*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
That I may bring out. The brevity of the words makes the meaning somewhat obscure. Some translate it thus, "I will bring out the blind, and him who hath eyes," that is, both the blind and them that see, both the deaf and them that hear. Some explain blind to mean those who have indeed eyes, but so dim that they cannot perceive the secrets of heavenly wisdom. But when I take a careful survey of the whole, I prefer to interpret those phrases separately. "I will bring out the blind, so as to restore sight to them; I will bring out the deaf, so that they shall recover their hearing." And thus the meaning of the words is, "To bring out the blind, and they shall have eyes; and to bring out the deaf, and they shall have ears." The people are first delivered, and then eyes and ears are restored to them. The Lord did this when he brought his people out of Babylon; but undoubtedly the Prophet looks farther, that is, to the kingdom of Christ; for at that time believers were gathered not only out of Babylon, but out of all places of the earth. This was seen openly and singularly at Peter's first sermon, when many persons from various countries united in the same confession of faith. (Acts 2:41.) But afterwards others, who appeared to be altogether strangers, united in the same body, and shewed that they were children of Abraham. If, therefore, we wish to find the full truth of this prophecy, we must come to Christ, by whom alone we are rescued from the bondage of the devil and restored to liberty. (John 8:36.) It is he who restores to us eyes and ears, though formerly we were by nature both blind and deaf. Yet it is proper to remember what I have repeatedly stated on former occasious, that the return of the people is closely connected with the renewal of the Church, which was accomplished by Christ; for what God began by bringing his people out of captivity he continued till Christ, and then brought to perfection; and so it is one and the same redemption. Hence it follows that the blessings which are here mentioned ought not to be limited to a short time.
Bring forth the blind people - Many have understood this of the Jews. So Vitringa, Rosenmuller, Grotius, and others understand it. But Lowth, more correctly, regards it as referring to the Gentiles. It is designed as an argument to show the superiority of God over all idols, and to demonstrate that he was able to deliver his people from captivity and exile. He appeals, therefore Isaiah 43:9, to his own people in proof of his divinity and power. None of the pagan Isaiah 43:8 had been able to predict future events, none of the pagan gods, therefore, could save; but Yahweh, who had so often foretold events that were fulfilled, was able to deliver, and of that fact his own people had had abundant evidence.
That have eyes - They had natural faculties to see and know God (compare Romans 1:20), but they had not improved them, and they had, therefore, run into the sin and folly of idolatry. The phrase 'bring forth,' implies a solemn appeal made by God to them to enter into an argument on the subject (compare the note at Isaiah 41:1).
Bring forth the blind people that have eyes "Bring forth the people, blind, although they have eyes" - I understand this of the Gentiles, as the verse following, not of the Jews. Their natural faculties, if they had made a proper use of them, must have led them to the knowledge of the being and attributes of the one true God; "for his eternal power and Godhead," if well attended to, are clearly seen in his works, (Romans 1:20), and would have preserved them from running into the folly and absurdity of worshipping idols. They are here challenged to produce the evidence of the power and foreknowledge of their idol gods; and the Jews are just afterwards, Isaiah 43:10, appealed to as witnesses for God in this cause, therefore these latter cannot here be meant by the people blind with eyes and deaf with ears.
Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears,.... The Targum applies this to the bringing of the people of Israel out of Egypt; and others understand it of their deliverance from the Babylonish captivity; and some of the exclusion of them from the kingdom of heaven, and casting them into outward darkness, according to Matthew 8:12, but it is rather to be understood of the conviction of them; though better of the Gentiles, and of the enlightening of them, who before were blind; and causing them to hear, who before were deaf to spiritual things, agreeably to what goes before. It seems best to consider the words as a summons to the Heathens uncalled, to the Roman Pagan empire, to come forth and appear, who were as blind and deaf as the idols they worshipped, and plead their cause, agreeably to what follows.
