Diverse Auteurs, NetBible, [2007], Isa 6:10 Do we take this commission at face value? Does the Lord really want to prevent his people from understanding, repenting, and being healed? Verse 9, which ostensibly records the content of Isaiahs message, is clearly ironic. As far as we know, Isaiah did not literally proclaim these exact words. The Hebrew imperatival forms are employed rhetorically and anticipate the response Isaiah will receive. When all is said and done, Isaiah might as well preface and conclude every message with these ironic words, which, though imperatival in form, might be paraphrased as follows: You continually hear, but dont understand; you continually see, but dont perceive. Isaiah might as well command them to be spiritually insensitive, because, as the preceding and following chapters make clear, the people are bent on that anyway. (This ironic command is comparable to saying to a particularly recalcitrant individual, Go ahead, be stubborn!) Verse 10b is also clearly sarcastic. On the surface it seems to indicate Isaiahs hardening ministry will prevent genuine repentance. But, as the surrounding chapters clearly reveal, the people were hardly ready or willing to repent. Therefore, Isaiahs preaching was not needed to prevent repentance! Verse 10b reflects the peoples attitude and might be paraphrased accordingly: Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their mind, repent, and be restored, and they certainly wouldnt want that, would they? Of course, this sarcastic statement may also reveal that the Lord himself is now bent on judgment, not reconciliation. Just as Pharaohs rejection of Yahwehs ultimatum ignited judgment and foreclosed, at least temporarily, any opportunity for repentance, so the Lord may have come to the point where he has decreed to bring judgment before opening the door for repentance once more. The sarcastic statement in verse 10b would be an emphatic way of making this clear. (Perhaps we could expand our paraphrase: Otherwise they might repent, and be restored, and they certainly wouldnt want that, would they? Besides, its too late for that!) Within this sarcastic framework, verse 10a must also be seen as ironic. As in verse 9 the imperatival forms should be taken as rhetorical and as anticipating the peoples response. One might paraphrase: Your preaching will desensitize the minds of these people, make their hearing dull, and blind their eyes. From the outset the Lord might as well command Isaiah to harden the people, because his preaching will end up having that effect. Despite the use of irony, we should still view this as a genuine, albeit indirect, act of divine hardening. After all, God did not have to send Isaiah. By sending him, he drives the sinful people further from him, for Isaiahs preaching, which focuses on the Lords covenantal demands and impending judgment upon covenantal rebellion, forces the people to confront their sin and then continues to desensitize them as they respond negatively to the message. As in the case of Pharaoh, Yahwehs hardening is not arbitrarily imposed on a righteous or even morally neutral object. Rather his hardening is an element of his righteous judgment on recalcitrant sinners. Ironically, Israels rejection of prophetic preaching in turn expedites disciplinary punishment, and brings the battered people to a point where they might be ready for reconciliation. The prophesied judgment (cf. 6:11-13) was fulfilled by 701 b.c. when the Assyrians devastated the land (a situation presupposed by Isa 1:2-20; see especially vv. 4-9). At that time the divine hardening had run its course and Isaiah is able to issue an ultimatum (1:19-20), one which Hezekiah apparently took to heart, resulting in the sparing of Jerusalem (see Isa 36-39 and cf. Jer 26:18-19 with Mic 3:12).This interpretation, which holds in balance both Israels moral responsibility and the Lords sovereign work among his people, is consistent with other pertinent texts both within and outside the Book of Isaiah. Isa 3:9 declares that the people of Judah have brought disaster upon themselves, but Isa 29:9-10 indicates that the Lord was involved to some degree in desensitizing the people. Zech 7:11-12 looks back to the pre-exilic era (cf. v. 7) and observes that the earlier generations stubbornly hardened their hearts, but Ps 81:11-12, recalling this same period, states that the Lord gave them over to their stubborn hearts.
Vertaling Bijbel, Kanttekeningen SV, [], [32]Maak het hart dezes volks vet, en maak hun oren zwaar, en [33]sluit hun ogen, opdat het niet zie met zijn ogen, noch met zijn oren hore, noch met zijn hart versta, noch zich bekere, en [34]Hij [35]het [36]geneze. 32. Te weten door het prediken van mijn Woord. Met deze woorden wil de Heere niet te kennen geven wat zijn gepredikt Woord eigenlijk en van zijne natuur bij de mensen werkt en uitricht; maar Hij voorzegt wat er op de verkondiging ervan bij de boze Joden volgen zou; namelijk dat zij zich daardoor niet alleen niet zouden bekeren, maar nog halsstarriger en weerstrevender aanstellen, dewijl God hen door zijn rechtvaardig oordeel in een verkeerden zin zou overgeven. 33. Of, bestrijkt, belijmt hunne ogen. 34. Te weten God. 35. Te weten het volk. 36. Namelijk door vergiffenis der zonden, Mark.4:12. Zie Ps.30:3.