Children of Israel in the days when God raised up the prophet Isaiah to address them. Now the prophets were very practical men. We must not think of them as just literary men or as poets who decided to go in for such a career because they enjoyed doing that kind of thing. No, these men all tell us that they were called by God to deliver a message to their own fellow-countrymen. They did not want to do that; some of them, indeed, tell us quite honestly that they strongly objected to God’s call. They