Partial Blindness
“And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.” And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.” Acts 13:11
The blindness of Elymas caused Sergius Paulus to believe. The temporary blindness of a Jew brought about the conversion of a Gentile.
A repeated symbolic concept in Scripture is that of sight and blindness. Samson and King Zedekiah both lost their eyes. Isaac and Eli were blind. From Genesis 1:4, 3:6 and 6:2 we learn that eyes are organs of discernment and judgment. The process of maturity makes wise judges who are “the eyes of the Lord”, walking “to and fro on the earth”, collecting evidence to present before His court. Bible symbols are consistent, and their meanings become plain to the saints with their “new eyes.” Those who refused to obey the gospel twisted the Scriptures to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16).
“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness [hardness] in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” Romans 11:25
…Herod and the Jews had symbolically become Egypt, hardened like Pharaoh (Romans 9:17-18; Hebrews 3:16; 8:9; 11:26-29; Jude 1:5; Revelation 11:8). The old Jerusalem was Hagar, and the New Jerusalem was Sarah. Christians, not Jews, were “the promised child.” Judaism had become childless like Naomi, and it was only the “fullness” of outsiders, Peter’s “unclean animals”—Ruth—that rescued the people of God from spiritual famine, the extinction of unbelief. The barrenness of Egypt was replaced with the harvest of Pentecost.
…Agabus the prophet foretold a famine in Judea (the curse for the shedding of Stephen’s innocent blood), but the Antioch saints sent relief (the richness of ‘Ruth’) to those in Judea.
