Isaiah 6:4

Isa 6:4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

Ver. 4. And the posts of the door were moved.] Presently upon the angels’ hymn this occured, with such a force it was uttered, as it was at the time of our Saviour’s resurrection, when the angel rolled back the stone and sat upon it there was a great earthquake. {Mat 28:2} By the moving of the "posts" or thresholds was signified the destruction of the temple, when the smoke with which the house was filled, when it was burned down by the Chaldees, as also the just excaecation of the Jews. Their temple, that had been filled with the train of glory, is now filled with smoke going out of God’s nostrils when he was angry. {Psa 18:8 Deu 29:20}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa_6:4

And the posts of the door moved

The shaken temple

It is stated that, at a musical festival which was held in Westminster Abbey on one occasion, the strains were so powerful in a certain part of the performance, that the whole building was shaken.

So it was on this occasion. The sacred edifice trembled at the presence of God, and at the voice of those who were engaged in His praise.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa 6:4. And the posts of the door moved — Together with the door itself. Such violent motions were commonly tokens of God’s anger. And here, it seems, this concussion of the temple was intended to signify God’s displeasure against his people for their sins, and to be a token of its destruction, by the Babylonians first, and afterward by the Romans; and the house was filled with smoke — Which elsewhere is a token of God’s presence and acceptance, but here, of his anger; and may be considered likewise as an emblem of the darkness and blindness of that generation of Jews, accustomed to worship in that temple, as also of that future generation of the same people, who should worship there in the days of the Messiah, before its second destruction by the Romans.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When Isaiah heard this, he stood entranced at the farthest possible distance from Him that sat upon the throne, namely, under the door of the heavenly palace or temple. What he still further felt and saw, he proceeds to relate in Isa 6:4 : "And the foundations of the thresholds shook with the voice of them that cried; and the house became full of smoke." By ‛ammoth hassippim, the lxx, Vulgate, Syriac, and others understand the posts of the lintels, the supporting beams of the superliminaria, which closed the doorway at the top. But as saph is only used in other places to signify the threshold and porch (limen and vestibulum), ‛ammoth hassippim must be understood here in the (perfectly appropriate) sense of "the foundations of the thresholds" (ammâh, which bears the same relation to עם, mother, as matrix to mater, is used to denote the receptive basis into which the door-steps with their plugs were inserted, like the talmudic ammetâh derēchayyâh, the frame or box of the hand-mill (Berachoth 18b), and ammath megērah, the wood-work which runs along the back of the saw and keeps it firmly extended (Kelim 21, 3); compare the "Schraubenmutter," literally screw-mother, or female screw, which receives and holds the cylindrical screw). Every time that the choir of seraphim (הקּורא: compare such collective singulars as hâ'oreb, the ambush, in Jos 8:19; hechâlutz, of men of war, in Jos 6:7, etc.) began their song, the support of the threshold of the porch in which Isaiah was standing trembled. The building was seized with reverential awe throughout its whole extent, and in its deepest foundations: for in the blessed state beyond, nothing stands immoveable or unsusceptible in relation to the spirits there; but all things form, as it were, the accidentia of their free personality, yielding to their impressions, and voluntarily following them in all their emotions. The house was also "filled with smoke." Many compare this with the similar occurrence in connection with the dedication of Solomon's temple (Kg1 8:10); but Drechsler is correct in stating that the two cases are not parallel, for there God simply attested His own presence by the cloud of smoke behind which He concealed Himself, whereas here there was no need of any such self-attestation. Moreover, in this instance God does not dwell in the cloud and thick darkness, whilst the smoke is represented as the effect of the songs of praise in which the seraphim have joined, and not of the presence of God. The smoke arose from the altar of incense mentioned in Isa 6:6. But when Drechsler says that it was the prayers of saints (as in Rev 5:8; Rev 8:3-4), which ascended to the Lord in the smoke, this is a thought which is quite out of place here. The smoke was the immediate consequence of the seraphs' song of praise.

