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Isaiah 6:2 Bible in Basic English (BBE)

2 Over him were the winged ones: every one had six wings; two for covering his face, two for covering his feed, and two for flight.

Cross Reference

Revelation 4:8 BBE

And the four beasts, having every one of them six wings, are full of eyes round about and inside: and without resting day and night, they say, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, Ruler of all, who was and is and is to come.

Psalms 103:20 BBE

Give praise to the Lord, you his angels, who are great in strength, doing his orders, and waiting for his voice.

Revelation 7:11 BBE

And all the angels were round about the high seat, and about the rulers and the four beasts; and they went down on their faces before the high seat, and gave worship to God, saying,

Ezekiel 1:11 BBE

And their wings were separate at the top; two of the wings of every one were joined one to another, and two were covering their bodies.

Isaiah 6:6 BBE

Then a winged one came to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from off the altar with the fire-spoon.

1 Kings 6:24 BBE

With outstretched wings five cubits wide; the distance from the edge of one wing to the edge of the other was ten cubits.

Ezekiel 1:24 BBE

And when they went, the sound of their wings was like the sound of great waters to my ears, like the voice of the Ruler of all, a sound like the rushing of an army: when they came to rest they let down their wings.

Ezekiel 1:9 BBE

They went without turning, every one went straight forward.

Ezekiel 10:16 BBE

And when the winged ones went, the wheels went by their side: and when their wings were lifted to take them up from the earth, the wheels were not turned from their side.

Ezekiel 10:21 BBE

Every one had four faces and every one had four wings; and hands like a man's hands were under their wings.

Daniel 7:10 BBE

A stream of fire was flowing and coming out from before him: a thousand thousands were his servants, and ten thousand times ten thousand were in their places before him: the judge was seated and the books were open.

Daniel 9:21 BBE

Even while I was still in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at first when my weariness was great, put his hand on me about the time of the evening offering.

Zechariah 3:4 BBE

And he made answer and said to those who were there before him, Take the unclean robes off him, and let him be clothed in clean robes;

Luke 1:10 BBE

And all the people were offering prayers outside, at the time of the burning of perfumes.

Hebrews 1:7 BBE

And of the angels he says, Who makes his angels winds, and his servants flames of fire:

Revelation 8:13 BBE

And there came to my ears the cry of an eagle in flight in the middle of heaven, saying with a great voice, Trouble, trouble, trouble, to all on the earth, because of the other voices of the horns of the three angels, whose sounding is still to come.

Revelation 14:6 BBE

And I saw another angel in flight between heaven and earth, having eternal good news to give to those who are on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and language and people,

Ezekiel 1:6 BBE

And every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings.

Psalms 104:4 BBE

He makes winds his angels, and flames of fire his servants.

Psalms 89:7 BBE

God is greatly to be feared among the saints, and to be honoured over all those who are about him.

Psalms 18:10 BBE

And he went in flight through the air, seated on a storm-cloud: going quickly on the wings of the wind.

Job 15:15 BBE

Truly, he puts no faith in his holy ones, and the heavens are not clean in his eyes;

Job 4:18 BBE

Truly, he puts no faith in his servants, and he sees error in his angels;

Job 1:6 BBE

And there was a day when the sons of the gods came together before the Lord, and the Satan came with them.

1 Kings 22:19 BBE

And he said, Give ear now to the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord seated on his seat of power, with all the army of heaven in their places round him at his right hand and at his left.

1 Kings 19:13 BBE

And Elijah, hearing it, went out, covering his face with his robe, and took his place in the opening of the hole. And there a voice came to him saying, What are you doing here, Elijah?

1 Kings 8:7 BBE

For their wings were outstretched over the place where the ark was, covering the ark and its rods.

1 Kings 6:27 BBE

These were placed inside the inner house, their outstretched wings touching the walls of the house, one touching one wall and one the other, while their other wings were touching in the middle.

Exodus 37:9 BBE

And their wings were stretched out over the cover; the faces of the winged ones were opposite one another and facing the cover.

Exodus 25:20 BBE

And their wings are to be outstretched over the cover, and the winged ones are to be opposite one another, facing the cover.

Exodus 3:6 BBE

And he said, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses kept his face covered for fear of looking on God.

Genesis 17:3 BBE

And Abram went down on his face on the earth, and the Lord God went on talking with him, and said,

Ezekiel 1:4 BBE

And, looking, I saw a storm-wind coming out of the north, a great cloud with flames of fire coming after one another, and a bright light shining round about it and in the heart of it was something coloured like electrum.

