Isa 6:1-4

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Questions

  • What do we know about the heavenly beings identified here as seraphims?

Lexical notes

  • Seraphims are described here as heavenly beings with six wings. The same Hebrew word (saraph) is used in Num 21:6, Num 21:8, and Deut 8:15 in reference to the "fiery serpents" that bit the Children of Israel as they wandered in the desert.

Exegesis

Verse 1

This chapter undeniably explores Isaiah's prophetic call (read: call to prophesy). That such a call is issued upon the event of a king's death is most significant: Isaiah is given the gift of prophecy at the very time a new king is to be enthroned. That Isaiah is in the temple--apparently in the Holy of Holies--at the time of enthronement is likewise suggestive: only a high priest (the high priest) should (could) have been in such a location on such an event. The prophetic call narrative is immediately cast as a question of kingship and priesthood: at the time Isaiah was called to prophesy, he was functioning as the high priest of the Israelite cultus, performing the preparatory rites (the Day of Atonement) for the cultic enthronement of the new king. This complex context is an unrelenting theme throughout the chapter, and it is one that--if kept constantly in mind--opens up interpretive possibilities for many of the details at work in the narrative.

That the temple is the location of the event is clear: the Lord's "train filled the temple." The Hebrew hychal, here translated temple, is an ambiguous term (as far as moderns are concerned) used to describe what are modernly called temples as well as what are modernly called palaces. The Hebrews do not seem to have made such a distinction. In other words, one should (universally in the Old Testament, particularly in this passage) regard the temple as the palace of the Lord: the Lord is seen in this vision to be sitting upon a throne, yet clearly in the temple standing in Jerusalem. Working with such an undifferentiated concept of palace/temple, the meaning of the "throne" mentioned is clear: Isaiah sees YHWH sitting on the "mercy seat" (kprt, better translated the "throne of atonement") atop the ark of the covenant.

In other words, Isaiah's prophetic call begins with a vision of YHWH sitting atop the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem temple, and specifically on the occasion of the enthronement of a new king. Even as the rites of earthly enthronement (of Jotham, the son of Uzziah) are preparing, Isaiah is given to see a far surer enthronement, that of the very God of heaven. His exaltation in enthronement is clear (He is "high and lifted up"), and He is clearly, as He is enthroned, clothed in a royal robe of some type ("his train [the hem of His garment] filled the temple").

All of this suggests that one read this chapter with an eye to the Day of Atonement, as just these first details suggest that Isaiah was about the duties of this holy day when his encounter occurred. Further, one is pointed toward reading Isaiah's call to the prophesy as a sort of distraction from his office as high priest: his duties for an "earthly" cult are interrupted by the ritual proceeding in the "heavenly" cult. Perhaps most important of all, this prophetic call narrative grounds the entirety of Isaiah's writings: the prophet should be understood as one abundantly familiar with the high priesthood and the temple liturgies, yet with the prophetic gift (as above and beyond the ritual duties of the priesthood) and the overwhelming reality of a direct relation to God, and hence with the distance between earthly proceedings and heavenly proceedings. This narrative must be understood as the moment of recognizing for the first time (or at least for the first time in so radical a manner) that distance: this narrative marks Isaiah's distance from God (but marks distance itself as, inevitably, a relation).

Verse 2

If the first verse is marked by a suddenness, this second verse is marked by an immediate retreat from the blinding reality of the vision of God (John will follow a similar logic of suddenness and subsequent retreat in Rev 4:2ff.). The two verses together suggest a sort of radical disorientation effected by the shocking appearance of God, following which Isaiah scrambles to gather together his--perhaps still shocking--surroundings. The "seraphims" (better would be "seraphim" or "seraphs") are described as "above" the throne, gathered about the Lord in a sort of throng (the same beings are described in D&C 109:79 as "around thy [God's] throne"). Translating the Hebrew seraph is difficult, as it means properly a "burning thing," used in Num 21:6 to describe the "fiery" serpents that afflicted the children of Israel in the desert. John the Revelator seems to have seen similar beings in his vision (beings with features reflecting Ezekiel's first vision as well--cf. Ezek 1:1ff.), describing them further has being "full of eyes before and behind" (Rev 4:6). D&C 77:3 suggests that these creatures were "actual" beasts, "actually" seen in vision--not merely prophetic attempts to figure an overwhelming experience. D&C 38:1, the first verse of a revelation the temple themes of which are readily apparent, connects seraphim to the "hosts of heaven," the angels gathered in council with God "before the world was made."

