Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages [were] heavy laden; [they are] a burden to the weary [beast].
1, 2. The ignominious flight of the gods of Babylon. Bel and Nebo are the Jupiter and Mercury of the Babylonian pantheon (they are represented by these planets), and were the supreme deities in Babylon at this time. Bel ( Blu) is the Babylonian form of the Hebrew Ba‘al (= lord), and like that word is a generic name applicable to any deity. When used as a proper name it usually denotes Merodach (Marduk), the tutelary divinity of the city of Babylon (so Jer 50:2; Jer 51:44); although there was an older Bel, who is spoken of as his father. The elevation of Bel-Merodach to the chief place among the older gods, as recorded in the mythical Chaldan account of the Creation (Tablet IV., 1 ff.), is the legendary counterpart of the ascendency acquired by Babylon over the more ancient cities of the Euphrates Valley. Nebo ( Nabu) was the son of Merodach; the chief seat of his worship being Borsippa, in the vicinity of Babylon. His name, which is supposed to be from the same root as the Hebrew nb’, “prophet,” seems to mark him out as the “speaker” of the gods (another point of contact with Mercury, “the chief speaker,” Act 14:12). He was also regarded as the inventor of writing. The frequency with which the Chaldan kings are named after him (Nabo-polassar, Nebu-chadnezzar, Nabo-nidus) has been thought to shew that he was the patron deity of the dynasty.
boweth down stoopeth (better croucheth)] The second verb to be pointed, like the first, as perfect (prophetic pf.).
their idols (ch. Isa 10:11) are (R.V.) upon the beasts, and upon the cattle ] The allusion is hardly to the custom of carrying away the idols of a conquered nation (Jer 48:7; Jer 49:3; Hos 10:5 f.), but rather to an attempt of the Babylonians to carry off their images on the approach of the Persians (see Isa 46:2). Similarly, Merodach-Baladan packed his idols on ships and carried them off, at the approach of Sennacherib (Schrader, Cuneiform Inscr., Vol. ii. p. 36.) Beasts and cattle usually mean respectively “wild beasts” and “domestic animals”; here, however, they both denote beasts of burden simply.
your carriages were heavy loaden ] Rather as R.V. the things that ye carried about, i.e. in religious processions (ch. Isa 45:20), are made a load. “At the New Year’s festival the images of Merodach and his son Nebo were carried through Babylon in solemn procession on sacred barques of great magnificence, and along a promenade prepared for this purpose since Nabopolassar” (Fried. Delitzsch, quoted by Delitzsch, Comm. p. 403). Such scenes must have been familiar to the prophet and his readers, and gave additional point to the contrasted picture here imagined.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Bel boweth down – Bel or Belus ( bel, from beel, the same as baal was the chief domestic god of the Babylonians, and was worshipped in the celebrated tower of Babylon (compare Jer 50:2; Jer 51:44). It was usual to compound names of the titles of the divinities that were worshipped, and hence, we often meet with this name, as in Bel-shazzar, Bel-teshazzar, Baal-Peor, Baal-zebub, Baal-Gad, Baal-Berith. The Greek and Roman writers compare Bel with Jupiter, and the common name which they give to this idol is Jupiter Belus (Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxvii. 10; Cic. De Nat. Deor. iii. 16; Diod. ii. 8, 9). Herodotus (i. 181-183) says, that in the center of each division of the city of Babylon (for the Euphrates divided the city into two parts) there is a circular space surrounded by a wall. In one of these stands the royal palace, which fills a large and strongly defended space.
The temple of Jupiter Belus, says he, occupies the other, whose huge gates of brass may still be seen. It is a square building, each side of which is of the length of two furlongs. In the midst, a tower rises of the solid depth and height of one furlong; on which, resting as a base, seven other turrets are built in regular succession. The ascent on the outside, winding from the ground, is continued to the highest tower; and in the middle of the whole structure there is a convenient resting place. In this temple there is a small chapel, which contains a figure of Jupiter in a sitting posture, with a large table before him; these, with the base of the table, and the sear of the throne, are all of the purest gold. There was formerly in this temple a statue of solid gold, twelve cubits high. This was seized, says Herodotus, by Xerxes, who put the priest to death who endeavored to prevent its removal.
The upper room of this tower was occupied as an observatory. The idol Baal, or Bel, was especially the god of the Phenicians, of the Canaanites, of the Chaldeans, of the Moabites, and of some of the surrounding nations. The most common opinion has been, that the idol was the sun (see the notes at Isa 17:8-9), and that, under this name, this luminary received divine honors. But Gesenius supposes that by the name Jupiter Belus was not denoted Jupiter, the father of the gods, but the planet Jupiter, Stella Jovis, which was regarded, together with Venus, as the giver of all good fortune; and which forms with Venus the most fortunate of all constellations under which sovereigns can be born. The planet Jupiter, therefore, he supposes to have been worshipped under the name Bel, and the planet Venus under the name of Astarte, or Astareth (see Gesenius, Commentary zu Isaiah, ii. 333ff, and Robinsons Calmet, Art. Baal). The phrase boweth down, means here, probably, that the idol sunk down, fell, or was removed. It was unable to defend the city, and was taken captive, and carried away. Jerome renders Confractus est Bel – Bel is broken. The Septuagint, Epese Bel – Bel has fallen. Perhaps in the language there is allusion to the fact that Dagon fell before the ark of God 1Sa 5:2-3, 1Sa 5:7. The sense is, that even the object of worship – that which was regarded as the most sacred among the Chaldeans – would be removed.
Nebo stoopeth – This was an idol-god of the Chaldeans. In the astrological mythology of the Babylonians, according to Gesenius (Commentary zu Isaiah ii. 333ff), this idol was the planet Mercury. He is regarded as the scribe of the heavens, who records the succession of the celestial and terrestrial events; and is related to the Egyptian Hermes and Anubis. The extensive worship of this idol among the Chaldeans and Assyrians is evident from the many compound proper names occurring in the Scriptures, of which this word forms a part, as Neb-uchadnezzar, Neb-uzaradan: and also in the classics, as Nab-onad, Nab-onassar. Nebo was, therefore, regarded as an attendant on Bel, or as his scribe. The exact form of the idol is, however, unknown. The word stoopeth, means that it had fallen down, as when one is struck dead he falls suddenly to the earth; and the language denotes conquest, where even the idols so long worshipped would be thrown down. The scene is in Babylon, and the image in the mind of the prophet is that of the city taken, and the idols that were worshipped thrown down by the conqueror, and carried away in triumph.
Their idols were upon the beasts – That is, they are laid upon the beasts to be borne away in triumph. It was customary for conquerors to carry away all that was splendid and valuable, to grace their triumph on their return; and nothing would be a more certain indication of victory, or a more splendid accompaniment to a triumph, than the gods whom the vanquished nations had adored. Thus in Jer 48:7, it is said, And Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, with his priests and his princes together (compare Jer 44:3, margin.)
Your carriages – That is, they were laden with the idols that were thus borne off in triumph.
They are a burden – They are so numerous; so heavy; and to be borne so far. This is a very striking and impressive manner of foretelling that the city of Babylon would be destroyed. Instead of employing the direct language of prophecy, the prophet represents himself as seeing the heavy laden animals and wagons moving along slowly, pressed down under the weight of the captured gods to be borne into the distant country of the conqueror. They move forth from Babylon, and the caravan laden with the idols, the spoils of victory, is seen slowly moving forward to a distant land.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 46:1-4
Bel boweth down
Bel and Nebo
Bel and Nebo are the Jupiter and Mercury of the Babylonian pantheon (they are represented by these planets), and were the supreme deities in Babylon at this time.
Bel (Bilu) is the Babylonian form of the Hebrew Baal (= lord), and like that word is a generic name applicable to any deity. When used as a proper name it usually denotes Merodach (Marduk), the tutelary divinity of the city of Babylon (Jer 50:2; Jer 51:44); although there was an older Bel, who is spoken of as his father. The elevation of BelMerodach to the chief place among the older gods, as recorded in the mythical Chaldean account of the Creation (Tablet 4.1 ff.), is the legendary counterpart of the ascendency acquired by Babylon over the more ancient cities of the Euphrates valley. Nebo (Nabu) was the son of Merodach; the chief seat of his worship being Borsippa, in the vicinity of Babylon. His name, which is supposed to be from the same root as the Hebrew nabi, prophet, seems to mark him out as the speaker of the gods (another point of contact with Mercury, the chief speaker– Act 14:12). He was also regarded as the inventor of writing. The frequency with which the Chaldean kings are named after him (Nabo-polassar, Nebu-chadnezzar, Nabo-nidus) has been thought to show that he was the patron deity of the dynasty. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)
A contrast–idols and God
1. This is an incident in the fall of Babylon. Cyrus has broken in, and the mighty city lies open to the Persian army, exasperated by long waiting at her gates. The blood of her nobles has flowed freely over the marble floors of her palaces; most of her defenders are slain. Women and children are cowering in the inmost recesses of their homes, or filling the streets with screams of terror and appeals for help, as they fly from the brutal soldiery. The final and most sanguinary conflicts have taken place within the precincts of the idol temples; but all is still now. The priests have fallen around the altars which they served; their blood mingling with that of their victims, and their splendid vestments are become their winding sheets. And now, down the marble staircases, trodden in happier days by the feet of myriads of votaries, 1 o, the soldiers are carrying the helpless idols. The stern monotheism of Persia would have no pity for the many gods of Babylon; there are no idol-shrines in the land of the sun-worshippers where they could find a niche: but they are borne away as trophies of the completeness of the victory. There is Bel, whose name suggested that of the capital itself. How ignominiously it is handed down from its pedestal! And Nebo follows. The hideous images, lavishly inset with jewels and richly caparisoned, are borne down the stately steps, their bearers laughing and jeering as they come. The gods get little respect from their rude hands, which are only eager to despoil them of a jewel. And now, at the foot of the stairs, they are loaded up on the backs of elephants, or pitched into the ox-waggons. In more prosperous days they were carried with excessive pomp through the streets of Babylon, wherever there was plague or sickness. Then the air had been full of the clang of cymbals and trumpets, and the streets thronged with worshipping crowds; but all that is altered. The things that ye carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary beast. They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity (Isa 46:12, R V). So much for the gods of Babylon being borne off into captivity.
