to ripen them for that ruin - to preach that which, by their abuse of it, would be to them a savour of death unto death. And this was to be a type and figure of the state of the Jewish church in the days of the Messiah, when they should obstinately reject the gospel, and should thereupon be rejected of God. These verses are quoted in part, or referred to, six times, in the New Testament, which intimates that in gospel time these spiritual judgments would be most frequently inflicted; and though they make the least noise, and come not with observation, yet they are of all judgments the most dreadful. Isaiah is here given to understand these four things: -
1. That the generality of the people to whom he was sent would turn a deaf ear to his preaching, and wilfully shut their eyes against all the discoveries of the mind and will of God which he had to make to them (Isa 6:9): "Go, and tell this people, this foolish wretched people, tell them their own, tell them how stupid and sottish they are." Isaiah must preach to them, and they will hear him indeed, but that is all; they will not heed him; they will no understand him; they will not take any pains, nor use that application of mind which is necessary to the understanding of him; they are prejudiced against that which is the true intent and meaning of what he says, and therefore they will not understand him, or pretend they do not. They see indeed (for the vision is made plain on tables, so that he who runs may read it); but they perceive not their own concern in it; it is to them as a tale that is told. Note, There are many who hear the sound of God's word, but do not feel the power of it.
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2. That, forasmuch as they would not be made better by his ministry, they should be made worse by it; those that were wilfully blind should be judicially blinded (Isa 6:10): "They will not understand or perceive thee, and therefore thou shalt be instrumental to make their heart fat, senseless, and sensual, and so to make their ears yet more heavy, and to shut their eyes the closer; so that, at length, their recovery and repentance will become utterly impossible; they shall no more see with their eyes the danger they are in, the ruin they are upon the brink of, nor the way of escape from it; they shall no more hear with their ears the warnings and instructions that are given them, nor understand with their heart the things that belong to their peace, so as to be converted from the error of their ways, and thus be healed." Note, (1.) The conversion of sinners is the healing of them. (2.) A right understanding is necessary to conversion. (3.) God sometimes, in a way of righteous judgment, gives men up to blindness of mind and strong delusions, because they would not receive the truth in the love of it, Th2 2:10-12. He that is filthy let him be filthy still. (4.) Even the word of God oftentimes proves a means of hardening sinners. The evangelical prophet himself makes the heart of this people fat, not only as he foretels it, passing this sentence upon them in God's name, and seals them under it, but as his preaching had a tendency to it, rocking some asleep in security (to whom it was a lovely song), and making others more outrageous, to whom it was such a reproach that they were not able to bear it. Some looked upon the word as a privilege, and their convictions were smothered by it (Jer 7:4); others looked upon it as a provocation, and their corruptions were exasperated by it.
3. That the consequence of this would be their utter ruin, Isa 6:11, Isa 6:12. The prophet had nothing to object against the justice of this sentence, nor does he refuse to go upon such an errand, but asks, "Lord, how long?" (an abrupt question): "Shall it always be thus? Must I and other prophets always labour in vain among them, and will things never be better?" Or, (as should seem by the answer) "Lord, what will it come to at last? What will be in the end hereof?" In answer to this he is told that it should issue in the final destruction of the Jewish church and nation. "When the word of God, especially the word of the gospel, had been thus abused by them, they shall be unchurched, and consequently undone. Their cities shall be uninhabited, and their country houses too; the land shall be untilled, desolate with desolation (as it is in the margin), the people who should replenish the houses and cultivate the ground being all cut off by sword, famine, or pestilence, and those who escape with their lives being removed far away into captivity, so that there shall be a great and general forsaking in the midst of the land; that populous country shall become desert, and that glory of all lands shall be abandoned." Note, Spiritual judgments often bring temporal judgments along with them upon persons and places. This was in part fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, when the land, being left desolate, enjoyed her sabbaths seventy years; but, the foregoing predictions being so expressly applied in the New Testament to the Jews in our Saviour's time, doubtless this points at the final destruction of that people by the Romans, in which it had a complete accomplishment, and the effects of it that people and that land remain under to this day.
4. That yet a remnant should be reserved to be the monuments of mercy, Isa 6:13. There was a remnant reserved in the last destruction of the Jewish nation (Rom 11:5, At this present time there is a remnant); for so it was written here: But in it shall be a tenth, a certain number, but a very small number in comparison with the multitude that shall perish in their unbelief. It is that which, under the law, was God's proportion; they shall be consecrated to God as the tithes were, and shall be for his service and honour. Concerning this tithe, this saved remnant, we are here told, (1.) That they shall return (Isa 6:13; Isa 10:21), shall return from sin to God and duty, shall return out of captivity to their own land. God will turn them, and they shall be turned. (2.) That they shall be eaten, that is, shall be accepted of God as the tithe was, which was meat in God's house, Mal 3:10. The saving of this remnant shall be meat to the faith and hope of those that wish well to God's kingdom. (3.) That they shall be like a timber-tree in winter, which has life, though it has no leaves: As a teil-tree and as an oak, whose substance is in them even when they cast their leaves, so this remnant, though they may be stripped of their outward prosperity and share with others in common calamities, shall yet recover themselves, as a tree in the spring, and flourish again; though they fall, they shall not be utterly cast down. There is hope of a tree, though it be cut down, that it will sprout again, Job 14:7. (4.) That this distinguished remnant shall be the stay and support of the public interests. The holy seed in the soul is the substance of the man; a principle of grace reigning in the heart will keep life there; he that is born of God has his seed remaining in him, Jo1 3:9. So the holy seed in the land is the substance of the land, keeps it from being quite dissolved, and bears up the pillars of it, Psa 75:3. See Isa 1:9. Some read the foregoing clause with this, thus: As the support at Shallecheth is in the elms and the oaks, so the holy seed is the substance thereof; as the trees that grow on either side of the causeway (the raised way, or terrace-walk, that leads from the king's palace to the temple, Kg1 10:5, at the gate of Shallecheth, Ch1 26:16) support the causeway by keeping up the earth, which would otherwise be crumbling away, so the small residue of religious, serious, praying people, are the support of the state, and help to keep things together and save them from going to decay. Some make the holy seed to be Christ. The Jewish nation was therefore saved from utter ruin because out of it, as concerning the flesh, Christ was to come, Rom 9:5. Destroy it not, for that blessing is in it (Isa 65:8); and when that blessing had come, it was soon destroyed. Now the consideration of this is designed for the support of the prophet in his work. Though far the greater part should perish in their unbelief, yet to some his word should be a savour of life unto life. Ministers do not wholly lose their labour if they be but instrumental to save one poor soul.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Also I heard the voice of the Lord,.... The…
Also I heard the voice of the Lord,.... The Targum renders it, the voice of the Word of the Lord, as if it was the second Person, the Word, that was heard speaking; but it seems rather to be the voice of the first Person, the Father:
saying, Whom shall I send? to the people of Israel, to reprove them for their blindness and stupidity, and to threaten them, and foretell unto them their ruin and destruction; intimating that it was a difficult thing to pitch upon a proper person; and that there were but few that were fit to go on such an errand: this is spoken after the manner of men; otherwise the Lord knew whom to send, and whom he would send; and could easily qualify anyone he pleased, and send with such a message:
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and who will go for us? not directing his discourse to the seraphim, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi; as if he consulted with them: for who of all the creatures is the Lord's counsellor? but to the Son and Spirit, who it is certain were concerned in this mission; for the following words were said when Isaiah saw the glory of Christ, and spake of him, Joh 12:41 and they are expressly attributed to the Holy Ghost in Act 28:25 the Septuagint and Arabic versions, instead of "for us", read "unto this people"; and the Targum is,
"whom shall I send to prophesy? and who will go to teach?''
