Article March 9, 1940 Issue

Bible Notes

[The Biblical citations given in the Christian Science Quarterly are from the Authorized King James Version. The Bible Notes in this column can be used, if deemed necessary, to elucidate some of the words or passages contained in the Bible Lessons.]

"The seraphims" (Isa. 6:2)—The word "seraphims," found in our familiar Authorized King James Version, is really a double plural, for "seraphim" is the regular Hebrew plural form of "seraph." The literal meaning of the word, which occurs only in this passage in Isaiah, is uncertain. What seems to be the most probable view as to its derivation is that which connects it with the verb "saraph," which means to burn or consume; and, thus considered, the "seraphim" were doubtless agents of purification; indeed, we are told in verses 6 and 7 that "one of the seraphims" touched Isaiah's lips with "a live coal" and his iniquity was taken away.

"Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes" (Isa. 6:10)—It may be observed that in the Septuagint (Greek) version, we do not find the series of commands in this and the previous verse, recorded in the Hebrew text in its present form, and so reproduced in our Common Version; but it is suggested that it is the people who have themselves "shut their eyes," etc. Thus in verses 9 and 10, as set down in Bagster's rendering of the Septuagint, we read: "Ye shall hear indeed, but ye shall not understand; and ye shall see indeed, but ye shall not perceive. For the heart of this people has become gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed."

"But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten" (Isa. 6:13)—The verb here rendered "eat" appears to mean more literally "consume" in the sense of "burn," doubtless with the metaphorical implication of the flames of affliction or of testing. Thus we find that Smith translates: "Even if a tenth remain in it, this must pass through the fire again."

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