As to the substance of this vision, we need not discuss whether, if we
had been there, we should have seen anything. It was doubtless related
to Isaiah's thoughts, for God does not send visions which have no point
of contact in the recipient. However communicated, it was a divine
communication, and a temporary unveiling of an eternal reality. The form
was transient, but Isaiah then saw for a moment 'the things which are'
and always are.

The essential point of the vision is the revelation of Jehovah as king
of Judah. That relation guaranteed defence and demanded obedience. It
was a sure basis of hope, but also a stringent motive to loyalty, and it
had its side of terror as well as of joyfulness. 'You only have I known
of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all
your iniquities.' The place of vision is the heavenly sanctuary of which
the temple was a prophecy. Eminently significant and characteristic of
the whole genius of the Old Testament is the absence of any description
of the divine appearance. The prophet saw things 'which it is not lawful
for a man to utter,' and his silence is not only reverent, but more
eloquent than any attempt to put the Ineffable into words. Even in this
act of manifestation God was veiled, and '_there_ was the hiding of His
power.' The train of His robe can be spoken of, but not the form which
it concealed even in revealing it. Nature is the robe of God. It hides
while it discloses, and discloses while it hides.

The hovering seraphim were in the attitude of service. They are probably
represented as fiery forms, but are spoken of nowhere else in Scripture.
The significance of their attitude has been well given by Jewish
commentators, who say, 'with two he covered his face that he might not
see, and with two he covered his body that he might not be seen' and we