40 He has made their eyes blind, and their hearts hard; for fear that they might see with their eyes and get knowledge with their hearts, and be changed, and I might make them well.
Make the hearts of this people fat, and let their ears be stopped, and their eyes shut; for fear that they may see with their eyes, and be hearing with their ears, and their heart may become wise, and they may be turned to me and made well.
For this reason I put things into the form of stories; because they see without seeing, and give ear without hearing, and the sense is not clear to them. And for them the words of Isaiah have come true, Though you give ear, you will not get knowledge; and seeing, you will see, but the sense will not be clear to you: For the heart of this people has become fat and their ears are slow in hearing and their eyes are shut; for fear that they might see with their eyes and give hearing with their ears and become wise in their hearts and be turned again to me, so that I might make them well.
So that seeing they may see, and it will not be clear to them; and hearing it, they will not get the sense; for fear that they may be turned again to me and have forgiveness.
He makes the broken-hearted well, and puts oil on their wounds.
Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am wasted away: make me well, for even my bones are troubled.
I said, Lord, have mercy on me; make my soul well, because my faith is in you.
I have seen his ways, and I will make him well: I will give him rest, comforting him and his people who are sad. I will give the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him who is near and to him who is far off, says the Lord; and I will make him well.
Come back, you children who have been turned away, and I will take away your desire for wandering. See, we have come to you, for you are the Lord our God.
Assyria will not be our salvation; we will not go on horses; we will not again say to the work of our hands, You are our gods; for in you there is mercy for the child who has no father.
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because I am marked out by him to give good news to the poor; he has sent me to make well those who are broken-hearted; to say that the prisoners will be let go, and the blind will see, and to make the wounded free from their chains,
My brothers, if one of you has gone out of the way of the true faith and another has made him see his error, Be certain that he through whom a sinner has been turned from the error of his way, keeps a soul from death and is the cause of forgiveness for sins without number.
What then? That which Israel was searching for he did not get, but those of the selection got it and the rest were made hard. As it was said in the holy Writings, God gave them a spirit of sleep, eyes which might not see, and ears which have no hearing, to this day. And David says, Let their table be made a net for taking them, and a stone in their way, and a punishment: Let their eyes be made dark so that they may not see, and let their back be bent down at all times. So I say, Were their steps made hard in order that they might have a fall? In no way: but by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, so that they might be moved to envy.
So then, at his pleasure he has mercy on a man, and at his pleasure he makes the heart hard.
So then, let your hearts be changed and be turned to God, so that your sins may be completely taken away, and times of blessing may come from the Lord;
And Jesus said, I came into this world to be a judge, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.
And the Lord said to Moses, When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have given you power to do: but I will make his heart hard and he will not let the people go.
And I will make Pharaoh's heart hard, and my signs and wonders will be increased in the land of Egypt.
And I will make Pharaoh's heart hard, and he will come after them and I will be honoured over Pharaoh and all his army, so that the Egyptians may see that I am the Lord. And they did so.
And the Lord made the heart of Pharaoh hard, and he went after the children of Israel: for the children of Israel had gone out without fear.
But even to this day the Lord has not given you a mind open to knowledge, or seeing eyes or hearing ears.
And the Lord said, How may Ahab be tricked into going up to Ramoth-gilead to his death? And one said one thing and one another.
He overcame great nations, and put strong kings to death; Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan; And gave their land for a heritage, even for a heritage to Israel his people. O Lord, your name is eternal; and the memory of you will have no end. For the Lord will be judge of his people's cause; his feelings will be changed to his servants. The images of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but no voice, they have eyes, but they do not see; They have ears, but no hearing; and there is no breath in their mouths. Those who make them are like them; and so is everyone who puts his hope in them.
Who is blind, but my servant? who has his ears stopped, but he whom I send? who is blind as my true one, or who has his ears shut like the Lord's servant? Seeing much, but keeping nothing in mind; his ears are open, but there is no hearing.
But it was for our sins he was wounded, and for our evil doings he was crushed: he took the punishment by which we have peace, and by his wounds we are made well.
Son of man, you are living among an uncontrolled people, who have eyes to see but see not, and ears for hearing but they do not give ear; for they are an uncontrolled people.
And if the prophet, tricked by deceit, says anything, it is I the Lord by whom he has been tricked, and I will put out my hand against him, and he will be cut off from among my people Israel.
For it was not clear to them about the bread; but their hearts were hard.
And Jesus, hearing it, said to them, Why are you reasoning among yourselves because you have no bread? do you still not see, and is it still not clear to you? are your hearts so hard? Having eyes, do you not see? and having ears, have you no hearing? and have you no memory?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on John 12
Commentary on John 12 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 12
It was a melancholy account which we had in the close of the foregoing chapter of the dishonour done to our Lord Jesus, when the scribes and Pharisees proclaimed him a traitor to their church, and put upon him all the marks of ignominy they could: but the story of this chapter balances that, by giving us an account of the honour done to the Redeemer, notwithstanding all that reproach thrown upon him. Thus the one was set over against the other. Let us see what honours were heaped on the head of the Lord Jesus, even in the depths of his humiliation.
Jhn 12:1-11
In these verses we have,
Jhn 12:12-19
This story of Christ's riding in triumph to Jerusalem is recorded by all the evangelists, as worthy of special remark; and in it we may observe,
Jhn 12:20-26
Honour is here paid to Christ by certain Greeks that enquired or him with respect. We are not told what day of Christ's last week this was, probably not the same day he rode into Jerusalem (for that day was taken up in public work), but a day or two after.
Thus far Christ's discourse has reference to those Greeks who desired to see him, encouraging them to serve him. What became of those Greeks we are not told, but are willing to hope that those who thus asked the way to heaven with their faces thitherward, found it, and walked in it.
Jhn 12:27-36
Honour is here done to Christ by his Father in a voice from heaven, occasioned by the following part of his discourse, and which gave occasion to a further conference with the people. In these verses we have,
Jhn 12:37-41
We have here the honour done to our Lord Jesus by the Old-Testament prophets, who foretold and lamented the infidelity of the many that believed not on him. It was indeed a dishonour and grief to Christ that his doctrine met with so little acceptance and so much opposition; but this takes off the wonder and reproach, makes the offence of it to cease, and made it no disappointment to Christ, that herein the scriptures were fulfilled. Two things are here said concerning this untractable people, and both were foretold by the evangelical prophet Isaiah, that they did not believe, and that they could not believe.
Jhn 12:42-43
Some honour was done to Christ by these rulers: for they believed on him, were convinced that he was sent of God, and received his doctrine as divine; but they did not do him honour enough, for they had not courage to own their faith in him. Many professed more kindness for Christ than really they had; these had more kindness for him than they were willing to profess. See here what a struggle was in these rulers between their convictions and their corruptions.
Jhn 12:44-50
We have here the honour Christ not assumed, but asserted, to himself, in the account he gave of his mission and his errand into the world. Probably this discourse was not at the same time with that before (for them he departed, v. 36), but some time after, when he made another public appearance; and, as this evangelist records it, it was Christ's farewell sermon to the Jews, and his last public discourse; all that follows was private with his disciples. Now observe how our Lord Jesus delivered this parting word: he cried and said. Doth not wisdom cry (Prov. 8:1), cry without? Prov. 1:20. The raising of his voice and crying intimate,