Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
my servant—namely, Israel. Who of the heathen is so blind? Considering Israel's high privileges, the heathen's blindness was as nothing compared with that of Israelite idolaters.
my messenger . . . sent—Israel was designed by God to be the herald of His truth to other nations.
perfect—furnished with institutions, civil and religious, suited to their perfect well-being. Compare the title, "Jeshurun," the perfect one, applied to Israel (compare Isaiah 44:2), as the type of Messiah Or translate, the friend of God, which Israel was by virtue of descent from Abraham, who was so called (Isaiah 41:8), [GESENIUS]. The language, "my servant" (compare Isaiah 42:1), "messenger" (Malachi 3:1), "perfect" (Romans 10:4; Hebrews 2:10; I Peter 2:22), can, in the full antitypical sense, only apply to Christ. So Isaiah 42:21 plainly refers to Him. "Blind" and "deaf" in His case refer to His endurance of suffering and reproach, as though He neither saw nor heard (Psalms 38:13-14). Thus there is a transition by contrast from the moral blindness of Israel (Isaiah 42:18) to the patient blindness and deafness of Messiah [HORSLEY].
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Isaiah 42:19:
Isaiah 42:7
Isaiah 42:18
Isaiah 42:20
Isaiah 43:8
Isaiah 44:2
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