Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 44:13
The carpenter stretcheth out [his] rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.
13. The carpenter ] lit., “the workman in wood.”
stretcheth out a line, (R.V.)] to mark off the dimensions of the future image on the block of wood. For line in the next clause read pencil (as R.V.); the word, like that for “planes” (which may mean “chisels” or any cutting implement), occurs only here.
fitteth ] R.V. “shapeth”; lit. maketh.
that it may remain in the house ] to dwell in a house; either a great temple, or a private shrine.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The carpenter – The axe is made Isa 44:12, and the carpenter now proceeds to the construction of the god.
Stretcheth out his rule – For the purpose of laying out his work, or measuring it. The word rendered here rule, however ( qav), means properly a line; and should be so rendered here. The carpenter stretches out a line, but not a rule.
He marketh it out with a line – He marks out the shape; the length, and breadth, and thickness of the body, in the rough and unhewn piece of wood. He has an idea in his mind of the proper shape of a god, and he goes to work to make one of that form. The expression to mark out with a line, is, however, not congruous. The word which is used here, and which is rendered line ( s’ered) occurs nowhere else in the Bible. Lowth and Kimchi render it, Red ochre. According to this the reference is to the chalk, red clay, or crayon, which a carpenter uses on a line to mark out his work. But according to Gesenius, the word means an awl, or a stylus, or engraver; with which the artist sketches the outlines of the figure to be sculptured. A carpenter always uses such an instrument in laying out and marking his work.
He fitteth it with planes – Or rather with chisels, or carving-tools, with which wooden images were carved. Planes are rather adapted to a smooth surface; carving is performed with chisels. The word is derived from qatsa, to cut off. The Chaldee renders it, ‘azemel – A knife. The Septuagint renders this, Framed it by rule, and glued the parts together.
Marketh it out with the compass – From chug, to make a circle, to revolve, as compasses do. By a compass he accurately designates the parts, and marks out the symmetry of the form.
According to the beauty of a man – Perhaps there may be a little sarcasm here in the thought that a god should be made in the shape of a man. It was true, however, that the statues of the gods among the ancients were made after the most perfect conceptions of the human form. The statuary of the Greeks was of this description, and the images of Apollo, of Venus, and of Jupiter, have been celebrated everywhere as the most perfect representations of the bureau form.
That it may remain in the house – To dwell in a temple. Such statues were usually made to decorate a temple; or rather perhaps temples were reared to be dwelling places of the gods. It may be implied here, that the idol was of no use but to remain in a house. It could not hear, or save. It was like a useless piece of furniture, and had none of the attributes of God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
He here speaks, either,
1. Of the same image, which is supposed to be made of wood, and then covered with some metal; or,
2. Of another sort of images made of wood, as the former might be made of iron. It is not material which way you understand it.
He marketh it with a line; he measureth and marketh that portion of wood by his rule and line of which the idol is to be made.
According to the beauty of a man; in the same comely shape and proportions which are in a living man, whom he designs to represent as exactly as is possible.
That it may remain, or sit, or dwell; which implies either,
1. That it cannot stir out of its place; or,
2. That when the image is made, it is set up and fixed in its appointed place.
In the house; either in the temple appointed for it; or in the dwelling-house of him that made it; that he and his family might more frequently give worship to it, and might receive protection from it, as idolaters vainly imagined.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. After the smith’s work inpreparing the instruments comes the carpenter’s work in forming theidol.
rulerather, “line”[BARNES].
with a linerather, a”pencil,” [HORSLEY].Literally, “red ochre,” which he uses to mark on the woodthe outline of the figure [LOWTH].Or best, the stylus or graver, with which the incision of the outlineis made [GESENIUS].
planesrather,”chisels” or “carving tools,” for a plane wouldnot answer for carving.
compassfrom a Hebrewroot, “to make a circle”; by it, symmetry of form issecured.
according to . . . beauty ofa manirony. The highest idea the heathen could form of a godwas one of a form like their own. JEROMEsays, “The more handsome the statue the more august the god wasthought.” The incarnation of the Son of God condescends to thisanthropomorphic feeling so natural to man, but in such a way as toraise man’s thoughts up to the infinite God who “is a spirit.”
