Chapters 6-8

Chapter 6

For the context of Uzziah, the death of whom marks the beginning of this chapter, see 2 Chronicles 26.

Chapter 6 narrates one of the most memorable parts of the Bible: the vision of God in the Temple. The description almost takes our breath away as we are reminded that God is so much more magnificent and glorious than we can imagine or comprehend. The Hebrew word for “glory” (kavod) also implies “heaviness” and “great weight.” The glory of the LORD is not ephemeral or weak but mighty, substantial, “weighty.” Moses hides in the cleft of the rock. Mere mortals fall at their feet. The kavod Adonai, the glory of the LORD, is a thing to behold!

The question from Isaiah is our question. How can we bear to stand in light of this glory? Won’t the sheer presence of God obliterate us in all its magnificence?

And yet, we, like Isaiah, a “people of unclean lips” (6:5) are touched with the purifying coal of the Holy Spirit and sing along with the seraphim every time we celebrate Holy Communion: “Holy, holy, holy LORD…” (6:3). Isaiah 6:5 seems to me to be an appropriate prayer of repentance and confession, part A perhaps prior to receiving Holy Communion and part B as a post-communion prayer.

[Incidentally, Eugene Peterson has a nice treatment of the holiness of God in ch. 6 of his book The Jesus Way (2007).]

Chapter 7

If Christians know a verse from Isaiah, it is probably 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel” (NRSV). The tradition of the Church and indeed the Scriptures themselves have found the fulfillment of this promise in Christ Jesus (cf. Matthew 1:23 and allusions in Luke 1:31, John 1:45 and Revelation 12:5). Indeed, it is the first “fulfillment” to appear in St. Matthew’s Gospel, so it bears a tremendous amount of theological weight.

Chapter 7 ends again with a picture of desolation, the land overrun with briers and thorns (7:23-25).

Chapter 8

This chapter speaks of the first deportation of the Northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians (8:4-8). And yet the testimony, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, is that God is with his people (Immanuel, 7:8, 10). This will be an important word in exile for God’s chosen people as they begin to ask, “Has God abandoned us?”

And what are the people to do? They are instructed to fear the LORD (8:13) and to wait and hope for Him (8:17).

I think perhaps it is in our most desperate times, the times of storms raging and all comforts stripped away that we are driven to fear only the LORD, to wait only for the LORD, to hope only for the LORD. Chapter 6 begins with a certain appropriate humility before God and chapter 8 ends with a similar theme.

All of these “doses” of humility may be contrasted with King Uzziah’s arrogance in his offering in the Temple (cf. Peterson, pp. 129-131).