2. Close on this graphic picture of the discomfiture of the gods of Babylon, we are invited to consider a description of Jehovah, in which the opposite to each of these items stands out in clear relief. He speaks to the house of Jacob, and to all the remnant of the house of Israel, as children whom He had borne from the birth, and carried from earliest childhood. Their God needed not to be borne, He bore; needed no carriage, since His everlasting arms made cradle and carriage both. Such am He had been, He would be. He would not change. He would carry them, even to hoar hairs. He had made and He would bear; yea, He would carry and deliver.
3. This contrast is a perpetual one. Some people carry their religion; other people are carried by it. Some are burdened by the prescribed creeds, ritual, observances, exactions, to which they believe themselves to be committed. Others have neither thought nor care for these things. They have yielded themselves to God, and are persuaded that He will bear them and carry them, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that they go, until they come to the place of which God has spoken to them Deu 1:31; Isa 63:9). (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Israels infancy and maturer life
From the womb and from the lap point back to the time when the nation whose existence began with Abraham, marching from Egypt, was born, so to speak, to the light of the world; from that time it has lain like a willingly assumed burden on Jehovah, who carries it as a nurse the babe (Num 11:12); as a man his son (Deu 1:31); as an eagle its young (Deu 32:11). The seneetus and canities in Isa 46:4 are self-evidently the nations, but not as if this were at present in a senile state, but the yet future and latest days of its history. Up to that moment Jehovah is He, i.e the Absolute One, and always the same (chap. 41:4). As He has done hitherto, He will act in the future–bearing and saving. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
National life–its stages
The general analogy between the life of individuals and that of nations, is sufficiently obvious, and is finely expressed by Florus, in his division of the Roman history into the periods of childhood, youth, manhood, and old age. (J. A. Alexander.)
Idols found wanting, but Jehovah found faithful
The confidence of Babylon is buried among her heaps of rubbish, for her gods have fallen from their thrones. As for us, our trust is in the living God, who lives to carry His chosen.
I. FALSE CONFIDENCES PASS AWAY.
1. The Lord has made a full end of false gods and their worship. Bel boweth down, &c. Not only concerning Bel and Nebo, but concerning many a set of heathen deities, a note of exultant derision may be taken up. The idols He shall utterly abolish.
2. The like thing has happened unto false systems of teaching. If you are at all readers of the history of religious thought, you will know that systems of philosophy, and philosophical religions, have come up, and have been generally accepted as indisputable, and have done serious injury to true religion for a time; and yet they have vanished like the mirage of the desert.
3. It will be just the same with us if we trust in false confidences of any sort; such, for instance, as our experiences, or attainments, or services, or orthodox belief.
II. OUR GOD ABIDES ALWAYS THE SAME. Even to your old age I am He. He is always the same in Himself, and always the same to His people.
1. We rightly expect trials between here and heaven; and the ordinary wear and tear of life, even if life should not be clouded by an extreme trial, will gradually wear us out. What saith our God concerning the days of decline and decay? He says to us, I am He. He will not grow weak. His eye will not be dim. His ear will not be heavy.
2. If life should flow never so smoothly, yet there are the rapids of old age, and the broken waters of infirmity, and the cataract of disease–and these we are apt to dread; but why? Is it not sure that the Lord changes not?
3. In the course of years, not only do we change, but our circumstances change. If you are where you ought to be, your confidence is in God now, and you will have the same God then, and He will still be your guardian and provider. His bank will not break, nor His treasury fail.
4. Ah! say you, but what I most mourn is the death of friends. Yes; that calamity is a daily sorrow to men who are getting into years. But the Lord says, I am He, as much as to say, I am left to you, and will not fail you.
5. Some trouble themselves more than there is need concerning prophetic crises which are threatened. We know so little of the future that to worry about it will be the height of unwisdom. The Lord took care of the world before we were here to help Him, and He will do it just as well when we are gone. We can leave politics, religion, trade, morals, and everything else with Him. What we have to do is to obey Him, and trust Him, and rejoice in Him.
6. Still, says one, there are such evil tokens in the Church itself as must cause serious apprehension to godly men. But never despair of the Church of God, for of her it is true, Even to hoar hairs will I carry you; to your old age I am He. The Head of the Church never alters. His choice of His Church is not reversed. His purpose for His Church is not shaken. We shall see better days and brighter times yet, if we have but faith in God and importunity in prayer.
III. WHILE FALSE CONFIDENCES PASS AWAY, GOD WILL FOR EVER BE THE SAME. His former mercies guarantee to us future mercies.
1. He says, I have made. It is well to remember the mercy of God to us in our formation, and in the first days of our birth and infancy. But God made us in another sense. He new-made us.
2. Then He also tells us that He has carried us; and if we have been carried by Him, He will carry us the rest of the way. What a great care has our gracious God, since none of His children can run alone without His power, His love, His grace!
3. Practically, Gods mercies through life are always the same. Notice two things which are always here–the same God and the same mercy. There is nobody else here but the Lord alone with His people. You and your God; and you are nobody but a poor thing that has to be carried. Gods great I, and that alone, fills up the whole space. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XLVI
The idols of Babylon represented as so far from being able to
bear the burden of their votaries, that they themselves are
borne by beasts of burden into captivity, 1, 2.
This beautifully contrasted with the tender care of God, in
bearing his people from first to last in his arms, and
delivering them from their distress, 3, 4.
The prophet, then, with his usual force and elegance, goes on
to show the folly of idolatry, and the utter inability of
idols, 5-7.
From which he passes with great ease to the contemplation of
the attributes and perfections of the true God, 8-10.
Particularly that prescience which foretold the deliverance of
the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, with all its leading
circumstances; and also that very remote event of which it is
the type in the days of the Messiah, 11-13.
NOTES ON CHAP. XLVI
Verse 1. Their carriages were heavy loaden – “Their burdens are heavy”] For nesuotheychem, your burdens, the Septuagint had in their copy nesuotheyhem, their burdens.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Bel; the chief idol of the Babylonians, Jer 50:2; 51:44, called by profane historians Jupiter Belus.
Boweth down; as the Babylonians used to bow down to him to worship him, so now he boweth down and submits himself to the victorious Persians.
Nebo; another of the famous idols, which used to deliver oracles, as his name signifies.
Their idols were upon the beasts; were taken and broken, and the materials of them, which were gold, and silver, and brass, as both Scripture and other authors witness, were carried upon beasts into Persia.
Your carriages, O ye Persians; to whom he suddenly turneth his speech, as is usual;
were heavy laden; they lie upon the backs of your cattle like dull, and unprofitable, and heavy burdens to the beasts, as they had been to men before.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. Belthe same as thePhoelignician Baal, that is, lord, the chief god of Babylon; to itwas dedicated the celebrated tower of Babylon, in the center of oneof the two parts into which the city was divided, the palace being inthe center of the other. Identical with the sun, worshipped onturrets, housetops, and other high places, so as to be nearer theheavenly hosts (Saba) (Jer 19:13;Jer 32:29; Zep 1:5).GESENIUS identifies Belwith the planet Jupiter, which, with the planet Venus (under the nameAstarte or Astaroth), was worshipped in the East as the god offortune, the most propitious star to be born under (see on Isa65:11). According to the Apocryphal book, Bel and the Dragon,Bel was cast down by Cyrus.
boweth . . . stoopethfallethprostrate (Isa 10:4; 1Sa 5:3;1Sa 5:4; Psa 20:8).
