Uncreation in Isa 6:12
Isaiah describes the coming judgment in Isa 6:12 with the words, “the Lord removes men far away.” “Men” is actually the definite singular construction האדם: “The Lord removes the man far away.” Careful exegesis will note this usage, and explore its meaning.
At the very least, Isaiah wants us to understand that it’s not just a few men who will be removed, but mankind as a category. The construction is an instance of the generic article (Waltke-O’Connor 13.5.1.f), and reemphasizes the description of “cities … without inhabitant and … houses without man” in v. 11. But something more may be involved.
If we view the verse in BibleWorks and switch to multi-version browse mode, it’s easy to select the form האדם, right-click, and select “Search on Form,” yielding all the instances of this construction in the Bible. There are 140. If we examine the detailed statistics by chapter, we find that fully 15% of these (21 instances) occur in the creation history of Gen 1-3. האדם is not just any category. It is the category that crowned God’s creative work, and the very term would carry echoes of the creation narrative to a Hebrew reader. Every Jewish child would have learned how the Lord once placed האדם in the world. Now the Lord declares that he will remove האדם, undoing his creation in an overwhelming act of judgment. As in Gen 3:22-24, האדם is removed from the favored place and cast out to wander.