All of this suggests that Isaiah's passage into the Holy of Holies was a passage into the angelic council of God. In other words, this text seems to understand the "council in heaven" to be an event always at work beyond the veil (creation and council concerning creation being, apparently, an on-going work). This would accord well with other similar visions found in scripture: besides John's vision, already mentioned, Lehi's vision with which the Book of Mormon opens (in 1 Ne 1:8) is perhaps the most explicit, describing "God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God." Isaiah's (and others') understanding of the Holy of Holies (or even of heaven) as the locus of an on-going angelic council that is dedicated entirely to the proceedings on the earth establishes more fully the context in which the remainder of this chapter must be read. Isaiah, suddenly thrust into the midst of a chorus of heavenly beings, is to be invited--albeit in an odd manner--to join them as an angel. It should also be mentioned that this context doubles the context already suggested above: the Day of Atonement was apparently understood--at least among those with the prophetic gifts--as the day upon which the high priest had the opportunity to be among the angelic chorus, privy to the council and the counsels of God.

The seraphim are further described as having six wings, three pairs each separately dedicated to a different task. If these "wings are a representation of power, to move, to act, etc." (D&C 77:4), then Isaiah's description of the scene is doubly significant: only with two of six wings does each demonstrate its "power." Rather, in fact, each dedicates its other four wings--uses its "power" to act--to cover itself (doubly) in complete humility. Covering their faces, the seraphim apparently gather to their praise with a sort of veil. More difficult to interpret is the fact that they cover their "feet." While a more literal interpretation is possible, it is nonetheless obviously the case in the Hebrew bible that the word for "feet" is often used as a euphemism. In other words, this act of covering might well be parallel to Adam and Eve's apron's of fig leaves, made to cover their nakedness (see Gen 3:7). Covering their faces as if with a veil, covering their nakedness as if with fig leaves, the remaining two wings apparently represent their "power," even their power "to act." Collectively, it might be suggested, the six wings function as the seraphs' double presentation before God: in authority, yet in humility; with, perhaps, a priesthood, but always in subjection to their Lord.

Verse 3

The angels/seraphim are described as crying to each other, rather than to the Lord enthroned in their midst. The word translated "cried" makes some sense of this: qr' means to summon, to invite, or to call. It is the verb used throughout the Old Testament for the summons to ritual occasions (from which situation it developed another meaning in later Hebrew, "to read," since public readings were a part of the festal gatherings). The angels, then, are summoning each other, apparently to the ritual occasion, inviting each other to contemplate the enthroned Lord in the midst in ritual praise, calling each other's attention to the glory of their King. The communal cry at once confirms and overturns the logical shift of verse 2: the angels, turned from the Lord Himself to each other, confirm Isaiah's growing distance from the shocking first instance of theophany; however, the angels turn from the Lord precisely to issue a summons to others to consider Him, to turn to Him.

This communal praise, turned as it is from the Lord so as to call one to turn to Him, marks at this early point in this chapter the nature and character of language, which is to play a major part in the unfolding narrative of Isaiah's prophetic call. The exalted appearance described in verse 1 is surrounded by an aura of silence, noise and talk only entering the picture when Isaiah retreats to the surrounding gathering of angels. Though this central--even focal--silence will be overturned (in at least one sense) later on in the chapter, at this early point, the silence is overbearing and unmistakable. The silence of the enthroned One, over against the loud, even demanding voices of the angels, sets up the role that language plays in the text: the cry (call, summons, invitation) is at once a cancellation of the silence imposed by the appearance of the enthroned Lord and a summons to the most silent (silent because overawed) worship. In other words, the duplicity of the angels already mentioned is doubled in the motif of language.

The role of language in these first three verses ought immediately to be felt at another level of Isaiah's text: Isaiah himself only communicates (on this very page!) the theophany he experienced by doing something very similar to what the angels are here reported as doing. It is only by retreating, as it were, from the theophany itself that Isaiah can point others toward the same experience. In order to turn others toward that exalted vision, Isaiah must himself turn, for a moment, from it. Hence, even as the appearance of the Lord in verse 1 is shrouded in silence, it is proclaimed in as loud a voice as can be, the very voice of Isaiah. It is to a significant extent this very paradox of language that is in question throughout the rest of this chapter (where Isaiah will exchange an earthly language for a heavenly one, will hear the voice of God, will be given a specific message to preach when he turns from the Lord, etc.).

The exact words of exclamation on the angels' part is significant in a number of ways. The trisagion, or "thrice-holy" prayer, has a significant place in liturgical history, perhaps the most important moment of which for present considerations is to be found in the Book of Revelation. When John describes the "beasts" apparently similar or identical to the seraphim Isaiah describes, he reports their words as "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come" (Rev 4:8). The triple mention of holiness at the beginning of the hymn John records is matched by the triple mention of God's being at the close of the same, apparently linking the two (in an "inverted parallelism" or chiasm): the three mentions of God's holiness correspond to God's omnipresence, etc. Without getting here into the difficulties presented by John's revelation experience, it might simply be stated that the tradition understands Isaiah's three mentions of holiness to be tied to other aspects of God's nature. (Oddly the Isaiah scroll from Qumran has holy only twice. What that would mean for interpretation is not clear.)