Nebothe planet Mercuryor Hermes, in astrology. The scribe of heaven, answering to theEgyptian Anubis. The extensive worship of it is shown by the manyproper names compounded of it: Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuzar-adan,Nabonassar, c.
were uponthat is, werea burden (supplied from the following clause) upon. It wascustomary to transport the gods of the vanquished to the land of theconquerors, who thought thereby the more effectually to keep down thesubject people (1Sa 5:1 Jer 48:7;Jer 49:3; Dan 11:8).
carriagesin the OldEnglish sense of the things carried, the images borne by you:the lading (Ac 21:15),”carriages,” not the vehicles, but the baggage. Or, theimages which used to be carried by you formerly in your solemnprocessions [MAURER].
were heavy loadenrather,are put as a load on the beasts of burden [MAURER].HORSLEY translates, “Theywho should have been your carriers (as Jehovah is to Hispeople, Isa 46:3; Isa 46:4)are become burdens” (see on Isa46:4).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ver. 1 Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth,…. These are names of the idols of Babylon. Bel is by some thought to be the contraction of Baal, the god of the Phoenicians, called by them Beel; so “Beelsamin” h, in the Phoenician language, is Lord of heaven: but rather this is the Belus of the Babylonians, who was a renowned king of them, and after his death deified; whom Nebuchadnezzar, according to Megasthenes i, calls Belus his progenitor, and by whom Babylon was walled about. This idol is, no doubt, the same with Jupiter Belus, who had a temple in Babylon with gates of brass, and which was in being in the times of Herodotus k, as he reports. This name is sometimes taken into the names of their kings, as Belshazzar or Beltesbazaar. Nebo was another of their idols, an oracular one, from whom, by its priests, prophesies of things future were pretended to be given out; for it may have its name from , “to prophesy”, and answers to the Apollo or Mercury of other nations. The Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint has very wrongly, instead of it, Dagon the god of the Philistines; and so the Arabic version “Dsagon”. This name Nebo was also taken into the names of the kings of Babylon, as Nabonassar, Nabopalassar, Nebuchadnezzar, and others. As Bel is the same with Belus, so Nebo is the same with Beltis, the queen Megasthenes or Abydenus speaks of in the same place; and Bel may design the sun, and Nebo the moon, which may have its name from
, “to bud forth”, or “make fruitful”, as the moon does; see
De 33:14. It is said of both these deities, that they “stooped” or “bowed down”; being taken down from the high places where they were set upright, and looked grand and majestic, and where they might be seen and worshipped by the people. Jarchi gives the words another sense, that it represents in a sarcastic way these idols, as through fear, in a like condition that men are in, in a fit of the colic, who not being able to get to the solid stool, are obliged to bend their knees, and ease themselves as they can l. Aben Ezra seems to refer to the same signification of the word, when he says the sense was well known, but it was not fit to write it. The prophet goes on in the derision of these idols:
their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle; that is, being taken down, and broke to pieces for the sake of the silver, and gold, and brass that were about them, or they were made of, they were put into sacks by the Persians, and laid upon camels, and mules, and horses, and transported into Media and Persia. Jarchi interprets it, their idols are like to beasts, which defile themselves with their dung as they do; and so the Targum renders it,
“their images are “in” the likeness of serpents and beasts.”
These were the forms of them:
your carriages were heavy loaden, they are a burden to the weary beast; this seems to be spoken to the Persians, who loaded their carriages, and their beasts, with this lumber, that their wagons were ready to break down, and their cattle groaned under the weight of it; a sarcastic jeer at the idols which were become the plunder and prey of the soldiers. It was usual at the taking of cities to demolish the idols of them; and this was typical of the demolition of Heathen idols, and the cessation of Heathen oracles in the Gentile world, through the spread of the Gospel in it, in the first times of Christianity.
h Sanchoniatho apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 1. c. 10. p. 34. i Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 4. l. p. 456. k Clio, sive l. 1. c. 181. Vid. Pausan. Messen. p. 261. l Vid. gloss. in T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 63. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
There follows now a trilogy of prophecies referring to Babylon. After the prophet has shown what Israel has to expect of Cyrus, he turns to what awaits Babylon at the hands of Cyrus. “Bel sinketh down, Nebo stoopeth; its images come to the beast of burden and draught cattle: your litters are laden, a burden for the panting. They stopped, sank down all at once, and could not get rid of the burden; and their own self went into captivity.” The reference to Babylon comes out at once in the names of the gods. Bel was the Jupiter of the Babylonians and, as Bel-Merodach, the tutelar deity of Babylon; Nebo was Mercury, the tutelar deity of the later Chaldean royal family, as the many kings’ names in which it appears clearly show (e.g., Mabonassar, Nabo-polassar, etc.). The pryamidal heap of ruins on the right bank of the Euphrates, which is now called Birs Nimrud, is the ruin of the temple of Bel, of which Herodotus gives a description in i. 181-183, and probably also of the tower mentioned in Gen 11, which was dedicated to Bel, if not to El = Saturn. Herodotus describes two golden statues of Bel which were found there (cf., Diodorus, ii. 9, 5), but the way in which Nebo was represented is still unknown. The judgment of Jehovah falls upon these gods through Cyrus. Bel suddenly falls headlong, and Nebo stoops till he also falls. Their images come to (fall to the lot of) the c hayyah , i.e., the camels, dromedaries, and elephants; and b e hemah , i.e., horses, oxen, and asses. Your , gestamina , the prophet exclaims to the Babylonians, i.e., the images hitherto carried by you in solemn procession (Isa 45:20; Amo 5:26; Jer 10:5), are now packed up, a burden for that which is wearied out, i.e., for cattle that has become weary with carrying them. In Isa 46:1, as the two participial clauses show, the prophet still takes his stand in the midst of the catastrophe; but in Isa 46:2 it undoubtedly lies behind him as a completed act. In Isa 46:2 he continues, as in Isa 46:1, to enter into the delusion of the heathen, and distinguish between the numina and simulacra . The gods of Babylon have all stooped at once, have sunken down, and have been unable to save their images which were packed upon the cattle, out of the hands of the conquerors. In Isa 46:2 he destroys this delusion: they are going into captivity (Hos 10:5; Jer 48:7; Jer 49:3), even “their ownself” ( naphsham ), since the self or personality of the beingless beings consists of nothing more than the wood and metal of which their images are composed.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Folly of Idolatry. | B. C. 708. |
1 Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast. 2 They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity. 3 Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb: 4 And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.
We are here told,
I. That the false gods will certainly fail their worshippers when they have most need of them, Isa 46:1; Isa 46:2. Bel and Nebo were two celebrated idols of Babylon. Some make Bel to be a contraction of Baal; others rather think not, but that it was Belus, one of their first kings, who after his death was deified. As Bel was a deified prince, so (some think) Nebo was a deified prophet, for so Nebo signifies; so that Bel and Nebo were their Jupiter and their Mercury or Apollo. Barnabas and Paul passed at Lystra for Jupiter and Mercury. The names of these idols were taken into the names of their princes, Bel into Belshazzar’s, Nebo into Nebuchadnezzar’s and Nebuzaradan’s, c. These gods they had long worshipped, and in their revels praised them for their successes (as appears, Dan. v. 4) and they insulted over Israel as if Bel and Nebo were too hard for Jehovah and could detain them in captivity in defiance of their God. Now, that this might be no discouragement to the poor captives, God here tells them what shall become of these idols, which they threaten them with. When Cyrus takes Babylon, down go the idols. It was usual then with conquerors to destroy the gods of the places and people they conquered, and to put the gods of their own nation in the room of them, ch. xxxvii. 19. Cyrus will do so; and then Bel and Nebo, that were set up on high, and looked great, bold, and erect, shall stoop and bow down at the feet of the soldiers that plunder their temples. And because there is a great deal of gold and silver upon them, which was intended to adorn them, but serves to expose them, they carry them away with the rest of the spoil. The carriers’ horses, or mules, are laden with them and their other idols, to be sent among other lumber (for so it seems they accounted them rather than treasure) into Persia. So far are they from being able to support their worshippers that they are themselves a heavy load in the wagons, and a burden to the weary beast. The idols cannot help one another (v. 2): They stoop, they bow down together. They are all alike, tottering things, and their day has come to fall. Their worshippers cannot help them: They could not deliver the burden out of the enemy’s hand, but themselves (both the idols and the idolaters) have gone into captivity. Let not therefore God’s people be afraid of either. When God’s ark was taken prisoner by the Philistines it proved a burden, not to the beasts, but to the conquerors, who were forced to return it; but, when Bel and Nebo have gone into captivity, their worshippers may even give their good word with them: they will never recover themselves.
II. That the true God will never fail his worshippers: “You hear what has become of Bel and Nebo, now hearken to me, O house of Jacob!Isa 46:3; Isa 46:4. Am I such a god as these? No; though you are brought low, and the house of Israel is but a remnant, your God has been, is, and ever will be, your powerful and faithful protector.”
1. Let God’s Israel do him the justice to own that he has hitherto been kind to them, careful of them, tender over them, and has all along done well for them. Let them own, (1.) That he bore them at first: I have made. Out of what womb came they, but that of his mercy, and grace, and promise? He formed them into a people and gave them their constitution. Every good man is what God makes him. (2.) That he bore them up all along: You have been borne by me from the belly, and carried from the womb. God began betimes to do them good, as soon as ever they were formed into a nation, nay, when as yet they were very few, and strangers. God took them under a special protection, and suffered no man to do them wrong, Ps. cv. 12-14. In the infancy of their state, when they were not only foolish and helpless, as children, but forward and peevish, God carried them in the arms of his power and love, bore them as upon eagles’ wings,Exo 19:4; Deu 32:11. Moses had not patience to carry them as the nursing father does the sucking child (Num. xi. 12), but God bore them, and bore their manners, Acts xiii. 18. And as God began early to do them good (when Israel was a child, then I loved him), so he had constantly continued to do them good: he had carried them from the womb to this day. And we may all witness for God that he has been thus gracious to us. We have been borne by him from the belly, from the womb, else we should have died from the womb and given up the ghost when we came out of the belly. We have been the constant care of his kind providence, carried in the arms of his power and in the bosom of his love and pity. The new man is so; all that in us which is born of God is borne up by him, else it would soon fail. Our spiritual life is sustained by his grace as necessarily and constantly as our natural life by his providence. The saints have acknowledged that God has carried them from the womb, and have encouraged themselves with the consideration of it in their greatest straits, Psa 22:9; Psa 22:10; Psa 71:5; Psa 71:6; Psa 71:17.
2. He will then do them the kindness to promise that he will never leave them. He that was their first will be their last; he that was the author will be the finisher of their well-being (v. 4): “You have been borne by me from the belly, nursed when you were children; and even to your old age I am he, when, by reason of your decays and infirmities, you will need help as much as in your infancy.” Israel were now growing old, so was their covenant by which they were incorporated, Heb. viii. 13. Gray hairs were here and there upon them, Hos. vii. 9. And they had hastened their old age, and the calamities of it, by their irregularities. But God will not cast them off now, will not fail them when their strength fails; he is still their God, will still carry them in the same everlasting arms that were laid under them in Moses’s time, Deut. xxxiii. 27. He has made them and owns his interest in them, and therefore he will bear them, will bear with their infirmities, and bear them up under their afflictions: “Even I will carry and will deliver them; I will now bear them upon eagles’ wings out of Babylon, as in their infancy I bore them out of Egypt.” This promise to aged Israel is applicable to every aged Israelite. God has graciously engaged to support and comfort his faithful servants, even in their old age: “Even to your old age, when you grow unfit for business, when you are compassed with infirmities, and perhaps your relations begin to grow weary of you, yet I am he–he that I am, he that I have been–the very same by whom you have been borne from the belly and carried from the womb. You change, but I am the same. I am he that I have promised to be, he that you have found me, and he that you would have me to be. I will carry you, I will bear, will bear you up and bear you out, and will carry you on in your way and carry you home at last.”
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
ISAIAH – CHAPTER 46
DIVINE JUDGMENT ON THE IDOLS OF BABYLON
Vs. 1-2: THE HELPLESSNESS OF IDOLS
1. This chapter of Cyrus is shown to be the instrument of divine judgment upon the gods of Babylon.
2. Bel and Nebo were the chief deities of the Babylonian Empire -Bel corresponding to Jupiter, and Nebo to the Roman Mercury.
a. Bel is pictured as falling headlong, (Jer 50:2-3; Jer 51:44).
b. And Nebo would bow down until he would also fall on his face.
c. The Babylonians often incorporated the names of their gods in the names of their children – Belshazzar, NeBuchadnezzar, etc. v. 1.
3. An attempt was made to save the deities of Babylon from Cyrus by carrying them away on camels, dromedaries, elephants and other beasts.
a. But this scheme failed; they were captured; and taken into captivity, (comp. 2Sa 5:21; Jer 43:12-13; Jer 48:7; Hos 10:5).
b. Not only were they unable to help Belshazzar and the Babylonians; they could not even help themselves! (Isa 21:9).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. Bel hath bowed down. Isaiah continues the same subject; for we need not trouble ourselves about the division of chapters, which have not always been accurately divided; but we ought to examine the statements themselves, which agree with each other in the manner which I have pointed out. Yet if any prefer to view this as the commencement of a new discourse, because immediately afterwards he prophesies concerning the destruction of Babylon, I shall not greatly quarrel with him.
Nebo is cast down. “Bel” and “Nebo” were idols which were worshipped by the Babylonians, and probably were their chief patrons; as idolaters always have some particular gods, under whose protection, above all others, they consider themselves to be placed. It may be conjectured that this “Nebo” was a sort of inferior god that was added to the chief god “Bel,” as Mercury was to Jupiter. Under their names he includes also the rest of the idols, and declares that all the superstitions and false worship of the Gentiles shall be overthrown, when God shall lay low and triumph over their worshippers; because it shall then be manifest that he is the righteous avenger of his Church.
Their idols shall be on the beasts. The Babylonians having haughtily boasted of the protection of false gods, the Prophet rebukes that vain confidence, because the God of Israel will not only bring utter ruin on that wicked nation, but also will cast down and treat disdainfully their gods. The reason why he says that they shall be burdens of “beasts” is, that they shall be laid on waggons and removed from one place to another, and shall even be huddled together without any respect, as the waggoners think proper. This is what is meant by “being cast down,” for the robbers shall collect into a large heap those gods which formerly occupied an elevated station.
There can be no doubt, indeed, that this was fulfilled when the Persians and Medes took Babylon by storm; for when the monarchy was removed, these idols were taken away as a part of the booty. But Isaiah, though he predicted this, looked farther, that is, to the coming of Christ, who was to overtum and destroy all false worship; for, when his kingdom has been established, all idols immediately fall to the ground, and it is impossible that false religion and superstition can exist along with the knowledge of him. By his brightness he dispels all darkness, so as to leave no room for false gods or superstitions; for, as Paul says,
“
What hath Christ to do with Belial? What hath light to do with darkness?” (2Co 6:14.)
At the same time it ought to be observed, that the Prophet had his eye on the time when the Jews were held in captivity; for they saw the Babylonians offer incense to idols, and ascribe to them supreme power, as if the government of affairs depended on them; while the God of the Jews was treated with scorn, as if he could not defend his people, or as if he cared nothing about them. For this reason he shews that there will be so great a revolution, that the gods of the Babylonians, which were elevated so high, shall be laid low, and God, who appeared to he low, shall rise up and avenge his people.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE DIFFICULTY OF DELIVERING THE DELUDED FROM THEIR DELUSIONS
Isa. 46:1-2. Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, &c.
I want to fix your attention on the point where this prophecy stops. In vision Isaiah sees the gods whom the mightiest nations had long worshipped manifestly enfeebled, unable to protect, not merely their worshippers, but also the costly images in and through which they had been worshipped. These, which had been reverently carried in solemn procession by their priests, he sees ignominiously included among the spoils of the conqueror, and packed in common with other spoil on his beasts of burden. The idols to which prayers and sacrifices had been offered, in the hope of thereby securing deliverance from the invader, he beholds carried away into a foreign land. And all that he saw in vision literally occurred. Doubtless he saw much more than this, but he says nothing more. He does not add, And those that worshipped these captured idols worshipped them no more; they acknowledge that Jehovah is the only living and true God, and Him only do they serve. This he does not say, because he knew the idolaters would go on worshipping such images as those their own hands had made, and to which they had in vain offered prayers for deliverance. How strange that men should be guilty of such folly under such circumstances! But the folly has not been of rare occurrence. It is not yet a thing of the past. E.g., Her Majestys Hindoo subjects worshipping the very same gods whose help their fathers sought in vain when the power of Great Britain was being exerted for their subjugation.
What an extraordinary fact! What other fact is there behind it? For behind every extraordinary fact there is an explanatory fact. This, that it is a supremely difficult thing to deliver the deluded from their delusions.
I. Of this fact the history of idolaters is not the only illustration; there are others in almost every realm of human thought and action.
1. The political realm, e.g., the delusion that protection is a good thing for a nation.
2. The social realm. How long it took to convince even a Christian people that slavery is an evil, a crime which Scripture condemns! In like manner, how difficult it is to deliver even intelligent Christian people from the delusion that strong drink used in moderation is a good thing, notwithstanding
(1.) that they admit that to those who use it immoderately it is an evil thing;
(2.) that it has been scientifically placed beyond dispute that alcohol is neither food nor fuel; that used in any degree it unnaturally and undesirably increases the work of the heart; and that there is no medical benefit that can be secured by it which cannot be secured by other drugs to which no such moral peril belongs;
(3.) that more moral as well as material evil is caused by its use than by any other destructive force at work in society. In spite of the clear demonstration of all these things, many intelligent and religious people go on using alcohol without compunction of conscience!
3. The scientific realm, e.g., the delusion that vaccination is an evil.
4. The ecclesiastical realm, e.g., the delusion that connection between Church and State is necessarily a blessing to both, or that disestablishment would necessarily be mischievous.
5. The religious realm, e.g., the delusion that Romanism is not a vast unscriptural and superstitious scheme. Its hold upon the Irish; upon many educated English people. Or the delusion that happiness of heart and peace of soul can be found in any other path than that of humble and earnest service of Godin the pursuit of wealth, or rank, or fame, or amusement. Or the delusion that those blessings can be secured by diligence in religious ceremonialism and stern asceticism. Look where we will upon our fellow-men, we see parallels to that which struck us with surprise when we first looked upon idolaters who continued to worship idols the inability of which to help them had been placed beyond doubt.
II. In view of this fact, what are the duties that press upon us?
1. Honest personal examination of our own beliefs and practices (1Th. 5:21).
2. The maintenance of hope for the future of the great human family to which we belong. The fact we have been thinking about must not be allowed to smite us with despair. Difficult as it is to deliver the deluded from their delusions, one by one the delusions do lose their hold upon theme.g., idolatry to a large extent, witchcraft, slavery; and in the future truth will achieve still greater triumphs (chap. Isa. 45:23).
