Isaiah 42:18 - Exposition

Hear, ye deaf . The "deaf" are not absolutely without hearing, nor the "blind" absolutely without sight. They can "hear" and "see," if they choose to do so. When they do not see, it is because they "wink with their eyes" ( Matthew 13:15 ); when they do not hear, it is because, like the deaf adder, they "stop their ears" ( Psalms 58:4 ). This, at any rate, is the case with the majority. There may be some who have deadened their moral vision altogether, and have no longer any "ears to hear." God, however, addresses the mass of Israel as still possessed of moral discernment, if they will but use it, and calls upon them to wake up out of sleep—to "hear" and "see."