Similar to this came in another chapter from the Book of Acts, which is: "So they departed, disagreeing among themselves, after Yunus [Paul] had spoken one word: 'Well did the Holy Spirit speak through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying: Go to this people and say: You shall indeed hear but not understand, and you shall indeed look but not perceive. For the heart of this people has grown dull, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and return."
Similar to it is the saying of the Almighty in Surah Al-Imran: {There has already been for you a sign in the two armies which met—one fighting in the cause of Allah and another disbelieving. They saw them as twice their own number by [the eyesight of] the eye. And Allah supports with His victory whom He wills. Indeed in that is a lesson for those of vision}1. The intent here regarding the "army that fights in the cause of Allah" is the Messenger of Allah (PBUH), his Successor (Wasi), and those who followed them from the Worlds of Light—peace be upon them from us.
As for the intent of His saying—Glory be to Him: {They saw them as twice their own number by the eyesight of the eye}, it is to affirm the transformation (taqallub) within the eyes of the beholders. This is because He who showed them, by His power, that they were