Thinking the Unthinkable Journey Study 3 (Isaiah 6)

Send me? (Isaiah 6: 1-13)
n the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” 

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 

He said, “Go and tell this people:

‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;

    be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
 Make the heart of this people calloused;
    make their ears dull and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”

 

 Then I said, “For how long, Lord?”
  And he answered:

“Until the cities lie ruined

and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
    and the fields ruined and ravaged,

until the Lord has sent everyone far away

    and the land is utterly forsaken.
And though a tenth remains in the land,
    it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
    leave stumps when they are cut down,
    so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”

Our first episode comes from the life of the prophet Isaiah. It takes place early in his ministry, “in the year King Uzziah died” (v. 1). That note is important because Uzziah was one of the best kings Judah ever had. He had a heart for God unlike many of his predecessors and successors. When he died, the nation was plunged into turmoil. A golden age in Israel’s history was drawing to a close. Would the people continue to walk with God or would they return to idolatry? In that fateful moment, Isaiah came face to face with the living God.

1)    What kind of writing is this?

2)    Why would most people who quote this passage stop at “Send me?”

3)    Who is Isiash? Where is he in his career at this point?

4)    What is the tone and feel of this passage?

5)    List what happens in sequence.

6)    What words in the passage are unclear? Example what do you understand by the word holy?

7)    How would you apply this passage?