“Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see.
Who is blind, but my servant? Or who is as deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is as blind as he who is at peace, and as blind as Yahweh’s servant?
You see many things, but don’t observe. His ears are open, but he doesn’t listen.
It pleased Yahweh, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify the law and make it honorable.
But this is a robbed and plundered people. All of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prisons. They have become captives, and no one delivers, and a plunder, and no one says, ‘Restore them!’
Who is there among you who will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come?
Who gave Jacob as plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Didn’t Yahweh, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, and they disobeyed his law.
Therefore he poured the fierceness of his anger on him, and the strength of battle. It set him on fire all around, but he didn’t know. It burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv19, 22, 23 The Priest to whom my word is committed, which…
The Priest to whom my word is committed, which should not only hear it himself, but cause others to hear it.
To wit, Israel, which should have most light because of my Law.
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As the Priests and Prophets that should be lights to others?
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv18–25 Isa 42:18 Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind,…
Isa 42:18 Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
Ver. 18. Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind.] Ye who, as so many sea monsters or deaf adders, will not hear, and as so many blind moles will not see, by a petulant blindness, and of obstinate malice; such were the scribes and Pharisees, who winked hard with their eyes, and wilfully shut the windows, lest the light should come in unto them. See more of this in the notes on Isa 6:1-13 Isa 29:1-24.
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That ye may see.] In nature, Caecorum mens occulatissima est. We read of Didymus Alexandrinus, that though blind, yet he wrote commentaries; and of two of Archbishop Ussher’s aunts, that being blind from their cradles, they taught him first to read, such was their readiness in the Scriptures. But this was rare; and in spirituals it is otherwise, till God enlighten both organ and object.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv18–25 O you, whosoever you are, whether Jews or Gentiles,…
O you, whosoever you are, whether Jews or Gentiles, which shall resist this clear light, and obstinately continue in your former errors, attend diligently to my words, and consider these mighty works of God.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v18 The prophet, having spoken by way of comfort and…
The prophet, having spoken by way of comfort and encouragement to the believing Jews who waited for the consolation of Israel, here turns to those among them who were unbelieving, for their conviction and humiliation. Among those who were in captivity in Babylon there were some who were as the evil figs in Jeremiah's vision, who were sent thither for their hurt, to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth, for a reproach and a proverb, Jer 24:9. In them there was a type of the Jews who rejected Christ and were rejected by him, and then fell more than ever under the curse, when those who believed were inheriting the blessing; for they were broken, and ruined, and remain dispersed unto this day. Observe,
I. The call that is given to this people (Isa 42:18): "Hear, you deaf, and attend to the joyful sound, and look you blind, that you may see the joyful light." There is no absurdity in this command, nor is it unbecoming the wisdom and goodness of God to call us to do that good which yet of ourselves we are not sufficient for; for those have natural powers which they may employ so as to do better than they do, and may have supernatural grace if it be not their own fault, who yet labour under a moral impotency to that which is good. This call to the deaf to hear and the blind to see is like the command given to the man that had the withered hand to stretch it forth; though he could not do this, because it was withered, yet, if he had not attempted to do it, he would not have been healed, and his being healed thereupon was owing, not to his act, but to the divine power.
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II. The character that is given of them (Isa 42:19, Isa 42:20): Who is blind, but my servant, or deaf as my messenger? The people of the Jews were in profession God's servants, and their priests and elders his messengers (Mal 2:7); but they were deaf and blind. The verse before may be understood as spoken to the Gentile idolaters, whom he calls deaf and blind, because they worshipped gods that were so. "But," says he, "no wonder you are deaf and blind when my own people are as bad as you, and many of them as much set upon idolatry."
1. He complains of their sottishness - they are blind; and of their stubbornness - they are deaf. They were even worse than the Gentiles themselves. Corruptio optimi est pessima - What is best becomes, when corrupted, the worst. "Who is so wilfully, so scandalously, blind and deaf as my servant and my messenger, as Jacob who is my servant (Isa 41:8), and as their prophets and teachers who are my messengers? Who is blind as he that in profession and pretension is perfect, that should come nearer to perfection than other people, their priests and prophets? The one prophesies falsely, and the other bears rule by their means; and who so blind as those that will not see when they have the light shining in their faces?" Note, (1.) It is a common thing, but a very sad thing, for those that in profession are God's servants and messengers to be themselves blind and deaf in spiritual things, ignorant, erroneous, and very careless. (2.) Blindness and deafness in spiritual things are worse in those that profess themselves to be God's servants and messengers than in others. It is in them the greater sin and shame, the greater dishonour to God, and to themselves a greater damnation.
2. The prophet goes on (Isa 42:20) to describe the blindness and obstinacy of the Jewish nation, just as our Saviour describes it in his time (Mat 13:14, Mat 13:15): Seeing many things, but thou observest not. Multitudes are ruined for want of observing that which they cannot but see; they perish, not through ignorance, but mere carelessness. The Jews in our Saviour's time saw many proofs of his divine mission, but they did not observe them; they seemed to open their ears to him, but they did not hear, that is, they did not heed, did not understand, or believe, or obey, and then it was all one as if they had not heard.
III. The care God will take of the honour of his own name, notwithstanding their blindness and deafness, especially of his word, which he has magnified above all his name. Shall the unbelief and obstinacy of men make the promise of God of no effect? God forbid, Rom 3:3, Rom 3:4. No, though they are blind and deaf, God will be no loser in his glory (Isa 42:21): The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; not well pleased with their sin, but well pleased in the manifestation of his own righteousness, in rejecting them for rejecting the great salvation. He speaks as one well pleased, Isa 1:24 : Ah! I will ease me of my adversaries; and Eze 5:13, I will be comforted. The scripture was fulfilled in the casting off of the Jews as well as in the calling in of the Gentiles, and therein the Lord will be well pleased. He will magnify the law (divine revelation in all the parts of it) and will make it honourable. The law is truly honourable, and the things of it are great things; and, if men will not magnify it by their obedience to it, God will magnify it himself by punishing them for their disobedience. He will magnify the law by accomplishing what is written in it, will magnify its authority, its efficacy, its equity. He will do it at last, when all men shall be judged by the law of liberty, Jam 2:12. He is doing it every day. What is it that God is doing in the world, but magnifying the law and making it honourable?
IV. The calamities God will bring upon the Jewish nation for their wilful blindness and deafness, Isa 42:22. They are robbed and spoiled. Those that were impenitent and unreformed in Babylon were sentenced to perpetual captivity. It was for their sins that they were spoiled of all their possessions, not only in their own land, but in the land of their enemies. They were some of them snared in holes, and others hidden in prison-houses. They cannot help themselves, for they are snared. Their friends cannot help them, for they are hidden; and their enemies have forgotten them in their prisons. They, and all they have, are for a prey and for a spoil; and there is none that delivers either by force or ransom, nor any that dares say to the proud oppressors, Restore. There they lie, and there they are likely to lie. This had its full accomplishment in the final destruction of the Jewish nation by the Romans, which God brought upon them for rejecting the gospel of Christ.
