The Scripture very frequently makes use of this word, by way of expressing the blindness of the soul while in an unawakened unregenerate state. Persons of this description are said to "have eyes, and see not;" and "ears, and hear not." And such, indeed, is the case of every man by nature. They see not their own corruption; they have no apprehension of their want of Christ; they see no beauty in Christ. So awful a state is this, that the Holy Ghost no less than seven times, in his blessed word, speaks of it in the same strongfigures. (See Isa. vi. 9; Matt. 13. 14; Mark 4: 12; Luke 8. 10; John x2: 40; Acts 28. 26; Rom. xi. 8.) It is a blessed testimony that Jesus hath opened our eyes to say, with the poor man at the pool of Siloam, "One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see." (John ix. 25.)
is often used in Scripture to express ignorance or want of discernment in divine things, as well as the being destitute of natural sight. See Isa 42:18-19; Isa 6:10; Mat 15:14. “Blindness of heart” is the want of understanding arising from the influence of vicious passions. “Hardness of heart” is stubbornness of will, and destitution of moral feeling. Moses says, “Thou shalt not put a stumbling block before the blind,” Lev 19:14, which may be understood literally; or figuratively, as if Moses recommended that charity and instruction should be shown to them who want light and counsel, or to those who are in danger of going wrong through their ignorance. Moses says also, “Cursed be he who maketh the blind to wander out of his way,” Deu 27:18, which may also be taken in the same manner. An ignorant or erring teacher is compared by our Lord to a blind man leading a blind man;—a strong representation of the presumption of him that professes to teach the way of salvation without due qualifications, and of the danger of that implicit faith which is often placed by the people in the authority of man, to the neglect of the Holy Scriptures.
The frequent occurrence of blindness in the East has always excited the astonishment of travelers. Volney says that, out of a hundred persons in Cairo, he has met twenty quite blind, ten wanting one eye, and twenty others having their eyes red, purulent, or blemished. This is principally owing to the Egyptian ophthalmia, which is endemic in that country and on the coast of Syria. This disease is contagious; but it is not often communicated from one individual to another. It is not confined to the East, but appears here and there throughout Europe. The French and English suffered greatly from it while they were in Egypt, and subsequently.
Small pox is another great cause of blindness in the East.
In the New Testament, blind mendicants are frequently mentioned (Mat 9:27; Mat 12:22; Mat 20:30; Mat 21:14; Joh 5:3). The blindness of Bar Jesus (Act 13:6-11) was miraculously produced, and of its nature we know nothing. Examples of blindness from old age occur in Gen 27:1; 1Ki 14:4; 1Sa 4:15. The Syrian army that came to apprehend Elisha was suddenly smitten with blindness in a miraculous manner (2Ki 6:18); and so also was St. Paul (Act 9:9). The Mosaic law has not neglected to inculcate humane feelings towards the blind (Lev 19:14; Deu 27:18). Blindness is sometimes threatened in the Old Testament as a punishment for disobedience (Deu 28:28; Lev 26:16; Zep 1:17).
This distressing malady is very prevalent in the East. Many physical causes in those countries unite to injure the organs of vision. The sun is hot, and in the atmosphere floats a very fine dust, which enters and frets the eye. The armies of France and England, which were so long in Egypt during the French was, suffered severely from ophthalmic disease. In the cities of Egypt, blindness is perpetuated as a contagious disease by the filthy habits of the natives. It is of frequent occurrence also on the coast of Syria. In ancient times the eyes of person hated or feared were often torn out, Jdg 16:21 1Sa 11:2 2Ki 25:7 . Blindness was sometimes inflicted as a punishment, Gen 19:11 Mal 13:6 ; and it was often threatened as a penalty, Deu 28:28 . The Jews were enjoined by the humane laws of Moses to show all kindness and consideration to the blind, Lev 19:14 Deu 27:18 . No one affected with this infirmity could officiate as priest, Lev 21:18 .\par Our Savior miraculously cured many cases of blindness, both that which was caused by disease and that which had existed from birth. In these cases there was a double miracle; for not only was the organ of sight restored, but also the faculty of using it which is usually gained only by long experience, Mar 8:22-25 . The touching of the eyes of the blind, and anointing them with clay, Mat 9:29 Joh 9:6, can not have had any medicinal or healing effect. The healing was miraculous, by the power of God.\par "Blindness" is often used for ignorance and error, especially our sinful want of discernment as to spiritual things, Mat 15:14 2Co 4:4 . The abuse of God’s mercy increases this blindness, Joh 12:40 . Blessed are the eyes that fix their adoring gaze first of all on the Redeemer.\par
Blindness. Blindness is extremely common in the East, from many causes. Blind beggars figure repeatedly, in the New Testament, Mat 12:22, and "opening the eyes of the blind" is mentioned in prophecy, as a peculiar attribute of the Messiah. Isa 29:18; Isa 42:7, etc.
