Isaiah 42:19

“Who is blind, but my servant? &c.] Kimchi, taking the former words to be spoken to the Jews, thinks this is their reply; who will say in answer to it, why do ye call us blind and deaf? who so blind and deaf as Isaiah the prophet, the servant of the Lord, his messenger, and a perfect one as he is called? but as the preceding words are spoken to the Gentiles, here the Lord does as it were correct himself, as if he should say, why do I call the Gentiles blind and deaf, when the people of the Jews, who call themselves my servants, and pretend to serve and worship me, yet there are none so blind as they in spiritual things? though they have so many opportunities and advantages of light and…”

“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 Isa 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 (Isa 41:8), [GESENIUS]. The language, "my servant" (compare Isa 42:1), "messenger" (Mal 3:1), "perfect" (Rom…”

“Who is blind, but my servant? - Some of the Jewish expositors suppose that by ‘servant’ here, the prophet himself is intended, who, they suppose is here called blind and deaf by the impious Jews who rejected his message. But it is evident, that by ‘servant’ here, the Jewish people themselves are intended, the singular being used for the plural, in a sense similar to that where they are so often called ‘Jacob’ and ‘Israel.’ The phrase ‘servants of God’ is often given to his people, and is used to denote true worshippers. The word is used here to denote those who professed to be the true worshippers of Yahweh. The prophet had, in the previous verses, spoken of the blindness and stupidity of…”

“My servant - The Jews, who will not receive their, Messiah. Messenger - My messengers, the singular number being put for the plural, namely the priests and other teachers whom I have appointed to instruct my people. The Lord's servant - As the most eminent teachers and rulers of the Jews, who were called and obliged to be the Lord's servants, in a special manner. Isaiah 42:20”

“Who is blind: Isa 6:9, Isa 29:9-14, Isa 56:10; Jer 4:22, Jer 5:21; Eze 12:2; Mat 13:14, Mat 13:15, Mat 15:14-16; Mat 23:16-24; Mar 8:17, Mar 8:18; Joh 7:47-49, Joh 9:39, Joh 9:41, Joh 12:40; Rom 2:17-23; Rom 11:7-10, Rom 11:25; Co2 3:14, Co2 3:15, Co2 4:4 Isaiah 42:20”

“The next v. states who these self-willed deaf and blind are, and how necessary this arousing was. "Who is blind, but my servant? and deaf, as my messenger whom I send? who blind as the confidant of God, and blind as the servant of Jehovah?" The first double question implies that Jehovah's servant and messenger is blind and deaf in a singular and unparalleled way. The words are repeated, the questioner dwelling upon the one predicate ‛ı̄vvēr, "blind," in which everything is affirmed, and, according to Isaiah's favourite custom, returning palindromically to the opening expression "servant of Jehovah" (cf., Isa 40:19; Isa 42:15, and many other passages). משׁלּם does not mean "the perfect one,"…”