that it may remain in . . .housethe only thing it was good for; it could not hear norsave (compare Wisdom 13:15).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The carpenter stretcheth out his rule,…. Or, the worker of trees e; that works in wood, or makes images of wood; having cut down a tree, he stretches out his rule or line upon it, and takes the dimensions of it, and measures the length and the breadth of it, as much as is for his purpose to make a god of: and then
he maketh it out with a line; coloured with ochre, or chalk, which leaves a mark, by which he knows where to cut it, and fashion it to his mind:
and he fitteth it with planes; first with the rougher planes, which take off the knotty and more rugged parts; and then with a smoother plane, makes it even, and polishes it:
and he marketh it out with a compass; where its head and body, and legs and arms, and other parts must be:
and maketh it after the figure of a man; with all the parts and proportion of a man:
according to the beauty of a man; with the face and countenance of a man; with all the lineaments and just symmetry of a man; in the most comely and beautiful manner he is capable of, that it may be the more striking and pleasing to the worshippers of it. Jarchi’s note is,
“this is a woman, who is the glory of her husband;”
and so the Targum,
“according to the praise of a woman;”
there being female deities, as Juno, Venus, Diana, and others:
that it may remain in the house f; either in the temple built for it, whither its rotaries repair to the worship of it; or in the dwelling house, being one of the Lares or Penates, household gods: it may be, this is said by way of scorn and contempt; this god being made, is set up in the house, from whence it cannot stir nor move, to the help of any of its worshippers.
e “faber lignorum”, Montanus; “artifex lignarius”, V. L. Pagninus; “faber lignarius”, Vitringa. f The note of Ben Melech is, “as it is the glory of a woman to abide in the house, and not go out of doors, so a graven image abides in the house.”
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
13. That it may abide in the house. Thus he shews the folly of such intense application; for their toil brings no other reward than to see their idols resting indolently without motion in the position which has been assigned to them, just, as if a sluggard were crouching over a fire or reclining on a couch.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) The carpenter.The wooden idol comes next. First there is the rough measurement with the rule; then the artificer draws the outline of the figure in red chalk. Plane and compasses come in to make the form more definite. The human figure is complete; then there is the artists final touch to add the element of beauty; and so it is ready for the house, or temple.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 44:13 The carpenter stretcheth out [his] rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.
Ver. 13. The carpenter stretcheth out his rule. ] As did the carpenter of Cockram, who yet made but an ill-shaped rood, and was forced to sue for his money. a Mrs Catismore suffered in King Henry VIII’s days for saying that images were but carpenters’ chips; and yet they are no better. That is a remarkable saying of Seneca, Ridiculum est genu posito, &c. It is a ridiculous thing to worship images, and yet to slight the man that made them.
And maketh it after the figure of a man.
a Acts and Mon., fol. 1340.
b Quasi ad hostimentum.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
he marketh: Exo 20:4, Exo 20:5, Deu 4:16-18, Deu 4:28, Act 17:29, Rom 1:23
that it may: Gen 31:19, Gen 31:30, Gen 31:32, Gen 35:2, Deu 27:15, Jdg 17:4, Jdg 17:5, Jdg 18:24, Eze 8:12
Reciprocal: 2Ch 33:22 – for Amon sacrificed Isa 40:20 – chooseth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
44:13 The carpenter stretcheth out [his] rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in {t} the house.
(t) To place it in some Temple.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Idol-making is a complex process involving many steps and requiring much activity and some human skill. The whole idea is to create a god in the closest possible likeness to man, supposedly the highest form of life, complete with man’s needs. Here a carpenter rather than a blacksmith is the craftsman. The type of craftsman really does not matter since any human will do. One idol may be in view in Isa 44:12-13, first carved out of wood and then adorned with metal, or Isaiah may have had in mind two different idols, one metal and the other wood.
"We have not progressed beyond that today. The doctrine called humanism is only an abstract form of this age-old effort. We will be God, and God will be us." [Note: Oswalt, The Book . . . 40-66, pp. 180-81.]