The Jews were specially charged to treat the blind with compassion and care. Lev 19:14; Deu 27:18. Blindness willfully inflicted for political or other purposes is alluded to in Scripture. 1Sa 11:2; Jer 39:7.
Its cure is one of our Lord’s most frequent miracles (Luk 7:21; Mat 9:27; Mar 8:23; Joh 5:3; Joh 9:1), as had been foretold (Isa 29:18; Isa 35:5). In coincidence with this is the commonness of it in the E. In Ludd (Lydda) the saying is, every one is either blind or has but one eye. Jaffa has 500 blind out of 5,000 of a population. The dust and sand pulverized by the intense heat, the constant glare, and in the sandy districts the absence of the refreshing "green grass," (the presence of which Mark notices as noteworthy in the miracle of the feeding the multitudes,) the cold sea air on the coasts, the night dews affecting those sleeping on the roofs, all tend to produce blindness.
It is a constant image used of spiritual darkness, and Jesus’ restoration of sight to the blind pointed to the analogous spiritual bestowal of sight on the soul. Paul, who had passed through both the physical and the spiritual transition from darkness to light (Act 9:8-9), instinctively, by an obviously undesigned coincidence confirming authenticity, often uses the expressive image (Act 26:18; 2Co 4:4; Eph 1:18; Eph 4:18; Col 1:13). Elymas was smitten with blindness at Paul’s word (Act 13:11, compare Gen 19:11; 2Ki 6:18). The blind were to be treated kindly (Lev 19:14; Deu 27:18). The pagan conquerors sometimes blinded captives (2Ki 25:7; 1Sa 11:2).
is a term often used in Scripture to denote ignorance or a want of discernment in divine things, as well as the being destitute of natural sight (Isa 6:10; Isa 42:18-19; Mat 15:14). " Blindness of heart" is the want of understanding arising from the influence of vicious passions, while " hardness of heart" is stubborness of will and absence of moral feeling (
Used metaphorically to describe the state of man by nature under the influence of Satan, 2Co 4:4; also a professing Christian who hates his brother, 1Jn 2:11; also the state of Israel in their heartless profession, Mat 23:16-26; and the judicial blindness on Israel. Joh 12:40. In Rom 11:7; Rom 11:25; 2Co 3:14; Eph 4:18, it is rather ’obdurateness or hardness,’ from
Blind Guides
Isa_56:9-12; Mat_15:12-14; Mat_23:16-26; Luk_6:39.
If The Blind Lead The Blind
Mat_15:12-14; Luk_6:39.
The LORD Opening The Eyes Of The Blind
Psa_146:8; Isa_42:5-7; Mat_11:4-5; Luk_7:22; Luk_24:44-47; Joh_9:39; 2Co_3:14-16.
The Place Where There Is No Vision
Pro_29:18.
Those That Walk In Darkness
Joh_11:9-10; Joh_12:35-36; Eph_4:17-18; 1Jn_1:5-6; 1Jn_2:11.
What Blinds People
Exo_23:8; Deu_16:19; 1Jn_2:11.
Who Blinds The Minds Of Unbelievers
2Co_4:3-4; Rev_12:9.
Who Is Blind
2Co_3:13-15; Eph_4:17-18; 2Pe_1:1-9.
BLINDNESS.—Blindness is a very common disease in the East. It is mainly due to ophthalmia caused partly by the sun-glare and partly by lack of cleanliness. The word ‘blindness’ or ‘blind’ is used in the Bible, however, very frequently of a spiritual condition; and the references in the Gospels are specially interesting as the physical and the spiritual states are sometimes intertwined, the former being used as emblematic of the latter.
In Mat 11:5 the first evidence of His Messiahship, adduced by Jesus to the disciples of John the Baptist, is that the blind receive their sight. The first miracle of this nature in the life of Jesus is recorded by St. Matthew (Mat 9:27 ff.) as occurring at Capernaum.
Two blind men followed Him, crying, ‘Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.’ Jesus seems unwilling at first to grant their request, as we are told that it was not till they had entered the house with Him that He turned a favourable ear to their entreaty. Satisfied of their faith, and of the spirit in which they approached Him, He pronounced the word of healing.
In St. Mark (Mar 8:22 ff.) another miracle of restoring sight to the blind is recorded which has features of its own.