then said I, here am I, send me: for he who before thought himself undone, and unworthy to be employed in the service of God, now having a discovery and application of pardoning grace, freely offers himself to God: this shows the true nature and effect of an application of pardon; it gives a man freedom and boldness in the presence of God, and stimulates to a ready and cheerful obedience to his will, and engages him with the utmost alacrity in his service; so far is the doctrine of free and full pardon by the blood of Christ from being a licentious doctrine.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Who - To deliver the following message. The change…
Who - To deliver the following message. The change of the number, I and us, is very remarkable; and both being meant of one and the same Lord, do sufficiently intimate a plurality of persons in the Godhead.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv9–10 Verse 9. And he said] לי li, to me,…
Verse 9. And he said] לי li, to me, two MSS. and the Syriac. Thirteen MSS. have ראה raah, in the regular form.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv8–9 Isa 6:8. Also I heard the voice of the…
Isa 6:8. Also I heard the voice of the Lord — We have here the third part of this vision, comprehending, 1st, A trial of the disposition of the prophet, now sanctified, with his reply to the Lord, in this verse; 2d, The command delivered to him concerning the execution of the divine judgment upon the Jews, of blindness, &c., Isa 6:9-10; Isaiah 3 d, A more full and explicit declaration of a most grievous temporal judgment, which should be joined with the spiritual one, Isa 6:11-13. — Vitringa. Whom shall I send? — God asks this question, not as if he were unresolved whom to send, but that Isaiah might have an opportunity of voluntarily offering his service. And who will go for us? — To deliver the following message. The change of the number, I and us, is very remarkable; and both being meant of one and the same Lord, do sufficiently intimate a plurality of persons in the Godhead. Then said I, Here am I, &c. — God’s last and great favour to him both encouraged and obliged him to be thus forward in his service.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv8–10 The voice of the Lord - Hebrew: “The voice…
The voice of the Lord - Hebrew: “The voice of Yahweh.” He had before been addressed by one of the seraphim.
Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? - The change of number here, from the singular to the plural, is very remarkable. Jerome, on this place, says that it indicates the ‘sacrament’ of the Trinity. The Septuagint renders it, ‘whom shall I send, and who will go to this people?’ The Chaldee, ‘whom shall I send to prophesy, and who will go to teach?’ The Syriac, ‘whom shall I send, and who will go?’ The Arabic has followed the Septuagint. The use of the plural pronouns “we and us,” as applicable to God, occurs several times in the Old Testament. Thus, Gen 1:26 : ‘And God said, Let us make man in our image;’ Gen 11:6-7 : ‘And Jehovah said, Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language.’ Such a use of the name of God in the plural is very common, but it is not clear that there is a reference to the doctrine of the Trinity. In some cases, it is evident that it cannot have such a reference, and that no “argument” can be drawn from the use of that plural form in favor of such a doctrine.
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Thus, in Isa 19:4, the expression ‘a cruel lord,’ is in the Hebrew in the plural, yet evidently denoting but one. The expression translated ‘the most Holy One,’ or ‘the Holy,’ is in the plural in Pro 9:10; Pro 30:3. In 1Sa 19:13, 1Sa 19:16, the plural form is applied to a “household god,” or an image; and the plural form is applied to God in Job 30:25, ‘my Makers’ (Hebrew); Ecc 12:1, ‘thy Creators’ (Heb,); Psa 121:5, ‘Yahweh is thy keepers’ (Hebrew); see also Isa 54:5; Isa 22:2; Isa 43:5; Isa 62:5. This is called by grammarians pluralis excellentice, or the plural form indicating majesty or honor. It is, in all countries, used in reference to kings and princes; and as God often represents himself as a “king” in the Scriptures, and speaks in the language that was usually applied to kings in oriental countries, no argument can be drawn from expressions like these in defense of the doctrine of the Trinity. There are unanswerable arguments enough in support of that doctrine, without resorting to those which are of doubtful authority.
That there are clearer intimations of the doctrines of the Trinity, than that contained in this and similar texts, is indubitable; but we must not set aside the early and somewhat obscure intimations of a doctrine, simply because it comes afterward to be exhibited with more fulness. Such is the plan of revelation; and, instead of despising early announcements, or deeming them useless, because better “proofs” of the doctrine in question can be found, we ought to admire the wisdom and goodness of God in this gradual development of truth. The same interest belongs to the work of thus tracing the rise and progress of truth in the Bible, as belongs to that of him who traces rivers to their fountain head, and proves that, far up amid mountains all but inaccessible, rises the tiny stream, on whose broad waters, as it nears the sea, navies float in proud array. No more visible, in its earlier outflowings, is this doctrine of the Trinity; yet by and by it is the element on which Christianity doats, and in which it lives and moves. Thus we see the unity and harmony of revelation in 11 ages; the doctrine is the same; the degree of manifestation only is different. The necessity of preserving and exhibiting this unity, gives to these early intimations an unspeakable importance; though some, through an excess of candor, would abandon them to the enemy. This text, and its parallels, Gen 1:26; Gen 3:22; Gen 11:7, exhibit the Trinity in Revelation’s dawn indistinctly - partially disclosed - revealing only a “plurality” of persons. As the light increases, the “three” persons are seen moving under the lifting shadows, until, in the New Testament, baptism is commanded in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and the existence and functions of each person are clearly unfolded.
The problem is, to account for the use of the plural number in these passages, consistently with the unity of God. The doctrine of the Trinity seems to furnish an easy and beautiful solution; but this solution has been rejected, not by Unitarians only, but by Trinitarians not a few. Various hypotheses have been offered: as, that in the creation of man Gen 1:26, God associated with himself the heavens and the earth; or, that he consulted with angels; or, meant simply to indicate the importance of the work; or, perhaps, to supply a lesson of deliberation! These crudities are by most, however, long ago abandoned as untenable; and the solution most generally approved by such as reject that of the Trinity, is that furnished by an appeal to the “style of majesty.” Oriental princes, it is alleged, from the most ancient times, used the plural number in publishing their decrees; and such is the style of royalty to this day. But, unfortunately for this theory, there is no evidence whatever that ancient potentates employed this style. “The use of the plural number by kings and princes, is quite a modern invention.” The Bible does not furnish any example of it. Nor is there any evidence that God himself, on especially solemn occasions, keeping out of sight, of course, the text in question, used such style; there is abundant evidence to the contrary, the singular number being used by Yahweh in the most sublime and awful declarations.
