Johann
Well-known member
I fully concur on this point-
This is confirmed by the words in which his commission is expressed, and the substance of the message. “He said, Go, and tell this people, Hear on, and understand not; and look on, but perceive not. Make ye the heart of this people greasy, and their ears heavy, and their eyes sticky; that they may not see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and their heart understand, and they be converted, and one heal them.”
“This people” points back to the people of unclean lips, among whom Isaiah had complained of dwelling, and whom the Lord would not call “my people.” It was to go to this people and preach to them, and therefore to be the prophet of this people, that he was called. But how mournful does the divine commission sound! It was the terrible opposite of that seraphic mission, which the prophet had experienced in himself. The seraph had absolved Isaiah by the burning coal, that he as prophet might not absolve, but harden his people by his word.
They were to hear and see, and that continually as the gerundives imply (Ges. §131, 3, b; Ewald, §280, b), by having the prophet's preaching actu directo constantly before them; but not to their salvation. The two prohibitory expressions, “understand not” and “perceive not,” show what the result of the prophet's preaching was to be, according to the judicial will of God.
And the imperatives in v. 10 are not to be understood as simply instructing the prophet to tell the people what God had determined to do; for the fact that “prophets are often said to do what they announce as about to happen,” in proof of which Jer_1:10 is sometimes quoted (cf., Jer_31:28; Hos_6:5; Eze_43:3), has its truth not in a rhetorical figure, but in the very nature of the divine word. The prophet was the organ of the word of God, and the word of God was the expression of the will of God, and the will of God is a divine act that has not yet become historical. For this reason a prophet might very well be said to perform what he announced as about to happen: God was the Causa efficiens principalis, the word was the Causa media, and the prophet the Causa ministerialis.
This is the force of the three imperatives; they are three figurative expressions of the idea of hardening. The first, hishmin, signifies to make fat (pinguem), i.e., without susceptibility or feeling for the operations of divine grace (Psa_119:70); the second, hicbı̄d, to make heavy, more especially heavy or dull of hearing (Isa_59:1); the third, השֵׁע or השַׁע (whence the imperative הָשֵׁעַ or הָשַׁע), to smear thickly, or paste over, i.e., to put upon a person what is usually the result of weak eyes, which become firmly closed by the hardening of the adhesive substance secreted in the night. The three future clauses, with “lest” (pen), point back to these three imperatives in inverse order: their spiritual sight, spiritual hearing, and spiritual feeling were to be taken away, their eyes becoming blind, and their ears deaf, and their hearts being covered over with the grease of insensibility.
he heart: Isa_29:10, Isa_63:17; Exo_7:3, Exo_10:27, Exo_11:10, Exo_14:17; Deu_2:30; Eze_3:6-11; 2Co_2:16
fat: Deu_32:15; Psa_17:10
ears heavy: Jer_6:10; Zec_7:11
lest: Jer_5:21; Joh_3:19-20; Act_3:19, Act_28:27
convert: Isa_19:22; Mat_13:15
6:9-10 As YHWH reveals His purpose for Isaiah's ministry, He also reveals to Isaiah the response his message will have on Judah.
go, Isa. 6:9, BDB 229, KB 246, Qal imperative
tell, Isa. 6:9, BDB 55, KB 65, Qal perfect with waw
keep listening, Isa. 6:9, Qal imperative and Qal infinitive absolute of BDB 1033, KB 1570
but do not perceive, Isa. 6:9, BDB 106, KB 122, Qal imperfect used in a jussive sense, cf. Isa. 1:3; 5:21; 10:13; 29:14
keep looking, Isa. 6:9, Qal imperative and Qal infinitive absolute of BDB 906, KB 1157
but do not understand, Isa. 6:9, BDB 393, KB 380, Qal imperfect used in a jussive sense
render the hearts of this people insensitive (lit. "fat"), Isa. 6:10, BDB 1031, KB 1566, Hiphil imperative
their ears dull, Isa. 6:10, BDB 457, KB 455, Hiphil imperative
and their eyes dim, Isa. 6:10, BDB 1044, KB 1612, Hiphil imperative
These imperatives are followed by the consequences (three imperfects of previously used verbs, "see," "hear," and "perceive"). God knows (either by His foreknowledge or His hardening of their already wayward hearts/minds) that they will not respond and be saved.
lest they repent, BDB 996, KB 1427, Qal perfect negated with waw
lest they be healed, BDB 950, KB 1272, Qal perfect negated with waw
Isaiah will preach and though some may respond, the vast majority of his people/his society will not (cf. Rom. 1:24,26,28; Eph. 4:19) or cannot respond (cf. Isa. 29:9,10; Deut. 29:4; Matt. 13:13; Rom. 11:8)! Isaiah is not an evangelist here, but a prophet of covenant disobedience/consequences (cf. Matt. 13:13; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10). His message of hope is for a future day, not his day!
Utley
" Romans 10:7 "Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)" Romans 10:8 "But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;" Romans 10:9 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Romans 10:10 "
