Isaiah 42:19

Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD's servant? WHO IS BLIND, BUT MY SERVANT? - namely, Israel. Who of the pagan is so blind? Considering Israel's high privileges, the pagan's blindness was as nothing compared with that of Israelite idolaters. OR DEAF, AS MY MESSENGER (THAT) I SENT? Israel was designed by God to be the herald of His truth to other nations. WHO (IS) BLIND AS (HE THAT IS) PERFECT? - furnished with institutions, civil and religious, suited to their perfect well-being. Compare the title, 'Jeshurun,' the perfect one, applied to Israel (cf. Isaiah 44:2), as the type of Messiah (Vitringa). Or translate [ mªshulaam (H4918)]...

19._Who is blind but my servant? _There are some who interpret this verse as if the Prophet were describing the reproaches which wicked men are accustomed to throw out against the prophets; for they retort on the Lord’s servants those reproofs and accusations which they cannot endure. “Whom dost thou accuse of blindness? Whom dost thou call deaf? Take that to thyself. Who is blind but thou?” They think, therefore, that it is as if the Lord expostulated with the Jews in this manner; “I see that you reckon my prophets to be blind and deaf.” But we shall immediately see that this interpretation does not agree with the context, for the Prophet afterwards explains (verse 20) why he calls them “blind.” It is because, while they see many things, they pay no attention to them. Indeed, this does not at all apply to the prophets, and therefore let us follow the plain and natural meaning. Isaiah ha...

18-25 Observe the call given to this people, and the character given of them. Multitudes are ruined for want of observing that which they cannot but see; they perish, not through ignorance, but carelessness. The Lord is well-pleased in the making known his own righteousness. For their sins they were spoiled of all their possessions. This fully came to pass in the destruction of the Jewish nation. There is no resisting, nor escaping God's anger. See the mischief sin makes; it provokes God to anger. And those not humbled by lesser judgments, must expect greater. Alas! how many professed Christians are blind as the benighted heathen! While the Lord is well-pleased in saving sinners through the righteousness of Christ he will also glorify his justice, by punishing all proud despisers. Seeing God has poured out his wrath on his once-favoured people, because of their sins, let us fear, lest a...

Verse Isaiah 42:19. _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"] Isaiah 44:2. _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

WHO IS BLIND, BUT MY SERVANT? - Some of the Jewish expositors suppose that by ‘servant’ here, the prophet himself is intended, who, they suppose is here called blind and deaf by the impious Jews who rejected his message. But it is evident, that by ‘servant’ here, the Jewish people themselves are intended, the singular being used for the plural, in a sense similar to that where they are so often called ‘Jacob’ and ‘Israel.’ The phrase ‘servants of God’ is often given to his people, and is used to denote true worshippers. The word is used here to denote those who professed to be the true worshippers of Yahweh. The prophet had, in the previous verses, spoken of the blindness and stupidity of the Gentile world. He here turns to his own countrymen, and addresses them as more blind, and deaf, and stupid than they. ‘Who,’ he asks, ‘is as blind as they are?’ Where are any of the pagan nations so...

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 42:1 ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE SERVANT OF THE LORD, AND THE WORK WHICH HE WILL PERFORM. There are comparatively few who deny that, in this place at any rate, the "Servant of the Lord" is the Messiah. (So the Targum on the passage; so Abar-barnel; so, among moderns, Oehler, Delitzsch, and Mr. Cheyne.) The portraiture has "so strong an individuality and such marked personal features, that it cannot possibly be a mere personified collective;" and it goes so "infinitely _beyond _anything of which a man was ever capable that it can only be the future Christ" (Delitzsch). It may be added that St. Matthew ...

WHO 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, Matth

CHAPTER 42 The True Servant of Jehovah 1. _The Servant of Jehovah and His mission (Isaiah 42:1)_ 2. _His future work among the nations (Isaiah 42:5)_ 3. _The future song of redemption glory (Isaiah 42:10)_ 4. _Jehovah's manifestation in power (Isaiah 42:14)_ 5. _The address of exhortation to the deaf and blind nation (Isaiah 42:18) _ Matthew's Gospel (Matthew 12:20) tells us that this servant is the Lord Jesus Christ. Mark t

ISRAEL'S PITEOUS PLIGHT, A PUNISHMENT FROM YAHWEH. The prophet bids the people, who have not recognised Yahweh's working in their distresses, look beneath the surface. To all appearance they are captives whom none can deliver. Will none of them see that Yahweh Himself is the author of their misfortune? He has chastised them, though they have not understood the discipline. ISAIAH 42:19. A gloss, identifying the blind and deaf of Isaiah 42:18; a second gloss (Isaiah 42:19_ b_) has been added. Both take Yahweh's Servant to be Israel. AT PEACE WITH ME: difficult; perhaps read, my devoted one. Isaiah 42:21

MY SERVANT. This is Israel. See the Structures above; and see note on Isaiah 37:35. Not the same "servant" as in Isaiah 42:1. PERFECT. an intimate friend or trusted one. Hebrew. _me'shullam_ (plural of _shalam),_ to be at peace with. Compare 2 Samuel 20:19; Job 22:21.Psalms 7:4. It is from this word we have _Mussulman_ and _Moslem._ Israel, in the presence of the foe, was, in Jehovah's sight, thus perfect. See Numbers 23:21....