Besides this strange use of the plural number on the part of God himself, plural names (אלהים 'elohı̂ym, אדנים 'ădônâyı̂m) are frequently given to him by the writers of the Bible; the instances in which these names occur in the singular form, are the exceptions. The name usually rendered “God” in the English Bible, is almost invariably plural - אלהים 'elohı̂ym, Gods. That these plural forms are used of idols, as well as of the true God, is admitted; but as the special names of the true God came, in process of time, to be applied to idols, so would the special “form” of these names, and to tell us that these forms “are” so applied, is quite beside the question. We wish to know why, originally, such forms were applied to the “true” God; and it is no answer to tell us they are also applied to idols. ‘There is nothing more wonderful in the name being so used in the plural form, than in its being so used at all.
The same principle which accounts for the name God being given to pagan deities at all, will equally well account for its being given to them in the particular form in which it is applied to the true God.’ - “Wardlaw.” This is pointed and decisive; and renders it needless to speculate here on the mode in which the name, or the plural form of it, came to be transferred to false gods, or great men. On this point, see Dr. John Pye Smith’s “Scripture testimony to the Messiah.” It is further remarkable, that these plural appellatives are, for the most part combined with verbs and adjectives in the singular number; as, ‘Gods (he) created,’ Gen 1:1; and with plural adjuncts but rarely. Now, the ordinary rule of grammar might have been followed invariably, as well as in these few instances, or the departures from it might have been but few in number. That this is not the case, implies the existence of some very cogent reason, and cannot be regarded as the result, merely, of accident.
To account for the use of these plural names, our author has recourse to what is called the pluralis majestaticus, or excellentiae, according to which, nouns of dignity and majesty, in Hebrew, are said to be used in the plural form. But the existence of this pluralis majestaticus has never been proved. Its defense is now abandoned by the most skillful grammarians. Ewald repudiates it. And it is not a little remarkable, that some of the examples most relied on for proof of this “dignified plural,” are found, on examination, to possess nothing of the dignity, while more exact scholarship has reduced their plurality also. The examples alluded to, are, Exo 21:29, Exo 21:34; Exo 22:10, Exo 22:13; Isa 1:3; where the supposed plural form denotes the owner of oxen, of sheep, and of asses! - fit parties, doubtless, to be honored with the pluralis majestaticus. In truth, leaving out of view the plural appellatives applied to the Deity, that is, the appellatives in question, and which, therefore, cannot be adduced, there is no evidence whatever of this pretended rule. Had any rule of the kind existed, we should, without doubt, have found it exemplified, when kings, princes, nobles, generals, priests, and prophets figure on the sacred pages. That the pluralis excellentiae is not applied to them, is sufficient proof of its nonexistence; and should dispose rational and candid inquirers to acquiesce in the solution of the grammatical anomalies we have been considering, that is furnished by the doctrine of Trinity in Unity - the solution which, to say the least of it, is beset with fewest difficulties.
The language here idicates the “design” for which this vision was shown to Isaiah. It was to commission him to exhibit truth that would be extremely unpleasant to the nation, and that would have the certain effect of hardening their hearts. In view of the nature and effect of this message, God is represented as inquiring who would be willing to undertake it? Who had courage enough to do it? Who would risk his life? And it indicates, perhaps, that there were “few” in the nation who would be willing to do it, and that it was attended with self-denial and danger.
Here am I - This shows at once his confidence in God, and his zeal. He had been qualified for it by the extraordinary commission, and he was now ready to bear the message to his countrymen. In this attitude “we” should stand, prompt to deliver “any” message that God shall entrust to our hands, and to engage in “any” service that he calls on us to perform.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv8, 10 For us. Hence arises a proof of the plurality…
For us. Hence arises a proof of the plurality of persons. (Calmet) --- Send me. Thus Isaias was an evangelical and apostolical prophet. (St. Jerome) (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv8–10 I . . . us--The change of number indicates…
I . . . us--The change of number indicates the Trinity (compare Gen 1:26; Gen 11:7). Though not a sure argument for the doctrine, for the plural may indicate merely majesty, it accords with that truth proved elsewhere.
Whom . . . who--implying that few would be willing to bear the self-denial which the delivering of such an unwelcome message to the Jews would require on the part of the messenger (compare Ch1 29:5).
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Here am I--prompt zeal, now that he has been specially qualified for it (Isa 6:7; compare Sa1 3:10-11; Act 9:6).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv8–10 8. Voice of the Lord — The seraphs’ voices…
8. Voice of the Lord — The seraphs’ voices are hushed at the “voice” of Jehovah. From amid the Presence a great inquiry reaches the prophet’s ear. It is an inquiry which Jehovah is ever making; namely, for preachers and missionaries to a dying world. Whom shall I send, and who will go, are the divine queries. The first query implies that whoever goes should first receive his commission from Jehovah; he should be sent, and not go before he is sent. The second implies that he should freely will to go; he should heartily accord with his commission.
For us — The plural may here, as elsewhere, be the plural of royalty, by which kings speak of themselves as we and us. Or, it may include with Jehovah himself his attendant court of seraphim. Or, as many eminent commentators, it may denote the trinity, indicated in the thrice “holy” uttered by the seraphim.
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Here am I — And this is the man who a few minutes ago was agonized with fear for his life because in his impurity he had seen God. Touched with the heavenly fire he now faces with bold joy the divine Presence, and announces himself ready for any message.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv8–10 8. Now for the first time Isaiah hears the…
8. Now for the first time Isaiah hears the voice of God, the purification of his lips having fitted him for personal converse with Jehovah and spiritual sympathy with His purposes.
who will go for us?] The plural is not that of majesty, but includes the “council of the holy ones” (Psa_89:7), or the angelic “hosts of heaven” (1Ki_22:19 f.).
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Here am I; send me] The spontaneity and self-abandonment of this response are characteristic of Isaiah. He is as yet ignorant of the nature of his commission, yet he freely accepts it; and throughout life he never felt his message to be a grievous burden, as Jeremiah often did.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv8–10 (8) Also I heard the voice of the Lord.—The…
(8) Also I heard the voice of the Lord.—The work of cleansing has made the prophet one of the heavenly brotherhood. He is as an angel called to an angel’s work. (Comp. Jdg_2:1; Jdg_5:23; Mal_3:1.) He had before seen the glory of Jehovah, and had been overwhelmed with terror. Now he hears His voice (Joh_10:4), and it rouses him to self-consecration and activity.
Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?—The union of the singular and plural in the same sentence is significant. The latter does not admit of being explained as a pluralis majestatis, for the great kings of Assyria, and Babylon, and Persia always spoke of themselves in the singular (Records of the Past, passim), and the “plural of majesty” was an invention of the servility of the Byzantine court. A partial explanation is found in the fact that here, as elsewhere (1Ki_22:19 : Job_1:6; Job_2:1; and perhaps Gen_1:26; Gen_11:7), Jehovah is represented as a king in council. Christian thought has, however, scarcely erred in believing that the words were as a dim foreshadowing of the truth, afterwards to be revealed, of a plurality within the Unity. (See Note on Isa_6:3.) Psa_110:1, which Isaiah may have known, suggested at least a duality. The question reveals to the prophet that there is a work to be done for Jehovah, that He needs an instrument for that work. It is implied that no angel out of the whole host, no man out of the whole nation, offers to undertake it. (Comp. Isa_63:3; Isa_63:5.) The prophet, with the ardour for work which follows on the sense of pardon, volunteers for it before he knows what it is. He reaches in one moment the supreme height of the faith which went forth, not knowing whither it went (Heb_11:8).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Vers. 8-13. THE PROPHET ENTRUSTED WITH A SPECIAL MISSON.…
Vers. 8-13. THE PROPHET ENTRUSTED WITH A SPECIAL MISSON. We do not know what special call Isaiah had had previously. Perhaps he had been brought up in the "schools of the prophets." Perhaps, when the "word of the Lord" came to him, he had accepted the fact as sufficient call. Now, however, he had, in vision, a clear and distinct call and mission (vers. 8, 9). He was told to "go," and instructed as to what he was to say (vers. 9, 10). As before (Isaiah 1-5.), while in the main he was to denounce woe, he was still to proclaim the survival of a remnant (vers. 1012).
