Charles Spurgeon Commentary Isaiah 6:9-10

"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 sea with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed." — Isaiah 6:9-10 (ASV)

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.

What a ministry, dark with insufferable light! So bright, so clear, that people would have to willfully harden their hearts and shut their eyes in order not to understand and receive it.

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.

That was no gospel ministry; it was a ministry of condemnation.

The house of Israel had rejected the prophets, and had rejected God; and in the fullness of time would reject God's own dear Son. When Isaiah in vision looked forward to all this, he was sent not to soften, but to harden; his word was to be a savour of death unto death, and not of life unto life.