The Lord Sitting on His Throne | Isaiah 6:1–4
And how man sees with the eyes yet God sees the heart.
Welcome to Gateways, where you experience the Nevi’im—the Prophets—through the teachings of Don Yitzchak Abarbanel, distilled into easy-to-follow lessons.
In today’s lesson, we’re moving on to the fifth prophecy: Isaiah’s vision of God sitting on His throne and selecting Isaiah as the prophet.
I won’t pretend that we’ll be able to answer the questions that this text presents. Often, I find myself feeling that the questions are better than the answers. And sometimes, I like that: it keeps me searching and questioning.
Abarbanel identifies all of chapter 6 as just one prophecy. We’ll be covering over several weeks, God willing.
My additions here are in italics. I’ve used bold to highlight key ideas and make the content easier to follow. As usual, this is a slightly abridged version.
I’ve included a brief overview, the verses, Abarbanel’s questions and his answers. I’ll conclude with a short takeaway of my own.
Jeff
Overview
From the Abarbanel
The overall intention of this prophecy is to convey a vision of the supernal realms that the prophet saw concerning the structure of existence and its components. This was in order to make known to him the exaltedness and majesty of the Holy One, blessed be He, as well as the minute, detailed nature of His providence in human affairs.
For this was where Uzziah erred—in thinking that God did not pay attention to human affairs, when leprosy broke out on his forehead. And since the people of his generation were also stumbling in that same heresy, the Holy One, blessed be He, foretold their punishment—as will be explained in the verses.
Photo by Felix Schickel
Verses
In the year in which King Uziyahu died, I saw the Lord sitting on a high, raised throne, the him of His clothing filling the Sanctuary.
There were seraphim standing above Hi,. each with six wings—with two they covered their faces, with tho they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
And they called out one to another, “Holy, holy, holy—the Lord of Hosts—all the world’s fullness, His glory.”
The door pillars shook with the voice of him who called—and smoke filled the House.
Question
The first question is: what did the prophet see that led him to state that this prophecy happened in the year of King Uzziah’s death? This is a strange connection, since we do not usually find prophecies dated by the deaths of kings.
Moreover, in this prophecy we find nothing that is specifically related to Uzziah—neither to his death nor to his leprosy—according to the Targum, he didn’t die, just got leprosy which is considered like a type of death.
Answers
The verse attributes this vision to the death of Uzziah—or to his leprosy—because in the Book of Kings it is mentioned that in his old age his heart turned away from God, as it is written: “When he became strong, his heart grew proud, to his destruction, and he trespassed against the Lord his God” (II Chronicles 26:16).
Now, why was his punishment that leprosy broke out on his forehead? It would have seemed more fitting that his hand should have withered when he approached to offer incense, as happened to Jeroboam, or that he should have died as Nadab and Abihu did, or as Korah and his congregation did when they offered incense?
Rather, the matter was without doubt that foreign ideas entered his heart. He adopted a corrupt belief concerning the nature of God—namely, that because of God’s exalted greatness, He does not exercise individual particular awareness over human actions.
Because of this belief, Uzziah came to offer incense, thinking that this act would bring him honor and elevate his status in the eyes of the people, and that God would not see it. This was a great trespass against the Lord his God. Therefore, his punishment was that leprosy broke out on his forehead—the place of wickedness, that is, the head, which is where he had formed this false thought.
When Isaiah saw that Uzziah had become leprous, he mourned greatly, seeing the anointed king of the Lord afflicted with leprosy and confined to the house of isolation. And since Uzziah had always done what was right in the eyes of the Lord, the prophet’s anger burned over his suffering, because Isaiah did not know the hidden thoughts of his heart or the corruption of his faith.
Therefore, this prophecy came to him in the year that Uzziah became leprous, according to the Tragum, in order to remove Isaiah from that mistaken assumption.
And if we say that “the year of his death” refers to an actual death, then we will say that prophecy departed from Isaiah for many days because of his grief—just as happened to Moses our teacher during all the days of the decree of the spies, when prophecy withdrew from him.
Now, God showed Isaiah this great vision to inform him of the immense exaltedness of God, and yet, despite all His greatness and elevation, He still exercises awareness over the actions of human beings.
This was so that the prophet would reflect on what Uzziah’s sin truly was—namely, that he did not believe in individual divine providence. This is what is meant by the verse: “ I saw the Lord sitting on a high, raised throne.” And with all His exaltedness and elevation, the hem of His garments filled the Sanctuary, and the entire earth was filled with His glory.
Takeaway
The obvious message of these verses is to appreciate that God is aware of everything; nothing escapes His gaze, nothing goes unrewarded or unpunished, as the case may be.
But I think Abarbanel’s explanation brings out another idea: Isaiah perceived God on His throne, saw the angels surrounding Him—yet he still did not know what was in Uzziah’s heart. Even the most exalted prophet, capable of receiving the highest divine revelations, has no access to what is happening inside another person’s mind.
The Mishnah in Avot captures this lesson powerfully:
אל תהי דן יחידי, שאין דן יחידי אלא אחד.
Do not act as a lone judge, for the only One who judges alone is God.
(Avot 4:8)
It is so tempting to look at others and pass judgment on their actions. But this teaching shows us that Isaiah—one of the greatest prophets—had no idea what was unfolding in another’s heart and mind. How much more foolish, then, for us to think we can know, or judge, someone else.