Whom shall I send?. (comp. 1Ki_20:20) Such questions enable those who wait in the courts of heaven to show their zeal and readiness. Who will go for us? Some explain the plural pronoun as used of the Almighty and those with whom he is consulting. But he does not really "consult" his creatures, (infra, Isa_40:14 Rev_11:3-4) nor do his messengers do his errands for them. The plural form is best explained by the light which ver. 3 throws on it, as indicative of the doctrine of the Trinity. (comp. Gen_1:26)
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HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM Ver. 8. The call of God.
"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me." The symbol of the seraphim had been on the prophet"s head, and the voice of the Lord had come to his conscience and his heart. The live coal had touched his lips. Prophets, apostles, teachers, must be sent of God. Other qualifications are appropriate and excellent, but this is indispensable.
I THE DIVINE QUERY. "Whom?" Then God takes thought about Divine government in human history. Just as Nature expresses, in all her forms of beauty, his skill and care, so in grace God is observant of character, and watchful for the wisest means. He knows the secret places of grace and genius, and he can call them forth at the appropriate time. Isaiah now; Paul in the great epoch to come.
II THE ELECTIVE HONOR. "Whom shall I send?" Here we have the sublime election to privilege, so far as responsibility is concerned, which, rightly considered, explains God"s calling of Jews then, and Jews and Gentiles now. It is not an election to salvation, but to a status of honor and influence in witnessing for him. "Send!" Then God is the great Father of all human spirits, not willing that any should perish. The Jewish Church was a city set on a hill to enlighten others; the salt to save the world from death and putrefaction.
III THE QUICK RESPONSE. There is no hesitation. "Here am I" Men should fulfill their own prayers. They ask for grace and strength to work and give. Let them inquire within whether they cannot turn supplication into consecration. "Here am I" How few say that! They look round and exclaim, "Send others!" "Send reel" says the prophet, fulfilling the commission which makes him the great evangelic spirit of the Old Testament. W.M.S.
On God"s errand.
Our thought is naturally divided into
I THE DIVINE DEMAND. "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?
1. There are some demands God makes of us all. He requires that we should hearken when he speaks; that we should be especially attentive to his Son; (Mat_17:5) that we should accept Jesus Christ as our Lord, Savior, Friend, Exemplar; that we should honor him before the world.
2. There are other demands he makes of most of Ms children. That they should actively engage in the work of extending his kingdom; that they should suffer some kind of persecution for his sake.
3. There remain some demands he only makes of a few. Work requiring specially hard toil, or particular preparation in study, or unusual tact and versatility, or exceptional powers of mind or body. Then he says, "Whom (of all my servants) shall I send; and who will go?
II THE INDIVIDUAL RESPONSE. "Here am I; send me." In order to say this wisely and rightly, there must be:
1. Thorough devotedness; half-heartedness will never succeed on such errands as these.
2. Special qualification, by native faculty or favorable antecedents.
3. Freedom from other and more pressing obligations. These conditions being fulfilled, all the highest considerations the will of Christ, the pitiful necessities of the sons of want and sorrow and shame, the example of the noblest, the recompense of the righteous combine to say, "Go, and the Lord be with you. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying,…
Isa_6:8
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send?
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Messengers wanted
I. THE PERSON WANTED, as described in the questions, Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us? The person wanted is viewed from two points. The person wanted has a Divine side: Whom shall I send? Then he has a human aspect: Who will go for Us? But the two meet together--the human and Divine unite in the last words, for Us. Here is a man, nothing more than a man of human instincts, but clad through Divine grace with superhuman, even with Divine authority. Let us look, then, at this two-sided person.
1. He is Divinely chosen.
2. Cheerfully willing.
3. Sent by the Three-One. When we tell others the story of the Cross we speak for God the Father. Nor must we forget our tender Redeemer. Moreover, that blessed Spirit, under whose dispensatorial power we live at the present hour, He has no voice to speak to the sons of men audibly except by His people; and though He works invisibly and mysteriously in the saints, yet He chooses loving hearts, and compassionate lips, and tearful eyes to be the means of benediction.
II. THE PERSON OFFERING HIMSELF. Here am I; send me. The person offering himself is described in the chapter at very great length--he must be an Isaiah. Being an Isaiah, he must--
1. Have felt his own unworthiness. Notice how it was that Isaiah was made to feel his unworthiness.
(1) By a sense of the presence of God.
(2) Isaiah saw the glory of Christ.
(3) It will strike you, too, that the particular aspect in which this humiliation may come to us will probably be, a sense of the Divine holiness, and the holiness of those who see His face.
2. We must possess a sense of mercy.
3. The man who will be acceptable must offer himself cheerfully. Here am I. How few of us have in very deed given ourselves to Christ it is with most professors, Here is my half-guinea, here is my annual contribution; but how few of us have said, Here am I.
4. The person who thus volunteered for sacred service gave himself unreservedly. He did not say, Here am I; use me where I am, but send me. Where to? No condition as to place is so much as hinted at.
5. He gives obediently, for he pauses to ask directions. It is not, Here am I; away I will go, but Here am I; send me. Some people get into their head a notion that they must do something uncommon and extraordinary, and though it may be most irrational, it is for that very reason that the scheme commends itself to their want of judgment. Because it is absurd, they think it to be Divine; if earthly wisdom does not justify it, then certainly heavenly wisdom must be called in to endorse it. Now, I conceive that you will find that whenever a thing is wise in Gods sight it is really wise, and that a thing which is absurd is not more likely to be adopted by God than by man; for though the Lord does use plans which are called foolish, they are only foolish to fools, but not actually foolish.
III. THE WORK WHICH SUCH PERSONS WILL BE CALLED TO UNDERTAKE. Isaiahs history is a picture of what many and many a true Christian labourer may expect. Isaiah was sent to preach very unpleasant truth, but like a true hero he was very bold in preaching it. Isaiah is very bold, says the apostle. Now, if you are called of God either to preach or teach, or whatever it is, remember the things you have to preach or teach will not be agreeable to your hearers. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Militia-Christians
Some people are militia Christians--they serve the King with a limitation, and must not be sent out of England; but others are soldier-Christians, who give themselves wholly up to their Lord and Captain; they will go wherever He chooses to send them. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Copyhold-Christians
Some professors appear to belong to God by copyhold. They grant a limited kind of Divine right to their energies and substance; but there are many clauses which limit the holding. I hope that you are Gods portion upon an absolute freehold. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Gods call for servants
Several questions arise as we read these words. Why is God asking for service instead of discharging the work Himself? He can speak in tones which would make the proudest quail; He can unfold a majesty before which the whole nation should be subdued. Or again, if He needs service, why does He wait for volunteers? Why does He not compel servants to enter upon this mission, as He imposed on Moses the task of leading the people of Israel out of the land of bondage?
