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Commentary on Isaiah 42 verses 18–25
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.
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.
(Verse 18, 19 onwards) The deaf, hear! And the blind, look to see. Who is blind, if not my servant? And who is deaf, if not the one to whom I send my messengers? Who is blind, if not the one who has been sold? And who is blind, if not the servant of the Lord? You who see many things, will you not observe? You who have open ears, will you not hear? And the Lord desired to sanctify him, and to magnify the law, and to exalt it. But the people are plundered and devastated: all the youth are trapped in snares, and hidden in prison houses. They have become a prey, and there is no one to deliver them; a spoil, and no one says, 'Restore them.' Who among you hears this, pays attention, and listens to the future? Who has given Jacob over to plunder, and Israel to the plunderers? Is it not the Lord himself, whom we have sinned against? And they have refused to walk in his ways and have not listened to his law. So he poured out his wrath on them, and the fierceness of battle: and he set them on fire all around, but they did not understand; and he burned them, but they did not comprehend. LXX: Hear, you deaf! Look, you blind, that you may see. Who is blind, but my children? And deaf, but those who rule over them? Who is blind (According to the Complutensian edition of the Septuagint) but he who receives: and the servants of God were made blind. You have seen many things, but you have not observed them: your ears are open, but you do not hear. The Lord God was pleased for the sake of his justice, that he might magnify his law. And I saw, and behold a people is destroyed and taken captive. For there was a snare in the hidden places, and a net over their houses. They have become a prey: and there was no one to deliver the spoil: and there was no one to say, Restore. Who is among you that will hear this, and will consider the future? Who hath given Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to robbers? hath not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? and they would not walk in his ways, neither would they hearken to his law. And he hath poured out upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not, and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart. Lest anyone think that what is said, 'Hear, you deaf; look, you blind,' applies to the Gentile people, who were previously deaf and blind (as the Jews foolishly claim to approve by interpretation), the prophetic speech itself shows that the deaf and blind should be understood. 'Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one in covenant with me, blind like Israel?' Who is blind, but the one who was previously a servant of the Lord? To whom it is said: O Israel, who sees many things, and has many prophets through whom you may know the commandments of God, will you not keep the precepts that have been given to you? You who have open ears, will you not hear what is being said, of which we also read above: You will hear with your ears, and will not understand; and seeing you will see, and will not perceive: for the heart of this people has grown dull (Isa. VI, 9). The Lord, he said, wanted to sanctify him, and magnify his Law, and lift up and comfort his suffering people. But he did not want to do God's will: and therefore he was plundered and devastated by his adversaries, whom we should understand as either demons or enemies. The snares of young men, and those hidden in the houses of prisons. Or as the LXX translated, snares in every hiding place, and in the houses where they concealed them: signifying the scribes and the Pharisees, who deceived the miserable people, and everywhere set traps against the Lord Savior and his Apostles (Luke 11): having the key of knowledge, neither entering in themselves, nor allowing others who wanted to enter. Their beautiful hearts in which they lived were called prisons of evil thoughts. Therefore, they became a prey and a plunder: and there was no one to deliver them, and to speak for them. At the same time, the Prophet encourages them, so that if everyone cannot hear, at least a few would know and understand what they have endured. And they would recognize the reasons for their desolation, who neither wanted to hear nor to do what was commanded by the Law. Therefore the Lord poured out upon them all his wrath and the fury of his anger; uttering also against them exceeding hard words, behold how he incenses them with the Roman Empire he newly built. He burns them completely and leaves nothing healthy in them, yet they do not understand the reason for their punishment, that they have not received the Son of God.
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SUMMARY
Isaiah 42:23 presents a profound rhetorical question from God, challenging the spiritually unresponsive nation of Israel to genuinely heed His divine warnings and instruction. It serves as an urgent, exasperated divine plea for attentiveness and understanding, urging them to consider the long-term implications of their spiritual apathy and to learn from both past failures and present prophetic declarations, particularly concerning the unfolding of God's redemptive plan and impending judgment for the future.
CONTEXT
Literary Context: This verse is strategically positioned within the "Book of Comfort" (Isaiah 40-55), a section primarily focused on God's future deliverance of Israel from Babylonian exile and the promise of glorious restoration. Chapter 42 opens with the first of the "Servant Songs," introducing the Lord's chosen Servant who will bring justice to the nations (Isaiah 42:1-4). However, a stark contrast immediately follows this hopeful vision: the prophet abruptly shifts to lament Israel's profound spiritual blindness and deafness (Isaiah 42:18-20). Despite being the recipient of divine revelation and a witness to God's mighty acts, Israel has become unresponsive, leading to their current state of being plundered and trapped (Isaiah 42:22). Verse 23, then, functions as a direct, almost exasperated call from God, asking who among them will finally awaken to their spiritual reality and the weighty consequences "for the time to come." It highlights the tragic irony of God's chosen people failing to hear His voice.
Historical & Cultural Context: Isaiah prophesied during a tumultuous era in Judah's history (c. 740-681 BC), spanning the reigns of several kings. While chapters 40-55 often speak to the later Babylonian exile, the prophet, divinely inspired, addresses both his contemporary audience and future generations. The cultural context is deeply rooted in the covenant relationship between Yahweh and Israel, where obedience to God's voice was paramount, as articulated in the Mosaic Law (e.g., Deuteronomy 28). The people's failure to "give ear" and "hearken" was not merely passive ignorance but an active rejection of their covenant responsibilities, leading to the judgments described, such as being plundered and scattered by foreign powers. The rhetorical question in Isaiah 42:23 underscores the deep-seated spiritual malaise that had afflicted the nation for generations, despite repeated prophetic warnings and God's unwavering faithfulness.
