The margin has “daubed” instead of shut, and thus comes nearer to the original, tack, from teach, which Gesenins defines “to spread over, to daub, to besmear, to plaster.” The words convey the idea of something smeared over the eyes to close them. Harmer suggests, as an explanation of the expression, a reference to a custom followed in the East Indies. The Great Mogul once sealed up his son’s eyes for three years as a punishment, and at the expiration of that time removed the seal. This is given on the authority of Sir Thomas Roe’s chaplain, who does not tell us, however, what was put upon the eyes to produce this result. Dr. Russell tells of a Jewish wedding in Aleppo, where the eyelids of the bride were fastened together with gum, and only the bridegroom was to open them. It is possible that in Isaiah’s day there was some mode of causing temporary blindness by smearing the eyes, and that this is referred to in the text.