I. THE DIVINE CALL:--Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?
1. Why should God thus ask human service? We cannot doubt for a moment how independent our glorious God might be of all mere human resources.
(1) The great purposes which God seeks to accomplish can best be achieved through human instrumentality. God craves from men, not the unconscious response which the mown grass makes to the showers, or dewdrops to the sunlight. He desires intelligent, trustful, loving union with Himself, and it may be that such ends as these are better obtained through human instrumentality than by an overpowering exhibition of the Divine majesty and glory. As the light comes to us through the atmosphere, which lessens its dazzling power, so that we are illuminated instead of being blinded with excess of light, so God gives to us His commands and messages through human tongues and language, lest we should be overpowered.
(2) God means to educate His servants by using them for His purposes. When He says, Whom shall I send, it is not that He is destitute of angelic hosts who would thankfully accept the commission. He knows how our human hearts will be educated by the very ministry we render.
2. Notice what is involved in such a call as this. When God says, Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us, He pledges Himself to endue with authority, and to endow with all needful gifts, the man who answers the call.
II. THE RESPONSE OF THE PROPHET. Here am I; send me.
1. What could have led the prophet to offer himself for a Divine mission? How had he the courage to step forward and volunteer? Did he not shrink from the vast issues involved in the work? Did he not understand the dangers into which he would plunge? Did he not know how hard it would be to reach mens hearts around him with the solemn message? He knew it all, but he stepped forward in the simplicity of a perfect faith, and said, Here am I; send me. You will perceive in the foregoing verse an account of his preparation for receiving this call. He was prepared by a sense of pardoning love. In the fulness of a loving, grateful heart, he stepped forward and accepted the mission.
2. Notice the willingness with which the prophet offered himself. He steps forward as one who feels it an honour, and is ready for any sacrifice which the honour may entail. This is the light in which we may wisely look on Christian service.
III. THE DIVINE ACCEPTANCE OF THE PROPHETS OFFER. God said, Go. You have just that very simple succession of events. God asking for service, the prophet offering himself, and God accepting his services. If God has given you aptitude in dealing with the experiences of men, go into the homes of the poor and destitute, ministering consolation to their sorrows. If God has given you warm sympathies with the young, go into the ranks of the Sunday school, draw young hearts around you, and win them to Christ. If God has given you influence with men, go to the drunkard and the fallen and seek to reclaim them from the depths of degradation in which they are sunk. If God has given you the tongue of the wise to speak a word in season, which shall be as apples of gold in pictures of silver, go and use the power in private talk with the men you meet in daily life. (C. B. Symes, B. A.)
The commission of a sinful but cleansed man
Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? Why does the Lord ask that question with such anxiety when He has all those shining seraphs standing at His side, and each one of them with six wings? Why was Isaiah, the son of Amoz, a man of unclean lips, and a man woeful and undone, so accepted, and so sent? Seraphs, not sinners, should surely be the preachers of such holiness as that of the God of Israel, and the heralds of such a Saviour--that is what we would have expected. But Gods thoughts in these things are not as our thoughts. This has always been Gods way in choosing and in ordaining and in sending both prophets, and psalmists, and priests, and preachers for His Church on earth. Only once did God choose a completely sinless preacher. Always, but that once, God has chosen sinful men; and, not seldom, the most sinful of men He could get to speak to their fellow men about sin and salvation. Gabriel might come with his six wings and his salutation to announce to Mary that the fulness of time had come and that the Word was to be made flesh, but it was John, the son of Zacharias, who was not that light, who was sent to preach repentance to the vipers of his day, and to urge them to flee from the wrath to come. And just as for the awakening and the warning of sinners, so for the edification and the comfort of saints. For every high priest is taken from among men, who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. Isaiah, accordingly, of all men on the earth at that moment, and of all angels in heaven, was the man chosen of God to preach repentance to Jerusalem, and to prophesy to her the coming of her Messiah. And he preached on all these matters as no angel in all heaven could have preached, he preached as only a leper could preach to his brother lepers, and as only one undone man could preach to other undone men. Just hear him in his first sermon. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his masters crib. Ah! sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers. Why should ye be stricken any more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores. All Gods seraphs taken together could not preach like that. It takes a great sinner to preach as well as to hear like that. You must have a man of men to see, and to feel, and to say things like that. And then, on the other hand, no seraph of them all, with all his wings, had seen down so deep, and had come up so close to the holiness of God as Isaiah had seen and had come close. The seraphs cry Holy, holy, holy, to one another, but they do not know what they are saying. The seraphs are innocent children. And He whom they so innocently praise charges His seraphs with folly. But, Woe is me! for I am undone! The Lord likes to hear that. This young preacher, then, having seen both sin and holiness as no seraph ever saw these terrible things, proceeds in his sermon in this way: Wash you, make you clean; cease to do evil, learn to do well; judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow: though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Every syllable of all that is out of Isaiahs own experience. Preaching like that never yet came out of the schools of the prophets, any more than it ever came out of the mouth of an angel. Isaiah had done it all to himself, and had had it all done unto him of God. (A. Whyte, D. D.)
The challenge of service
I. THE CHALLENGE. Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? The Lords ordinary manner of appointing His messengers is to select them Himself, and without consulting them send them to do their work. He commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh with every consideration for Jonahs fitness, and no consideration for Jonahs tastes. The work is always more important than the man, for the man has a brief life, and the work is immortal. It ought not, therefore, to be expected that the Lord should regard anything in choosing a servant for duty but that servants qualifications for the duty. But there are exceptions to this rule of selection for work. When the task is a peculiarly hazardous one; when the performance of it demands the highest attributes of the intellect, the rarest qualities of the heart, and an extraordinary stimulus of inspiration, it is better that these gifts should go to the work under the impulse of a self-moving passion rather than under the enforcement of command. The General of an army wisely relaxes the routine discipline of duty when in the fortunes of the campaign the troops have to face the desperate service of some forlorn hope. Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? is the proclamation from the Commanders tent, and a storming party of volunteers is told off, to mount the breach and take the van of danger.
1. In the year that King Uzziah died it seemed as if the last hope of the people of God had expired with him.
2. The nature of the work may be inferred from the condition of the people. They were an old and not a young nation: they were wicked and not ignorant: the two fountains of power, the Church and the State, were corrupt at their sources, authority of every kind was on the side of licentiousness; and since, with all this, the outward forms of order and of piety were preserved, the people grew up to be as remarkable for their hypocrisy as for their immorality. It has always been supposed that, whether in the case of a nation, or an individual, suffering is a powerful moralist; and that a mind which is proof against the humbling and cleansing effects of pain is reprobate and beyond redemption. The people of Israel and Judah had been punished by every species of chastisement; invasion, captivity, pestilence, famine, and sword, nothing that a people loves or a man cherishes had been left untouched; from the sole of the nations foot to the crown of her head, the lash of retribution had been laid on so heavily that nothing was to be seen but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores. Yet they continued to revolt more and more. This was the state of things for which the Lord demanded a voluntary workman. Who will be a bearer of evil tidings? who will reprove kings for My sake? Who will expose and denounce wickedness in high places? Who will proclaim the insincerity of the priests, their robbery of the flock, and the fiction of their ceremonial? Who will go to the market places and declare the dishonesty of their traffic? Who will beard the army and charge the soldiers with cowardice and treason? Who will be hated of all men, and be the victim of the conspiracies of the crafty, of the insults of the street rabble, and of the desertion of false and incompetent friends? Who will endure to fail; to be simply a witness; to speak without convincing; to sow without a harvest?
