“Let them alone. They are blind guides. And if the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
In contrast the Pharisees must be left to themselves, for they are blind guides, and anyone who follows them will, with them, fall into a ditch. It would seem that the Pharisees did actually claim to be ‘guides to the blind'. But Jesus' picture is vivid. There was a great deal of blindness in the ancient world, and very little help for the blind. The blind very often did lead the blind, for no one else would. And the consequence would often be disastrous for there were many unseen pits around. In the same way, says Jesus, these men who claimed that they could see, and who offered to lead those who were religiously blind, were in fact blind and would only lead men into a spiritual ditch. And that is why He was revealing their blindness. ‘For judgment I came into this world, that those who see not might see, and that those who see may become (be revealed as) blind' (see John 9:39-41). This idea of spiritual blindness is a constant theme of Jesus (Matthew 13:15; Matthew 23:16; Matthew 23:24; John 9:39-41), as it was of the prophets.