V. The counsel given them in order to their relief; for, though their case be sad, it is not desperate.
1. The generality of them are deaf; they will not hearken to the voice of God's word. He will therefore try his rod, and see who among them will give ear to that, Isa 42:23. We must not despair concerning those who have been long reasoned with in vain; some of them may, at length, give ear and hearken. If one method not take effect, another may, and sinners shall be left inexcusable. Observe, (1.) We may all of us, if we will, hear the voice of God, and we are called and invited to hear it. (2.) It is worth while to enquire who they are that perceive God speaking to them and are willing to hear him. (3.) Of the many that hear the voice of God there are very few that hearken to it or heed it, that hear it with attention and application. (4.) In hearing the word we must have an eye to the time to come. We must hear for hereafter, for what may occur between us and the grave; we must especially hear for eternity. We must hear the word with another world in our eye.
2. The counsel is, (1.) To acknowledge the hand of God in their afflictions, and, whoever were the instruments, to have an eye to him as the principal agent (Isa 42:24): "Who gave Jacob and Israel, that people that used to have such an interest in heaven and such a dominion on earth, who gave them for a spoil to the robbers, as they are now to the Babylonians and to the Romans? Did not the Lord? You know he did; consider it then, and hear his voice in these judgments." (2.) To acknowledge that they had provoked God thus to abandon them, and had brought all these calamities upon themselves. [1.] These punishments were first inflicted on them for their disobedience to the laws of God: It is he against whom we have sinned; the prophet puts himself into the number of the sinners, As Dan 9:7, Dan 9:8. "We have sinned; we have all brought fuel to the fire; and there are those among us that have wilfully refused to walk in his ways." Jacob and Israel would never have been given up to the robbers if they had not by their iniquities sold themselves. Therefore it is, because they have violated the commands of the law, that God has brought upon them the curses of the law; he has not dropped, but poured upon him the fury of his anger and the strength of battle, all the desolations of war, which have set him on fire round about; for God surrounds the wicked with his favours. See the power of God's anger; there is no resisting it, no escaping it. See the mischief that sin makes; it provokes God to anger against a people, and so kindles a universal conflagration, sets all on fire. [2.] These judgments were continued upon them for their senselessness and incorrigibleness under the rod of God. The fire of God's wrath kindled upon him, and he knew it not, was not aware of it, took no notice of the judgments, at least not of the hand of God in them. Nay, it burned him, and, though he could not then but know it and feel it, yet he laid it not to heart, was not awakened by the fiery rebukes he was under nor at all affected with them. Those who are not humbled by less judgments must expect greater; for when God judges he will overcome.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv18–24 Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye…
Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. Jarchi and Kimchi think these words are spoken to Israel, who, as Aben Ezra says, were deaf and blind in heart; but they are rather an exhortation to the Gentiles that remained impenitent and unbelieving, and who were deaf to the voice of the Gospel, and blind as to the knowledge of it; and the purport of the exhortation is, that they would make use of their external hearing and sight, which they had, that they might attain to a spiritual hearing and understanding of divine things; "for faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word of God", Rom 10:17 to hear the Gospel preached, and to look into the Scriptures, and read the word of God, are the means of attaining light and knowledge in spiritual things; and these are within the compass of natural men, who are internally deaf and blind.
to hear the Gospel preached, and to look into the Scriptures, and read the word of God, are the means of attaining light and knowledge in spiritual things; and these are within the compass of natural men, who are internally deaf and blind.
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Isaiah 42:19
isa 42:19
isa 42:19
isa 42:19Who is blind, but my servant?.... Kimchi, taking the former words to be spoken to the Jews, thinks this is their reply; who will say in answer to it, why do ye call us blind and deaf? who so blind and deaf as Isaiah the prophet, the servant of the Lord, his messenger, and a perfect one as he is called? but as the preceding words are spoken to the Gentiles, here the Lord does as it were correct himself, as if he should say, why do I call the Gentiles blind and deaf, when the people of the Jews, who call themselves my servants, and pretend to serve and worship me, yet there are none so blind as they in spiritual things? though they have so many opportunities and advantages of light and knowledge, yet shut their eyes wilfully against the light; hence the people and their guides, the Scribes and Pharisees, are often called "blind" by our Lord, to whose times this passage refers, Mat 15:14; "or deaf, as my messenger that I sent?" not the Prophet Isaiah, but some other, who did not attend to what he was charged with, and did not perform his office aright; it may design in general the priests and Levites, who were the messengers of the Lord of hosts to instruct the people; and yet these were deaf to the messages that God gave them, and they were to deliver to the people: or it may be rendered, "or deaf, but, or as, to whom I send my messenger" (z); or messengers, as the Vulgate Latin version; and so the Targum,
"and sinners to whom I send my prophets;''
and so it may respect the body of the people as before, who were deaf to John the Baptist, the messenger sent before the Lord; to Christ himself, and his ministry, and to his apostles, who were first sent to them:
who is blind, as he that is perfect? who pretended to be so, as the young man who thought he had kept all the commandments, and as Saul before conversion, and all the Pharisees, those self-righteous persons who needed no repentance, and yet who so blind as they? and indeed, had they not been blind to themselves, they could never have thought themselves perfect; and yet when they were told they were so, could not bear it, Mat 19:20, and blind, as the Lord's servant? which is repeated for the further confirmation of it, and more clearly to show whose servant is meant.
(z) "et surdus, sicut (sub. ad quem, vel ad quos) angelum sive nucium meum missurus sum", Forerius, ex V. L. and to this sense, Grotius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25 Hear - O you, whosoever you are, who resist…
Hear - O you, whosoever you are, who resist this clear light.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25 Verse 19. As my messenger that I sent -…
Verse 19. As my messenger that I sent - "As he to whom I have sent my messengers"] כמלכי אשלח kemalachey eshlach, ut ad quem nuncios meos misi. The Vulgate and Chaldee are almost the only interpreters who render it rightly, in consistence with the rest of the sentence, and in perfect agreement with the Hebrew idiom; according to which the ellipsis is to be thus supplied: כלאשר מלאכי אשלח kelaasher malachey eshlach; "As he to whom I have sent my messengers."
As he that is perfect - "As he who is perfectly instructed"] See Clarke on Isa 44:2.