3. The voice of the Lord cries loudly in the midst of the Churches of today, inviting voluntary service for difficult work; missionary work abroad and missionary work at home.
II. THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE CHALLENGE, Here am I; send me. Looking at this acceptance by itself, it seems an extraordinary sacrifice on the part of Isaiah. He was a youth, probably not more than eighteen or nineteen, when he answered the Lords challenge; he was a member of the first circle of the Jewish aristocracy, and, according to some authorities, a prince of the royal blood. He was nurtured in the soft and sumptuous luxuriance of palaces. There had been in his training everything to satisfy sense and to kindle ambition. Having great natural parts and a fine genius, and commanding both means and leisure, the career of a great State ruler, or a Church dignitary, or the easy splendour of an intellectual voluptuary, any or all of these distinctions were within reach of the gifted kinsman of Uzziah. Youth as he was, his social position and quick observation enabled him to appreciate the service demanded in the challenge. He knew the people to whom the message would be sent; he conjectured what the character of that message would be; and what kind of service awaited the man who should deliver it; that it would be hard, unthankful, and dangerous; and yet this youth, born to be a fine gentleman, accepted a task which might well have made the strongest and most experienced natures shrink, Here am I; send me! Let us seek the explanation of this simplicity, devotion, and courage in that which went before the acceptance of the challenge. (E. Jenkins, LL. D.)
Visions of God
I. THE VISION OF GOD TO THE SOUL. The vision of God to the soul implies these two facts, namely, that God can communicate, speak, and make Himself manifest and known to the soul, and that the soul has capacity to receive what God makes known, or communicates to it. This capacity has been impaired, more or less, in all human beings.
II. THE VISION OF GOD HAS EFFECTS UPON THE SOUL. It has a creative power that calls several new forces into action.
1. The sense of sin.
2. The sense of forgiveness.
3. The sense of duty.
4. Power to perform duty. (W. Thomas.)
The Divine call for missionaries
I. Let us gaze upon THE VISION OF GLORY which Isaiah saw. It was necessary for him to see it in order that he might be brought into the condition of heart out of which should come the full consecration expressed in--Here am I; send me. Observe what he saw.
1. The supreme glory of God. See the patience of His infinite majesty,--He sits in calm glory upon His eternal throne. Nor is it a mean throne either, nor one of little dignity; it is high and lifted up. It is not merely above all other thrones by way of greater power, but over them all by way of supreme dominion over them.
2. The court of the great King. He beheld the glorious attendants who perpetually perform homage, nearest to His throne.
3. The perpetual song, for these sacred beings continually cried, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory. While you praise His holiness do not forget His power, but adore Him as Jehovah of hosts. And then dwell, that you may feel a missionary spirit, on that last part of the song, The whole earth is filled with His glory, for so it really is in one sense. Jehovah of hosts is the fulness of the whole earth. Turn this ascription, for it may be so read, into a wish: Let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Read it, if you please, as a prophecy: The whole earth shall be filled with His glory, and then go you forward, O ye servants of the Most High, with this resolve, that in His hands you will be the means of fulfilling the prophecy by spreading abroad the knowledge of His name among the sons of men.
II. Let us now turn our thoughts to THE VISION OF ORDINATION. This man Isaiah was to go forth in Jehovahs name, but in order to preparation for so high an embassage he must undergo a process peculiar but necessary.
III. When a man is prepared for sacred work he is not long before he receives a commission. We come, then, to think of THE DIVINE CALL. Notice the particular kind of man for whom this voice is seeking. It is a man who must be sent, a man under impulse, a man under authority--Whom shall I send? But it is a man who is quite willing to go, a volunteer, one who in his inmost heart rejoices to obey--Who will go for Us? What a strange mingling this is! Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel, and yet taking the oversight of the flock of God not by constraint but willingly.
IV. Now comes the last point, THE EARNEST RESPONSE. Here am I; send me.
1. I think I see in that response a consciousness of his being in a certain position which no one else occupied, which rendered it incumbent upon him to say, Here am I.
2. Then, he makes a full surrender of himself. Isaiah gave himself up to the Lord none the less completely because his errand was so full of sadness. He was not to win men, but to seal their doom by putting before them truth which they would be sure to reject.
3. Then comes Isaiahs prayer for authority and anointing. If we read this passage rightly we shall not always throw the emphasis upon the last word,
me, but read it also thus, Here am I, send me. He is willing to go, but he does not want to go without being sent. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Here am I; send me
Whole-hearted service
Here am I; send me. These few simple words express the crisis, the turning point in the life of Isaiah. If he had never uttered these words you would never have heard of him. But the uttering of these words in profound sincerity from the bottom of his heart made him one of the greatest of the prophets of God. The very first condition of whole-hearted service is the conviction that the cause which we serve will ultimately prevail. The day is coming when the Christian religion will prevail everywhere, when the will of God will be done on earth as literally and really as angels do it in heaven. Even now things are not as they seem. Even now the glory of God fills the whole earth. So young Isaiah realised in days much darker and more ominous than these. (H. P. Hughes, M. A.)
The birth of the true missionary
In the fellowship of the cleansing, the fellowship of the Cross, the missionary is born. (R. J. Campbell, M. A.)
Seeing and saying
Men must see before they can say. (R. J. Campbell, M. A.)
Ecstasy and self-immolation
Bless God for any ecstasy that leads to self-immolation. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Seers and servants
We must become seers before we can become servants. (S. Cox, D. D.)
Experience to be used for the benefit of others
Isaiah saw the King that he might serve the King. He was convinced of sin that he might convince his fellows, he was purged from his iniquity that he might proclaim the love, the sacrifice, which takes away the iniquity of us all. (S. Cox, D. D.)
The whole life should be devoted to God
Though at times he had to rebuke princes and to pronounce the doom of nations, yet it was his whole life that he dedicated to God, with all its petty details of daily conduct. It was part of his work to live with the prophetess he took to wife according to a Divine law; to name and train his children so that little Immanuel and little Maher-shalal-hash-baz should be for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts. And, in like manner, God sends us to our own people, to our kinsfolk and acquaintance. (S. Cox, D. D.)
To let the love out
If there were no humanity to save, none but our own, yours and mine, the fellowship of the cleansing would still be ours, but we would be seeking for something to do to express to the Christ our sense of what that fellowship had brought. Two sisters brought this fact home to me. One was weak, suffering, dying, though the other did not know it at the time. The one who was watching by the bedside said, It seems dreadful to be so helpless, to feel I can do so little to assuage the suffering of the dear one. I can do nothing whatever. If I only could do something that hurts, hurts me, I think I should feel better, to let my love out. I know what she meant quite well--to let the love out. The love that we bear the dear Redeemer compels us to see the Divine in mankind. There is a sweet and holy sympathy born of that urgent desire to let the love out which was born in the fellowship of the cleansing. (R. J. Campbell, M. A.)
