And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of
a
book that is sealed
The prophecies of all the prophets contained in the Scriptures;
or all the prophecies in the book of Isaiah, concerning the
Messiah, were no more seen, known, and understood, both by the
priests and the people, than if they had been in a book, written,
rolled up, and sealed. And this was owing, not to the obscurity
of these writings, or because they were really sealed up, but to
the blindness and stupidity of the people, whose eyes were
closed, and their heads covered; and the prophecies of the
Scriptures were only so to them, "unto you", not unto others; not
to the apostles of Christ, whose understandings were opened by
him, to understand the things written concerning him, in the law,
in the prophets, and in the psalms; but the Jewish rulers, civil
and ecclesiastical, as well as the common people, understood them
not, though they were the means of fulfilling many of them; and
they were as ignorant of the prophecies concerning their own ruin
and destruction, for their rejection of Christ; see ( Luke 24:27 Luke 24:44 Luke 24:45 ) ( Acts 3:17 Acts 3:18 ) ( 13:27 ) : which
[men] deliver to one that is learned;
or, "that knows the book" F21; or "letters", as the
Septuagint; see ( John 7:15 ) such were the
Scribes, called (grammateiv) , or "letter men", men that could read
well, and understood language: saying, Read this, I pray
thee;
or read this now, as the Targum, and interpret it, and tell the
meaning of it: and he saith, I cannot, for it [is]
sealed;
which Kimchi says was an excuse invented, because he had no mind
to read it, or otherwise he could have said, open, and I will
read it; or he might have broke off the seal; but knowing there
were difficult things, and things hard to be understood, in it,
did not care to look into it, and read it, and attempt to explain
it to others.
F21 (rpoh edwy) "scienti librum", Montanus; (epistamenw grammata) , Sept.; "scienti literas", V. L. Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius.