“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?”
My Notes
What Does Isaiah 42:19 Mean?
"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?" God asks the most ironic question in Isaiah: who is more blind than the person I sent to see? Who is more deaf than the messenger I commissioned to hear? Israel — God's chosen servant, his perfect one (meshullam — the one in covenant, the peaceable one), his sent messenger — is the blindest and deafest entity on earth.
The irony is crushing: the nation with the most light can't see. The people with the most revelation can't hear. Their blindness isn't because they lack information. It's because they have the most information of any nation on earth and still can't perceive what it means.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Where has your spiritual privilege (knowledge, access, history) produced blindness rather than sight?
- 2.How can someone be both God's 'sent messenger' and the deafest person in the room?
- 3.What truth is right in front of you that you can't see because familiarity has blinded you?
- 4.How does God's ironic question challenge the assumption that more revelation automatically produces more perception?
Devotional
Who is more blind than my servant? God asks it as a question, but it's an accusation. The person I chose to see on my behalf — they're the blindest. The messenger I sent to listen — they're the deafest. The people with the most light are the most in the dark.
The irony could kill you. Israel has the Torah. The prophets. The covenants. The history of divine intervention. The Red Sea, Sinai, the wilderness miracles, the conquest, the temple. More revelation than any other nation in history. And they're blind. Not despite the revelation. Somehow because of it — or at least coexisting with it in a way that makes no sense.
Who is blind as he that is perfect? The word 'perfect' (meshullam) means the one in covenant relationship, the peaceful one, the one made whole by God's promise. The person who should see most clearly because of their proximity to God — that person is the blindest. Access to truth doesn't guarantee perception of truth. You can sit in the front row of divine revelation and see nothing.
This is the danger of spiritual privilege: it can produce blindness rather than sight. The person who's been in church the longest can be the most blind to what God is actually doing. The theologian with the most knowledge can miss the simplest truth. The nation with the most Bible can have the least understanding.
God's question should haunt everyone with spiritual advantages: am I the blind servant? Am I the deaf messenger? Have I been sent to see and see nothing? Commissioned to hear and hear nothing? The blindness of the outsider is understandable. The blindness of the sent servant is inexcusable — and tragic.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Seeing many things, but thou observest not,.... The Scribes and Pharisees, saw Christ in the flesh; they saw the…
Who is blind, but my servant? - Some of the Jewish expositors suppose that by ‘servant’ here, the prophet himself is…
The prophet, having spoken by way of comfort and encouragement to the believing Jews who waited for the consolation of…
Israel is the blind and deaf nation par excellence, because no other nation has been so tested by the opportunity of…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture