A state of spiritual blindness and deep confusion transforms divine messages and unfolding events into an unsolved mystery. It is much like holding a locked scroll that cannot be read. Even a literate person, when handed a book sealed with wax to protect its secrets [רש״י, ביאור שטיינזלץ], will claim he is simply unable to read it.
The primary approach among commentators is that this mystery refers to the prophecies delivered by all of God's prophets. However, there are other ways to understand this hidden message. It can represent a failure to understand the events and happenings taking place in the real world [שד״ל, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Alternatively, it refers to everything people would attempt to see and predict through astrology [רש״י].
When the literate person claims he cannot read the sealed book, commentators offer two distinct ways to understand his reaction. The first approach views this as a genuine inability or a strict lack of permission. The prophetic message is entirely hidden from the people, leaving them completely unable to understand it [רש״י, אבן עזרא]. From this perspective, the people assume that even the prophet himself does not grasp the meaning of his own message. They view him merely as a messenger carrying a letter stamped with God's personal seal, possessing neither the ability nor the authority to break that seal and reveal its contents [מלבי״ם, ביאור שטיינזלץ].
On the other hand, a second approach views the reader's response as a dishonest excuse and an act of evasion. In this view, the literate person represents the wise men and false prophets of that generation. These leaders actively choose not to understand God's words or speak the truth to the people, preferring instead to flatter the wicked. They take advantage of the fact that certain aspects of God's messages are obscure, using the seal as a convenient excuse to ignore them completely. According to this perspective, if these leaders truly wanted to understand, they would not simply dismiss the book as sealed. Instead, they would make an effort to break the seal or seek out the true prophet to explain the hidden meaning [רד״ק, מצודת דוד, שד״ל].