Idolaters are called to appear in defence of their idols. Those who make them, and trust in them, are like unto them. They have the shape and faculties of men; but they have not common sense. But God's people know the power of his grace, the sweetness of his comforts, the kind care of his providence, and the truth of his promise. All servants of God can give such an account of what he has wrought in them, and done for them, as may lead others to know and believe his power, truth, and love.
Solemn challenge given by God to the nations to argue with Him the question of His superiority to their idols, and His power to deliver Israel (Isaiah 41:1).
blind people--the Gentiles, who also, like Israel (Isaiah 42:19), are blind (spiritually), though having eyes; that is, natural faculties, whereby they might know God (Romans 1:20-21) [LOWTH]. Or else, the Jews [VITRINGA].
We come now to the third turn in the second half of this prophecy. It is linked on to the commencement of the first turn ("Hear, ye deaf, and look, ye blind, that ye may see"), the summons being now addressed to some one to bring forth the Israel, which has eyes and ears without seeing or hearing; whilst, on the other hand, the nations are all to come together, and this time not for the purpose of convincing them, but of convincing Israel. "Bring out a blind people, and it has eyes; and deaf people, and yet furnished with ears! All ye heathen, gather yourselves together, and let peoples assemble! Who among you can proclaim such a thing? And let them cause former things to be heard, appoint their witnesses, and be justified. Let these hear, and say, True! Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and see that it is I: before me was no God formed, and there will be none after me." "Bring out" does not refer here to bringing out of captivity, as in Ezekiel 20:34, Ezekiel 20:41; Ezekiel 34:13, since the names by which Israel is called are hardly applicable to this, but rather to bringing to the place appointed for judicial proceedings. The verb is in the imperative. The heathen are also to gather together en masse; נקבּצוּ is also an imperative here, as in Joel 3:11 = הקּבצוּ (cf., נלווּ, Jeremiah 50:5; Ewald, 226, c). In Isaiah 43:9 we have the commencement of the evidence adduced by Jehovah in support of His own divine right: Who among the gods of the nations can proclaim this? i.e., anything like my present announcement of the restoration of Israel? To prove that they can, let them cause "former things" to be heard, i.e., any former events which they had foretold, and which had really taken place; and let them appoint witnesses of such earlier prophecies, and so prove themselves to be gods, that is to say, by the fact that these witnesses have publicly heard their declaration and confirm the truth thereof. The subject to וגו וישׁמעוּ (they may hear, etc.) is the witnesses, not as now informing themselves for the first time, but as making a public declaration. The explanation, "that men may hear," changes the subject without any necessity. But whereas the gods are dumb and lifeless, and therefore cannot call any witnesses for themselves, and not one of all the assembled multitude can come forward as their legitimate witness, or as one able to vindicate them, Jehovah can call His people as witnesses, since they have had proofs in abundance that He possesses infallible knowledge of the future. It is generally assumed that "and my servant" introduces a second subject: "Ye, and (especially) my servant whom I have chosen." In this case, "my servant" would denote that portion of the nation which was so, not merely like the mass of the people according to its divine calling, but also by its own fidelity to that calling; that is to say, the kernel of the nation, which was in the midst of the mass, but had not the manners of the mass. At the same time, the sentence which follows is much more favourable to the unity of the subject; and why should not "my servant" be a second predicate? The expression "ye" points to the people, who were capable of seeing and hearing, and yet both blind and deaf, and who had been brought out to the forum, according to Isaiah 43:8. Ye, says Jehovah, are my witnesses, and ye are my servant whom I have chosen; I can appeal to what I have enabled you to experience and to perceive, and to the relation in which I have in mercy caused you to stand to myself, that ye may thereby be brought to consider the great difference that there is between what ye have in your God and that which the heathen (here present with you) have in their idols. "I am He," i.e., God exclusively, and God for ever. His being has no beginning and no end; so that any being apart from His, which could have gone before or could follow after, so as to be regarded as divine (in other words, the deity of the artificial and temporal images which are called gods by the heathen), is a contradiction in itself.
Bring - O ye idolatrous Gentiles, bring forth your false gods, which have eyes but see not, and ears but hear not.
*More commentary available at chapter level.