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And blind as the Lord's servant - "And deaf, as the servant of JEHOVAH"] For ועור veivver, and blind, we must read וחרש vecheresh, and deaf: κωφος, Symmachus, and so a MS. The mistake is palpable, and the correction self-evident, and admissible though there had been no authority for it.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv18, 21, 22, 25 Isa 42:18-20. Hear, ye deaf, &c. — O you,…
Isa 42:18-20. Hear, ye deaf, &c. — O you, whosoever you are, whether Jews or Gentiles, who shall resist this clear light, and obstinately continue in your former errors, attend diligently to my words, and consider these mighty works of God. Who is blind but my servant? — But no people under heaven are so blind as the Jews, who call themselves my servants and people, who will not receive their Messiah, though he be recommended to them with such evident and illustrious signs and miraculous works as force belief from the formerly unbelieving and idolatrous Gentiles. Or deaf as my messenger that I sent — Or rather, as Bishop Lowth renders it, as he to whom I have sent my messengers. Thus the Vulgate and Chaldee, “ut ad quem nuncios meos misi.” Who is blind as he that is perfect — Or, perfectly instructed, as משׁלםmay be rendered, who has all the means of knowledge and spiritual improvement. Perhaps the prophet may chiefly intend the priests and other teachers of the Jews, who, as they were appointed to instruct the people in the right way of worshipping and serving God, so they had peculiar advantages for knowing that way themselves, having the oracles of God in their hands, and much leisure for reading and considering them. Or he may be understood as speaking sarcastically, and terming them perfect, or, perfectly instructed, because they pretended to greater knowledge and piety than others, to a more perfect acquaintance with, and conformity to, the divine will, proudly calling themselves rabbis and masters, and despising the people as cursed and not knowing the law, Joh 7:49; and deriding Christ for calling them blind, Joh 9:40. And blind as the Lord’s servant? — Which title, as it was given to the Jewish people in the first clause of the verse, may be here given to the priests, because they were called and obliged to be the Lord’s servants, in a special manner. Seeing many things, but thou observest not — Thou dost not seriously consider the plain word and wonderful works of God.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv18–25 Hear, ye deaf - This is evidently an address…
Hear, ye deaf - This is evidently an address to the Jews, and probably to the Jews of the time of the prophet. He had been predicting the coming of the Messiah, and the influence of his religion on the Gentile world. He had said that God would go forth to destroy the idolatry of the pagan nations, and to convince them of the folly of the worship of images, and to confound them for putting their trust in them. He seems here to have recollected that this was the easily-besetting sin of his own countrymen, and perhaps especially of the times when he penned this portion of the prophecy - under the reign of Manasseh; that that generation was stupid, blind, deaf to the calls of God, and sunk in the deepest debasement of idolatry. In view of this, and of the great truths which he had uttered, he calls on them to hear, to be alarmed, to return to God, and assures them that for these sins they exposed themselves to, and must experience, his sore displeasure. The statement of these truths, and the denouncing of these judgments, occupy the remainder of this chapter. A similar instance occurs in Isa. 2, where the prophet, having foretold the coming of the Messiah, and the fact that his religion would be extended among the Gentiles, turns and reproves the Jews for their idolatry and crimes (see the notes at that chapter). The Jewish people are often described as ‘deaf’ to the voice of God, and ‘blind’ to their duty and their interests (see Isa 29:18; Isa 42:8).
And look ... that ye may see - This phrase denotes an attentive, careful, and anxious search, in order that there may be a clear view of the object. The prophet calls them to an attentive contemplation of the object, that they might have a clear and distinct view of it. They had hitherto looked at the subject of religion in a careless, inattentive, and thoughtless manner.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv18, 19, 22, 24 Deaf Jews, who would not listen to the prophets,…
Deaf Jews, who would not listen to the prophets, ver. 19. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv18–25 deaf--namely, to the voice of God.
deaf--namely, to the voice of God.
blind--to your duty and interest; wilfully so (Isa 42:20). In this they differ from "the blind" (Isa 42:16). The Jews are referred to. He had said, God would destroy the heathen idolatry; here he remembers that even Israel, His "servant" (Isa 42:19), from whom better things might have been expected, is tainted with this sin.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv18–22 18. General message.
18. General message.
Hear, ye deaf… look, ye blind — The thoughts expressed in Isa_42:17-25 are all coherent, though quick leaps are apparent, as is usual with Isaiah under excited emotion. The words “deaf,” “blind,” imply quite the same moral state. They apply to less instructed Gentiles, but more to the wayward Israelites — both yet confused by the pronounced utter failure of the idol system.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25 18. look and see are distinguished as in 2Ki_3:14;…
18. look and see are distinguished as in 2Ki_3:14; Job_35:5, &c.; the former is to direct the gaze towards, the latter to take in the significance of an object.
18–25. An expostulation with Israel for its insensibility to the privileges it has enjoyed. The passage is of considerable interest for the light which it throws on the sense in which the title “Servant of the Lord” is to be understood. The discrepancy between the description in Isa_42:1-4 and that here given is at first sight perplexing. There the Servant is spoken of as the perfect and successful worker for God, here he is addressed as blind and deaf and altogether unfit for Jehovah’s purpose. Yet it is extremely unnatural to suppose that the writer applies the term to two entirely different subjects. To suggest, as the prophet’s meaning, that the inefficient Servant is to be replaced by another, who shall accomplish the work in which the former has failed is perhaps the least satisfactory of all explanations, and misrepresents the teaching of the prophecy. That the subject here addressed is Israel in its actual present condition is beyond dispute; hence Isa_42:1-4 must also be regarded as in some sense a description of Israel. The contrast, in short, is not between the false servant and the true,—the one a nation and the other an individual,—but between Israel as it really is and Israel according to its idea. Indeed it would seem that what the prophet wishes his people to lay to heart is just this contrast between its ideal calling and its actual accomplishments; and this is more intelligible if the ideal has been already depicted, and is still present to the writer’s mind.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25 (18) Hear, ye deaf . . .—The words form…
(18) Hear, ye deaf . . .—The words form the beginning of a new section. The prophet feels or sees that the great argument has not carried conviction as it ought to have done. The people to whom Jehovah speaks through him are still spiritually blind and deaf, and that people is ideally the servant of the Lord (Isa_41:8), in whom the pattern of the personal servant ought to have been reproduced. (Comp. Joh_9:39-41.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv18–25 Vers. 18-25. ADDRESS TO CAPTIVE ISRAEL, CALLING UPON THEM…
Vers. 18-25. ADDRESS TO CAPTIVE ISRAEL, CALLING UPON THEM TO TURN TO GOD, AND REMINDING THEM THAT THEY HAVE DESERVED THEIR AFFLICTIONS. By some critics the earlier verses of this passage (vers. 19-21) are regarded as having reference to the "Servant of the Lord" depicted in vers. 1-7, and as calling on the captive Jews to consider his voluntary humiliation, and the object of it. But this view seems to be strained. It requires "deaf" and "blind" to be taken in completely different senses in the two consecutive verses, 18 and 19. Probably Delitzsch and Mr. Cheyne are right in taking the whole passage of captive Israel, and especially of that "outer circle" which was least deserving of God"s favour and most open to rebuke and reproach. These "blind" and "deaf" ones are warned that it is high time for them to unclose their eyes and open their ears, and are reminded that all their recent and present sufferings arise from their former "blindness" and disobedience.
Hear, ye deaf. The "deaf" are not absolutely without hearing, nor the "blind" absolutely without sight. They can "hear" and "see," if they choose to do so. When they do not see, it is because they "wink with their; (Mat_13:15) when they do not hear, it is because, like the deaf adder, they "stop their ears". (Psa_58:4) This, at any rate, is the case with the majority. There may be some who have deadened their moral vision altogether, and have no longer any "ears to hear." God, however, addresses the mass of Israel as still possessed of moral discernment, if they will but use it, and calls upon them to wake up out of sleep to "hear" and "see.
