Isaiah's Commission

Jehovah now outlines what Isaiah is to say and what the response will be:  "Go, and you must say to this people, 'Hear again and again, O men, but do not understand; and see again and again, but do not get any knowledge.'  Make the heart of this people unreceptive, and make their very ears unresponsive, and paste their very eyes together that they may not see with their eyes  and with their ears they may not hear, and that their own heart may not understand and that they may not actually turn back and get healing for themselves."  (Isaiah 6:9, 10)  Does this mean that Isaiah is to be blunt and tactless and repel the Jews, keeping them at odds with Jehovah?  Absolutely not! These are Isaiah's own people for whom he feels an affinity.  But Jehovah's words indicate  how the people will respond to his message, no matter how faithfully Isaiah fulfills his task.

The fault lies with the people. Isaiah will speak to them "again and again," but they will not accept the message or gain understanding. The majority will be stubborn and unresponsive, as if totally blind and deaf.  By going to them repeatedly, Isaiah will let "this people" show that they do not want to understand.  They will prove that they are shutting their minds and heart to Isaiah's message-God's message-to them.  How true this is of people today!  So many of them refuse to listen to Jehovah's Witnesses as they preach the good news of the incoming Kingdom of God.

Isaiah is concerned:  "At this I said: 'How long, O Jehovah?'  Then he said: 'Until the cities actually crash in ruins, to be without and inhabitant, and the houses be without earthling man, and the ground itself is ruined into a desolation; and Jehovah actually removes earthling men far away, and the deserted condition does become very extensive in the midst of the land.' " (Isaiah 6:11, 12) By asking, "How long?"  Isaiah is not asking how long he will have to continue preaching to an unresponsive people.  Rather, he is concerned about the people and asks how long Jehovah's name will be dishonored on the earth.  (See Psalm 74:9-11) So, then, how long will the senseless situation go on? 

Next time: Conclusion of Isaiah's Commission

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind, 2000