Isaiah The blind servant remained sightless.
The blind servant in this passage points directly to the descendants of Jacob. They failed in the mission God gave them.
Here in the second half of chapter forty-two, the prophet looks at the pitiful choices of the blind servant of the Lord. In chapter forty-one, we saw that God choose Jacob over his twin brother Esau. And not only his brother, but God choose Jacob rather than anyone else in the human race. God’s reason for choosing him had eternal purposes, not limited to a single lifetime. Jacob was the servant God chose to lead the nation of Israel and represent God’s righteous standards. They were supposed to be a light to the world, a city set upon a hill to lead the blind out of the darkness and into the light.
But that didn’t happen. The chosen servant, Jacob, chose to live among the blind rather than be the one to lead the blind into the light.
It reads like a dark tragedy, pun intended.
In the first part of this chapter, we see a new servant chosen to replace the one who refused his role in God’s plan. And of course, we know that a better servant was Jesus. He would not fail where Jacob did.
Isaiah 42:14 The Lord waited patiently for his blind servant.
“I have kept silent for a long time, I have kept still and restrained Myself. Now like a woman in labor I will groan, I will both gasp and pant.”
The phrase, “I have kept silent for a long time,” linguistically refers to an eternity of waiting. This reminds us that God’s plans were in place before the foundations of the world were established. But from a human perspective, the time was much shorter. The Lord chastised his people and waited until the appointed time in which he would act. He continued to show mercy, and there is always a purpose in the Lord’s patience. He held back, so to speak, refraining himself from implementing holy justice. But at the appropriate time, he acted.
The writer, Isaiah, uses a familiar image, that of a woman ready to give birth. After a long time of waiting for new birth, the pain of waiting intensifies. Then the woman can no longer hold off from expressing her natural feelings. So much time had passed since the original call of Abraham. Now, the family of Jacob had fallen short of God’s vision of a humble servant.
So then, plan ‘B’ is put in place. But remember, plan ‘B’ was the original plan all along. Mankind must learn that they are incapable of righteousness. Only God is capable of that, so he sent His Only Son, as a better servant.
Isaiah 42:15 But in the end, the blind servant would be destroyed.
“I will lay waste the mountains and hills And wither all their vegetation, I will make the rivers into coastlands And dry up the ponds.”
The Lord says through the prophet that he will make waste the mountains and hills. Is this an extreme exaggeration? Can we take God at his word when we read such claims? I say yes, but usually, the extreme version of the prophecy is often a long time in development. The wasting of the mountains and hills likely projects to the final days and ultimately when a new heaven and earth are created. In the end, God will bring destruction upon those who led the rebellion against him. The earth will be renewed. See Isaiah 2.
The biblical critics who see this kind of language and insist that it’s all just poetic expression, don’t take the big picture into account. All of the prophecies point to the eventual end. The destruction of Babylon or Assyria during the days of the prophets pointed to the final end of days scenarios.
Isaiah 42:16 The descendants of the blind servant refuse to see
“I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, In paths, they do not know I will guide them. I will make darkness into light before them And rugged places into plains. These are the things I will do, And I will not leave them undone.”
“The blind” in this verse is a reference to unfaithful Israel. The Patriarch, father Jacob, was supposed to lead the world in discovering the light. Instead, they became dull of sight and hearing. They were unable to guide themselves to the light, never mind anyone else. Long before the days of Isaiah, God promised to send Israel into captivity if they refused to follow God’s laws. And now those days were near. But he would bring them out again, but in ways that were unknown to them. Isaiah is pointing the Jewish people to a bleak future. But that bleakness will turn from darkness to light. In the short term, seven hundred-plus years, Jesus would come. And in the more distant future, all of Israel would be saved. See what the Apostle Paul said about this. The Lord, through Isaiah’s writing, makes a bold claim.
I will not leave them undone.
In this phrase, he looks to the end of the story when Israel is restored after they recognize Jesus as their Messiah.
Isaiah 42:17 The blind servant sees gods where there are none
“They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame, Who trust in idols, Who say to molten images, “You are our gods.”
But before the great awakening of the Jewish people, they shall be turned back. This turning back is the captivity in Babylon, and then the dispersion into the Gentile nations. One of the reasons given here is the fact that they turned to foolish idols. That idol worship was a result of the influence of surrounding nations. Instead of having a greater impact on the nations, the nations had an impact on them.
Isaiah 42:18 The blind servant rejected the Light
“Hear, you deaf! And look, you blind, that you may see.”
The Lord mocks their failed senses. And those failures were a result of their own deeds. The Lord says this as he mocks them,
‘I know you can’t see, but see this.’ And, ‘I know you can’t hear, but listen to this.’
They brought the foolishness upon themselves. We all tend to do the same as we journey through life. God pleads with us to be wiser but human nature is what it is.