3. Consequently, it is the duty of those to whom any truth has been revealed to go on declaring it, in spite of the seemingly hopeless stupidity of most of those whom they address. By their faithful proclamation of it, they do really, however imperceptibly, further the dispersal of the mists and fogs in which the minds of their fellow-men are enshrouded, and hasten on the day when the unclouded light of truth shall shine upon all men. In that proclamation let us do our part!
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
3. SOVEREIGN OVER NATIONS, CHAPTERS 46 47
a. CONDEMNING THEIR GODS
TEXT: Isa. 46:1-13
1
Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth; their idols are upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: the things that ye carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary beast.
2
They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.
3
Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been borne by me from their birth, that have been carried from the womb;
4
and even to old age I am he, and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; yea, I will carry, and will deliver.
5
To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?
6
Such as lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, they hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god; they fall down, yea, they worship.
7
They bear it upon the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it standeth; from its place shall it not remove: yea, one may cry unto it, yet can it not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
8
Remember this, and show yourselves men; bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.
9
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none like me;
10
declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done; saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure;
11
calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country; yea, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it.
12
Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness:
13
I bring near my righteousness, it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.
QUERIES
a.
Whose gods were named Bel and Nebo?
b.
Who is the ravenous bird from the east?
c.
When is salvation placed in Zion?
PARAPHRASE
Bel and Nebo, the images of Babylonian gods, are as good as gone! They are about to be loaded on camels and horses and taken captive along with their worshipers. Those pagan gods you carried about with such fondness and care are to be unceremoniously loaded on animals like so much burdensome baggage. Where are the gods these images represent? Why do they not save the images from such humiliation? Because the gods consist of nothing more than the wood and metal of which their images are composed! Therefore the Babylonian gods disappear into captivity. Listen to Me, descendants of Jacob and all you who remain of My covenant people, Israel; take heed to the One who gave you birth as a people and who has given you paternal care ever since. I am your Father through all your lifetime; even when your hair is white with age I will continue to take care of you. I created you and I will sustain you. I am not like the pagan godsI will deliver you. Is there any pagan god with whom I may be compared? None! All other gods are made of metal and stone by human hands. That is what the Gentiles worshipa creation of their own hands. They take metal or wood, make themselves a god, carry it around wherever they wish and when they set it down any place it stays there, for it is unable to move! And when those who made it cry out to it in prayer and supplication it does not answer, nor does it deliver those who are in trouble. It is not really a god at alljust a piece of wood or metal!
Do not forget what I have just told you, My people, and fix it firmly as a part of you; take it to heart you sinners! Do not forget all the former demonstrations of My sovereignty, both to you and your forefathers. Remember that I, Jehovah, am God and there is not another like me. I predict the events of history and the affairs of mens lives many centuries before they happen. Now, what I have predicted shall just as surely come to pass! My sovereign decree that a bird of prey (Cyrus) shall come from the east, a man from a far away country to carry out My counsel, will be brought to fulfillment. I, Jehovah, have planned it and I will surely do it! Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted who are resisting the idea that I will certainly fulfill My predictions of righteous judgments; I am very near to showing My righteousnessit is not far away. And all I have predicted concerning My salvation will soon come to pass. Zion will be the location of My salvation and the true Israel will be the recipient of My glory.
COMMENTS
Isa. 46:1-7 DEMISE OF IDOLS: Bel (otherwise known as Merodach or Marduk) was the principal god of the Babylonians. Nebo (or Nabu) was the son of Bel and in later times was identified with the Greek god Mercury because Nabu means speaker. The Babylonian gods were (as the name Bel indicates) descendants of Baal, the Canaanite god (see Minor Prophets, by Clinton Gill, pub. College Press, for a special study on Baalism). Bels major temple was in Borsippa, twelve miles to the south of Babylon. According to the historian Herodotus, the image of Bel was gold and 18 feet tall. These great, impressive, expensive images with the authority of centuries of pagan heritage added, which seem invincible, will be dismantled and carried away from their place to a foreign pantheon. When will this happen? When Cyrus conquers Babylon, October 29, 539 B.C.! (for details of Cyrus conquest of Babylon see, Daniel, by Butler, ch. 5, 7, 8, pub. College Press). The thrust of Isaiahs message here is: these pagan images, impressive as they may be, powerful as their people claim they are, will suffer humiliation and defeat. They will be carried away on the backs of khayyah (wild animals, probably asses) and behemah (large animals, probably oxen). Those objects of metal (precious gold they may be) of which the Hebrew people were so enamored will ignominiously disappear, loaded unceremoniously onto the backs of dumb brutes and transported at the whim of a conquering emperor. Where are the gods these images represent? If they are images of a real god surely this god would not allow his image to be thus humiliated and obliterated! The answer is: there are no gods. Otherwise they would deliver their images. The gods are figments of human imaginationmere fantasiesless than the wood and metal of which their images are composed. This was fulfilled in a way which would not be admitted by Cyrus. He had claimed that it was under the auspices of the gods that he had marched into Babylon. But the idols were powerless (Isa. 46:7); it was the Lord, Jehovah, who was bringing his conquest of Babylon and its gods to fulfillment.
After exposing the nothingness of Babylons gods, Jehovah calls the remnant of the Jews to attention. Why should they put their trust in the gods of foreign nations when it was Jehovah who gave birth to them as a people and a nation (cf. Isa. 44:2; Isa. 44:24; Isa. 49:5). He bore them (sustained) them through centuries of deliverance from enemies all around them many times more powerful than they (cf. Deu. 1:31) Deu. 33:27; Isa. 40:11). Jehovah nurtured them, chastened them, enriched them and kept them free (cf. Eze. 16:1 f), but they turned to other gods. He wants to care for them when they become aged and silver-haired, even for all their lives. But He cannot care for them if they refuse His covenant of care. They should know by now the difference between pagan gods and Jehovah. There are no pagan gods in all the history of mankind which can compare at all to Jehovah. He delivers! He keeps His word! He is invincible! He cannot be moved by men. The gods of the Gentiles are made by craftsmen (cf. Isaiah 44)works of human handsand then human beings fall down and worship the works of their own hands. Utterly absurd! Furthermore, these man-made gods are carried about from place to place. They can be manipulated, misplaced, displaced, burned up, melted down, and carried off to foreign temples. They cannot move once they are set in one place by human hands. It takes human hands for them to move again. Men cry to them, offer sacrifices to them, disfigure themselves in fear of them and all to no availthe images of wood and metal say not a word. They cannot answer; they cannot deliver anyone from trouble nor can they bless anyone. They are dead! They were never alive!
Isa. 46:8-13 DIRECTION FOR ISRAEL: The stance Israel is to take in light of the soon demise of Babylons gods is to remember. They are reminded of two things: (a) it is sinful to worship gods other than Jehovah; (b) there is no One but Jehovah whose word is sovereign. The Hebrew word hitheaoshashu (show yourselves men Isa. 46:8) means literally, firmly founded. Gods direction for Israel is that she remember who He is and fix it firmly in her heart. This is the only solution for Israels idolatrous rebellion. She is a nation of phosheiym (from pasha) rebels. The word means refuse subjection to rightful authority. The only solution to rebellion and sin is to remember who God is! Remember how He has dealt with man and sin in the past; punishment for the incorrigible rebel and forgiveness for the penitent believer. God is omnipotent and omniscient. He not only knows and predicts the future, He controls it and uses it for His redemptive purposes. What He has said about Cyrus will surely come to pass. God will certainly call an Ayit (ravenous bird) from the east. The Hebrew word means, to be angry with; to rush or fall upon with fury. Cyrus will come from a far country to carry out the counsels of God. This is the servant of Jehovahthis bird of prey. He hasnt even been born yet, but his birth, crowning and service to God is as certain as if it had already been done because it is the will of the sovereign Jehovah! Cyrus is not merely another conquerorhe is the divinely commissioned executioner of Babylon and her gods. More sovereign control of the events of history and the destinies of men could not be visualized than is described in these chapters by the prophet Isaiah! When God speaks His word never fails of completion! When God purposes, it is as good as done!
The word abbiyrey (stout-hearted) literally means, strong but is probably synonymous with strong-minded or stubborn-hearted. The context would indicate this usage. They are stubborn-hearted and far from righteousness. Righteousness in this instance must mean the righteous purposes of Jehovah in what He has been announcing concerning Israels captivity, release by Cyrus and Cyrus destruction of the Babylonian gods Israel had grown so enamored of. Israel was stubbornly staying away from those conclusions. She refused to accept these decrees of the sovereign Jehovah. But Jehovah is about to bring near His righteous goal. Its beginning is not far off. In a little over a century it will all begin just as the prophet is predicting it. Jehovahs salvation for all mankind (including the goiyim) will come without fail. Zion will be the location of Gods salvation (see comments in Minor Prophets, Butler, pub. College Press, Oba. 1:17; Joe. 2:28 to Joe. 3:21). Zion is the N.T. church (cf. Heb. 12:22). Of course, the climax of this salvation will not come for some 600 years after Cyrusbut what is 600 years viewed from Jehovahs perspective? Less than a day! For the believer who by faith sees all things from Gods perspective redemption draweth nigh. Not only salvation, but glory!
