erpreted, there is
nothing in the passage to create difficulty.

John xii. 37, 41, reads thus: "But though He had done so many
miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him: that the saying
of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who
hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been
revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because Esaias said
again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that
they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their
heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said
Esaias when he saw His glory, and spake of Him." Calvin held that
John, "citing this prophecy (of Isaiah), declares that the Jews
could not believe because this curse of God was upon them." The
first portion of the quotation is from Isaiah liii. 1, "who hath
believed our report?" &c. The question would imply that
comparatively few had at first responded to the Gospel invitation.
The larger portion of the passage is from Isaiah vi. It is as
follows: "Go ye, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but
understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart
of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and
understand with their hearts, and convert, and be healed" (vers. 9,
10). The passage is quoted by Matthew (xiii. 14, 15). Dr. Randolph,
as quoted by Horne, says on this passage, "This quotation is taken
almost verbatim from the Septuagint. In the Hebrew the sense is
obscured by false pointing. If instead of reading it in the
imperative mood, we read it in the indicative mood, the sense will
be, 'Ye shall hear, but not understand; and ye shall see, but not
perceive. This people hath made their heart fat, and hath made their
ears heavy, and shut their eyes,' &c., which agrees in _sense_ with
the evangelist and with the Septuagint, as well as with the Syriac
and Arabic versions, but not with the Latin Vulgate. We have the
same quotation, word for word, in Acts xxviii. 26. Mark and Luke
refer to the same prophecy, but quote it only in part." The Hebrew
vowel points which make the passage in Isaiah to be read in the
imperative mood were only introduced some 700 years after the birth
of Christ (Gesenius).

Read in this light the passage gives no support to the doctrine
sought to be fastened on it. The oracle was originally applied to
the Jews living in the