Key Themes: Isaiah 42:23 contributes significantly to several overarching themes within the book of Isaiah. It powerfully highlights the theme of Spiritual Blindness and Deafness, contrasting Israel's chronic unresponsiveness with the Servant's perfect obedience and insight. Despite being God's chosen people and having access to divine truth, they are depicted as spiritually incapacitated, unable to perceive God's ways or hear His voice (e.g., Isaiah 6:9-10). This verse also underscores the fundamental biblical theme of the Call to Hear and Obey, echoing the foundational Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4). The repeated verbs for listening are not just about physical hearing but about active, obedient reception of God's word, which demands a response. Furthermore, the phrase "for the time to come" introduces the critical theme of Foresight and Future Consequences, urging the audience to consider the long-term ramifications of their present choices and to learn from the lessons of history and prophecy. Finally, the very act of God posing this question, despite their persistent unresponsiveness, demonstrates His Divine Patience and Persistent Warning, revealing His enduring desire for His people to repent and turn back to Him before further judgment.
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Isaiah 42:23 employs several potent literary devices to convey its urgent message. The most prominent is Rhetorical Question, which serves not to elicit a direct answer but to provoke deep introspection and challenge the audience's spiritual apathy. By asking "Who among you...?" God forces the listener to confront their own unresponsiveness, creating a powerful moment of self-assessment. The verse also utilizes Repetition and Synonymy with the cluster of verbs related to hearing ("give ear," "hearken," "hear"). This emphatic reiteration underscores the profound importance and multifaceted nature of truly receiving and responding to God's message, moving beyond mere physical perception to intelligent comprehension and obedient action. Furthermore, there is a strong element of Irony present, as God's chosen people, who were meant to be His witnesses and a light to the nations, are depicted as spiritually blind and deaf, needing to be called to listen to the very truths they should embody and proclaim.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Isaiah 42:23 is a profound theological statement on the pervasive human condition of spiritual deafness and God's persistent, compassionate call for responsive faith. It highlights the divine expectation that revelation should lead to recognition, understanding, and obedience, not indifference or apathy. The phrase "for the time to come" speaks powerfully to God's sovereign plan unfolding through history, where human choices of attentiveness or neglect have profound and often eternal ramifications. The verse underscores that true hearing involves not just intellectual assent or passive reception but a transformative engagement with God's word that impacts one's present actions and future destiny. It is a timeless reminder that while God consistently speaks, humanity bears the weighty responsibility to listen, understand, and respond in obedient faith.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Isaiah 42:23 serves as a timeless mirror, reflecting our own spiritual attentiveness and responsiveness to God's voice in a world saturated with noise, distractions, and competing narratives. It challenges us to move beyond superficial listening to a deep, transformative engagement with divine truth. Are we truly "giving ear" to the Holy Spirit's promptings, the wisdom of Scripture, the counsel of godly community, and the lessons embedded in our own experiences? Or are we, like ancient Israel, prone to spiritual deafness, allowing apathy, busyness, or self-sufficiency to dull our spiritual senses and harden our hearts? The call to "hearken and hear for the time to come" urges us to cultivate a posture of spiritual foresight, recognizing that our present choices of obedience or disobedience have profound implications for our future, both temporal and eternal. It compels us to learn from the past, heed present warnings, and proactively align our lives with God's will, ensuring we are not caught unprepared for what lies ahead in His unfolding plan.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does "for the time to come" mean in this verse?
Answer: The phrase "for the time to come" (Hebrew: ʼâchôwr) refers to the future or what lies ahead. In the context of Isaiah 42:23, it emphasizes the long-term implications and consequences of Israel's spiritual responsiveness (or lack thereof). God is urging them to consider that their present choices and their willingness to "give ear" and "hearken" will directly impact their future, including the unfolding of God's redemptive plan, their restoration, or continued judgment. It's a profound call to learn from history and prophetic warnings to shape a better future, both for the nation and for individuals within it.
Why does God use so many different words for "hear" in this one verse?
Answer: The repetition of verbs for listening—"give ear" (ʼâzan), "hearken" (qâshab), and "hear" (shâmaʻ)—is a powerful literary and theological device known as synonymy or intensification. It underscores the profound importance and multifaceted nature of true hearing. It's not merely about physically perceiving sound; it's about active, intentional attention (ʼâzan), careful and focused consideration (qâshab), and ultimately, intelligent comprehension leading to obedience (shâmaʻ). This triple emphasis highlights God's earnest desire for His people to move beyond passive hearing to a deep, transformative engagement with His divine truth, which includes both understanding and responding in faith. It stresses that God's call demands a comprehensive and obedient reception.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Isaiah 42:23, with its lament over Israel's spiritual deafness and unresponsiveness, finds its ultimate Christ-centered fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus, the perfect Servant of the Lord. While Israel failed to "give ear" and "hearken" to God's voice, Jesus perfectly embodied responsive obedience, always attuned to the Father's will. He consistently declared, "I do nothing on my own but only what I see the Father doing" (John 5:19), and "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work" (John 4:34). Furthermore, Jesus himself became the ultimate "Word made flesh" (John 1:14), the very message that humanity is called to hear and obey. His parables often concluded with the solemn admonition, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear" (Matthew 13:9), directly addressing the spiritual blindness and deafness that Isaiah lamented. Through His atoning sacrifice, Jesus opens the ears and eyes of those who were spiritually unresponsive, enabling them to "hearken and hear for the time to come"—that is, to grasp the profound implications of God's redemptive plan for their eternal future. His resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit empower believers to truly hear and obey, transforming the heart of stone into a heart of flesh, fulfilling the new covenant promise of God's law written on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). He is the one who enables us to hear and live.