QUIZ
1.
Where did the gods Bel and Nebo have their origin?
2.
Who carried these gods off on the backs of animals?
3.
Give four reasons men should be able to know that idols are not gods.
4.
To what extent are the people of Israel rebelling against Gods purposes?
5.
How emphatic is this text on the sovereignty of God?
6.
Where is Zion?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XLVI.
(1) Bel boweth down, Nebo Stoopeth.Bel or Belus (Lord ), is perhaps identical with Marduk or Merdach, but see Note on Jer. 1:2. Nabu ( the Revealer) was a kind of Assyrian Hermes. Isaiah sees the idols carried off as spoil, at the command of Cyrus, a heavy burden for the beasts that drag them. An inscription recently deciphered by Sir H. Rawlinson (Journal of Asiatic Society, Jan. 1880, quoted by Cheyne) presents the conduct of the conqueror under a somewhat different aspect. In that inscription he describes himself as a worshipper of Bel and Nebo, and prays to them for length of days. The king would seem from this to have been as wide in his syncretic liberalism as Alexander the Great was afterwards. How are we to reconcile the two? May we say that the prophet idealises the policy and character of the king, or that the monotheistic element which appears in his treatment of the Jews (2Ch. 36:22-23; Ezr. 1:1-2) was, after all, dominant in his action, in spite of episodes like that indicated in the inscription. It is possible that the recognition of the Babylonian deities may have followed on the submission of the people, and been preceded by some rougher treatment. Anyhow the contrast makes it probable that the prophecy was not written after the inscription.
Your carriages.Here, as elsewhere (1Sa. 17:22; Act. 21:15) in the sense of things carried; i.e., in this case, the images of the gods, which used to be carried in solemn procession, but are now represented as packed into a load for transport. So Herod. (1:183) states that Xerxes carried off from Babylon the golden image of Zeus (sc. Bel), the grandson thus fulfilling the prediction which his grandfather apparently had left unfulfilled.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1, 2. Bel The same as Baal (lord or master) of the Phoenicians, and Jupiter of the Greeks. Used with
Nebo the Mercury of the Greeks it indicates the worship of the sun and planets.
As Hebrew great names took fragments of the names Elohim and Jehovah, for example, Joshua, Elihu, etc., so Babylonian monarchs and chief men were similarly named from “Bel” and “Nebo” as Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar. The prophet here pictures these images as fallen, and being carried off to captivity. Tutelar deities are often so represented when captivity and distress come upon their worshippers. See Jer 48:7; Jer 49:3; Hos 10:5-6.
Carriages This means, not vehicles, but things carried. See in Act 21:15, “We took up our carriages.”
Heavy laden To wit, camels, asses, oxen, etc.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Gods Of Babylon Are Borne By Asses And Are Wearying Even The Animal Creation Which Carries Them. Their End Is Approaching ( Isa 46:1-2 ).
Isa 46:1-2
‘Bel bows down, Nebo stoops.
Their idols are on the beasts and on the cattle.
The things that you carried about are made a load,
A burden to the weary.
They stoop, they bow down together.
They could not deliver from the burden,
But are gone into captivity.’
This vivid description is of the gods of Babylon being carried away from Babylon into captivity. Babylon is creaking at the seams. And these great idols did not leave in triumph, they were being borne by beasts, by mules and oxen, possibly in carts or on the backs of beasts of burden. They had previously been borne in triumph at festivals, but now they had become simply a heavy burden over the long miles, an uncomfortable burden that made the beasts very weary. The beasts stumbled, but these gods were such that they were unable to render any assistance.
‘They stoop, they bow down together.’ They themselves just bobbed up and down helplessly, ignominiously fastened on with ropes. They are at the mercy of the movement caused by the stumbling beasts, bowing down to all around.
‘They could not deliver from the burden.’ There is probably a double emphasis here. They could not deliver Babylon from the burden coming on it, and they could not even deliver these poor dumb beasts from their burden.
‘But are gone into captivity.’ It was Sennacherib who carried away the gods of Babylon from Babylon to Assyria in his fury at their rebellion in around 689 BC and Isaiah saw in this the beginning of the fulfilment of his prophecies against Babylon. Although in fact Esarhaddon would later restore the situation and rebuild the temple of Marduk. So the end was not yet. But what had happened to the idols was to Isaiah a vivid picture of their continued helplessness. It is probable that Isaiah had had descriptions of this event brought to him, a visual confirmation of all that he had prophesied. He was unlikely to forget them.
They were also the almost contemporary and ideal illustrations for what he wanted to say next. The great gods of Babylon had been borne ignominiously on the backs of asses into exile, and had been unable to do anything about it! It was a symbol of what was to happen to all gods.
Bel was by this time the same as Marduk, the city god of Babylon, Nebo was his son, and was the city god of Borsippa and the god of writing and wisdom. Both would be carried in the New year procession in Babylon when the Tables of Destiny had written on them the fates decreed by the gods for the coming year.
It should be noted that Cyrus, in direct contrast to Sennacherib, actually restored the worship of Marduk after it had been casually set aside by Nabonidus, and only transferred gods in order to restore them to previous ownership. Thus this would not have been speaking of him. He gained the support of the priests of Marduk He did not rob them of their gods. This brings this writing directly into the days of Isaiah. The Babylon in mind is the Babylon in the days of Assyrian control.
However, while the prime purpose of this description is to indicate that Babylon’s end is approaching because of the helplessness and uselessness of her gods, Isaiah also uses it to contrast the gods of the nations with Yahweh.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
YAHWEH IS ABOUT TO ACT SO AS TO ESTABLISH HIS PEOPLE AND PREPARE THE WAY FOR HIS SERVANT ( Isa 44:24 to Isa 48:22 ).
As with what has gone before it is necessary for us to determine the viewpoint from which we will see these narratives, and in order to do so we must put ourselves in the shoes of Isaiah. Chapters 1-39 were mainly behind him, Hezekiah was dead, and what lay before him was the future in terms of Manasseh’s reign. That reign had not had a promising beginning. Manasseh had taken the people back to the old ways,and the ways of Assyria, and had thereby defiled the Temple (2Ki 21:2-7; 2Ch 33:2-10). The voice of Isaiah was silent (Isa 1:1). Judah was once more in subjection to Esarhaddon, the King of Assyria (Isa 37:38), who was overseeing Judah from Babylon (2Ch 33:11). The people were corrupted, the Temple was defiled, and Babylon was to be seen by Judah as the great enemy, as, in Isaiah’s eyes, it had always been.
Isaiah had already prophesied something of what the future held. He had informed Hezekiah that his sons would be carried off as trophies to Babylon (Isa 39:6-7), and had declared that God’s punishment must come on the personnel who ran the Temple (Isa 43:27-28), and the miserable fate of those who trusted in idols (Isa 43:27; Isa 44:11). (And this would in fact all actually happen in the near future (2Ch 33:11). For invasion from Babylon would result in Manasseh and his entourage being taken captive to Babylon, the Temple inevitably being sacked, and the people being decimated in the warfare that accompanied it).
But the question now was, how did this fit in with what he had already been saying. How could the Servant whose future had looked so glowing be restored, and what was going to be Yahweh’s response to the situation. These chapters will now deal with that question.
As we have seen the problems were threefold. The first was that the condition of Yahweh’s people was in doubt because of their spiritual position and condition (Isa 42:19-25; Isa 43:22-28), the second was the persistent interference of false gods (Isa 42:17; Isa 44:9-20), especially those of Assyria and Babylon, and the third was that the nations were still preventing His people from coming home (Isa 41:11-12; Isa 42:13-16; Isa 43:1-7). So before the Servant could be restored, and in order that ‘he’ might fulfil his proper function, each of these matters would have to be dealt with. In this section therefore we will discover how Yahweh intends to deal with these questions.
In the case of the first He will rebuild Jerusalem and re-establish (or lay the foundations of) a new Temple (Isa 44:26; Isa 44:28), using the house of Cyrus as His instrument.
In the case of the second He will destroy the daughter of Babylon who is responsible for all the lies and deceit connected with the occult and with false gods (Isa 46:1-2; Isa 47:1-15). But here Cyrus is not mentioned as involved.
In the case of the third He will deal with all the nations whose lands contain exiles, so that His Servant might be restored in order that ‘he’ may begin again (Isa 44:27; Isa 45:1-7) in line with God’s promises to Abraham (Isa 41:8). This section will include prophecies concerning the subjection of Egypt/Ethiopia (Isa 45:14-17), the humbling of Babylon’s gods (Isa 46:1-2), and the destruction of the great enemy Babylon from which all men must flee (47; Isa 48:20).
In the terms of those days the restoration of Jerusalem and the building or restoration of the Temple were prerequisites if the Servant was to be able to do his work, and it had become necessary because the previous Temple had been defiled and those who served in it were rejected (Isa 43:28). Thus it was essential that God should make all things new. Equally important if the gods and the occult were to be dealt a bitter blow was the downfall of Babylon, because from there came all that was deceptive and evil, as it cultivated idolatry and the occult, and thought itself so superior that it could behave as though it was unobserved, even setting itself up against Yahweh (Isa 47:10; compare Isa 14:10-13), as it had always done (Gen 11:1-9). And finally if His people who were exiled all around the world were to return, it would be necessary to find someone who could deal with the nations who held them captive, so that they could be enabled to do so.
