“Question & Answer”

Question:
How is the Prophet Isaiah summoned to begin his work?
Answer:
Isaiah, Hebrew Yeshaʿyahu (“God Is Salvation”), (flourished 8th century BCE,) The earliest recorded event in Isaiah’s life is his call to prophecy as now found in the sixth chapter of the Book of Isaiah; this occurred about 742 BCE. The vision (probably in the Jerusalem Temple) that made Isaiah a prophet is described in a first-person narrative. (A throne high and lifted up” 6:1) According to this account he “saw” God and was overwhelmed by his contact with the divine glory and holiness. (“I am a man of unclean lips. and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. 6:5) He became agonizingly aware of God’s need for a messenger to the people of Israel, and, despite his own sense of inadequacy. ( Receives assurance of pardon. Your guilt is taken away, and sins forgiven.” 6:7) Isaiah offered himself for God’s service: “Here am I! Send me.” He was commissioned to give voice to the divine word. It was no light promise; he was to condemn his own people and watch the nation crumble and perish. As Isaiah tells it, he was only too aware that, coming with such a message, he would experience bitter opposition, willful disbelief, and ridicule, to withstand which he would have to be inwardly fortified. (All this came to him in the form of a vision and ended as a sudden, firm, and lifelong resolve. 6:8)