Call of Isaiah
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been denounced in unmistakable terms by Hosea and Amos, were fast
corrupting the kingdom of Judah.
The outlook was particularly discouraging as regards the social
conditions of the people. In their desire for gain, men were adding
house to house and field to field. See
Isaiah 5:8
. Justice was perverted,
and no pity was shown the poor. Of these evils God declared, “The
spoil of the poor is in your houses.” “Ye beat My people to pieces,
and grind the faces of the poor.”
Isaiah 3:14, 15
. Even the magistrates,
whose duty it was to protect the helpless, turned a deaf ear to the cries
of the poor and needy, the widows and the fatherless. See
Isaiah 10:1,
2
.
With oppression and wealth came pride and love of display, gross
drunkenness, and a spirit of revelry. See
Isaiah 2:11, 12
;
3:16, 18-
23
;
Isaiah 5:22, 11, 12
. And in Isaiah’s day idolatry itself no longer
provoked surprise. See
Isaiah 2:8, 9
. Iniquitous practices had become
so prevalent among all classes that the few who remained true to God
were often tempted to lose heart and to give way to discouragement
and despair. It seemed as if God’s purpose for Israel were about to
fail and that the rebellious nation was to suffer a fate similar to that of
Sodom and Gomorrah.
In the face of such conditions it is not surprising that when, during
the last year of Uzziah’s reign, Isaiah was called to bear to Judah God’s
messages of warning and reproof, he shrank from the responsibility.
[307]
He well knew that he would encounter obstinate resistance. As he
realized his own inability to meet the situation and thought of the
stubbornness and unbelief of the people for whom he was to labor, his
task seemed hopeless. Should he in despair relinquish his mission and
leave Judah undisturbed to their idolatry? Were the gods of Nineveh
to rule the earth in defiance of the God of heaven?
Such thoughts as these were crowding through Isaiah’s mind as
he stood under the portico of the temple. Suddenly the gate and the
inner veil of the temple seemed to be uplifted or withdrawn, and he
was permitted to gaze within, upon the holy of holies, where even the
prophet’s feet might not enter. There rose up before him a vision of
Jehovah sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, while the train of
His glory filled the temple. On each side of the throne hovered the
seraphim, their faces veiled in adoration, as they ministered before
their Maker and united in the solemn invocation, “Holy, holy, holy, is