In several passages of the Scriptures, we read of individuals who were blind. In this article, we shall be considering three men who lost their sight: Zedekiah, Samson and Elymas. In a particular way, they tell something of the work of the enemy at a spiritual level, for we read, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2Co 4:3-4).1
It has often been said that the believer has three enemies – the world, the flesh and the devil. In the above quotation, we understand how Satan, by various means, prevents people from seeing the truth of the gospel. We shall look at the three men mentioned and how they picture the work of these enemies.
The World and Its Effect on Zedekiah
“Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign …. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD …. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon …. And it came to pass … that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem … and the king [Zedekiah] went the way toward the plain. And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him …. So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon” (2Ki 24:18-25:7).
Zedekiah was what we might term a “puppet king” with no fear of God. All he had ever known was Babylon with its pleasures and its wickedness. He had been appointed by Nebuchadnezzar, and he rebelled both against the king of Babylon and against God.
When the Babylonians besieged Jerusalem, he fled but was soon captured, and before his eyes were put out, the last thing he saw was the execution of his sons. Prior to this, his reign was one of wickedness, and, despite being rebuked by Jeremiah (2Ch 36:12), he persisted in evil, bringing about the destruction of the walls of Jerusalem and the house of God, before being carried away to Babylon. Why do we see him as a picture of the world? Because as a king, he was more interested in the pleasures of Babylon than in the things of God. He was an unworthy descendant of David and Solomon. Much of our present-day society has no time for God nor His Word. Like Zedekiah, they pay no heed to what God has said.
The Flesh and Its Power Over Samson
“And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightiest be bound. … And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; that he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man …. And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. … But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes” (Jdg 16:10-21).
Samson had such strength that he killed a young lion, caught 300 foxes and then smote the Philistines “hip and thigh with a great slaughter.” But his “Achilles’ heel,” his weakness, was in the lust of the flesh. Judges 16 records Samson being with a harlot and then with Delilah. In the NT in Corinth, immoral sin seriously affected the testimony of God. When Paul arrived and started to preach the gospel, many were saved and baptized, and an assembly was formed. But instead of maintaining the pure character of the assembly, the believers allowed shameful immoral practices in their midst, seemingly boasting of their tolerance. The apostle’s judgment was firm, calling upon them to deal with this sin (1Co 5) by the exclusion of the guilty parties. It is not enough for an assembly to hold to sound doctrine; there must be holiness in the lives of the saints. Believers are not simply saints by name; they must be so by character and behavior.
The Devil and His Influence on Elymas
“Sergius Paulus, a prudent man, … called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, and said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord” (Act 13:7-12).
Clearly, Elymas had considerable influence on the governor Sergius Paulus, who was possibly impressed by the sorcerer’s displays of magic. Paul denounced Elymas for his activities in turning men away from the gospel. What Paul did was no act of magic but a work of the power of God in inflicting blindness upon this man. When Paul called him a child of the devil, it was a penetrating description of the man and the source of his magic. The governor was left in doubt as to the evil nature of what Elymas had been doing. Such was the effect on Sergius Paulus that he believed, no doubt having heard what Paul had said before Elymas intervened.
Second Corinthians 4:4 reminds us of the principal objective of the devil: that of turning sinners away from seeing their need of repentance and faith in Christ. We live in a world where there is no place for faith in the gospel, a world in which Satan offers every imaginable attraction and activity to fill peoples’ lives. The three men we have referred to were blinded in different ways. But like the blind man who was healed in John 9, the believer can declare, “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see” (v25).
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV.
