'And He said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand

not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.  Make the heart of this

people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they

see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with

their heart, and convert, and be healed' (Isa. 6:9,10).

Here we have the intensely solemn message entrusted to the prophet.

Even though we allow for the figure of speech, the expression 'make the heart

of this people fat' signifying 'declare that it will be so', must have

impressed upon the prophet the great solemnity of his charge.

This passage in Isaiah 6 is quoted in the New Testament five times and

on three different occasions:

Matthew 13:14; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10.

King and kingdom rejected.

John 12:40.

The King and the kingdom.

Yet rejection.

Acts 28:25 -27.

Israel as a nation rejected.

We read in verse 9, 'Go, and tell this people'.  No longer does the

Lord say 'My people', for the passage prophesies that Israel were to become

'Lo -ammi' -- 'not My people'.  In the opening chapter of Isaiah, Israel are

referred to as 'My people', who 'do not consider', 'a people laden with

iniquity', and 'ye people of Gomorrah' (Isa. 1:3,4,10).  In the opening

chapter of the restoration section, on the other hand (Isa. 40 to 66), the

very first verse reads: 'Comfort ye, comfort ye, My people' (40:1), while in

the closing references to Israel as His people, the Lord says that they are a

people that have sought Him, that they are a joy, that His joy is in them,

and that their days shall be 'as the days of a tree' (65:10,18,19,22).

Let us now consider a little more closely the words used in Isaiah 6:9

and 10:

'Understand not'; 'perceive not'; 'make the heart of this people fat';

'make their ears heavy'; 'shut their eyes' 'convert'; 'be healed'.

The word 'understand' is the Hebrew bin, which is rendered 'consider'

in Isaiah 1:3: 'My people doth not consider'.  The word 'perceive' is the

Hebrew yada, which occurs in the same verse (Isa. 1:3) in the sentence: 'The

ox knoweth his owner ... but Israel doth not know'.  The Hebrew word

translated 'to make fat' is shaman, and is connected with the word shemen,

'ointment' (Isa. 1:6).  It occurs but five times in the Old Testament and

always in a bad sense, rather in the same way as we speak of the fatty

degeneration of the heart.  The five occurrences are as follows:

'Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown

thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God' (Deut.

'They ... became fat ... nevertheless they were disobedient' (Neh.

'Make the heart of this people fat' (Isa. 6:10).

'They are waxen fat ... they overpass the deeds of the wicked'

(Jer. 5:28).