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Vers. 18-25. The blindness of Israel.
The "blindness" of Israel is a subject of continual remark in Scripture from the time of Moses (Deu_28:28, Deu_28:29) to that of St. Paul. (Rom_11:25) Four things may be noted of it.
I IT IS SELF-CAUSED. The Israelites "blinded themselves," and so became blind. (Isa_29:9, with the comment) They "winked with their eyes," closed them against the light which shone on them from on high, and thus gradually by disuse lost the power of spiritual discernment. (see the homiletics on Isa_29:9, Isa_29:10) The process is a natural one. It is a law of nature that every disused part of an organism shall dwindle away and decay. "There are certain burrowing animals the mole, for instance which have taken to spending their lives beneath the surface of the ground. And Nature has taken her revenge upon them in a thoroughly natural way she has closed up their eyes. If they mean to live in darkness, she argues, eyes are obviously a superfluous function. By neglecting them, these animals made it clear that they did not want them. And as one of Nature"s fixed principles is that nothing shall exist in vain, the eyes are presently taken away, or reduced to a rudimentary state. There are fishes which have had to pay the same terrible forfeit for having made their abode in dark caverns, where eyes can never be required. And in exactly the same way the spiritual eye must die and lose its power by purely natural law, if the soul choose to walk in darkness rather than light" (see Mr. Henry Drummond"s "Natural Law in the Spiritual World," pp. 110, 111).
II IT IS NEVERTHELESS A DIVINE JUDGMENT ON THEM, Nature"s laws are God"s decrees. In making it a law of nature that destruction of an organ or a function should follow disuse, God was passing a sentence on those who wilfully scorned any of his gifts. Hence he is constantly said in Scripture to "blind men"s eyes" and "harden their hearts", (Exo_4:21 Exo_9:12 Deu_28:28 Joh_12:40 Rom_11:8, etc.) and Israel"s "blindness" is distinctly ascribed to him in Isa_6:10 Isa_29:10. "Because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate. (Rom_1:28)
III IT IS PARTIAL. "Blindness in part is happened unto Israel". (Rom_11:25) At no time did God leave himself without a witness. At no time did the whole of Israel become blind. At the worst period of the Phoenician idolatry, there were yet in Samaria seven thousand who had not bowed -the knee to Baal. (1Ki_19:18) In Isaiah"s time, God had still left him in Judah a "remnant". (Isa_1:9 Isa_10:20 Isa_46:3) When our Lord came, it was from among the Israelites that he gathered his "little flock". (Luk_12:32) Since then in every age there have been converts many of them "shining lights to Christianity from Judaism. Even now the Christian will not lightly let fall the hope of an ultimate great ingathering of Israel into the one fold. "The veil shall be taken away" some, (2Co_3:16) and then shall Israel "turn to the Lord" and worship his Christ.
IV IT IS, TO SOME EXTENT, CURABLE. Isaiah calls upon the blind to "look, that they may see" (ver. 18). There are infinite intermediate conditions between perfectly healthy sight and absolute blindness. Comparatively few of the Israelites were at any time absolutely blind. The great majority were more or less dim-sighted. So long as this is the case, whether physically or morally, there is a possibility of recovery. The organ is not destroyed; it may by care and use be rendered capable of once more properly performing its function. Isaiah speaks of a time when "the eyes of the blind would see out of obscurity and out of darkness". (Isa_29:18) May it not be hoped that the time is approaching for the Jewish people the time when "Israel after the flesh" will once more become an important portion of the "Israel of God"?
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv18, 19, 21, 23, 25 Hear, ye deaf
Isa_42:18-20
Hear, ye deaf
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Divine expostulation
Thus the Lord expostulates with His ancient people, and thus He has reason to expostulate with us.
1. We are deaf, in a spiritual sense, when we do not attend to the Divine admonitions, or give earnest heed to the word of instruction; and we are blind, in the same sense, when we do not perceive the glory of the Gospel, and the force and beauty of Divine truth.
2. Before one step in the way of salvation can be taken, this hindrance must be removed. The eyes of the blind must be opened, and the ears of the deaf must be unstop, pad. Hence there is a call to the deaf to hear, and to the blind to look that they may see. This is like the command of our Saviour to the man with the withered hand, to stretch it forth, and implies that this deafness and blindness was their fault, as well as their misfortune. In dependence upon His promise they ought, therefore, to stir themselves up to the discharge of their duty.
3. That the nations who have not the light of the Gospel should want spiritual senses is no wonder; but that those who are, by profession, the servants of God, and His messengers, or those to whom His messengers are sent, and perfectly instructed, should be blind and deaf, is much to be lamented.
4. The sincere followers of Christ whose eyes and ears He has opened to attend to His saving instructions; who love the Gospel, and have been led by it to repentance, faith and newness of life; who do not habitually neglect, but rather prize the ordinances of religion, and the means of grace; even these may be charged with not exercising, as they ought, the spiritual senses which God has given them. (W. Richardson.)
The ear and the eye as symbols
With a bold freedom do the writers of both the Old and New Testaments fasten the attention upon the sense of hearing. Throughout, the ear is the symbol of obedience. As by its common use the sense is the medium of interpretation of sounds, whether of nature or of the articulate expression of fellow-men, so, by further reference and deeper analogy, it stands as the avenue through which Divine communications may pass to the soul,--it may be in a still small voice. One might suppose, considering the high esteem in which obedience is held in the sacred polity of Israel, considering that obedience is ever regarded in the Old Testament as the test of national and individual loyalty to Jehovah, that the metaphor of the ear would occur more frequently than that of any other sense. Yet it is not so. A glance at any serviceable concordance will show that it is from the eyesight that evangelist and apostle, as well as psalmist and prophet, are furnished with their most telling spiritual illustrations. The reason for this is plain. If the sacred penman made the sense of hearing his object-lesson, it could only be one. It could only help him to emphasise the single conception of the duty and blessing of learning to obey. With the eyesight the manifold character of the teaching answered exactly to the complex faculties of the organ of vision. A concordance, better still an intimate knowledge of Holy Scripture, suggests obedience as the primary lesson of the Old Testament. The metaphor of the ear when found in the New Testament is commonly discovered in a setting of some Old Testament passage. Another illustration is wanted, correspondent to the greater fulness of a fresh revelation; and this illustration, common indeed to both covenants, is eyesight. (B. Whitefoord.)
Look, ye blind
Eyesight
Intelligence and candour, receptiveness and perseverance, faith, hope and charity--such are some amongst the many lessons inculcated through and in the possession of sight. (B. Whitefoord.)
The open eye
The spiritual eye is not the victim of accident or senility, although its clearer powers of vision may often be marred by sin and hampered by indolence. The spiritual eye is an open eye, full of meaning and purpose, cleansed by the tears of penitence, lighted up by faith end love, The eye is open; but not of that pitiful kind that is recognised as vacant. It is bright with significance, clear in its aim, strenuous and persevering in its direction. It has certain characteristic ranges of vision, and these, so Scripture and experience alike teach, are threefold.