These are the matters that the narrative will now look at. The section opens with a declaration of Yahweh’s credentials:
1) He is their Redeemer Who formed them from the womb. Compare for this Isa 43:1 which demonstrates that it is describing Israel, ‘thus says Yahweh Who formed you, O Israel, fear not for I have redeemed you’. For formation from the womb see Isa 44:2 where Yahweh, speaking to ‘Jacob my Servant, and Israel whom I have chosen’ says that He has ‘formed them from the womb and will help them.’ Compare also Isa 49:1 where The Servant, Who is identified as spiritual Israel (Isa 49:3 with 5-6), is ‘called from the womb’, and Isa 49:5 where he is ‘formed from the womb to be His Servant’. Clearly then He is also speaking to His Servant here.
2) He is the One Who, with none around to help, made all things, stretching out the heavens alone, and spreading out the earth when none was with Him. He alone is the Creator of all things.
3) He is the One Who oversets the occult world, frustrating and making fools of deceitful ‘diviners’, and showing up the recognised ‘magicians’, the ‘wise men’, by deliberately acting in order to show up their knowledge as foolish.
4) In contrast He is the One Who confirms the word of His true Servant and performs the counsel of His true messengers, that is He fulfils their prophecies so that all may be aware that they are His true prophets.
So Yahweh, the Creator of all things, Who opposes and countermands the exponents of the occult by making things happen in such a way as to make them look foolish, has chosen His Servant, the true Israel within Israel, from the womb (it is all in His divine sovereignty) in order that He might confirm his teaching and fulfil his prophecies. Whatever the true Servant is and does will be confirmed and carried into effect by Yahweh. He is the one who is to bear God’s message to the world (compare Isa 2:4).
But having done so He must prepare the way before them. And in doing this He will restore the situation for them. At present the nations hold many of them captive, Jerusalem has been laid waste, and the Temple is defiled, all of which prevent His Servant Israel from fulfilling their obligation. So now He declares how He is going to remedy matters.
It will be noted initially how firmly these ideas are introduced, and in each case they are introduced, not as concerned about a catastrophe but as a guarantee of their fulfilment. For above all they are introduced as being the work of Yahweh.
It is first made clear that the source of these actions is the One Who does everything according to His will, in fulfilment of His word.
1) He says to Jerusalem, “You shall be inhabited”, and to the cities of Judah, “You shall be built. And I will build up its waste places.”
2) He says to the deep, “Be dry, and I will dry up your rivers.”
3) He says of Cyrus, “He is My shepherd and will perform all My pleasure.”
4) Even saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built”, and to the Temple, “You shall be established” (or ‘your foundations shall be laid.”
If we see this as a chiasmus with 1). and 4). going together, and 2). and 3). going together, there are two emphases. The first is the important one of the restoration of Jerusalem and Judah after its mauling by Sennacherib, and after its future destruction by Esarhaddon (hinted at in Isa 39:6-7; Isa 43:28), and as it later turns out again by Nebuchadnezzar, because Israel does not take advantage of the opportunity gained by Manasseh’s repentance. The guarantee given by His word is that Jerusalem will be reinhabited after its mauling, the cities of Judah will be rebuilt after their devastation caused by war, the waste places caused by war and famine will be restored (built up), and this will include the re-establishing (and as it later turns out the total rebuilding) of the Temple, all of which have been prepared for previously (Isa 41:17-18; Isa 43:19-20; Isa 44:3; Isa 43:28).
The second is Yahweh’s action in the drying up of the deep and the rivers, through the activities of His shepherd, Cyrus, who will do all His pleasure (further expanded on in Isa 45:1-7). Countries in those days were often defined in terms of their rivers (compare Isa 27:1; Isa 7:18; Isa 7:20; Nah 3:8), which were of such vital importance to them, and their drying up was seen as a judgment on them (Isa 19:45; Isa 42:15; Isa 50:2; Psa 74:15; Jer 50:38; Jer 51:36; Eze 30:12; Zec 10:11). The drying up of the deep and the rivers may well therefore signify the desolation of the land of The River, and therefore of both Assyria and Babylon, in which case this is the promise that both will be dealt with through this instrument whom Yahweh has chosen and anointed. But their drying up also reflects what Yahweh had previously done to Egypt when He dried up their deep (Isa 51:10; Isa 63:13; Jos 2:10), and what He had done when He entered Canaan (Jos 4:23; compare Psa 114:3-5), and on top of that it parallels the boast of Sennacherib that with the sole of his feet he had dried up the rivers of all the places that he besieged (Isa 37:25). As he had done to others, so would be done to Assyria, and their accomplice Babylon. As a result restoration was promised to God’s people, which would include the opportunity of return from exile, the restoration of life in Judah, the reinhabiting of Jerusalem, the restoration of the Temple, and destruction to their enemies.
Noteworthy in this description is the total lack of mention of the enemies that Cyrus will deal with. The house of Cyrus has not been raised up in order to deliver them from the Babylonian empire, but to deliver them from all their enemies (Isa 45:1-7), whoever they may be, and to be God’s instrument as Yahweh fulfils His purpose to restore Judah and the Temple (Isa 44:26-28) in readiness for God’s outpouring of righteousness and salvation (Isa 45:8; compare Isa 44:1-5). Isaiah does not pretend to know the details, and shows no awareness of the activities of Nebuchadnezzar. He still thinks in terms of Assyrian Babylon..
It will be noted that in what follows, describing the activities of Cyrus, it is his destruction of nations and taking of their cities and treasures, ‘for Jacob my Servant’s sake and Israel my chosen’, that is emphasised (Isa 45:1-3). While he would also certainly play his part in giving permission for the building of a new Temple (Isa 44:28 with Ezr 1:1), on our reading of it that is here seen as a by-product of his activity. The raising up of the new Temple was to be the work of Yahweh. That was not, of course, to prevent Cyrus having a part in the process. But no heathen king could establish the Temple of Yahweh. (Apart from the lessons learned however, it actually matters little which view we take for Cyrus II was undoubtedly involved in both). Cyrus’ main assignment was to be the defeat and denuding of the nations for Israel’s sake (Isa 44:27-28 a; Isa 45:1-6).
So as we go into this new section we carefully note God’s promise of a restored Judah, a new or restored Temple, and a new or restored Jerusalem, alongside of which the idolatrous city of Babylon will be destroyed because of all that it represents. This latter is, however, not connected with Cyrus, which from the point of view of accuracy was a good job because Cyrus did not desolate Babylon. Rather having taken it easily, and being welcomed by the priests of Marduk, he restored it to its previous importance within his empire. The final demise of Babylon in fulfilment of Isaiah’s words took place much later.
Isaiah accepts these strands of information without flinching, and without trying to fit them together. He is very much lacking in the full details. What he is aware of are the principles involved. The Temple must be restored, the exiles must return from all over the world, Babylon must be destroyed. But it is important from our point of view to recognise that while Cyrus is very much involved in the general picture, he is not described as being involved with Babylon, and once he has made the world ready for Yahweh’s Servant, he departs immediately from the picture.
So the consequence is that, having in His eternal counsels, brought Abraham to the land like a ‘bird of prey’ (Isa 46:11), He will not allow Abraham’s seed to fail, but will restore them so that they might fulfil their task as His Servant..
This description of Abraham as a ‘bird of prey’ is interesting and significant. There can seem little doubt that in using it he has in mind that having originally, within the eternal purposes of God, arrived in the land, Abraham had, like a great bird of prey, descended on the king of Babylon and had driven him off and spoiled him (Isa 41:2; Genesis 14), just as his seed would later do with the Canaanites. Thus Isaiah is now to see the continued presence of Abraham in the land in his seed (Isa 41:8; Isa 45:4) who are God’s Servant, as a guarantee that Babylon will again suffer through the hand of their Kinsman Redeemer as He acts on behalf of His people, as He did in the days of Abraham. Yahweh too will swoop on Babylon, but this time to destroy it completely.
Further Note on Babylon.
In view of all that he has previously said about Babylon (Isa 44:13-14) it is clear that Isaiah could have expected nothing less than its destruction. Nor could he have doubted that it was necessary. For the shadow of Babylon, the great Anti-God and proponent of the occult, continually hung over the world, and over the people of God, and had to be dealt with. Her evil spiritual influence was known throughout the Near Eastern world, and was affecting the future of Yahweh’s Servant. There was therefore no alternative to her permanent destruction.
And yet that has not been the theme of Isaiah’s message. Indeed Babylon has only been mentioned once, and that almost incidentally, in Isa 43:14. At this stage Isaiah is interested in the work of the Servant, not in Babylon. He does not see Babylon as the threat to Israel’s freedom and independence, (he does not even mention it in chapter 45), only as the centre of all that is devilish.
And this is despite the fact that Babylon had yet to appear in order to loot David’s house and take the errant sons of David to become eunuchs in the house of the king of Babylon as God had already revealed through him (Isa 39:6-7). But that was a different issue dealing with the rejection of the current house of David. It said nothing about the destruction of the Temple or the future of the Servant.