Jesus leads the blind man out of the village (Bethsaida), and, having spit upon his eyes, touches them. Sight is only gradually restored, as at first he sees men like trees walking. This is one of the many instances of the realism of St. Mark. Probably it is a reminiscence of the well-known difficulty experienced by the blind-born, to whom sight has been given through a surgical operation, of adjusting the knowledge acquired by the new faculty with that derived through the other avenues of sense-perception.
The story of the blind man or men at Jericho is recorded in all three Synoptics (Mat 20:29 ff., Mar 10:46 ff., Luk 18:35 ff.). It has also features in common with the incident narrated in Mat 9:27.
St. Mark and St. Luke speak of only one blind man, St. Matthew has two. All three give the words of healing differently. There have been many attempts made to harmonize the various accounts,* [Note: For a summary of these see Plummer, Internat. Crit. Com., ‘St. Luke,’ in loco.] but the necessity for making such attempts arises out of a mechanical theory of inspiration which is difficult to maintain. Is it not enough for all practical purposes to hold the substantial accuracy of the Evangelic narrative without troubling ourselves about those minute divergences which occur in different versions of the same event narrated by the most trustworthy witnesses?
The miracles recorded in Mat 12:22 and John 9 stand by themselves as having a very close relation to the teaching of Jesus which follows. St. Matthew tells us that there was brought to Jesus one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb; and He healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both saw and spake. This gave rise to the charge of the Pharisees, that the miraculous power of Jesus was not a God-given, but a devil-given power. ‘This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.’ To the clear moral vision of Jesus the attitude implied in this objection showed a radical depravity of nature, an inability to discriminate between fundamental ethical distinctions. ‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ If Satan, inspires to deeds of beneficence, then he ceases to be Satan. He who does good is inspired of God, and the measure of the good he does is the measure of his conquest over Satan. It is in this connexion that Jesus utters the remarkable reference to blasphemy against the Holy Ghost as the unforgivable sin. See art. Blasphemy.
The other instance where the miraculous cure of blindness is made a text for the most characteristic teaching of Jesus is that recorded in John 9. Here it is a man blind from his birth that Jesus cures. And when the Pharisees seek to persuade him of their peculiar theological tenet that the power of Jesus is derived from Satan, the man has strength of mind enough to fall back on that primary moral instinct to which Jesus always appeals. ‘Whereas I was blind, now I see. This man has done good to me, and for me, therefore, he is good. It is not the function of the prince of darkness to give sight to the blind.’ He cannot, therefore, accept their theory of the source whence Jesus derives His power.
This leads us to a predominant feature of the teaching of Jesus—His presentation of the gospel as vision. Jesus claims to be the Light of the world. Light to those who see is its own evidence, and Jesus, therefore, in making this claim can desire no recognition other than that spontaneously made by the soul when purged from the sinful passions that obscure or deflect its vision. To secure effective vision there must be not only light, but also a healthy visual organ. Blindness may arise from the absence of light, from mere functional derangement of the organ of vision, or from some fatal organic defect in the organ. It is to those whose blindness comes from either of the first two causes that Jesus appeals. He comes as Light, strengthening the visual faculty, dispelling the darkness that envelops the soul, and revealing to it the spiritual realm. ‘I am come into this world that they which see not might see’ (Joh 9:39). This presentation of Jesus as Light appealing to the organ of spiritual vision and vindicating empirically His unique Divinity dominates the whole of the Fourth Gospel. But the principle is as clearly enunciated in the Synoptics. It is the pure in heart who see God (Mat 5:8), because the pure heart is the organ of the God-consciousness. In the great confession of St. Peter the real point of our Lord’s commendation lies not in the clear enunciation of the Messiahship and the Divine Sonship of Jesus, but in the manner in which the profoundest of all spiritual truths has been reached. ‘Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven’ (Mat 16:17).
Jesus, the Light of the world, can appeal only to those who have the faculty of sight. Where the faculty of sight is impaired, or destroyed, however clearly the light may shine, there is no vision. This obseuration of the spiritual orb is what is called ‘judicial blindness.’ The phrase implies that there never can be such radical defect of vision without personal guilt in the person so affected. It is a penalty of sin, the judgment that comes through neglecting the light (cf. Joh 9:41). Inasmuch as Jesus is the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, there is in human nature, as such, the capacity of spiritual vision; but this capacity, either by disuse or perversity, may be so radically corrupted as to be impervious to the light. And when this is so, the sinner rushes to his doom heedless of the plainest warnings. This is a truth always recognized in the Gospels. St. John in his Prologue says that the Light shineth in darkness, but the darkness comprehended it not (cf. Mat 6:22 f.). It is the meaning of the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, a sin unforgivable, inasmuch as it does not recognize itself as sin, and thus renders impossible that repentance which is the condition of forgiveness (but see art. Blasphemy.).