I. IT LOOKS INWARD. It contemplates the soul. The eye first marks the worst within, an evil so general, so potent, that the main feeling is one of despair. It may now see the best that lies also within. For here, in the human heart, it perceives the work of the Holy Spirit.
II. IT LOOKS OUTWARD. It looks upon the world--
1. Of nature.
2. Of humanity.
III. IT LOOKS UPWARD--Godward. Nor is the upward look of the soul to God merely a passing act of worship (Psa_25:15), but the very foretaste of His favour and aid. It is only the heart which is pure of earthly aims and hopes that shall at last reach the perfect vision of God. (B. Whitefoord.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv18, 22, 23 Isa_42:18-20. Hear, ye deaf, and look, ye blind, &c.
BLIND IN THE SUNLIGHT
Isa_42:18-20. Hear, ye deaf, and look, ye blind, &c.
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Thus the Lord expostulates with His ancient people, and thus He has reason to expostulate with us. We succeed them, both in religious privileges and in the abuse of those privileges. Where does the light of the Gospel shine more clearly? But do we excel other people in knowledge and virtue, in faith and patience, in temperance and goodness, as we surpass them in the means of acquiring these Christian graces? No! There is here no one who could challenge the justice and propriety of this expostulation, if it were addressed to him. In our text we have—
I. A DESCRIPTION.
“Deaf,” “blind,” &c. We are “deaf,” in a spiritual sense, when we do not attend to the Divine admonitions, or give earnest heed to the word of instruction; “blind,” when we do not perceive the glory of the Gospel, and the force and beauty of Divine truth. This description is—
1. Absolutely true of most men. The ignorance of numbers who constantly enjoy the best religious instruction is far beyond what any person can imagine who has not made it a matter of special investigation. Nothing they have ever heard or seen during their attendance upon the ordinance of religion has made any effectual impression upon them. The first principles of Christianity are unknown to them. They have never learned to understand what is meant by repentance, faith, holiness, the Divine character or their own, the evil of sin, the extent of their own sinfulness, or even what is required of them in the common duties of life. Yet some of them delude themselves with the hope that there is before them a future of eternal blessedness! They are not all equally ignorant. Some of them amidst the light of the Gospel and the sound of religious instruction occasionally receive a little. But the whole truth they will not receive. Many doctrines and precepts of Christianity oppose their passions and prejudices, and therefore against these they obstinately close their ears and shut their eyes.
2. In some measure true of all men. The sincerest followers of Christ may be charged with not exercising, as they ought, the spiritual senses which God has given them. The best Christians would have been better still, if they had never, by their siothfulness and inattention, lost the benefits conveyed by the means they have been favoured with (H. E. I. 2570–2584, 2654–2658).
As far as this description is true of us, our condition is a terrible one.
1. It is the result of sin. Is it not a terrible sin even to be heedless of the messages sent us by Almighty God? But many have deliberately shut out the rays of the Sun of righteousness, because light was troublesome, and would not permit them to enjoy those works of darkness on which they were bent.
2. While it continues, all the means intended to deliver us from sin will fail to benefit us. As the most-improving advice given in conversation is useless to a deaf person, and the most delightful objects are displayed to no purpose before the blind, so the word of truth is preached in vain to those who have neither ears to hear nor eyes to see its meaning and excellency. Before one step in the way of salvation can be taken, this hindrance must be removed.
3. Our condition is nearly hopeless, and tends to become absolutely hopeless. [1381]
4. We ought to be ashamed of it. You ought to be ashamed of your ignorance of Christianity in a Christian country, and still more ashamed and humbled for the cause of it, which is always sloth, stubbornness, or self-conceit.
5. We ought to be alarmed on account of it. For the reason already given—that our condition tends to become a hopeless one. And also because the penalty of wilful blindness in the midst of sunlight is consignment to eternal darkness and woe.
[1381] When the habit of inattention is formed, or men’s minds are so armed by prejudice as to be determined not to hear or embrace certain truths which are offensive, their condition is nearly hopeless. He who does not use his spiritual senses, and keep them in constant exercise, must expect to find them impaired, and, in time, lost. Those congregations which have long enjoyed a sound and animated course of instruction without any particular benefit, become in the end more stupid and hardened than those which have not been so favoured. What can be said or done to do them good, which has not been repeatedly tried in vain? As time and increasing years have a happy effect in strengthening and confirming good habits, so they have a still more powerful influence in confirming bad ones. So that those persons who suffer their passions and prejudices, their disrelish for the word of truth, their blindness and inattention, and all their other inveterate habits to accompany them till the decline of life, are likely to lie down with them in their graves, and to be found encumbered with them on the morning of the resurrection.—Richardson.
II. AN ADMONITION.
There is a call to the deaf to hear, and to the blind to look that they may see. This is like the command of our Saviour to the man with the withered hand to stretch it forth, and implies that this deafness and blindness was their fault as well as their misfortune. Every command of God is accompanied with grace and strength. He requires nothing of His people but what He has promised to enable them to perform. In dependence upon His promise, they ought therefore to stir themselves up to the discharge of their duty. The spiritually deaf should endeavour to open their ears to instruction, the spiritually blind to open their eyes to that wondrous display of grace which the Gospel exhibits. The effort will be as successful as that of the man to stretch out his withered hand, when it is made in obedience to the Divine command, and in dependence on the Divine blessing. [1384] And when this fatal obstruction is removed, and we have got ears to hear and eyes to see, the means of grace and salvation will have their proper influence.—William Richardson: Sermons, vol. i. pp. 470–482.
[1384] See Dr. Bushnell’s admirable sermon, “Duty not Measured by Ability,” in The New life, pp. 253–266.
CHRIST A LAW-MAGNIFYING SAVIOUR
Isa_42:18-21. Hear, ye deaf, and look, ye blind, &c.
I. THE NAME HERE GIVEN TO SINNERS (Isa_42:18). Equally applicable to all unconverted men.
1. Naturally deaf. Do not hear the voice of Providence, of Christ, of pastors (Psa_58:4).
2. Blind. This word is constantly used in the Bible to describe the stupidity of unconverted souls (Mat_15:14; Mat_23:26; Mat_23:17; Rev_3:17). They do not see the depravity, &c., of their own soul, the beauty, &c., of the glorious “Sun of Righteousness,” the path they pursue, leading to hell. “Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind.” Those who are deaf and blind are generally the least attentive. Attend, for God calls upon you! But you say this is a contradiction, “If I am deaf, how can I hear? If I am blind, how can I look?” Leave God to settle that difficulty, only listen and look up. There is truly no difficulty about it.
II. THE OBJECT POINTED TO. “Who is blind,” &c. Every expression here evidently points to Christ. [1387]
[1387] This by no means certain. The preacher will remember that concerning this passage diametrically opposite views are held by different commentators. The remarks of Birks and Cheyne are here given as specimens.
