Reference: Blindness
American
This distressing malady is very prevalent in the East. Many physical causes in those countries unite to injure the organs of vision. The sun is hot, and in the atmosphere floats a very fine dust, which enters and frets the eye. The armies of France and England, which were so long in Egypt during the French was, suffered severely from ophthalmic disease. In the cities of Egypt, blindness is perpetuated as a contagious disease by the filthy habits of the natives. It is of frequent occurrence also on the coast of Syria. In ancient times the eyes of person hated or feared were often torn out, Jg 16:21; 1Sa 11:2; 2Ki 25:7. Blindness was sometimes inflicted as a punishment, Ge 19:11; Ac 13:6; and it was often threatened as a penalty, De 28:28. The Jews were enjoined by the humane laws of Moses to show all kindness and consideration to the blind, Le 19:14; De 27:18. No one affected with this infirmity could officiate as priest, /#Le 21:18.
Our Savior miraculously cured many cases of blindness, both that which was caused by disease and that which had existed from birth. In these cases there was a double miracle; for not only was the organ of sight restored, but also the faculty of using it which is usually gained only by long experience, Mr 8:22-25. The touching of the eyes of the blind, and anointing them with clay, Mt 9:29; Joh 9:6, can not have had any medicinal or healing effect. The healing was miraculous, by the power of God.
Blindness is often used for ignorance and error, especially our sinful want of discernment as to spiritual things, Mt 15:14; 2Co 4:4. The abuse of God's mercy increases this blindness, Joh 12:40. Blessed are the eyes that fix their adoring gaze first of all on the Redeemer.
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and the men who are at the opening of the house they have smitten with blindness, from small even unto great, and they weary themselves to find the opening.
Thou dost not revile the deaf; and before the blind thou dost not put a stumbling block; and thou hast been afraid of thy God; I am Jehovah.
for no man in whom is blemish doth draw near -- a man blind, or lame or dwarfed, or enlarged,
Cursed is he who is causing the blind to err in the way, -- and all the people have said, Amen.
'Jehovah doth smite thee with madness, and with blindness, and with astonishment of heart;
And the Philistines seize him, and pick out his eyes, and bring him down to Gaza, and bind him with two brazen fetters; and he is grinding in the prison-house.
Then touched he their eyes, saying, 'According to your faith let it be to you,'
let them alone, guides they are -- blind of blind; and if blind may guide blind, both into a ditch shall fall.'
And he cometh to Bethsaida, and they bring to him one blind, and call upon him that he may touch him, and having taken the hand of the blind man, he led him forth without the village, and having spit on his eyes, having put his hands on him, he was questioning him if he doth behold anything: read more. and he, having looked up, said, 'I behold men, as I see trees, walking.' Afterwards again he put his hands on his eyes, and made him look up, and he was restored, and discerned all things clearly,
These things saying, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and rubbed the clay on the eyes of the blind man, and said to him,
'He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they might not see with the eyes, and understand with the heart, and turn back, and I might heal them;'
and having gone through the island unto Paphos, they found a certain magian, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name is Bar-Jesus;
that I may manifest it, as it behoveth me to speak;
Fausets
Its cure is one of our Lord's most frequent miracles (Lu 7:21; Mt 9:27; Mr 8:23; Joh 5:3; 9:1), as had been foretold (Isa 29:18; 35:5). In coincidence with this is the commonness of it in the E. In Ludd (Lydda) the saying is, every one is either blind or has but one eye. Jaffa has 500 blind out of 5,000 of a population. The dust and sand pulverized by the intense heat, the constant glare, and in the sandy districts the absence of the refreshing "green grass," (the presence of which Mark notices as noteworthy in the miracle of the feeding the multitudes,) the cold sea air on the coasts, the night dews affecting those sleeping on the roofs, all tend to produce blindness.
It is a constant image used of spiritual darkness, and Jesus' restoration of sight to the blind pointed to the analogous spiritual bestowal of sight on the soul. Paul, who had passed through both the physical and the spiritual transition from darkness to light (Ac 9:8-9), instinctively, by an obviously undesigned coincidence confirming authenticity, often uses the expressive image (Ac 26:18; 2Co 4:4; Eph 1:18; 4:18; Col 1:13). Elymas was smitten with blindness at Paul's word (Ac 13:11, compare Ge 19:11; 2Ki 6:18). The blind were to be treated kindly (Le 19:14; De 27:18). The pagan conquerors sometimes blinded captives (2Ki 25:7; 1Sa 11:2).