Every church member should be a missionary
In looking over a certificate of membership which I had received from a church in New York, concerning one of its members who was a sailor, I was pleased to observe that at the back of the certificate there were directions given to the member; and the first one was this, You are to remember that as a member of this church going upon a voyage, you are sent by us as missionary. You are to understand that you and every other member of the church are bound to spread abroad the Saviours name. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Ready to obey
Of a man chosen by the church council of a Uganda mission, to act as father to the boys and see that they kept out of mischief, a missionary writes: An ordination candidate, whose name is Jacob the elephant, an extremely nice, sensible man, was suggested, and I was much struck by his reply when asked if he would undertake the post. He at once said, Is it for me to choose my work? You tell me what to do, and I am ready to obey. (Christian Endeavour.)
The missionary spirit
General Booth once wanted fourteen recruits for India. He had his whole company about him, and he said: This is very dangerous work, and it requires great self-sacrifice. I might detail you for the work, but I will not detail any one of you. I will tell you what I will do: if any of you want to volunteer for it, you will have the privilege to do so after one hour. Go away now and pray about it. They went away and prayed about it, and at the end of the hour General Booth said, Are any of you willing to undertake this work? And fourteen stalwart men stepped forward and said, We are ready to sad tomorrow morning. (A. H. Bradford, D. D.)
A true missionary
Speaking at Exeter Hall, in 1886, James Chalmers said, in reference to his New Guinea experiences: Recall the twenty-one years; give me back all its experiences, give me its shipwrecks, its standings in the face of death; give it me surrounded by savages with spears and clubs; give it me back again with spears flying about me and the club knocking me to the ground; give it me back, and I will still be your missionary. (Sunday School Chronicle.)
Send me:
David Brainerd prayed for such a complete absorption in the Divine will that he might become utterly indifferent to every outward circumstance of discomfort and trial, if only he could make known the love of Christ. He says in his journal:--Here am I, Lord, send me; send me to the ends of the earth; send me to the rough and savage pagans of the wilderness; send me from all that is called comfort in the earth; send me even to death itself, if it be but in Thy service and to promote Thy kingdom. (Sunday School Chronicle.)
Save one
A man once rose in one of Mr. Moodys meetings, and gave his experience. I have been for five years on the Mount of Transfiguration. How many souls did you lead to Christ last year? was the sharp question that came from Mr. Moody, in an instant. Well, I dont know, was the astonished reply. Have you led any? persisted Mr. Moody. I dont know that I have, answered the man. Well,--said Mr. Moody, we dont want that kind of mountain-top experience. When a man gets so high that he cant reach down and save poor sinners, there is something wrong. (Sunday School Chronicle.)
Every Christian should be an evangelist
Dr. Howard Crosby used to say, When will New York city be evangelised? Ill tell you--when every Christian becomes an evangelist. (Christian Endeavour.)
Gods call: the anti-slavery and other crusades
Those who do the best work in the worlds redemption, and yet may never preach a sermon, have had a call to accomplish it. The call may have been felt only as an overwhelming and disinterested desire to accomplish some noble end, but it has been as truly there as if seraphim had announced it. Such great movements as the anti-slavery crusade are full of instances. Of Thomas Clarkson it is recorded that when about twenty-four years of age, after having composed and read a Latin prize essay at Cambridge University, he travelled to London to assist in founding a society for the suppression of the slave trade. Overwhelmed with the awfulness of the traffic he had been denouncing, he alighted from his horse, and sitting by the roadside prayed that God would raise up some devoted champion of the oppressed African. Suddenly the thought flashed into his mind that he should offer himself to this cause. How he, under this overmastering feeling, ultimately surrendered the clerical life for which he was preparing, how he laboured till the slave trade was excised from the body politic, and how he was followed in a true apostolic succession by William Wilberforce, in the further attack upon domestic slavery, is recorded in the pages of history. Wilberforce, too, passed through times of deep self-conflict till the necessary new habits of mind and life were formed. He, in turn, gave place to such men as Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton and Joseph Sturge, who also were called and ordained by the Spirit of God to the Christlike work of securing liberty to the captive. Prison reformers and uplifters of the criminal, like John Howard, Elizabeth Fry, and Sarah Martin, passed through periods of probation, when there seemed to be in their minds a prophetic stir of coming duties outside the usual sphere of their daily lives. (F. Sessions.)
Richard Knills call
I was studying for the ministry, with a view to labour in England; it happened that there was a missionary meeting in the neighbourhood, and one of the ministers said to me, Come to me over, and bring the students with you, it will do them good,--and as one inducement he said, There is an eminent Scotch minister in town, Dr. Waugh, who is to preach. We went--and, I have no doubt, we went praying to receive a blessing. Dr. Waugh took for his text that beautiful verse in Isaiah, It shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. In the first part of his subject he spoke of the perishing condition of the man who was ignorant of the Gospel, and he said, It is a fact, there are four hundred millions of our fellow creatures in this deplorable condition, without God, and without hope. After he had dwelt on this, he spoke of the infinite wisdom and goodness of God, which had provided a remedy for perishing sinners. After speaking on this for some time he stopped, and looking around on the congregation, he said, This trump cannot blow of itself, we must have men to blow it,--pardoned sinners--redeemed men--those who have tasted the love of Christ, and who feel for their fellow creatures--those who know what a precious Saviour Christ is, from sweet experience. We want such men--the heathen are perishing, and will perish, unless Gods remedy is sent to them--that remedy is in your possession. He then paused again, and looking around, as if wanting to fix his eyes on some object, he said in a moving manner, Is there one disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ who has love enough for his Divine Master in his heart to say, Here am I; send me? Oh, when he said that, I felt it thrill through my soul, and I silently said to Him who searcheth my heart, Lord, I will go. It was a memorable day to me, I can never forget it. The sermon was soon ended; the congregation was broken up; my friends went to dine; I was invited to dine with my fellow students; I had no appetite for food, my heart was full--and I said to a friend, Can you procure me a garret, where I can spend the remainder of the day in fasting and prayer? He procured it for me; and in that garret I spent some of the happiest and most solemn moments of my life; and seeing the agony of Him whose blood was shed a sacrifice for my sins, I said, Lord, I will go. (R. Knill.)