Birks:—“Vers. 18–21. These words are commonly applied to the Jewish people. Of recent critics, Dr. Henderson, almost alone, refers them to the Messiah. But his exposition of them as ironical, or the language of the Jews, is open to very weighty objection. On the usual view, the title ‘the Servant of God,’ would be used twice emphatically, and in close connection, in two different senses. The objection is only strengthened by the fruitless attempt to join Messiah and the nation together, in both places, as the common subject. The title ‘perfect’ cannot be applied, without great violence, to those whose sin is denounced in the same context, and belongs naturally to our Lord alone.
“The guilt and shame of the people are here enforced by direct contrast with the true Israel, the Prince who has power with God. Blind and deaf in spirit, not in their outward senses, they are to fix their eyes on Him, that sight and hearing may be restored. Theirs was the blindness and deafness of idolatry and self-righteous pride. He, too, is blind and deaf, but in a sense wholly opposite, by unspeakable forbearance and grace. So Psa_38:13 : ‘I as a deaf man heard not, and I was as one dumb that openeth not his mouth.’ The Gospels renew the same picture (Joh_8:6-11). It is the same with the divine perfection in Balaam’s message: ‘He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel.’ The person named is the Messenger whom the Lord was about to send (Joh_10:36). He is the Perfect One, alone pure and sinless; the Lord’s servant, whose gentleness and patience have been described before, and who is to set judgment in the earth. On this view the repeated question, Who is blind as He? has a deep significance. Where sin has abounded grace still more abounds. The marvel of Israel’s blind idolatry and unbelief is to be surpassed by a greater marvel of love and grace in Israel’s Redeemer, who sees as though He saw not, and hears as though He heard not, when He visits His people in great mercy to pity and to save.
“Ver. 20. The blindness of this Servant of the Lord is now explained, with allusion to the promise (Isa_35:5): ‘Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped.’ It is the free choice of patient love. He can open the ears of the deaf, but refuses to hear the sounds of strife and violence. Every sense is awake for mercy. He gives voice, hearing, sight, to the dumb, the deaf, and the blind, but deaf and dumb Himself in refusing to judge when He comes to save. Thus men are blessed, God is glorified, and the excellence of God’s righteous law of perfect love is for ever revealed.”—Commentary, pp. 218, 219.
Cheyne:—“Vers. 18–20. We are confronted here with an at first sight perplexing discrepancy, viz., that whereas in Isa_42:1-7 ‘the Servant’ is introduced as an indefatigable worker in Jehovah’s cause, and as especially appointed ‘to open blind eyes,’ in Isa_42:19 we find ‘My Servant’ and ‘My Messenger’ described as spiritually ‘blind’ and ‘deaf.’ This, however, is one of those apparent inconsistencies in which Eastern poets and teachers delight, and which are intended to set us on the search for a higher and reconciling idea. The higher idea in the case before us is that the place of the incompetent messenger shall be taken by One both able and willing to supply his deficiencies and to correct his faults.’ Israel—the people being as yet inadaquate to his sublime destiny—Jehovah’s own ‘elect,’ shall come to transform and elevate the ‘unprofitable servant.’
“Ver. 18. Hear, ye deaf …] Jehovah is the speaker. He has before Him a company of spiritually deaf and blind. Surely (we may suppose Him to make this reflection) they are not all stone-deaf; some may be able by exerting the power yet graciously continued to them to hear God speaking in history and in prophecy (comp. Isa_42:23)!—Thus it would almost seem as if Jehovah Himself had assumed the function of ‘opening blind eyes,’ previously ascribed to the Servant. But there is no real discrepancy. The operations of Jehovah and of His Servant are all one; Jehovah must nominally interpose here in order that the incompetence of His people-Servant may be exposed, and the necessity for another Servant, springing out of but far worthier than Israel, be made clear.
“Ver. 19. Who is blind but my Servant?] The blind and deaf Servant means the people of Israel, regarded as a whole, in its present state of spiritual insensibility. Jehovah is sometimes described anthropomorphically as ‘saying,’ or, more fully, as saying to His heart, i.e. to Himself (Gen_8:21). It is such a ‘saying’ that we have here. Jehovah sadly reflects, ‘Who among earth’s inhabitants is so blind and deaf as Israel, my servant?’ Strange fact! The servant, who needs a sharp eye to catch the least gesture of his master (Psa_123:2)—the messenger, who requires an open ear to receive his commissions, is deaf! To interpret ‘Who is blind, &c.’ of Jesus Christ, as if ‘the guilt and shame of the people[were] here enforced by direct contrast with the true Israel, the Prince who has power with God,’ and as if the true, no less than the phenomenal Israel, could be called blind and deaf with reference to His slowness to take offence (Prof. Birks), is to go directly counter to Biblical usage (see Isa_6:10; Jer_5:21; Eze_12:2; Zec_7:11). In fact, the only passages quoted in support of this far-fetched view are Psa_38:13, where the sin-conscious Psalmist resigns his defence to God; and Joh_8:6-11, where the Saviour (if this interpolated narrator may be followed), under exceptional circumstances, refuses an answer to His persecutors.”—Commentary, vol. i. pp. 259, 260.
1. My servant (Isa_42:1, cf. Isa_52:13; Isa_53:2; Luk_22:27; Php_2:7). He came not to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him.
2. My Messenger (Job_33:23; Mal_3:1). God sent Him.
3. He that is perfect. “He did no sin,” &c.
4. Blind and deaf (also Isa_42:20). This describes the way in which He went through His work in the world (same as Isa_42:2; and Psa_38:13-14; Isa_53:7). He was blind to His own sufferings. He was deaf: He seemed not to hear their plotting against Him, nor their accusations, for He answered not a word (Mat_15:13-14).
III. THE WORK OF CHRIST (Isa_42:21). This is in some respects the most wonderful description of the work of Christ given in the Bible. He is often said to have fulfilled the law (Mat_3:15; Mat_5:17). But here it is said, He will “magnify the law,” &c. He came to give new lustre and glory to the holy law of God, that all worlds might see and understand that the law is holy, &c. He did this—
1. By His sufferings. He magnified the holiness and justice of the law by bearing its curse. He took upon Him the curse due to sinners, and bore it in His body on the tree, and thereby proved that God’s law cannot be mocked. Learn—
(1.) The certainty of hell for the Christless.
(2.) To flee from sin. [1390]
[1390] Compare other translations of this verse. Cheyne: “Who is blind but my servant? and deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as the surrendered one? and blind as the servant of Jehovah?” Arno’d: “Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I would send? Who is blind as God’s liegeman, and blind as the LORD’S servant?”—See also the translations by Alexander and Delitzsch.
2. By His obedience. He added lustre to the goodness of the law by obeying it. Learn the true wisdom of those who love God’s holy law (Psalms 19)
IV. THE EFFECT. “God is well pleased.”
1. With Christ.
2. With all that are in Christ.
CONCLUSION.—He that wrought out this righteousness invites you to get the benefit of it.—R. M. M‘Cheyne: Sermons and Lectures, pp. 349–355.