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and the men who are at the opening of the house they have smitten with blindness, from small even unto great, and they weary themselves to find the opening.
and the men who are at the opening of the house they have smitten with blindness, from small even unto great, and they weary themselves to find the opening.
Thou dost not revile the deaf; and before the blind thou dost not put a stumbling block; and thou hast been afraid of thy God; I am Jehovah.
Thou dost not revile the deaf; and before the blind thou dost not put a stumbling block; and thou hast been afraid of thy God; I am Jehovah.
Cursed is he who is causing the blind to err in the way, -- and all the people have said, Amen.
Cursed is he who is causing the blind to err in the way, -- and all the people have said, Amen.
And the sons of Zedekiah they have slaughtered before his eyes, and the eyes of Zedekiah he hath blinded, and bindeth him with brazen fetters, and they bring him to Babylon.
And the sons of Zedekiah they have slaughtered before his eyes, and the eyes of Zedekiah he hath blinded, and bindeth him with brazen fetters, and they bring him to Babylon.
And heard in that day have the deaf the words of a book, And out of thick darkness, and out of darkness, The eyes of the blind do see.
And heard in that day have the deaf the words of a book, And out of thick darkness, and out of darkness, The eyes of the blind do see.
Then opened are eyes of the blind, And ears of the deaf are unstopped,
Then opened are eyes of the blind, And ears of the deaf are unstopped,
And Jesus passing on thence, two blind men followed him, calling and saying, 'Deal kindly with us, Son of David.'
And Jesus passing on thence, two blind men followed him, calling and saying, 'Deal kindly with us, Son of David.'
and having taken the hand of the blind man, he led him forth without the village, and having spit on his eyes, having put his hands on him, he was questioning him if he doth behold anything:
and having taken the hand of the blind man, he led him forth without the village, and having spit on his eyes, having put his hands on him, he was questioning him if he doth behold anything:
And in that hour he cured many from sicknesses, and plagues, and evil spirits, and to many blind he granted sight.
And in that hour he cured many from sicknesses, and plagues, and evil spirits, and to many blind he granted sight.
in these were lying a great multitude of the ailing, blind, lame, withered, waiting for the moving of the water,
in these were lying a great multitude of the ailing, blind, lame, withered, waiting for the moving of the water,
And passing by, he saw a man blind from birth,
And passing by, he saw a man blind from birth,
and Saul arose from the earth, and his eyes having been opened, he beheld no one, and leading him by the hand they brought him to Damascus,
and Saul arose from the earth, and his eyes having been opened, he beheld no one, and leading him by the hand they brought him to Damascus, and he was three days without seeing, and he did neither eat nor drink.
and he was three days without seeing, and he did neither eat nor drink.
and now, lo, a hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season;' and presently there fell upon him a mist and darkness, and he, going about, was seeking some to lead him by the hand;
and now, lo, a hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season;' and presently there fell upon him a mist and darkness, and he, going about, was seeking some to lead him by the hand;
to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the authority of the Adversary unto God, for their receiving forgiveness of sins, and a lot among those having been sanctified, by faith that is toward me.
to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the authority of the Adversary unto God, for their receiving forgiveness of sins, and a lot among those having been sanctified, by faith that is toward me.
the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, for your knowing what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, for your knowing what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
being darkened in the understanding, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart,
being darkened in the understanding, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart,
who did rescue us out of the authority of the darkness, and did translate us into the reign of the Son of His love,
who did rescue us out of the authority of the darkness, and did translate us into the reign of the Son of His love,
that I may manifest it, as it behoveth me to speak;
that I may manifest it, as it behoveth me to speak;
Hastings
Morish
Used metaphorically to describe the state of man by nature under the influence of Satan, 2Co 4:4; also a professing Christian who hates his brother, 1Jo 2:11; also the state of Israel in their heartless profession, Mt 23:16-26; and the judicial blindness on Israel. Joh 12:40. In Ro 11:7,25; 2Co 3:14; Eph 4:18, it is rather 'obdurateness or hardness,' from ?????,'to harden.'