This begins to throw a light upon the name seraphim, which may help us to decipher it. The name cannot possibly be connected with sârâph, a snake (Sanscr. sarpa, Lat. serpens); and to trace the word to a verb sâraph in the sense of the Arabic 'sarafa ('sarufa), to tower high, to be exalted, or highly honoured (as Gesenius, Hengstenberg, Hofmann, and others have done), yields a sense which does not very strongly commend itself. On the other hand, to follow Knobel, who reads shârâthim (worshippers of God), and thus presents the Lexicon with a new word, and to pronounce the word serpahim a copyist's error, would be a rash concession to the heaven-storming omnipotence which is supposed to reside in the ink of a German scholar. It is hardly admissible, however, to interpret the name as signifying directly spirits of light or fire, since the true meaning of sâraph is not urere (to burn), but Comburere (to set on fire or burn up). Umbreit endeavours to do justice to this transitive meaning by adopting the explanation "fiery beings," by which all earthly corruption is opposed and destroyed. The vision itself, however, appears to point to a much more distinctive and special meaning in the name, which only occurs in this passage of Isaiah. We shall have more to say upon this point presently.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Which things were to confirm the Prophet, that it was not the voice of man: and by the smoke was signified the blindness that should come upon the Jews.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

posts of . . . door--rather, foundations of the thresholds.

house--temple.

smoke--the Shekinah cloud (Kg1 8:10; Eze 10:4).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(4) The posts of the door.—Better, the foundations of the threshold. The words seem to point to the prophet’s position as in front of the Holy of holies.

The house was filled with smoke.—The vision had its prototype in “the smoke as of a furnace” on Sinai (Exo_19:18), in the glory-cloud of 1Ki_8:10, and possibly in its lurid fire-lit darkness represented the wrath of Jehovah, as the clear brightness of the throne did His love. So in Rev_15:8, the “smoke from the glory of God” precedes the outpouring of the seven vials of wrath’. The parallelism of the clouds of incense-smoke as the symbol of adoring prayer (Rev_5:8; Rev_8:4) suggests an alternative interpretation as possible; but in that case mention would probably have been made of the censers from which it rose. The incense-clouds of the Temple may in either case have been the starting-point of the mystic vision.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. the posts of the door moved] the foundations of the thresholds shook (R.V.).

was filled (began to fill) with smoke] The smoke symbolises the “dark side of Jehovah’s self-manifestation” (Rev_15:8), the reaction of His holy nature against sin. It answers to the rising consciousness of alienation and impurity in the prophet’s mind, expressed in the next verse.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 Zac 14:5 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, Psa 18:8 or of their superstition and will worship, the cause of it, Rev 9:1 or of the judicial blindness and darkness they were given up unto, Isa 6:9 or rather of the presence of God in his church, and with his ministers, Exo 40:3 the allusion may be to the cloud of incense that covered the mercy seat, on the day of atonement, Lev 16:13 the passage is cited on this account in the Talmud (n).

(n) T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 53. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And the posts of the door - Margin, ‘Thresholds.’ There is some difficulty in the Hebrew here, but the meaning of the expression is sufficiently apparent. It means that there was a tremour, or concussion, as if by awe, or by the sound attending the cry. It is evidently a poetic expression.

The house - The temple.

Was filled with smoke - There is here, doubtless, a reference to “the cloud” that is so often mentioned in the Old Testament as the visible symbol of the Divinity; see the note at Isa 4:5. A similar appearance is recorded when Solomon dedicated the temple; 1Ki 8:10; 2Ch 5:13; Eze 10:4.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Of him. Septuagint, "them," (Haydock) the Seraphim signifying that the veil was removed by the death of Christ, (Theodoret) or that the people should be led into captivity, as a Jew explained it to St. Jerome.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The posts of the door, together with the door itself, as if the door was to be removed, and the temple thereby to be exposed to the view and rapine of profane persons. Such violent motions were commonly tokens of God’s anger.

Him that cried, to wit, the angel, which cried; Isa 4:3.

Filled with smoke; which elsewhere is a token of God’s presence and acceptance, as Exo 40:34; 1Ki 8:10, but here of his anger, as Psa 18:8, and elsewhere.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. Posts… moved… voice of him — As each cried “holy” singly, the prophet, standing in front of the vestibule, (not far from the great altar,) beheld a tremor of the “posts;” a trembling not caused by the physical force of the cry, but as a pulsation at the intensity of the divine holiness.