A. Miller.
By: Joseph Jacobs, Maurice Fishberg
Statistics, wherever obtainable, show that the proportion of blindness is greater among modern Jews than among their non-Jewish neighbors. Thus, according to Dr. Georg Mayr ("Die Verbreitung der Blindheit, der Taubstummen, des Blödsinns, und des Irrsinns in Bayern," p. 11), in Bavaria the proportion of blindness was as follows: among Protestants (per 10,000), 7.84; among Catholics, 8.27, among Jews, 13.81, the Jews thus showing a rate of blindness about double that of the Protestants. In Bavaria at the censuses of 1840 and 1858 the Protestants also showed relatively the least number of blind; and the Jews again the largest proportion.
For Prussia, Dr. Cohn (in Eulenburg, "Real-Encyc. der Gesammt. Heilkunde," iii. 139) presents the following figures for 1880: Among 10,000 Protestants, 8.2; among 10,000 Catholics, 8.4; among 10,000 Jews, 11.0; showing a considerable excess of blindness among the Jews. The same census showed that there was also a larger proportion of congenital blindness among Jews (about 8 per cent) than among non-Jews (only 4.7 per cent). The absolute numbers are given in "Zeit. des Statist. Bureaus fürPreussen," 1882, pp. 190 et seq., and the percentages in a special article by A. Guttstadt in the following year.
Blindness is not found very frequently among the Jews of the United States of America, probably because the stringent immigration laws prevent the entrance of defective classes, including the blind.
Judging from the etiology of blindness, it might have been expected that the number of blind should be less among Jews than among non-Jews. The most important cause of blindness in the new-born is in from 30 to 50 per cent of cases due to gonorrheal infection from the mother. It is a well-known fact that gonorrhea is comparatively infrequent in Jewish women. This granted, it would be reasonable to expect that Jews would have at least 25 per cent less blindness than non-Jews.
To account for the great prevalence of blindness among the Jews, some authors have adduced the greater frequency of consanguineous marriages among them. But all those who have carefully investigated the subject, as G. Darwin Lancry, Huth, Trousseau, and many others, have reached the conclusion that, apart from heredity, consanguinity is not a factor in the production of blindness.
Any explanation of the frequency of blindness among the Jews must also account for the great frequency of eye-diseases among them. Trachoma, glaucoma, and various diseases of the cornea and of the uveal tract are found among the Jews in a greater proportion than among non-Jews. All these diseases often lead to blindness. Heredity, again, shows itself in eye-disease with great frequency; and in this manner the disease is perpetuated.
BLINDNESS.—See Medicine.
Blindness from birth is the result of a form of this disease known as ophthalmia neonatorum which sets in a few days after birth. I have seen cases of this disease in Palestine. Sometimes ophthalmia accompanies malarial fever (Lev 26:16). All these diseases are aggravated by sand, and the sun glare, to which the unprotected inflamed eyes are exposed. Most of the extreme cases which one sees are beyond remedy - and hence, the giving of sight to the blind is generally put in the front of the mighty works of healing by our Lord. The methods used by Him in these miracles varied probably according to the degree of faith in the blind man; all were merely tokens, not intended as remedies. The case of the man in Mar 8:22 whose healing seemed gradual is an instance of the phenomenon met with in cases where, by operation, sight has been given to one congenitally blind, where it takes some time before he can interpret his new sensations.
The blindness of old age, probably from senile cataract, is described in the cases of Eli at 98 years of age (1Sa 3:2; 1Sa 4:15), Ahijah (1Ki 14:4), and Isaac (Gen 27:1). The smiting of Elymas (Act 13:11) and the Syrian soldiers (2Ki 6:18) was either a miraculous intervention or more probably a temporary hypnotism; that of Paul (Act 9:8) was doubtless a temporary paralysis of the retinal cells from the bright light. The “scales” mentioned were not material but in the restoration of his sight it seemed as if scales had fallen from his eyes. It probably left behind a weakness of the eyes (see THORN IN THE FLESH). That blindness of Tobit (Tobit 2:10), from the irritation of sparrows’ dung, may have been some form of conjunctivitis, and the cure by the gall of the fish is paralleled by the account given in Pliny (xxxii.24) where the gall of the fish Callionymus Lyra is recommended as an application in some cases of blindness. The hypothesis that the gall was used as a pigment to obscure the whiteness of an opaque cornea (for which Indian ink tattooing has been recommended, not as a cure but to remove the unsightliness of a white spot) has nothing in its favor for thereby the sight would not be restored. The only other reference to medicaments is the figurative mention of eyesalve in Rev 3:18.
