Isaiah 6:4

4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.

Isaiah 6:4 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 6:4

And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that
cried
That is, the posts of the door of the temple, as the Targum adds, where this vision was seen, as represented to the prophet. Some think this respects the earthquake in Uzziah's time, mentioned in ( Zechariah 14:5 ) ( Amos 1:1 ) and which they suppose was at the time he attempted to offer incense, and was smitten with leprosy; but, as Kimchi observes, this moving of the door posts was only in the vision of prophecy, and not in reality; this shaking therefore may denote either the shaking and removing of the temple service and worship, at the death of Christ, and through the preaching of the Gospel; or rather the shaking of the consciences of men by the word, which made them cry out, what shall we do to be saved? And the house was filled with smoke;
this was a token either of the burning of the temple, or of the anger of God against the Jews, ( Psalms 18:8 ) or of their superstition and will worship, the cause of it, ( Revelation 9:1 ) or of the judicial blindness and darkness they were given up unto, ( Isaiah 6:9 Isaiah 6:10 ) or rather of the presence of God in his church, and with his ministers, ( Exodus 40:3 Exodus 40:4 ) ( 1 Kings 8:10 ) the allusion may be to the cloud of incense that covered the mercy seat, on the day of atonement, ( Leviticus 16:13 ) the passage is cited on this account in the Talmud F14.


FOOTNOTES:

F14 T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 53. 1.

Isaiah 6:4 In-Context

2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.
3 And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory."
4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.
5 And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Meaning of Heb uncertain
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.