Isaiah 44:18

18 People like that don't even know what they are doing. Their eyes are shut so that they can't see the truth. Their minds are closed so that they can't understand it.

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 He burns half of the wood in the fire. He prepares a meal over it. He cooks meat over it. He eats until he is full. He also warms himself. He says, "Good! I'm getting warm. The fire is nice and hot."
17 From the rest of the wood he makes a statue. It becomes his god. He bows down and worships it. He prays to it. He says, "Save me. You are my god."
18 People like that don't even know what they are doing. Their eyes are shut so that they can't see the truth. Their minds are closed so that they can't understand it.
19 No one even stops to think about this. No one has any sense or understanding. If anyone did, he would say, "I used half of the wood for fuel. I even baked bread over the fire. I cooked meat. Then I ate it. Should I now make a statue of a god out of the wood that's left over? Should I bow down to a block of wood? The LORD would hate that."
20 That's as foolish as eating ashes! The mind of someone like that has led him down the wrong path. He can't save himself. He can't bring himself to say, "This thing I'm holding in my right hand isn't really a god at all."
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