2/118 — The same objection repeated
"Those who do not know said, 'If only God would speak to us, or a sign would come to us!' Those before them said the same thing. Their hearts have become alike."
This short sentence may be taken as the summary of the whole section. For fifty verses the sūra had recounted the story of an old community; here it is said why that story was recounted: because the same objection is repeated in the same form.
The demand is the same too: at verse 55 it was said "we will not believe until we see God plainly"; here it is said "if only God would speak to us". Centuries have passed, the addressee has changed, the language has changed — the demand has not.
And the character of the demand is the same: to ask for a direct, unmediated, personal proof. Such a demand is not impossible to meet; but when it is met, a new one is asked for — because what is really wanted is not the proof but the postponement that demanding a proof provides.
The verse had given its answer in the preceding sentence: "We have made the signs plain for a people who want to know with certainty." The sign, that is, is already there; what is missing is the intention to look.