Isaiah Week 2, Day 5: Isaiah 6:1

"The Vision of Isaiah" by Luke Allsbrook, oil on canvas, 2006

1.  Isaiah saw the Lord on His throne and his train filled the temple.

The idea of the Lord's train intrigues me. I don't think of Israeli kings as having crowns or trains---certainly not in the European sense, so I've been trying to come to the bottom of the etymology. There's not much to go on, but I found this commentary helpful:

His train filled the temple.—The word for “temple” is that which expresses its character as the palace of the great King. (Comp. Psalm 11:4; Psalm 29:9; Habakkuk 2:20.) The “train” answers to the skirts of the glory of the Lord, who clothes Himself with light as with a garment (Exodus 33:22-23). It is noticeable (1) that the versions (LXX., Targum, Vulg.) suppress the train, apparently as being too anthropomorphic, and (2) that to the mind of St. John this was a vision of the glory of the Christ (John 12:41). -Ellicot's Commentary for English Readers

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This commentary from a personal blog seems a solid starting point for a discussion of ancient robes and trains though I can't verify the accuracy of the historical details. In fact, searching further, multiple blogs echo her thoughts about the length of the train but with no citation:

"Kings of old wore elaborate robes to signify their majesty and authority. The longer the train (the back hem of the robe), the more powerful the king. After a king defeated an army in battle, he would cut off a portion of the defeated king's robe and have it sewn onto the train of his robe. Hence, the longer a King's robe, the more victories he had won! And the more authority he possessed!

All through the Bible, robes bear a special meaning.

• In Exodus you can read God's directions on how to make the priestly robes the Levites would wear as they served in the temple. Every little portion of the robe had deep meaning.
• In 1 Samuel, when Jonathan made a covenant with David, he took off his robe and gave it to him
• Also in 1 Samuel David heartily repented for cutting a slice off of King Saul's robe and thus insulting his authority
• In Esther when she fearfully approached the king to beg for her people's lives, she put on her royal robes
• In Job when he found out all his children had been killed, he tore apart his robe indicating his grief and laying down his authority
• In Ezekiel, the stripping off of robes and laying them aside is a symbol of humbling and submission
• In Matthew, the Roman guards placed a scarlet robe on Jesus to mock him for his claim to be a king
• In Luke when the prodigal son returned, his father put the best robe in the house on him to honor him
• In Revelation, we the saints will be robed in pure white to signify our righteousness before God."

-Mary Lu Tyndall's blog, "The Cross and the Cutlass

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The End of the Reign of King Uzziah

Rembrandt's "The King Uzziah stricken with leprosy, 1635

Andrew MacLaren's comments of Uzziah's death:

"Uzziah had reigned for fifty-two years, during the greater part of which he and his people had been brilliantly prosperous. Victorious in war, he was also successful in the arts of peaceful industry. The later years of his life were clouded, but on the whole the reign had been a time of great well-being. His son and successor was a young man of five-and-twenty; and when he came to the throne ominous war-clouds were gathering in the North, and threatening to drift to Judah. No wonder that the prophet, like other thoughtful patriots, was asking himself what was to come in these anxious days, when the helm was in new hands, which, perhaps, were not strong enough to hold it. Like a wise man, he took his thoughts into the sanctuary; and there he understood. As he brooded, this great vision was disclosed to his inward eye. ‘In the year that King Uzziah died’ is a great deal more than a date for chronological purposes. It tells us not only the when, but the why, of the vision. The earthly king was laid in the grave; but the prophet saw that the true King of Israel was neither the dead Uzziah nor the young Jotham, but the Lord of hosts. And, seeing that, fears and forebodings and anxieties and the sense of loss, all vanished; and new strength came to Isaiah. He went into the temple laden with anxious thoughts; he came out of it with a springy step and a lightened heart, and the resolve ‘Here am I; send me.’ There are some lessons that seem to me of great importance for the conduct of our daily life which may be gathered from this remarkable vision, with the remarkable note of time that is appended to it."

David Guzik's comments on Uzziah's death:

v. So, to say in the year King Uzziah died is to say a lot. It is to say, "In the year a great and wise king died." But it is also to say, "In the year a great and wise king who had a tragic end died." Isaiah had great reason to be discouraged and disillusioned at the death of King Uzziah, because a great king had passed away, and because his life ended tragically. Where was the LORD in all this? -David Guzik

Uzziah became king of Judah at 16, but co-reigned with his father Amaziah for the first 24 years.  He reigned for 52 years altogether.  The dating of his reign is all over the place, but around the middle of the 8th century BC.  He "did what was right" in the Lord during the first half of his reign, was influenced by the prophet Zechariah, and described as capable and vigorous.  Unfortunately, the end of his life was marked by poor judgement and his subsequent fall. Uzziah offered incense in the temple, was strucken by leprosy and died unexpectedly. (based on Wikipedia)

With the passing of Uzziah, Judah went from a reign of great prosperity and security into a tenuous season under the reign of his 25-year old son. 


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"It was when ‘King Uzziah died’ that the prophet ‘saw the Lord sitting upon the throne.’ If the Throne of Israel had not been empty, he would not have seen the throned God in the heavens. And so it is with all our losses, with all our sorrows, with all our disappointments, with all our pains; they have a mission to reveal to us the throned God. The possession of the things that are taken away from us, the joys which our sorrows smite into dust, have the same mission, and the highest purpose of every good, of every blessing, of every possession, of every gladness, of all love-the highest mission is to lead us to Him. But, just as men will frost a window, so that the light may come in but the sight cannot go out, so by our own fault and misuse of the good things which are meant to lead us up to, and to show us, God, we frost and darken the window so that we cannot see what it is meant to show us. And then a mighty and merciful hand shivers the painted glass into fragments, because it has been dimming ‘the white radiance of Eternity.’ And though the casement may look gaunt, and the edges of the broken glass may cut and wound, yet the view is unimpeded. When the gifts that we have misused are withdrawn, we can see the heaven that they too often hide from us. When the leaves drop there is a wider prospect. When the great tree is fallen there is opened a view of the blue above. When the night falls the stars sparkle. When other props are struck away we can lean our whole weight upon God. When Uzziah dies the King becomes visible....Let us take care that we do not waste our griefs and sorrows. They absorb us sometimes with vain regrets. They jaundice and embitter us sometimes with rebellious thoughts. They often break the springs of activity and of interest in others, and of sympathy with others. But their true intention is to draw back the thin curtain, and to show us ‘the things that are,’ the realities of the throned God, the skirts that fill the Temple, the hovering seraphim, and the coal from the altar that purges."

"-Andrew MacLaren