Blindness and Sight

Greek myths valorize blindness. Tiresias is a blind seer, and when Oedipus finally “sees,” he becomes Tiresias, digging out his eyes with Jocasta’s brooches. The bard who sings of the Trojan War in the Odyssey is, like Homer himself, blind. For the Greeks, the sightless are the true seers. 

Scripture never valorizes blindness. Isaac’s physical blindness is a sign of his moral obtuseness, as is Eli’s (1 Samuel 3:2). Justice isn’t blind; rather, bribes blind judges who ought to have their eyes open to see good and evil (cf. 1 Samuel 12:3). Jesus heals the blind.

The eyes are the organs of judgment, so a blindfolded Justice would be nonsensical. A ruler learns to do justice not by closing his eyes, but by an intensification of sight. A judge sees past the surface and refuses to decide on the basis of rumor, and so judges with fairness (Isaiah 11:1-4). 

Christ the resurrected judge isn’t blind. He has eyes of fire, eyes that can see into the darkness.

No doubt these different valuations of blindness and sight are linked to some larger contrasts between Greek culture and the Bible. And one can take note of these differences without adopting a global Hellenistic-versus-Hebrew opposition.