Isaiah 42:16

“And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not, &c.] The Targum interprets this of the people of Israel, thus, “I will lead the house of Israel, which are like to the blind, in a way which they knew not.” But it is better to understand it of the Gentiles, who, before the light of the Gospel came among them, were blind as to the true knowledge of God, and especially as in Christ; and of Christ, and the way of peace, life, and salvation by him; and of themselves, and their miserable estate and condition; and of the Spirit of God, and his operations; and of the Scriptures, the Gospel, and the doctrines of it; and which is the case of all men in a state of nature: but the Lord, by his…”

“blind--God's people, Israel, in captivity, needing a guide. In the ulterior sense the New Testament Church, which was about to be led and enlightened by the Son of God as its leader and shepherd in the wilderness of the Roman empire, until it should reach a city of habitation. "A way . . . they knew not," refers to the various means ployed by Providence for the establishment of the Church in the world, such as would never have occurred to the mind of mere man. "Blind," they are called, as not having heretofore seen God's ways in ordering His Church. make darkness light, &c.--implies that the glorious issue would only be known by the event itself [VITRINGA]. The same holds good of the…”

“And I will lead the blind - Having said in the previous verses what he would do to his enemies, God now speaks of his people. He would conduct them to their own land, as a blind people that needed a guide, and would remove whatever obstacle there was in their way. By the ‘blind’ here, he refers doubtless to his own people. The term is applied originally to his people in captivity, as being ignorant, after their seventy years’ exile, of the way of return to their own land. It is possible that it may have a reference to the fact, so often charged on them, that they were characteristically a stupid and spiritually blind people. But it is more probable that it is the language of tenderness…”

“The blind - The Gentiles. By a way - By the way of truth, which hitherto has been hidden from them, yea, I will take away all hindrances; I will direct then in the right way; I will enlighten their dark minds, and rectify their perverse wills and affections, until I have brought theirs to the end of their journey. Isaiah 42:18”

“I will bring: Isa 29:18, Isa 29:24, Isa 30:21, Isa 32:3, Isa 35:5, Isa 35:8, Isa 48:17, Isa 54:13, Isa 60:1, Isa 60:2, Isa 60:19, Isa 60:20; Jer 31:8, Jer 31:9; Hos 2:14; Luk 1:78, Luk 1:79; Eph 5:8 lead: Isa 41:3; Jos 3:4; Hos 2:6 crooked: Isa 40:4, Isa 45:2; Ecc 1:15, Ecc 7:13; Luk 3:5 straight: Heb. into straightness and not: Psa 94:14; Jer 32:39-41; Eze 14:23; Rom 5:8-10, Rom 8:29-31; Th2 2:13, Th2 2:14; Pe1 1:3-5; Heb 13:5 Isaiah 42:17”

“The great thing which is brought to pass by means of this catastrophe is the redemption of His people. "And I lead the blind by a way that they know not; by steps that they know not, I make them walk: I turn dark space before them into light, and rugged places into a plain. These are the things that I carry out, and do not leave." The "blind" are those who have been deprived of sight by their sin, and the consequent punishment. The unknown ways in which Jehovah leads them, are the ways of deliverance, which are known to Him alone, but which have now been made manifest in the fulness of time. The "dark space" (machshâk) is their existing state of hopeless misery; the "rugged places"…”