Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 13:15

"For this people`s heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed; Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And should turn again, And I should heal them." — Matthew 13:15 (ASV)

Matthew goes on to give a “fulfillment formula” passage from Isa 6:9–10.

The Messiah who comes to reveal the Father (11:25–27) succeeds only in dulling what little spiritual sense many of the people have, for they do not want to turn and be healed. The context of Isa 6:9–10 reveals that their dullness will continue “until the cities lie ruined... and the fields ruined and ravaged... and the land is utterly forsaken...” (Isaiah 6:11–13). The reference is to the Exile; but the events surrounding it are seen as a paradigm, the classic case of rejection of God and resulting judgment, repeated in Jesus’ generation on a new level and so fulfilling the words of the prophecy.

The part of v.15 beginning with “Otherwise” expresses God’s judgment: the people have closed their eyes as the result of divine judicial action, otherwise they might see and turn, etc. The thought then becomes similar to 2 Thessalonians 2:11. Neither Jesus nor Matthew would see anything incongruous in God’s judicial hardening (see comment on v.13).