Filled with smoke — The incense from the burning altar of Isa_6:6, the symbol of worship of the present Jehovah, accompanying the ascription. See notes on Rev_8:2-5.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The posts of the door moved; rather, the bases of the thresholds shook (compare Revised Version). The shout of the seraphs shook the very foundations on which the thresholds of the gates of heaven rested a testimony to the energy with which it was uttered. At the voice of him that cried; i.e. "at the voice of each and all." The house was filled with smoke. "Smoke" is sometimes the mere sign of the presence of God, Isa_4:5; but more often it indicates his presence in anger or judgment. (see Exo_19:18 Exo_20:18 Rev_15:8) Here there had been no smoke at first, and we must suppose it, therefore, a sign of the anger which finds vent in ver. 9-12.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The posts - Together with the door itself. Such violent motions were commonly tokens of God's anger. Smoak - Which elsewhere is a token of God's presence and acceptance, but here of his anger.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

“Then stirred, or shook, the bases of the thresholds at the voice that cried, or at the voice of the one crying, and the house is filled with smoke.” The effect of this doxology, and of the whole supernatural appearance, is described. The door may be particularly spoken of, because the Prophet was looking through it from the court without into the interior. The participle crying may agree with voice directly or with seraph understood. By smoke some understand a cloud or vapor showing the presence of Jehovah. Most interpreters, however, understand it in its proper sense of smoke, as the natural attendant of the fire which blazed about the throne of God, or of that which burned upon the altar, as in #Lev 16:13 the mercy-seat is said to be covered with a "cloud of incense." In either case it was intended to produce a solemn awe in the beholder.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

Isaiah continues to describe his vision.

The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voices of those who were crying out

"When the seraphim called out, their voices shook the doorways and their foundations"

the house was filled with smoke

This can be stated in active form. AT: "smoke filled the temple" or "smoke filled the palace" (See: Active or Passive)

Woe is me! For I am doomed

This can be stated in active form. AT: "I am in great trouble! Terrible things will happen to me" (See: Active or Passive)

of unclean lips

Here "lips" represent what a person speaks. And, people saying things that are unacceptable to God is spoken of as if their lips were physically unclean. (See: Metonymy and Metaphor)

Yahweh, Yahweh of hosts

Yahweh, the ruler of the angel armies"

my eyes have seen

Here "eyes" represents the whole person. AT: "I have seen" (See: Synecdoche)

translationWords

threshold

voice

house

woe

doom

clean

people group

king

Yahweh of hosts

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

And the doorposts quaked [Jonathan renders:] אֵילְוַת סִפֵּי, they are the doorposts of the entrance, which are measured with the measurements of cubits in the height and in the width, and they are the doorposts of the Temple.

from the voice of him who called [i.e.,] from the voice of the angels calling. This took place on the day of the earthquake, about which it is stated (Zechariah 14:5): “And you shall flee as you fled on the day of the earthquake in the days of Uzziah.” On the day that Uzziah stood, ready to burn incense in the Temple, the heavens quaked, [attempting] to burn him, as if to say that his punishment should be by burning, as it is said (Num. 16:35): “And it consumed the two hundred and fifty men.” For this reason, Scripture calls them seraphim, for they attempted to burn him. The earth quaked, attempting to swallow him up, thinking that his punishment should be that he be swallowed up like Korah, who contested the priesthood. Thereupon, a heavenly voice emanated and said (ibid. 17: 5), “And there shall not be” another man contesting the priesthood “like Korah” to be swallowed up, “and like his assembly” to be burnt, but, “as the Lord spoke by the hand of Moses,” in the thornbush (Exodus 4:6), “Now bring your hand into your bosom,” and he took it out, stricken with zaraath like snow, here too, the zaraath shone on his forehead.”

and the House became filled with smoke Was filled with smoke [i.e., even though the future tense is used, the past is meant].

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

And the posts of the threshold moved. It was as if the threshold would move away from its place.

אמות Posts. About the meaning of the word there is no question; in this sense, it is, according to some, hapax legomenon.

ההמון הקורא מקול ═ מקול הקורא At the voice of the multitude that cried.

The verse begins with the past וינועו, and continues with the future ימלא, because the Hebrew language has no special form for the imperfect tense; past and future are therefore used for it promiscuously.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.