Blindness unfitted a man for the priesthood (Lev 21:18); but care of the blind was specially enjoined in the Law (Lev 19:14), and offenses against them are regarded as breaches of Law (Deu 27:18).
Figuratively, blindness is used to represent want of mental perception, want of prevision, recklessness, and incapacity to perceive moral distinctions (Isa 42:16, Isa 42:18, Isa 42:19; Mat 23:16; Joh 9:39).
Only once does this term refer to the absence of physical sight (Act_13:11), yet even there moral blindness is symbolized (cf. also the case of St. Paul, Act_9:8 ff; Act_20:11, a temporary condition due to suggestion, or to sudden severe nervous tension which soon gave place to normal sight). All the other references to blindness (Rom_2:19, 2Co_4:4, 2Pe_1:9, 1Jn_2:11, Rev_3:17) are metaphysical and indicate a moral condition. Apart from the general fitness of such a figure to signify a moral condition, a special reason for its use by St. Paul is found in his experience before and after his conversion.-1. Blindness is alleged as a simple fact without explanation (2Pe_1:9, Rev_3:17).-2. It is referred to the character and influence of the world, from which some of those who have joined themselves to the Christian community have not yet emerged-they still remain in the darkness in which they were before (1Jn_2:11).-3. The god of this world, or Satan, who is supposed to have power over the course of affairs in the present ace, is assigned as the cause of this condition (cf. Eph_6:12, Ascension of Isaiah, ed. Charles, 1900, pp. 11, 24, where Beliar = the ruler of this world).-4. To God is attributed in part the activity which results in moral blindness (Act_28:26, Rom_11:8; Rom_11:10). This conception belongs to the circle of Jewish religious ideas-the prophetic doctrine of the absoluteness of God, the Pharisaic teaching of Divine predestination. Both of these lay in the background of St. Paul’s thought (cf. Isa_6:9-10, Psa_69:23, Rom_9:20 ff.), yet other elements also entered into and modified it. From the point of view of the Divine absoluteness, the Apostle did not doubt that God had the unquestioned right to be the sole cause of blindness in one or of Eight in another-a prerogative which, however, He refrained from exercising. Hence a somewhat different explanation wag to be sought for the blindness of Israel. That God had rejected the Jews as a whole was for the Apostle abundantly evident. Yet this did not contradict God’s election and promise. Israel’s guilt had, indeed, for the time being, annulled these; still, this was only one side of the reality. God’s rejection of Israel was neither without purpose nor was it irrevocable. God’s purpose was universal, embracing Gentiles as well as Jews, and if it appeared to pass from the Jews to the Gentiles, this was not the whole truth, nor was it final. For, firstly, some Jews had always remained faithful to the election, and secondly, the blindness of the remainder was only temporary-until the ‘fullness of the Gentiles,’ when all Israel, beholding the salvation of the Gentiles, should once more turn to God. The blindness is marked by two features. It is conceived of as pertaining not to individuals, but to the community; and it is one stage in the unfolding of a vast theodicy. The latter fact does not, however, relieve the community of either responsibility or guilt. Whether all the community living in the interim, that is, previous to the removal of the social blindness, will share in the recognition and acceptance of the election, is not considered by the Apostle. In the other passages of the Authorized Version the Greek words which are translated ‘blinded’ (Rom_11:7, 2Co_3:14) and ‘blindness’ (Rom_11:25, Eph_4:18) are replaced in the Revised Version by their proper equivalents ‘hardened’ and ‘hardness,’ which express also insensibility to the truth of the gospel.
Literature.-Article ‘Blindness’ in Dict. of Christ and the Gospels ; Sanday-Headlam, Romans 5 (International Critical Commentary , 1902); J. Armitage Robinson, Ephesians, 1903, p. 264ff.; B. F. Westcott, Ephesians, 1906, p. 66; Journal of Theological Studies iii. [1901-02] 81.
C. A. Beckwith.
Rom 11:25 (a) This describes the condition of the minds of Israel in that they could not and did not understand the person and the work of CHRIST and the fulfillment of the provision made by GOD. The same meaning applies in 2Co 3:14.
Eph 4:18 (b) As in the former Scriptures, their minds were blind so that their thoughts were perverted. In this passage, the heart did not understand the things of GOD, therefore the feelings were perverted.
2Co 4:4 (b) This is a picture of the effect that Satan produces on the minds of people when he presents to them false teachings, erroneous doctrines, and baseless theories.