Isaiah 44:18

18 They don't know or comprehend, for their eyes can't see and their minds can't comprehend.

Isaiah 44:18 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 44:18

They have not known nor understood
Who the true God is, nor the worship that is due to him alone; they do not know nor understand divine and spiritual things; nay, they have not the knowledge and understanding of men; they want common sense that can do and say such things as before mentioned, both idol makers and idol worshippers: for he hath shut their eyes that they cannot see, and their heart that
they cannot understand;
either the devil, as some think, the god of this world, that blinds their eyes from seeing the folly of such gross idolatry, which he, deceiving them, leads them into; or rather God himself, who, because they like not to retain him in their knowledge, gives them up to a reprobate and injudicious mind, to believe a lie, and worship a false god; this he permits, orders, and overrules to some good ends and purposes: this is to be understood of the eyes of the understanding, which, as the word F9 signifies, are "daubed" and plastered over, that there is no opening of them, and seeing with them; which is the judicial blindness and hardness of heart, which God sometimes in righteous judgment gives up men unto; see ( Romans 1:28 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F9 (Mhynye xt) "oblevit oculos eorum", Montanus; "obleverit", Cocceius; "quod [sculptile] oblinat", Piscator.

Isaiah 44:18 In-Context

16 Half of it he burns in the fire; on that half he roasts and eats meat, and he is satisfied. He warms himself and says, "Ah, I'm warm, watching the fire!"
17 And the rest of it he makes into a god, into his idol, and he bows down, worships, and prays to it, saying, "Save me, for you are my god!"
18 They don't know or comprehend, for their eyes can't see and their minds can't comprehend.
19 He doesn't think, and has no knowledge or understanding to think: Half of it I burned in the fire, and I baked bread on its coals, and roasted meat and ate. Should I make the rest into something detestable? Should I bow down to a block of wood?
20 He's feeding on ashes; his deluded mind has led him astray. He can't save himself and say, "Isn't this thing in my hand a lie?"
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