Commentary on Isaiah 6 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible


CHAPTER 6

Isa 6:1-13. Vision of Jehovah in His Temple.

Isaiah is outside, near the altar in front of the temple. The doors are supposed to open, and the veil hiding the Holy of Holies to be withdrawn, unfolding to his view a vision of God represented as an Eastern monarch, attended by seraphim as His ministers of state (1Ki 22:19), and with a robe and flowing train (a badge of dignity in the East), which filled the temple. This assertion that he had seen God was, according to tradition (not sanctioned by Isa 1:1; see Introduction), the pretext for sawing him asunder in Manasseh's reign (Heb 11:37). Visions often occur in the other prophets: in Isaiah there is only this one, and it is marked by characteristic clearness and simplicity.

1. In … year … Uzziah died—Either literal death, or civil when he ceased as a leper to exercise his functions as king [Chaldee], (2Ch 26:19-21). 754 B.C. [Calmet] 758 (Common Chronology). This is not the first beginning of Isaiah's prophecies, but his inauguration to a higher degree of the prophetic office: Isa 6:9, &c., implies the tone of one who had already experience of the people's obstinacy.

Lord—here Adonai, Jehovah in Isa 6:5; Jesus Christ is meant as speaking in Isa 6:10, according to Joh 12:41. Isaiah could only have "seen" the Son, not the divine essence (Joh 1:18). The words in Isa 6:10 are attributed by Paul (Ac 28:25, 26) to the Holy Ghost. Thus the Trinity in unity is implied; as also by the thrice "Holy" (Isa 6:3). Isaiah mentions the robes, temple, and seraphim, but not the form of God Himself. Whatever it was, it was different from the usual Shekinah: that was on the mercy seat, this on a throne; that a cloud and fire, of this no form is specified: over that were the cherubim, over this the seraphim; that had no clothing, this had a flowing robe and train.

2. stood—not necessarily the posture of standing; rather, were in attendance on Him [Maurer], hovering on expanded wings.

the—not in the Hebrew.

seraphim—nowhere else applied to God's attendant angels; but to the fiery flying (not winged, but rapidly moving) serpents, which bit the Israelites (Nu 21:6), called so from the poisonous inflammation caused by their bites. Seraph is to burn; implying the burning zeal, dazzling brightness (2Ki 2:11; 6:17; Eze 1:13; Mt 28:3) and serpent-like rapidity of the seraphim in God's service. Perhaps Satan's form as a serpent (nachash) in his appearance to man has some connection with his original form as a seraph of light. The head of the serpent was the symbol of wisdom in Egypt (compare Nu 21:8; 2Ki 18:4). The seraphim, with six wings and one face, can hardly be identified with the cherubim, which had four wings (in the temple only two) and four faces (Eze 1:5-12). (But compare Re 4:8). The "face" and "feet" imply a human form; something of a serpentine form (perhaps a basilisk's head, as in the temples of Thebes) may have been mixed with it: so the cherub was compounded of various animal forms. However, seraph may come from a root meaning "princely," applied in Da 10:13 to Michael [Maurer]; just as cherub comes from a root (changing m into b), meaning "noble."

twain—Two wings alone of the six were kept ready for instant flight in God's service; two veiled their faces as unworthy to look on the holy God, or pry into His secret counsels which they fulfilled (Ex 3:6; Job 4:18; 15:15); two covered their feet, or rather the whole of the lower parts of their persons—a practice usual in the presence of Eastern monarchs, in token of reverence (compare Eze 1:11, their bodies). Man's service a fortiori consists in reverent waiting on, still more than in active service for, God.

3. (Re 4:8). The Trinity is implied (on "Lord," see on Isa 6:1). God's holiness is the keynote of Isaiah's whole prophecies.

whole earth—the Hebrew more emphatically, the fulness of the whole earth is His glory (Ps 24:1; 72:19).

4. posts of … door—rather, foundations of the thresholds.

house—temple.

smoke—the Shekinah cloud (1Ki 8:10; Eze 10:4).

5. undone—(Ex 33:20). The same effect was produced on others by the presence of God (Jud 6:22; 13:22; Job 42:5, 6; Lu 5:8; Re 1:17).

lips—appropriate to the context which describes the praises of the lips, sung in alternate responses (Ex 15:20, 21; Isa 6:3) by the seraphim: also appropriate to the office of speaking as the prophet of God, about to be committed to Isaiah (Isa 6:9).

seen—not strictly Jehovah Himself (Joh 1:18; 1Ti 6:16), but the symbol of His presence.

Lord—Hebrew, "Jehovah."

