Isaiah 43:8-10

Isaiah 43:8-10. Bring forth the blind, &c.— Vitringa renders the 9th verse, Let, &c. Who among them could declare this? Either let them tell us what shall first happen, and bring their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them [be content to] hear, and say, this is truth. The scope of this period is, to confirm the people of God in their belief of the true Divinity, from those remarkable events so clearly foretold by the prophet; and to instruct them, to convince the degenerate Jews, and idolatrous Gentiles, concerning this same belief from the same arguments; namely, from the deliverance of the people out of Babylon by Cyrus, and the mission of Jesus Christ, as the great prophet to convert the Gentiles; which again in the subsequent part of this chapter are repeated and set forth under different figures. The blind people that have eyes, &c. mean the blind and idolatrous Jews. See the preceding chapter, Isa 43:19 and ch. Isaiah 6:9-10. Ye are my witnesses, even my servant whom I have chosen, mean the true believers among the people: or more particularly the witnesses may signify the prophets and teachers of the church; and my servant, may mean Israel, or the believing people in general. See ch. Isaiah 41:8 Isaiah 44:1. More remotely, the Messiah, peculiarly God's servant, and the apostles, his witnesses, may be meant. See Vitringa.