However, the first phrase of the angelic prayer might be understood as paradoxical. The Hebrew for holy, qadowsh, means something set at a distance, something removed from other things, perhaps even something "transcendent" (though using this last word only loosely). The angels praise YHWH as the One who is removed to some distance from all else. On the other hand, they call Him the "LORD of hosts," or, in more contemporary language, "YHWH of armies" or "YHWH of the angelic contingents." Even as the angels set Him at some remove from things--from themselves--they describe Him as intimately acquainted with them. In short, the first part of their praise regards YHWH as both distant and yet accessible at once, a paradox, but one not unfamiliar (distance always implies relation). This paradox is best embodied elsewhere in Old Testament tradition in the Day of Atonement, which has already been seen to have some of its themes present in this chapter. The ritual of the Day of Atonement at once accomplished the distance of God from Israel (only the high priest was to see God, and that only in a cloud of incense) and the nearness (through the ritual, the covenant of Abraham--and so of Moses--was renewed in a direct relation that made YHWH Israel's God and Israel YHWH's people). It has been suggested (especially by Margaret Barker) that on the Day of Atonement those involved directly with the ritual proceedings understood themselves to be angels, God's very hosts.

The second half of the angelic hymn also draws out themes from the Day of Atonement. The angels claim that "the whole earth is full of his glory." Just as the land (Hebrew: aretz) was promised to Abraham through his covenant, it was promised anew to Israel through the rites of the Day of Atonement, as the covenant was renewed. The earth (Hebrew: aretz), as mentioned here by the angels, returns on that holy day to the people claimed by YHWH. That it is filled with the glory of the LORD of hosts suggests that He Himself is claiming the land, preparing Himself to emerge from His temple to dwell with His people (as the ancient Israelites expected to see at the Day of Atonement when the Messiah came). In Lev 9:23, when Aaron performs for the first time the rites of the Day of Atonement, "the glory of the LORD apeared unto all the people," exactly as the text here seems to describe. This appearance seems even to function as a sort of consecration of things: the Hebrew idiom for consecration (of priests, say) is to "fill the hand" (ml' yd), even as the whole earth is here "full [or filled] of his glory."

In short, the first words of Isaiah concerning the words of the angels (in turn concerning the Word as He sits on a throne) provide the reader with a two-part hymn that seems to confirm the Day of Atonement themes already present in the first two verses. The angels, in turning from the Lord to turn others toward Him, summon each other to a sort of Day of Atonement ritual at work in heaven, even as Isaiah attends to the Day of Atonement rites on earth. Perhaps most important in this verse, however, is the fact that the heavens themselves (or perhaps rather the Holy of Holies) are a silence surrounded by verbal invitations to contemplate that silence in silence. This interplay between silence and praise/invitation will be extended in verse 4 and then explored at great length in verses 5-8.

Verse 4

As on the Day of Atonement, smoke fills the throneroom of God, the Holy of Holies. If this is what Isaiah has reference to, then the odd phrase, "the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried," might be understood as having reference to the parting of the veil. More simply, it might make reference to an earthquake caused by the shock of the heavenly voice. It should be noted that Isaiah reports here something out of order according to standard procedure on the Day of Atonement. During the ritual, incense was extended into the Holy of Holies to cover the ark of the covenant so that Jehovah would appear in the cloud. Here, however, Isaiah sees the Lord on the throne (the ark's mercy seat) before the smoke does its work. In other words, Isaiah is ushered unexpectedly into the presence of God.

Verse 5

Isaiah's reaction is predictable, given the Day of Atonement setting: the cloud was to surround the ark of the covenant precisely so that the high priest was not struck dead by the appearance of the Lord. As Isaiah has come directly into the presence of God before the atonement rituals have been completed, and especially because he has seen the Lord without the protective cloud of smoke, he expects utter destruction (the Hebrew for "undone" is much stronger than this translation). Isaiah explicitly bases this concern on the status of his lips. The Hebrew for "lip" (shafa), while meaning literally the lip, is often translated language (it is one of two Hebrew words thus translated). This passage might then be translated "because I am a man of unclean language," one who, in other words, does not speak the language one ought to speak in the presence of God. Fundamentally, Isaiah seems to believe that there is a certain form of speaking that is to accompany the vision of God, that eyes and lips are to function together when standing in the presence of God. Isaiah vocalizes this concern, which thus functions as a call upon the Lord, as a summons for help.

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