Reading Isaiah 6 - part 2

Isaiah says 'Here am I. Send me!'
I'd like to think I would make so enthusiastic a response, but on an everyday level I'm not sure I do so too often!

God sends Isaiah to preach to the people.

Harsh words:
"'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing but never perceiving'" (v.9)

Then, as The Message puts it:
"Make these people blockheads,with fingers in their ears and blindfolds on their eyes...So they won't have a clue about what's going on and, yes, so they won't turn around and be made whole." Isaiah 6:9-10

Seems to be saying 'keep them dumb, so they won't turn and be healed'. Interestingly, its one of the most quoted OT passages in the NT. It is found in all four gospels (Matthew 13:14-15, Mark 4:12,
Luke 8:10 and John 12:37-41), and in Acts (28:26-27). I'm struggling with this one - anyone got any insight?

I'm with The Message in expressing Isaiah's astonishment, 'how long is this going to go on for, Lord?'
And God basically says 'until the whole place is ruined and empty':
"until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken"

On first reading it sounds like God's lost his patience! The destruction sounds complete. But on reading it again I thought it was interesting that the destruction promised in the second half of this section is on the land.. the cities are ruined, the fields ravaged, but the people are only sent away. Is God removing them from his judgement in the same way I might say 'get out of my sight' to avoid saying anything much harsher..? (comments from the more experienced / knowledgeable welcome here!)

And at the end of the passage there remains a small grain of hope..
"But as the terebinth and the oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land."
Like a seed buried in a dead stump, God leaves the possibility of new life. I imagine the seed refers to David's line.. leading to Jesus.

Well, there's a prophecy for you... I'm sure Isaiah didn't realise quite what he was letting himself in for when he volunteered to take the message!