What is the context?
The servant language now becomes a rebuke. The Lord calls the deaf to hear and the blind to look, then asks who is as unresponsive as His own servant and messenger. This servant has seen many things but does not keep watch, and has open ears without receiving the message.
That failure contrasts with the faithful Servant introduced at the beginning of the chapter. It also contrasts with the Lord’s purpose to magnify His law. The people who should receive and bear His instruction are instead plundered, trapped and imprisoned.
The closing questions identify the cause: Jacob and Israel have been handed over by the Lord against whom they sinned. They would not walk in His ways or obey His law. Even when judgment surrounded them like fire, they failed to take it to heart.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Wesley and Gill distinguish this rebuked servant from the faithful Messiah. They connect the blindness with the people and teachers who have received opportunities to hear but resist the message.
Wesley explains the honor of the law through God’s faithfulness and His refusal to treat its violation lightly. Gill discusses that reading and also connects the law’s honor with Christ’s obedience and righteousness.
Henry applies the warning to professing Christians as well: having access to God’s truth is not the same as receiving it. The passage exposes unresponsiveness in a people called to serve, rather than making physical blindness or deafness a measure of a person’s guilt.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.