6. unto me—The seraph had been in the temple, Isaiah outside of it.

live coal—literally, "a hot stone," used, as in some countries in our days, to roast meat with, for example, the meat of the sacrifices. Fire was a symbol of purification, as it takes the dross out of metals (Mal 3:2, 3).

the altar—of burnt offering, in the court of the priests before the temple. The fire on it was at first kindled by God (Le 9:24), and was kept continually burning.

7. mouth … lips—(See on Isa 6:5). The mouth was touched because it was the part to be used by the prophet when inaugurated. So "tongues of fire" rested on the disciples (Ac 2:3, 4) when they were being set apart to speak in various languages of Jesus.

iniquity—conscious unworthiness of acting as God's messenger.

purged—literally, "covered," that is, expiated, not by any physical effect of fire to cleanse from sin, but in relation to the altar sacrifices, of which Messiah, who here commissions Isaiah, was in His death to be the antitype: it is implied hereby that it is only by sacrifice sin can be pardoned.

8. I … us—The change of number indicates the Trinity (compare Ge 1:26; 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 1Ch 29:5).

Here am I—prompt zeal, now that he has been specially qualified for it (Isa 6:7; compare 1Sa 3:10, 11; Ac 9:6).

9. Hear … indeed—Hebrew, "In hearing hear," that is, Though ye hear the prophet's warnings again and again, ye are doomed, because of your perverse will (Joh 7:17), not to understand. Light enough is given in revelation to guide those sincerely seeking to know, in order that they may do, God's will; darkness enough is left to confound the wilfully blind (Isa 43:8). So in Jesus' use of parables (Mt 13:14).

see … indeed—rather, "though ye see again and again," yet, &c.

10. Make … fat—(Ps 119:17). "Render them the more hardened by thy warnings" [Maurer]. This effect is the fruit, not of the truth in itself, but of the corrupt state of their hearts, to which God here judicially gives them over (Isa 63:17). Gesenius takes the imperatives as futures. "Proclaim truths, the result of which proclamation will be their becoming the more hardened" (Ro 1:28; Eph 4:18); but this does not so well as the former set forth God as designedly giving up sinners to judicial hardening (Ro 11:8; 2Th 2:11). In the first member of the sentence, the order is, the heart, ears, eyes; in the latter, the reverse order, the eyes, ears, heart. It is from the heart that corruption flows into the ears and eyes (Mr 7:21, 22); but through the eyes and ears healing reaches the heart (Ro 10:17), [Bengel]. (Jer 5:21; Eze 12:2; Zec 7:11; Ac 7:57; 2Ti 4:4). In Mt 13:15, the words are quoted in the indicative, "is waxed gross" (so the Septuagint), not the imperative, "make fat"; God's word as to the future is as certain as if it were already fulfilled. To see with one's eyes will not convince a will that is opposed to the truth (compare Joh 11:45, 46; 12:10, 11). "One must love divine things in order to understand them" [Pascal].

be healed—of their spiritual malady, sin (Isa 1:6; Ps 103:3; Jer 17:14).

11. how long—will this wretched condition of the nation being hardened to its destruction continue?

until—(Isa 5:9)—fulfilled primarily at the Babylonish captivity, and more fully at the dispersion under the Roman Titus.

12. (2Ki 25:21).

forsaking—abandonment of dwellings by their inhabitants (Jer 4:29).

13. and it shall return, and … be eaten—Rather, "but it shall be again given over to be consumed": if even a tenth survive the first destruction, it shall be destroyed by a second (Isa 5:25; Eze 5:1-5, 12), [Maurer and Horsley]. In English Version, "return" refers to the poor remnant left in the land at the Babylonish captivity (2Ki 24:14; 25:12), which afterwards fled to Egypt in fear (2Ki 25:26), and subsequently returned thence along with others who had fled to Moab and Edom (Jer 40:11, 12), and suffered under further divine judgments.

tell—rather, "terebinth" or "turpentine tree" (Isa 1:29).

substance … when … cast … leaves—rather, "As a terebinth or oak in which, when they are cast down (not 'cast their leaves,' Job 14:7), the trunk or stock remains, so the holy seed (Ezr 9:2) shall be the stock of that land." The seeds of vitality still exist in both the land and the scattered people of Judea, waiting for the returning spring of God's favor (Ro 11:5, 23-29). According to Isaiah, not all Israel, but the elect remnant alone, is destined to salvation. God shows unchangeable severity towards sin, but covenant faithfulness in preserving a remnant, and to it Isaiah bequeaths the prophetic legacy of the second part of his book (the fortieth through sixty-sixth chapters).