Blind

BLIND. Blindness. Blindness is sometimes taken for a real privation of light, sometimes for no more than a dimness of sight; for example, the blindess of the man in the Gospel who was born blind, and that of Tobit were real, and they had truly lost their sight. The men of Sodom, who endeavoured to find Lot’s door, and could not, and S. Gen. xix. 11. Acts ix. 9.Paul, for the three first days of his being at Damascus, lost the use of their sight only for a season, the offices of their eyes were suspended. The Septuagint¹ have extremely well represented the situation wherein the inhabitants of Sodom were, by expressing that they were struck aorasia, as if they had said avidentia, with an actual inability of seeing.

Levit. xix. 14.Moses forbids the putting any thing before the blind with a design of making them fall: thou shalt not put a stumbling block before the blind, which may be understood simply and literally; or as if Moses had thereby recommended that humanity and charity which should be shewn to them, who want light and counsel, to put those in the way, who are in danger of going out of it, to instruct the ignorant, not to offend the poor and weak. Moses seems to explain his meaning Deut. xxvii. 18.in Deuteronomy, where he says, Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of his way.

The Jebusites in the way of insult to David and his army, who besieged 2 Sam. v. 6.Jerusalem, mocked them in these words, Thou shalt not come in hither except thou take away the blind and the lame, who defend the place, as if in reality to make their insult appear greater, they had produced people of this sort upon their walls, or as if their meaning were, that they desir’d none but the blind and the lame to defend their city. Jerusalem notwithstanding was carried, and David forgave none of those blind and lame people who insulted him, he smote Job xxix. 15.the lame and the blind that were hated of David’s soul. Job says that he had been eyes to the blind, that he had given good advice to those who stood in need of it, that he had taken pains to set Matt. xv. 14.them right who through want of light and understanding had gone astray. Our Saviour almost in the same sense says, that if the blind lead the blind they will both fall into the ditch. His design was, to describe the presumption of the Pharisees, who as blind as they were in the ways of God, yet pretended to lead others. Again he tells them John ix. 40, 41.in another place, that he came into the world to the end that they who see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind. And as the Pharisees perceived that this was said with a view to them, they replied, Are we blind also? he answered them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin; but now ye say, we see, therefore your sin remaineth. If you had been sincere and humble enough to acknowledge that you wanted light, and had you addressed yourselves to him, who is the light of the world, you might have avoided sin, &c.

If. xxix. 18. xxxv. 5. xlii. 16.One of the principal characters of the Messiah taken notice of in the Prophets is, that the blind shall be enlightened by him. This therefore Jesus Christ proposed to the observation of John’s Disciples, who came from their master to be inform’d whether he were the person whom they expected. Tell John, says he to them, what ye have seen Matth. xi. 5.and heard; The blind see, the deaf receive their hearing, &c. The Evangelists have preserved the memory of more miraculous cures than one which were wrought by our Saviour on the blind.

Mark iii. 1. Isa. vi. 9. 16.Blindness of Heart in the obdurate Jews is often taken notice of, particularly in the Books of the New Testament, our Saviour saw and was afflicted at it. Isaiah foretold it, and God speaking to him of it said, Go, tell this people, see ye indeed but perceive not, make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes. That is to say, prophesy and tell them, that they will be blind and obdurate, that they shall neither see nor understand what is designed in order to procure salvation for them.

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