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Woe to you, blind guides, who are saying, Whoever may swear by the sanctuary, it is nothing, but whoever may swear by the gold of the sanctuary -- is debtor! Fools and blind! for which is greater, the gold, or the sanctuary that is sanctifying the gold? read more. And, whoever may swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever may swear by the gift that is upon it -- is debtor! Fools and blind! for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that is sanctifying the gift? 'He therefore who did swear by the altar, doth swear by it, and by all things on it; and he who did swear by the sanctuary, doth swear by it, and by Him who is dwelling in it; and he who did swear by the heaven, doth swear by the throne of God, and by Him who is sitting upon it. Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye give tithe of the mint, and the dill, and the cumin, and did neglect the weightier things of the Law -- the judgment, and the kindness, and the faith; these it behoved you to do, and those not to neglect. 'Blind guides! who are straining out the gnat, and the camel are swallowing. 'Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye make clean the outside of the cup and the plate, and within they are full of rapine and incontinence. 'Blind Pharisee! cleanse first the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside of them also may become clean.
'He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they might not see with the eyes, and understand with the heart, and turn back, and I might heal them;'
What then? What Israel doth seek after, this it did not obtain, and the chosen did obtain, and the rest were hardened,
For I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, of this secret -- that ye may not be wise in your own conceits -- that hardness in part to Israel hath happened till the fulness of the nations may come in;
in whom the god of this age did blind the minds of the unbelieving, that there doth not shine forth to them the enlightening of the good news of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God;
being darkened in the understanding, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart,
and above all these things, have love, which is a bond of the perfection,
and he who is hating his brother, in the darkness he is, and in the darkness he doth walk, and he hath not known whither he doth go, because the darkness did blind his eyes.
Smith
is extremely common in the East from many causes. Blind beggars figure repeatedly in the New Testament
and "opening the eyes of the blind" is mentioned in prophecy as a peculiar attribute of the Messiah.
etc. The Jews were specially charged to treat the blind with compassion and care.
Le 19:14; De 27:18
Blindness willfully inflicted for political or other purposes is alluded to in Scripture.
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Thou dost not revile the deaf; and before the blind thou dost not put a stumbling block; and thou hast been afraid of thy God; I am Jehovah.
Cursed is he who is causing the blind to err in the way, -- and all the people have said, Amen.
And Nahash the Ammonite saith unto them, 'For this I covenant with you, by picking out to you every right eye -- and I have put it a reproach on all Israel.'
And heard in that day have the deaf the words of a book, And out of thick darkness, and out of darkness, The eyes of the blind do see.
To open the eyes of the blind, To bring forth from prison the bound one, From the house of restraint those sitting in darkness.
And the eyes of Zedekiah he hath blinded, and he bindeth him with brazen fetters, to bring him in to Babylon.
Then was brought to him a demoniac, blind and dumb, and he healed him, so that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.
Watsons
BLINDNESS is often used in Scripture to express ignorance or want of discernment in divine things, as well as the being destitute of natural sight. See Isa 42:18-19; 6:10; Mt 15:14. "Blindness of heart" is the want of understanding arising from the influence of vicious passions. "Hardness of heart" is stubbornness of will, and destitution of moral feeling. Moses says, "Thou shalt not put a stumbling block before the blind," Le 19:14, which may be understood literally; or figuratively, as if Moses recommended that charity and instruction should be shown to them who want light and counsel, or to those who are in danger of going wrong through their ignorance. Moses says also, "Cursed be he who maketh the blind to wander out of his way," De 27:18, which may also be taken in the same manner. An ignorant or erring teacher is compared by our Lord to a blind man leading a blind man;
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Thou dost not revile the deaf; and before the blind thou dost not put a stumbling block; and thou hast been afraid of thy God; I am Jehovah.
Cursed is he who is causing the blind to err in the way, -- and all the people have said, Amen.
Declare fat the heart of this people, And its ears declare heavy, And its eyes declare dazzled, Lest it see with its eyes, And with its ears hear, and its heart consider, And it hath turned back, and hath health.'
Ye deaf, hear; and ye blind, look to see. Who is blind but My servant? And deaf as My messenger I send? Who is blind as he who is at peace, Yea, blind, as the servant of Jehovah?
let them alone, guides they are -- blind of blind; and if blind may guide blind, both into a ditch shall fall.'