THE LAW MAGNIFIED BY THE REDEEMER
Isa_42:21. The Lord is well pleased, &c.
God may be said to make the law honourable by everything by which He shows His own great respect to it. In every government, the sovereign is the fountain of honour: in the Divine government, God is the fountain of all honour. Whatever shows God’s respect to it, magnifies the law. The law is magnified when either the precepts or penalty of it are fulfilled, when the commands or threatenings of it are satisfied. The work of redemption magnifies God’s law:—
I. By the perfect obedience that Christ gave to the commandments of it. What is meant by His obedience to it? In ourselves, holiness and obedience to the law are but one and the same thing; but it is not so, it was not so always, as to Christ Before He came to the world He was perfectly holy; but that holiness could not be called obedience. It was when Christ took on Him our nature that He fulfilled our law. It was our duty that He performed, and our righteousness that He fulfilled, as well as our sins that He bore.
How much this obedience magnified God’s law as to the commands of it, will appear when we consider the following properties of it:—
1. It was perfect obedience. “He continued in all things written in the book of the law to do them.”
2. It was the obedience of the most glorious person that could be subject to the law.
3. It was obedience performed by express Divine appointment.
4. It was obedience performed in a low condition; which served to show, that obedience to the law in any rank or station is honourable.
5. It was an obedience of universal influence as to the example of it.
II. By the perfect satisfaction He gave to the threatenings of it. He bore the penalty of it, by His sufferings and death. Three things show the importance of keeping up the authority of the law:—the Author of the law, the matter and end of it, and the kingdom that is commanded by it. Notice the properties of Christ’s suffering the penalty of the law.
1. It was a real execution of the law. The law was given by Moses, but fulfilled only by Christ.
2. It is a total execution of the law. No other punishment of creatures shall be called such. It is of Him only that it can be said that “he made an end of sin,” of the punishment of it.
3. It was an execution of it upon the most honourable person that could suffer. All the other persons that ever suffered for sin on earth or hell, principalities and powers of darkness, were but mean, low, vulgar, in comparison of this King of kings and Lord of lords.
4. It was also an execution of it upon the nearest relation of the Judge. The relation between God and Christ is expressed in the analogy between a father and a son. But the relation between a father and a son is nothing to that between God and Christ. This serves to show the righteousness of the law. If a judge executed the law only upon his enemies, he might be called partial; but if he executed the law upon those he cannot be said to have any hatred to, that shows him to be actuated by the purest justice and righteousness (H. E. I. 374–383).
III. The work of Redemption magnifies the law, as it is a work of infinite love. Everything that hath the nature of a motive to strengthen obedience magnifies the law. Favours, as well threatenings, are motives to excite to obey God’s law; and this is the greatest favour, and is one of the chief motives to stir up to obedience and restrain from evil. Threatenings are not the only motives to stir up to obedience. Gifts from the lawgiver are also motives to obey the law.
What can be more fit to magnify a law of love than a work of infinite love? If we considered this, we would see nothing a greater motive to establish the law. The law of God commands us to love God, and the work of redemption is the greatest motive to love Him. The law of God commands us to glorify Him: the work of redemption shows us the brightest manifestation of His glory.
IV. The work of redemption magnifies the law by the reward of obedience. The law is honoured, not only when obedience is performed, but when obedience is rewarded. Every person thinks himself honoured when he is obeyed, but doubly honoured when obedience to him is rewarded. The honour that was done to Christ is done to the law; and not only all the honour that was done to Jesus Christ, but all the gifts that His people get by being united to Him for the sake of His merits, that is, for the sake of His obedience to the law. This, indeed, may make us admire the wisdom of God, that the honour that is done to the criminal is done to the law; for the sinner that believes in Christ is made righteous through His righteousness, and the law is always honoured by the blessedness of the righteous.
V. The application of the work of Redemption through the Spirit magnifies the law. The law is magnified by everything that puts disgrace upon sin. That which puts disgrace upon sin puts honour upon obedience. We are justified by faith in Christ’s righteousness; and by the Spirit we are enabled to render obedience.
IMPROVEMENTS:—
1. Every one who despises the law despises Christ.
2. God, having magnified His law so wondrously, will have us always stand in awe of it.
3. We should take encouragement to ourselves, if we truly repent of our sins, if we truly see our need of Christ, to hope for mercy, because justice is so gloriously satisfied.
4. We should be adoring the wonderful, immense wisdom of God in the work of redemption, the manifold wisdom of God, the many attributes manifested in it.—John Maclaurin: “Select Works,” pp. 242–271.
Among all the obscurities about the prophetical writings, the simple fact that there is a mysterious prophetic personage is plain and obvious. He is introduced in the beginning of this chapter in a very solemn and impressive manner. Who this is, it may sometimes be found difficult to determine. Jesus is the key to the interpretation. That this chapter belongs to Christ, would seem to admit of very easy proof: just by the Bible interpreting itself (Mat_12:17-21; Mar_1:11; Mar_9:7). This passage is spoken of Christ.
I. A preliminary observation or two.
1. With respect to the “law.” It is a word used in Scripture in two ways.
(1) As a universal thing—the moral law.
(2) As a limited thing—the ceremonial institutions, given to a particular part of mankind, and for a particular time.
2. To “magnify the law and make it honourable” cannot mean that Messiah was to produce any change in it—that what He did was to perfect the law itself; as if the law had any defect about it. The moral law, necessarily resulting from the Divine perfections and government, is incapable of improvement. Christ did not do anything in the way of enlarging the ceremonial law.
3. We cannot suppose that this means, that there was to be any change effected in the conceptions of God about the law—that the work of Christ was intended to affect the Divine mind in relation to it.
4. It must signify the manner in which created minds were to be affected by it. Something was to be done, by which there should be a certain impression with respect to law, produced upon the minds of the intelligent universe—that should, so to speak, give body and substance and visibility to God’s own conceptions about His law.
II. The necessity for this. If sin had never entered into the universe, God’s law would always have been a sublime and grand thing in the estimation of that universe. And if when sin was permitted to enter the universe, the penalties and sanctities of the law had been carried out fully and literally, then law would always have been magnified; it would then have been always a great and glorious thing. But if there is to be the fact, that there are sinners and violators of law, those that on just principle are exposed to the penalty, and yet they are to escape, and to be treated as if they were actually righteous, &c., then law so far seems to go for nothing,—there is danger of a certain effect being produced upon the minds of God’s creatures, injurious to His character, and government, and law. And, therefore, there was a necessity in the nature of things, that this escape from penalty and punishment should not only be agreeable to the principles of law, but that there should be a manifestation of that: that something shall be done, the moral effect of which upon the minds of God’s rational creatures shall be equivalent to the impression which would have been produced by the literal carrying out of the principles of law itself. The work of Christ does this, and this prophetic declaration is realised.
