[1] _"Above the throne stood the seraphim. Each one had six
wings. With twain he covered his face, and with twain he
covered his feet, and with twain he did fly."_ The sense of
awe increasing with the clearness and purity of a spirit
and with the nearness of its approach to God; the face
being veiled which receives the light for Him, and most
covets to behold Him; the absence of all which to display
their own perfection in spirits who are perfect; the
freedom and willingness to go anywhere, to do any errands
of mercy; these are some of the more obvious thoughts which
the study of this vision suggests. There are others which
lie hidden, which we may have a glimpse of from time to
time, and which words might mar. For it is true of earthly
symbols, still more of heavenly visions, that they are
meant to carry us out of words and above words.--_F. D.
Maurice._
[2] Among the ancients, _Mercury,_ the messenger of Jupiter,
was always represented with wings.--_Barnes._
[3] This title of Jehovah, with some variations, is found
upwards of 160 times in the Old Testament. The meaning of
the word _hosts_ is doubtless the same as that of _army_ in
Dan. iv. 35, and includes all the myriads of holy angels
who people the celestial spheres, as in 1 Kings xxii. 19
the host of heaven were seen by Micaiah standing round the
throne of God. So in Ps. ciii. 21, cxlviii. 2, the hosts of
God are His angels. (Comp. Deut. xxxiii. 2.) By a light
metonymy, or may be in a slightly different sense, _the
host of heaven_ designates the heavenly spheres themselves
(Gen. ii. 1; Deut. iv. 19, xvii. 3; Isa. xxxiv. 4, &c.). It
is probably with reference to the idolatrous worship of the
host of heaven that the title of _the Lord of hosts_ was
given to the true God, as asserting His universal
supremacy. (See Neh. ix. 6.) In the New Testament, the
phrase occurs only once, James v. 4, _the Lord of Sabaoth._
In Rom. ix. 29, it is a quotation from Isaiah.--_Professor
Rawlinson._
[4] Sin has already served, as all things must, to bring into
view more clearly the glory of God, for had there been no
sin there could have been no mercy; and in its punishment,
its overthrow, and its extirpation, His glory will be yet
more signally displayed. Hercules could never have been
deified, if there had been no monsters to overcome. True is
the seraph's song even now, but it shall be more manifestly
and gloriously true in that day, so surely and swiftly
drawing nigh, when Christ shall have subdued all enemies
unto Him, and God shall be All in all.--_R. A. B._
The vision reaches its highest point in the cry, _Holy,
holy, holy!_ It is the holiness of God which the seraphim
proclaim, that which cannot be represented to the eye, that
of which descriptions and symbols furnish no image. It is
that holiness which fills not the heaven of heavens only
but the whole earth, _seeing that was made very good,
seeing that in its order and constitution it was still
perfectly good,_ though man defiled it by their deeds,
though the habitations of cruelty were set upon the midst
of it.--_F. D. Maurice._
[5] The voice of the seraphim at this time was so loud and
melodious, and the power of their heavenly music was so
great, when extolling the holiness and glory of Jehovah
that the posts, with the lintel of the door of the temple,
seemed to tremble, to be shaken in the place where they
stood, or loosed from their place. This was a very
surprising effect (though seen only in vision); for these
posts were so large and strong, that they supported gates
of brass which are said to have required twenty men to shut
them, on account of their ponderous weight.--_Macculloch._
[6] _Delitzsch_ thus gives the usual interpretation of this
clause: _The house was filled with smoke._ Many compare
this with the similar occurrence in connection with the
dedication of Solomon's temple (1 Kings viii. 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
verse 6. But when Drechsler says that it was the prayers of
_saints_ (as in Rev. v. 8, viii. 3, 4), which ascended to
the Lord, in the smoke, there is a thought which is quite
out of place here. The smoke was the immediate consequence
of the seraph's song of praise.