Ready for service
When the Moravian Brethren in Germany were carrying on their great mission work in heathen lands, Zinzendorf, their distinguished leader, sent one day for one of the ministers, and said to him, Will you go to Greenland tomorrow as a missionary? The minister, after a moments hesitation, said, Yes, if the shoemaker can finish the boots which I have ordered of him by tomorrow, I will go. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)
Gods call: Cobden and Bright
Cobden and Bright believed--to quote the language of the former - that a moral and even religious spirit might be infused into the question of the repeal of the Corn Laws. The story of Mr. Brights dedication to this most beneficent idea is admirably reproduced in Vinces life of the great Tribune. There came to his souls vision no forthshadowing of Gods glory in any manmade temple, but the story is thus told by himself: I was at Leamington when Mr. Cobden called upon me. I was then in the depths of grief,--I might almost say of despair,--for the light and sunshine of my house had been extinguished. All that was left on earth of my young wife, except the memory of a sainted life and of a too brief happiness, was lying still and cold in the chamber above us. Mr. Cobden called upon me as a friend, and addressed me, as you may suppose, with words of condolence. After a time he looked up and said, There are thousands of homes in England at this moment where wives, mothers, and children are dying of hunger. Now, he said, when the first paroxysm of your grief is passed, I would advise you to come with me, and we will never rest till the Corn Law is repealed. I accepted his invitation. I knew that the description he had given me of the homes of thousands was not an exaggerated description. I felt in my conscience that there was a work that someone must do. From that time we never ceased to labour hard on behalf of the resolution we had made. In this case a Lancashire manufacturer brought the call, but surely the angels of sorrow and sympathy assisted in the consecration, and the Holy One of Israel worked with His servant. (F. Sessions.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v8 Isa_6:8. Then said I, Here am I, send me.
VOLUNTEER SERVICE
Isa_6:8. Then said I, Here am I, send me.
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This is a chapter of autobiography. Here is disclosed the secret of the wonderful energy with which for more than half a century Isaiah prosecuted his ministry. He is the Paul of the Old Testament. Allowance being made for difference of phraseology, there is a striking resemblance between the call of Isaiah and of Paul (comp. chap. 6 with Acts 9). Both sought to serve the heavenly King; and both received a commission to work, spiritual and catholic beyond all conceptions of their time,—the one penning the Gospel of the suffering Messiah, the other vindicating the truth that the Gospel is God’s message to the world. The text reminds us—
I. Of the Christian’s offer of service. The offer of service which the prophet madewas—
1. Free. He spoke spontaneously, and not as the result of pressure from without [751]
2. Truthful. Unlike one of the sons in the parable (Mat_21:30), he meant what he said.
3. Bold. It was made concerning an unknown mission. The justification of the boldness of his offer is, that it was made to God, who always qualifies His servants for the tasks to which He calls them.
4. Personal. The prophet placed at God’s disposal, not some of his property merely, but himself.
5. It involved the most complete self-surrender. All thought of self control the prophet resigned. He placed himself as an instrument in God’s hands. He was ready to go where, when, and on what errand God might determine [754] Such are the offers of service in which God delights.
[751] H. E. I., 3633–3639.
[754] H. E. I., 3618–3626.
II. Of the steps that lead up to this offer. The offer may take men by surprise, but there has always been preparation for it, as there has been long preparation for the lightning that leaps suddenly from the sky. Such offers as the prophet made are preceded—
1. by a vision of God, of the thrice Holy One, filling the soul with awe, and causing it to tremble (Isa_6:1-4).
2. By self-prostration of spirit, a conviction of utter sinfulness (Isa_6:5). This is the invariable result of a true vision of God (Exo_3:2; Jos_5:14; Jdg_6:22; Jdg_13:22; Luk_5:8; Rev_1:17). This is also a prime condition of fitness for service.
3. By the touch of a mediator (Isa_6:6-7). “They that be struck down by visions of God’s glory shall soon be raised up again by visits of His grace.” Blessed is the man who has both visions. A sense of pardon is essential to large usefulness. Imperfect realisation of forgiveness is one of the most frequent causes of weakness in Christian service.
4. By a moral transformation. The offerer has become a new man from the centre outwards. Now he can hear God’s voice: “I heard,” &c. It is a voice to which now he feels he must respond: “Here am I,” &c. In some degree every Christian is thus prepared. These essentials of service are also essentials of Christian life. These experiences are at once your credentials and your powers.
III. That God always accepts offers of service for which there has been this preparation, and that bear these marks. He never rejects true volunteers. Offers hastily made and half-meant He passes by (Jos_24:18-19; Joh_2:23-25); but genuine, whole-hearted offers of service, He in variably accepts.
In conclusion, let us lay up in our memories three facts in connection with service.
1. True service is not incompatible with failure. We are too apt to connect failure with incompetency in the servant. Many do fail through incompetency, but not all. The prophet divinely called and most royally endowed may fail, because of the moral obduracy and perverseness of those to whom he is sent (Isa_6:9-10).
2. True service is not incompatible with sorrow (Isa_6:11-12). That man is inhuman who without profound grief can behold the perversity of sinners, and the calamities with which in consequence they are visited.
3. True service will never be left without reward. Multitudes may reject the prophet’s message, yet there will be “a tenth” who will accept it and be saved.—J. R. Wood.
MESSENGERS WANTED
Isa_6:8. Also, I heard the voice of the Lord, &c.
I. God wants messengers unto sinful men. Tidings concerning sin and salvation, mercy and deliverance, God’s grace and man’s misery, must be published. Might send seraphim and the angel host. God elects to send men to their fellow-men. “Whom shall I send?” is not the inquiry of a divine perplexity, but the stimulative question of one who calls for willing workers.
II. God especially qualifies His messengers. How does He in an especial manner fit men for His highest service?
1. By an awe-inspiring sight of Himself.
2. By distressing convictions of personal sin.
3. By sanctifying all the faculties to His use.
III. God’s call should meet with a ready response. He desires volunteers, “Who will go for us?” The constraint of love is the omnipotent motive force.
1. The call is heard individually. “I heard the voice of the Lord.”
2. The call provokes self-surrender. “Here am I.”
3. The call demands entire self-abandonment. “Send me”—anywhere, on any errands, at any time, in any capacity.
IV. How may we ascertain that we are required to become messengers of the living God?
1. By the separating voice of God.
2. By the discipline of preparation.
3. By the openings of beckoning opportunities. The “joy of the Lord” will be our strength when most we feel the pressure of “the burden of the Lord.”—Matthew Braithwaite.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v8 The Mission of the Prophet
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.
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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.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv8, 10 General Information:
General Information:
Isaiah continues to describe his vision.
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the voice of the Lord say
Here "voice" represents the Lord himself. AT: "the Lord say" (See: Synecdoche)
Whom shall I send
It is implied that Yahweh will send someone to speak his message to the people of Israel. AT: "Whom shall I send to be a messenger to my people" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
who will go for us
It seems "us" refers to Yahweh and the members of his heavenly council to whom he is speaking. (See: Inclusive "We")
this people
"the people of Israel"
Listen, but do not understand; see, but do not perceive
Possible meanings are 1) the imperatives "do not understand" and "do not perceive" express what God is causing to happen. AT: "You will listen, but Yahweh will not let you understand; you will look carefully, but Yahweh will not allow you to understand" or 2) the imperatives "Listen" and "see" express the idea of "if." AT: "Even if you listen you will not understand; even if you look carefully, you will not understand" (See: Imperatives - Other Uses)
Listen, but do not understand; see, but do not perceive
You can state clearly the understood information. AT: "Listen to Yahweh's message, but do not understand what it means; look at what Yahweh is doing, but do not realize what it means" (See: Ellipsis)
translationWords
voice
lord
send
people group
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv8–10 6:8 Who will go for us? The Lord spoke…
6:8 Who will go for us? The Lord spoke in the presence of his angels, the heavenly council (see also 1 Kgs 22:19-22; Jer 23:18, 22). • Here I am: The prophet was so overcome by the grace of God in cleansing him that he willingly committed himself to a lifetime of ministry.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.