III. The manner and way in which this thing, thus necessary, was done.
1. Christ’s teaching always maintained the authority of the law (Mat_5:17).
2. His personal character magnified and honoured it. He was “made under law,” and obeyed it, and never wished to be free from it (Heb_7:26).
3. But these are but preparatory to that one great act which was the consummation of His work—His propitiatory sacrifice; in which, in a certain sense, He stood forth, as it were, bearing the penalty of the moral law, and in another sense manifesting the substance and casting a light and glory upon the ceremonial. (Heb_2:14-17.) There was a substitution in two senses:
(1) of person—
(2) of suffering—producing an impression upon all moral nature of God’s regard to His own authority, and His determination always to act in harmony with law.
4. His people are redeemed unto obedience (Tit_2:14; Rom_8:3.) Hence, saints love the law—respect it—rejoice in it.
The substitutionary work of Christ expounds those many representations of Scripture, harmonising with the text. The private and personal affections of our nature are not enough as an analogy to the work of God. The case of the king of Babylon and Daniel will illustrate the whole of this subject (Daniel 6. See also, H. E. I. 376, 383, 391).—Thomas Binney: The Pulpit, vol. 40, pp. 234–240.
THE HONOUR WHICH THE GRACE OF THE GOSPEL REFLECTS UPON THE HOLINESS AND AUTHORITY OF THE LAW.
I. It is necessary to have clear views of the characteristics and operations of the two dispensations.
1. The Law of God is simply the revealed will of the Creator. First proclaimed when the first intelligent creature was formed, and it requires from all moral beings unqualified and instant submission. This Law made known to man at his creation, revealed anew at Sinai, renewed and confirmed by Christ. No intelligent creature exempt from it. Disobedience involves condemnation and ruin, arrays God against transgressors. Thus it was with angels who sinned, with Adam, and is with man now. The holiness, faithfulness, authority of this law can never be annulled. It is the law of God, not of Moses.
2. The Gospel is a free offer of actual and finished salvation to man, who is under condemnation of law. It is a remedy for existing, actual evil; restores the transgressor of the Law, not by annulling, but by fulfilling the Law for him; announces a Saviour who has assumed the sinner’s place, and rendered for him the satisfaction and obedience required by Law.
The same Divine Being who gave the Law also gave the Gospel. No inconsistency or change in Him.
II. Consider the direct assertion of the text—that the righteousness of Christ magnifies the Law and makes it honourable. Gospel teaching does not set aside the Law or subvert moral obligations. In preaching justification through grace, we establish, confirm, and honour the Law. For we announce a salvation provided by God, in which He is well pleased; which satisfies every legal demand; makes the sinner secure; and infinitely glorifies the Divine character.
1. The Gospel honours and magnifies the Law by the voluntary obedience of Jesus. The Law is honoured by the obedience of angels, would have been honoured by man’s obedience; but the submission and obedience of Christ magnifies it even more highly.
2. By the voluntary sufferings of Jesus. If all the transgressors of the Law had been punished, the Law would have been honoured. It was more honoured when God Himself consented to bear its penalties. Christ’s sufferings the same in nature as those which unpardoned sinners endure. Those sufferings were a perfect satisfaction to the violated Law (H. E. I. 377–383).
3. By requiring every sinner, as a condition of pardon, to acknowledge his guilt in breaking the Law, and his desert of condemnation under its sentence.
4. In the new obedience rendered by those whose hearts have been renewed.
These the truths which the apostles preached, for which the Reformers died, without which the Gospel cannot triumph over error and sin.—Stephen H. Tyng, D.D.: The Law and the Gospel, pp. 374–390.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v18 The Wrath of God upon Israel
The Wrath of God upon Israel
v. 18. Hear, ye deaf, and look, ye blind, that ye may see, so the prophet now addresses the people of Israel in general, on account of their spiritual callousness, which is rapidly turning into hardness of heart.
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v. 19. Who is blind but My servant? the reference here being to Israel itself, or deaf, as My messenger that I sent? not hearing a word of the message which the Lord entrusted to him to be given to the Gentiles. Who is blind as he that is perfect, one whom the Lord had regarded as His friend, and blind as the Lord’s servant, this very fact making the blindness almost unexplainable and causing the Lord to refer to it so continually. Cf Joh 9:41.
v. 20. Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not. Israel has reached a point where most of its members are unable to understand although they have both eyes and ears open; the many miracles of God’s grace are overlooked or speedily forgotten. All this in spite of the wonderful exhibitions of grace which the Lord gave them time and again.
v. 21. The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will magnify the Law and make it honorable, literally, "It pleased Jehovah for the sake of His righteousness; great lie made His instruction and glorious," revealing Himself in His Word for the sake of His covenant faithfulness; yet they did not understand.
v. 22. But this is a people robbed and spoiled, Israel, in spite of all the Lord’s efforts, lying on the ground helpless; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison-houses, the very ones who were called to the liberty of the children of God; they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. The very people who, as the friend and messenger of Jehovah, should enjoy the most perfect freedom is being held in the most disgraceful captivity. This unnatural condition should surely open their eyes.
v. 23. Who among you will give ear to this? Who will hearken and hear for the time to come? realizing the gravity of the situation properly and being guided by it.
v. 24. Who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the robbers? Was it merely the work of chance? Did not the Lord, He against whom we have sinned? the prophet here identifying himself with the disobedient people of his nation. For they would not walk in His ways, neither were they obedient unto His Law, they were very emphatic in their refusal to be guided by his Word and will.
v. 25. Therefore He hath poured upon him the fury of His anger and the strength of battle, the fury of warfare; and it hath set him, Israel, the Lord’s people, on fire round about; yet he knew not, did not realize even then what the Lord intended them to feel; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart, even the Lord’s punishment did not make them wise. The prophet’s complaint is the same as that which was made by Jesus when He looked upon the city of Jerusalem and wept over it with the exclamation that the matters conducive to her welfare were hidden from her eyes. Luk 19:42.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv18, 20, 22, 23, 25 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues speaking.
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you deaf ... you blind
Here "you" is plural and refers to the people of Israel. Yahweh speaks of their failure to listen to him and obey him as if they are deaf and blind. (See: Forms of You and Metaphor)
Who is blind but my servant? Or deaf like my messenger I send?
Yahweh asks these rhetorical questions to scold his people and to emphasize that no one is as blind or deaf as they are. AT: "No one is as blind as my servant. No one is as deaf as my messenger whom I send." (See: Rhetorical Question)
Who is as blind as my covenant partner, or blind as Yahweh's servant?
Yahweh asks these rhetorical questions to scold his people and to emphasize that no one is as blind or deaf as they are. AT: "No one is as blind as my covenant partner. No one is as blind as Yahweh's servant." (See: Rhetorical Question)
translationWords
servant
messenger
covenant
Yahweh
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv18, 21, 22, 25 42:18-20 The Israelites who refused to listen to what…
42:18-20 The Israelites who refused to listen to what God said and to understand what they saw God doing in history were rendered spiritually blind and deaf (see 6:9-10). They had knowledge of the truth through God’s word and the prophets, but their closed minds refused to act upon it.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.