Endnotes
1 Commentaries discuss and debate whether Isa 6 is the “inaugural call” of Isaiah, in spite of the fact that his prophecy is dated to the reign of Uzziah (1:1), whose death is the time reference in 6:1. Keil-Delitsch (C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, Isaiah [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973], 188) reconcile that tension by noting that 6:1 refers to the year in which Uzziah died, but that he was not necessarily yet dead, preserving the accuracy of 1:1. Wildberger provides a summary of views and cautiously affirms that this is, in fact, the call narrative (Hans Wildberger, Isaiah 1–12, trans. Thomas H. Trapp [Minneapolis; Fortress Press, 1991] 256ff. See also Brevard S. Childs, Isaiah [Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001], 51ff.). Oswalt dates chapters 1–5 to the time of Uzziah and argues that they introduced the entire vision, with a major section beginning with chapter 6, which serves as a hinge to the rest of the book (John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 1–39 [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986]). My own view is that the call, whether inaugural or not, is intentionally placed here as an introduction to the “Book of Immanuel” and forms a bridge from the prophet’s ministry under Uzziah to the confrontation with Ahaz that follows (see Andrew H. Bartelt, “The Centrality of Isaiah 6 (–8) within Isaiah 2–12” in Concordia Journal 30:4 [October, 2004]). 2 Etymologically, the word simply means “big house” and can mean either “palace” or “temple.” When referencing the temple it can refer to the larger complex (although tyIBæ@ is more common for the whole temple, cf 6:4), but more technically, lk…âyhe˝ is the “holy place” or sanctuary between the porch and the “holy of holies” (1 Kgs 6:5, 17; 7:50, Ez 8:16, often translated [anachronistically] as “nave”). 3 The Qal is normally “be full of,” with the Piel carrying the transitive sense, “to fill.” The presence of the direct object marker (Ata,) confirms the transitive sense here. 4 The precise depiction of these heavenly beings is much discussed, usually with some sense of “fire” or “burning,” based on the verbal root πrc. The use of the word as a noun is used to describe the “snakes” or serpents in the wilderness (Nm 21:6, used almost as an adjective in the phrase µypir:C]hæ µyvij;N“h,æ “fiery serpents,” which may refer to the burning of their bite; cf. also Dt 8:15. 5 The form is dual and could possibly be so translated. 6 Whether “covering their feet” engages the euphemism for genitals is not clear, but the reference to “feet” in Is 7:20 would suggest this use. 7 Each team has its mantra, but at the University of Missouri the antiphon is “M-I-Z // Z-O-U,” chanted back and forth from one side of the stadium to the other. 8 Horace D. Hummel, The Word Becoming Flesh (St. Louis: CPH, 1979), 85. 9 See R. Reed Lessing, Isaiah 40–55 (St. Louis: CPH, 2011), 650. 10 See Paul R. Raabe, “Deliberate Ambiguity in the Psalter,” Journal of Biblical Literature 110 (1991) 213–227. 11 The three-fold use of yKi clauses is often noted as a link between the call narrative of chapter 6 and chapter 40 (cf. 40:2). 12 For this function of hendiadys, see Andrew Bartelt, Fundamental Biblical Hebrew (St. Louis: CPH, 2000 = FBH and FBA, 2004), 215f. See also Ronald J. Williams, Williams’ Hebrew Syntax (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007) 91. 13 There is likely further word play on the root dbk, “to be heavy,” which is also the root behind the “glory” of God (hwhy dwObK]), and is used again in the Hiphil with a quite opposite sense in 8:23 (ET 9:1, “to make glorious.”) 14 Cf. Luther’s explanation of the Third Article, “I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to him.” 15 Both the text and translation of verse 12 are notoriously difficult and require a detailed excursus of their own. The Qumran reading (1QIsaa) suggests several cultic references, and the translation hb;Xemæ as “stump” is at best word play on the image of the arrogant tree, including also the lineage of David (from which rootstock a shoot will come, 11:1). But otherwise the word refers to a standing stone, most common as a cultic memorial. As best as can be reconstructed, the text may well read, “like an oak or terebinth, a cut down Asherah pole (is) the sacred stone of a high place.” The sense would be that the vain and false worship of the people is characteristic of the cultic high places (which neither Uzziah nor Jotham removed, 2 Kgs 15:4, 25, and on which Ahaz worshipped, 2 Kgs 16:4). 16 See R. Reed Lessing, Isaiah 40–55 (St. Louis: CPH, 2011), 284. 17 A reference to a royal wedding between Hezekiah and a virgin possibly betrothed to him may well be an allusion to the prophetic word in Isa 7. However the interpretation of Isa 7:10-25 is unpacked, there is reference to a virgin, thus unmarried, and what would appear to be a royal son that will carry forward the promises of God to the house of David, unlikely fulfilled in Manasseh and ultimately fulfilled in the birth of Jesus of the virgin Mary, the Son of God who came as both “David’s son” and “David’s Lord.”
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