Isaiah 42:19 God’s chosen servant is blind and deaf
“Who is blind but My servant, Or so deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is so blind as he that is at peace with Me, Or so blind as the servant of the LORD?”
Once again in this verse, God references his failed servant, not Jesus. The deafness and blindness point to their spiritual condition. Wisdom and insight generally enter the individual’s intellect through the eyes and ears. But the Jewish people weren’t supposed to be worldly-wise. They were supposed to be spiritual giants who led the world to God. And to this day, they remain deaf and blind.
This is one of several reasons why it’s unwise to look to Jewish rabbis for insight into spiritual things. And yet, there are so many Christians who look to respected rabbis for spiritual guidance. They are deaf and blind, don’t choose them as guides.
Isaiah 42:20 The blind can’t see what is right in front of them.
“You have seen many things, but you do not observe them; Your ears are open, but none hears.”
The truth is right in front of them and they can’t see it for what it is. One of their most revered prophets predicted the arrival of the Messiah. Daniel, inspired by angelic visits, set his famous timeline. The Jewish people should have known his arrival was imminent. But instead, only Babylonian Magi were ready for his arrival.
Because the prophets saw visions, the Jewish people saw many things. But the visions didn’t help them. They looked and listened for visions of heaven but weren’t aware of their dulled senses.
See corresponding verses in Isaiah one and fourteen.
Isaiah 42:21 The Lord made His Law great.
“The LORD was pleased for His righteousness’ sake To make the law great and glorious.”
It doesn’t matter that the Jews rejected God’s Law or their Messiah. The Lord is pleased with how his plan ‘B’ is coming together. From the time that Eve grabbed that forbidden fruit until now, God’s plan remains on track. No surprises on God’s end. His way to claim righteousness through his Son has always been the plan. The time before the flood of Noah and then after has been an epic struggle. Mankind has struggled to break free of God’s laws. The Lord has pleaded with humanity to see the wisdom of his ways.
God’s law existed before the time of Moses. But not the extensive list of do’s and don’t’s on the mountain in the desert. It started with a tree in the garden. Don’t eat the fruit or you will die. We now live in an age of grace. Accept Christ and live — or die.
There is one path to eternal life. God’s path.
Isaiah 42:22 But his people turned their backs on the Law
“But this is a people plundered and despoiled; All of them are trapped in caves, Or are hidden away in prisons; They have become a prey with none to deliver them, And a spoil, with none to say, “Give them back!”
The Assyrians were the dominant and aggressive militaristic nation during Isaiah’s writing. They sacked, pillaged, and captured the ten northern tribes. The primary message of the prophet was to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. They should have listened to his stern warnings, but they didn’t.
It all could have been avoided. That’s the same story for so many of us. We could avoid our troubles with a little discretion. See similar verses in Psalm 119:85 and 2 Kings 25:27.
Isaiah 42:23 Will any see and learn?
“Who among you will give ear to this? Who will give heed and listen hereafter?”
This resembles a common refrain in the scriptures. God calls to anyone who would step out of the masses and listen to him. Will any of you turn an ear to God’s Word? Surely there must be some who are not so dull. As he did with Adam and all those who came after, God pleads that we take advantage of the prophet’s warning. To repent of our wayward path is a humbling thing. It’s our own pride that prevents us from turning.
The Jewish people and their history provide all of us with the perfect example to learn from. But even though history is a great teacher, there are few who actually learn from it. All God wanted was for them to learn and others to learn from their poor choices. But the sad story repeats itself.
Isaiah 42:24 The Lord allowed the ruin of Israel
“Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to plunderers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned, And in whose ways they were not willing to walk, And whose law they did not obey?”
And as always, God is in the middle of the story. The Lord claims the responsibility for sending the Jews into captivity. He warned them and he followed up on his promise. They sinned against Him. The descendants of Jacob had an outward appearance of religion. They had elaborate ceremonies. But their hearts were cold, their eyes were blind, and their ears deaf.
The prophet pounded them with reasons to change in Isaiah 40, Isaiah 41, and Isaiah 43:1, but nothing changed.
Just as the prophet Daniel did, Isaiah considered himself as part of the rebelling people. That’s humility. See Daniel 9:5-15 and also Ezra 9:6-15.
Isaiah 42:25 The fire of judgment came to the blind servant — Jacob
“So He poured out on him the heat of His anger And the fierceness of battle, And it set him aflame all around, Yet he did not recognize it, And it burned him, but he paid no attention.”
Oh, the irony of God’s judgment. With all the warnings over hundreds of years, the Jewish people still didn’t connect themselves to the problem. In fact, the prophet said they didn’t recognize the problem or even pay any attention to it.
The Assyrians came in and captured the ten tribes.
Then the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem, ravaged the temple and the priestly treasures, and took the people to Babylon.
And after rejecting Jesus, the Romans finished the promises referred to in this prophecy. But it’s not over. Their renewal is still in the future. Stay tuned because the real excitement is about to take place.
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