Isaiah 6:5: “Then said I, “Woe is me for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips.”
I am quite baffled over the first word in the verse which is ’omar and not ‘omer. The word means to speak or say. However, the word ‘omar is spelled with a patah under the Mem making it a simple Qal Imperfect. Yet, to fit our normal rendering of this verse the word should be ’omer which is spelled with a sere making the word a participle. Hence, according to the Masoretic text this passage should be rendered as I will say, not I am saying or I have said. Not that that Masoretic text is inspired as the Dead Sea Scrolls pretty well confirmed in recent years by revealing that the Masoretic text is not as accurate as we once thought, but still these scribes had their reason to point this up as a future tense.
Moving further into this passage may answer why the Masoretes put this verb in a future tense. Isaiah indicates that he will say: “Woe is me.” There is a preposition before the pronoun me and not a verb so it should more correctly be rendered as, “Woe to me.” In the Hebrew it is Oy li. Yeah, sounds like the Yiddish phrase oy vey. The Yiddish is a fusion of the German dialect with Hebrew and Aramaic and written in the Assyrian or square script and came into use around 1000 AD among the Ashkenazic Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The word oy has quite a history. It is where we get the word Ouch. When used as an interjection is means to wail, or howl. As a noun it is used for a jackal, vulture or bird of prey. In its Semitic root word it could be express as a desire or appetite, to lust after something or to long for something.
Is Isaiah saying ouch or is he speaking of a desire. By using the Qal Imperfect for ‘omar there is the suggestion that this would not be an interjection but an expression of desire. Thus, we might render this as: “I will say this is my desire, but I am of unclean lips.”
Isaiah has just seen the very presence of God, what would his reaction be? Would it be one of feeling inadequate before Him? No one on earth could have been more righteous than Isaiah, he longed for God and now that he was in His presence this longing was fulfilled, yet it fell short because he was of unclean lips.
I don’t believe Isaiah is expressing his sinfulness, although that is a part of it, more than that he is express disappointment. Isaiah says he is a man of unclean lips. The word for man is ish not adam which expresses both a physical and spiritual man. The word unclean is teme’ which means defiled or unclean. The word is spelled Teth, Mem and Aleph. The Teth would represent an inner examination. Note how the letter itself seems to point to its inward part. The Mem represents the revealed knowledge of God. But the Mem also has a shadow expressing destructive passion. The Aleph represents God. Thus, I believe the word is telling us that this uncleanness comes from a deep inner examination to discover the destructive passions that would separate us from God and keep us from sharing his revealed message.
Of course Isaiah is feeling very inadequate in the presence of God, but I believe there is also more that is going on here. Isaiah is looking at the God that he loves and longs to be with and more than that a God that he longs to serve. He is longing to bring God’s message to his people, longing to do what he can to please the God he loves, yet, Scripture teaches that out of the mouth flows the issues of the heart (Proverbs 4:23). He recognizes that his heart is not pure, that maybe the issues of his heart will somehow jumble up God’s message.
In verse six an angel takes a hot coal, places it upon Isaiah’s lips and purges the sin and iniquity that would defile the message that God is giving Isaiah. You know many of us feel we have a message from God to share, and we are anxious to share that message and sometimes we dive head long into sharing that message. Indeed, God has given each of us a message to share, just like Isaiah, and many of us are quite bold to share that message, but do we stop and make that inner reflection like Isaiah and wonder if in our rush and desire to share that message if maybe issues of our own heart might defile that message? Before we give any message God has laid upon our hearts, before we utter anything which we feel is a prophetic word, we need to pause, like Isaiah, and let God cleanse the uncleanness in our hearts before we deliver His message. I heard one preacher/teacher say that he doesn’t need to pray before a service, he is better off playing a video game before the service because the message comes from God and not from him anyways. This brother is right about the message coming from God, but he may not have considered that this message may be coming from unclean lips and rather than playing a video game he might do well to reflect on the Teth and spend some time bringing his heart before God so He can send some hot coals to cleanse his heart. Sure the message is from God, but coming from an unclean heart, it can get defiled. That prayer before a service is not for the message but for the heart to be pure and right. I had a friend who was a Lutheran Pastor who would always pray Psalms 19:14 before he gave his message. “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.” That little prayer can accomplish more to presenting the message of God than any video game. Isaiah, a very righteous man who loved God with all his heart, knew that very well which is why, when given a message from God to share to his people he could only reply Oy vey.
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