Image of the Week: Isaiah & the Seraph
© Durga Yael Bernhard
The Book of Isaiah is a source of endless intrigue for both Jews and Christians. The prophet lived in the 8th century BCE, in turbulent times – under four different kings. Corruption and war filled the land. My depictions of Isaiah are deliberately set against a background of complex human society. Dark skies of reddish smoke intermingle with the prophet's robes as questioning people look on.
Isaiah's prophecy reads like transcendent poetry – words that point beyond words. This is the language of transformation, of surrender to destiny and the call to moral order. Prophecy in ancient times was not a matter of mystical vision, but more like today's weather forecasts or political analyses. Historians believe Isaiah was an educated man, with strong visions of social justice. Many Christians see the foretelling of the coming of Jesus Christ, over six hundred years later, in Isaiah's words. I see the foreshadowing of our collective abuse of natural resources, and the destructive effect of runaway progress and greed.
Equally fascinating as Isaiah himself are the seraphim (plural of the Hebrew word seraph), those mythical six-winged emissaries that hover around God's throne. I've painted this creature a number of times before: an African seraph, a seraph made from the geometric forms of a Persian rug, and a seraph enfolding a rainbow of silhouetted figures. In the passage from the Book of Isaiah pictured above, the seraphim call out to each other: "Holy, holy, holy! The Lord's presence fills all the earth! Then the doorposts of the house of God shook and the whole house filled with smoke." The power of both divine compassion and incendiary wrath comes through loud and clear. You might not find comfort there, but you will find inspiration – and admonition for straying from the moral imperatives that were so revolutionary, so crucial in the time of the Jewish people's exile in Babylon. Would Judaism have even survived that exile, without Isaiah's words?
What is it about this passage, and this prophet, that moves people so? Is it a universally human desire to answer a calling? Hineni, he answers: Here I am. Is it our yearning to serve something larger than ourselves? Is it a wish for direct contact with the divine? This is forbidden in almost every belief system, yet Isaiah was different – he saw the face of God – and possibly died because of it.
Isaiah & the Seraph is part of my self-published calendar, The Jewish Eye 5780/2020 Calendar of Art – available in my webstore ($18 including shipping) and on Amazon ($18 prime). You can view the entire calendar here.