Isaiah 42:19

42:19 My servant is truly blind,

my messenger is truly deaf.

My covenant partner, ¹  the servant of the Lord, is truly blind. ² 

John 9:40-41

9:40 Some of the Pharisees ³  who were with him heard this ⁴  and asked him, ⁵  “We are not blind too, are we?” ⁶  9:41 Jesus replied, ⁷  “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, ⁸  but now because you claim that you can see, ⁹  your guilt ¹⁰  remains.” ¹¹ 

John 9:2

9:2 His disciples asked him, ¹²  “Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused him to be born blind, this man ¹³  or his parents?” ¹⁴ 

John 1:9

1:9 The true light, who gives light to everyone, ¹⁵  was coming into the world. ¹⁶ 

[42:19]  ¹ tc The precise meaning of מְשֻׁלָּם (mÿshullam) in this context is uncertain. In later biblical Hebrew the form (which appears to be a Pual participle from the root שָׁלַם, shalam) occurs as a proper name, Meshullam. The Pual of שָׁלַם (“be complete”) is attested with the meaning “repaid, requited,” but that makes little sense here. BDB 1023 s.v. שָׁלַם relates the form to the denominative verb שָׁלַם (“be at peace”) and paraphrases “one in a covenant of peace” (J. N. Oswalt suggests “the covenanted one”; Isaiah [NICOT], 2:128, n. 59) Some emend the form to מֹשְׁלָם (moshÿlam, “their ruler”) or to מְשֻׁלָּחִי (mÿshullakhi, “my sent [or “commissioned”] one”), which fits nicely in the parallelism (note “my messenger” in the previous line). The translation above assumes an emendation to כְּמוֹ שֹׁלְמִי (kÿmo sholÿmi, “like my ally”). Isaiah uses כְּמוֹ in 30:22 and perhaps 51:5; for שֹׁלְמי (“my ally”) see Ps 7:5 HT (7:4 ET).

[42:19]  ² tn Heb “Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like my messenger I send? Who is blind like my commissioned one, blind like the servant of the Lord?” The point of the rhetorical questions is that no one is as blind/deaf as this servant. In this context the Lord’s “servant” is exiled Israel (cf. 41:8-9), which is spiritually blind and deaf and has failed to fulfill God’s purpose for it. This servant stands in contrast to the ideal “Israel” of the servant songs.

[9:40]  ³ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[9:40]  ⁴ tn Grk “heard these things.”

[9:40]  ⁵ tn Grk “and said to him.”

[9:40]  ⁶ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “are we?”).

[9:41]  ⁷ tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”

[9:41]  ⁸ tn Grk “you would not have sin.”

[9:41]  ⁹ tn Grk “now because you say, ‘We see…’”

[9:41]  ¹⁰ tn Or “your sin.”

[9:41]  ¹¹ sn Because you claim that you can see, your guilt remains. The blind man received sight physically, and this led him to see spiritually as well. But the Pharisees, who claimed to possess spiritual sight, were spiritually blinded. The reader might recall Jesus’ words to Nicodemus in 3:10, “Are you the teacher of Israel and don’t understand these things?” In other words, to receive Jesus was to receive the light of the world, to reject him was to reject the light, close one’s eyes, and become blind. This is the serious sin of which Jesus had warned before (8:21-24). The blindness of such people was incurable since they had rejected the only cure that exists (cf. 12:39-41).

[9:2]  ¹² tn Grk “asked him, saying.”

[9:2]  ¹³ tn Grk “this one.”

[9:2]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “in order that he should be born blind.”

[1:9]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “every man” (but in a generic sense, “every person,” or “every human being”).

[1:9]  ¹⁶ tn Or “He was the true light, who gives light to everyone who comes into the world.” The participle ἐρχόμενον (ercomenon) may be either (1) neuter nominative, agreeing with τὸ φῶς (to fw"), or (2) masculine accusative, agreeing with ἄνθρωπον (anqrwpon). Option (1) results in a periphrastic imperfect with ἦν (hn), ἦν τὸ φῶς… ἐρχόμενον, referring to the incarnation. Option (2) would have the participle modifying ἄνθρωπον and referring to the true light as enlightening “every man who comes into the world.” Option (2) has some rabbinic parallels: The phrase “all who come into the world” is a fairly common expression for “every man” (cf. Leviticus Rabbah 31.6). But (1) must be preferred here, because: (a) In the next verse the light is in the world; it is logical for v. 9 to speak of its entering the world; (b) in other passages Jesus is described as “coming into the world” (6:14, 9:39, 11:27, 16:28) and in 12:46 Jesus says: ἐγὼ φῶς εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἐλήλυθα (egw fw" ei" ton kosmon elhluqa); (c) use of a periphrastic participle with the imperfect tense is typical Johannine style: 1:28, 2:6, 3:23, 10:40, 11:1, 13:23, 18:18 and 25. In every one of these except 13:23 the finite verb is first and separated by one or more intervening words from the participle.