So while, as we have gathered in Isa 43:28, he was becoming more and more aware that the Temple had been profaned and must be replaced, he does not make any claim that he knows how or when it will come about. Nothing is said about the way in which it will come to be in that state. He simply knows that it will necessarily be so because God’s people have defiled it (Isa 43:22-28). But at no stage, when speaking of the restoration of the Temple, does he mention Babylon as involved, or connected with its destruction in any way. Had he known specifically he would surely have said so. But that was something not revealed to him. While he knew that the Temple must be replaced because defiled, and may well have suspected who the culprit might be, he clearly did not see it as part of his message to Israel.
What he did know was that it was through the folly and unbelief of Ahaz that Assyria had come to tread Israel down (Isa 10:5; Isa 52:4). And at this present time he sees that threat as slightly altered in that the direction of the threat now comes from a Babylon, through whom Assyria was operating. This is clear from the fact that later, when Manasseh was arraigned for misbehaviour against Assyria, it was to Babylon that he was carried off in chains to give account (2Ch 33:11). And this involvement of Babylon in the affairs of Israel as acting on behalf of Assyria would chill Isaiah’s heart, for he knew what God had said about Hezekiah’s children and that Babylon was the permanent enemy of God from the beginning. Indeed it was he who had been called upon to demand its permanent destruction, never to be restored (Isa 13:19-20; see also 14; Isa 21:9; Isa 23:13). And he knew that through the folly of Hezekiah Babylon had been awakened to the prosperity of Judah and would one day come for her treasures (Isa 39:6-7). So when it began acting as broker on behalf of Assyria, in Isaiah’s eyes Babylon, the great Anti-God, came to the fore. Esarhaddon, King of Assyria, rebuilt Babylon and appointed one of his sons there as crown representative and prince, and it would seem that Babylon was now the taskmaster acting on behalf of Assyria with regard to Judah. As the primeval rebellious city, and as the great Anti-God, it had even ingratiated itself with Assyria. It had to be destroyed
So that is why Babylon itself, with its encroaching ways, has to be got rid of, and Yahweh will now assure Israel from his own experience that the gods of Babylon, having been humiliated by the Assyrians, had been revealed as what they were (Isa 46:1-2). Babylon herself was thus doomed (47). All men are therefore to turn from any consideration of, or affinity, with Babylon and recognise the triumph of Yahweh in establishing His people (Isa 48:20). So physically Israel’s deliverance from the nations will be by the hand of a Persian king, but spiritually their spiritual life will be saved by the establishment of the new Temple (Isa 44:28) and by the destruction of Babylon (Isa 48:20), the great threat to Yahwism (47; compare Isa 14:13-15).
These then are now the matters with which Isaiah will deal, and the ideas that are mentioned are in huge contrast, and are all important for the work of the Servant, but he does not interconnect them. On the one hand there is to be the full restoration of a pure, new, and undefiled Temple, a place through which the Servant can operate if ‘he’ is willing, and on the other there is to be the destruction of the evil daughter of Babylon with all her false sorceries and idols. For until both these things have occurred the work of the Servant will continue to be hindered. However, this destruction of Babylon is more connected with Assyria (Isa 46:1-2) than with Cyrus.
Cyrus is rather seen as the one whose conquests will prepare the way for Israel by conquering the nations and acting on Israel’s behalf. For what Cyrus will do is to be ‘for Jacob, My servant’s sake, and Israel My elect’ (Isa 45:4). That is the specific reason why Yahweh has called him by name and put His own name on Him (surnamed him), even though he himself does not know Yahweh. It is because he is acting in order that the Servant might benefit. We must not confuse the two activities of preparing the way for the Servant, which was the purpose of raising up Cyrus, and the destruction of Babylon which will occur through the hand of Yahweh. Both were necessary but no connection is identified between them. To Isaiah they represented the good and the bad about the future as stunningly revealed by Yahweh.
There is no thought in these chapters that Isaiah is over-anxious. He is perfectly aware, on his pinnacle of faith and with his magnificent view of God (40), that the situation is no-contest. And once he has introduced the one who will restore the Servant (45), he puts the gods of Babylon firmly in their place as burdens on the backs of beasts which far from helping them can only make the weary beasts stumble (Isa 46:1-2), and proclaims the end of the daughter of the Chaldeans (47). Then, the great enemy having been dealt with, He reintroduces the Servant in his ministry to His people and to the world (49). It is clear that until Babylon is out of the way the Servant cannot finalise his ministry.
It should be noted how little detail is given with regard to these external threats. Isaiah is not necessarily aware of all the full ramifications of them, and is certainly not concerned about them. His whole thought is concentrated on what Yahweh is doing. It is those facts of which he is sure.
End of note.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Fall of Babylon’s Idols
v. 1. Bel, v. 2. They, v. 3. Hearken unto Me, O house of Jacob and all the remnant of the house of Israel, v. 4. and even to your old age I am He, v. 5. To whom will ye liken Me, and make Me equal, and compare Me, that we may be like? v. 6. They lavish gold out of the bag, v. 7. They bear him,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Isa 46:1, Isa 46:2
THE FALL OF THE GODS OF BABYLON. Among the direct consequences of the victories of Cyrus will be the downfall, in a certain sense, of the Babylonian idolatry. The prophet expresses the downfall by material imagery, graphically describing the fate of the idols themselves. But we must regard him as exulting mainly in the thought of the blow that would be dealt to idolatry in general, and to the Babylonian fond of it in particular, by the substitution of the non-idolatrous and almost monotheistic Persians for the polytheistic and grossly idolatrous Babylonians, in the sovereignty of the Asiatic world. The Babylonian religion no doubt maintained itself at Babylon until and beyond the time of Alexander; but it had lost all its prestige. From the state religion of the chief empire of Western Asia, it had sunk to the position of a provincial cult.
Isa 46:1
Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth. In the later Babylonian period, to which Isaiah’s prophetic vision transports him, Bel and Nebo (if we understand by Bel, Bel-Merodach) were decidedly the two principal gods. Of the seven kings of the last dynasty, three had names in which Nebo, and two names in which Bel or Merodach, wad an element. Bel-Merodach and Nebo are the chief gods worshipped by Nebuchadnezzar and Neriglissar. Bel, Nebo, and Merodach are the only three Babylonian gods that receive acknowledgment from Cyrus in the so-called ‘Cyrus Cylinder.’ Bel is, in the Babylonian, “Bil,” or “Belu,” and means simply “lord.” There was an ancient god of the name, one of the First Triad (Anu, Bel, and Hen or Hod), who came by degrees to be identified with Merodach, the tutelary deity of Babylon. Bel-Merodach was the (Belus) of the Greeks and Romans, who was worshipped in the great temple of Babylon, now represented by the ruin called “Babil.“ His name forms an element in those of Bel-lush, Bel-kudur-azur, Bel-ipni. Bel-zakir-isknn, and Belshazzar, all of them kings or viceroys of either Babylonia or Assyria. Nebu was the Babylonian god of learning, and has therefore been compared to Mercury. He was the special deity of Borsippa. The name is thought to be etymologically connected with the Hebrew nabi, prophet. The “bowing” and “stooping” of Bel and Nebo has primary reference to the overthrow of their images by the conqueror; but includes also the idea of the fall of the gods themselves in the opinions of men. Their idols were upon the beasts. The Chaldean images generallynot only those of Bel-Merodach and Nebo, but also of Ann, and Hen, and Beltis, and Ishtar, and Nergal, and Sin, and Shamas, and Gula, and otherswould be torn from their shrines, and placed upon the backs of beasts of burden, to be carried off by the conquerors. No doubt this was the case with a large number of the images, which were among the most precious of the spoils seized by the soldiers. But it appears that numerous exceptions were made. Neither Cyrus nor Cambyses touched the famous golden image of Bel-Merodach at Babylon, which was first carried off from the great temple by Xerxes (Herod; 1.183). Cyrus, moreover, restored various idols, which Nabonidus had taken to Babylon from provincial towns, to the temples to which they of right belonged. But though their fate was in tiffs way often delayed, ultimately it is probable every valuable idol was carried off and committed to the melting-pot. Your carriages were heavy loaden; rather, the things that ye carried (in procession) are now borne along heavily. The allusion is to the contrast between the light-hearted carrying of the images on festal occasions by their votaries (Isa 45:20), and their slow transport to foreign lands on the backs of wearied beasts.
Isa 46:2
They stoop, they bow down together; i.e. all the Babylonian gods would suffer equallynot one would be able to protect himself. They could not deliver the burden. A distinction is here made between the god and the idol, which have hitherto been identified. The god was, in each case, unable to deliver, or save from capture, the heavy “burden” of gold, or silver, or bronze (i.e. his own image) which was carried off on the back of the “weary beast.” On the contrary, the gods themselvesthe “souls” of the images, immanent in themwere carried off with the images into captivity.
Isa 46:3-8
AN ADMONITION TO ISRAEL. Israel should learn from the fate of the Babylonian idols to trust in Jehovah, who can and will deliver them, rather than in gods of gold and silver, which can give no aid, either to themselves or others.
Isa 46:3
All the remnant of the house of Israel. The address is not to those who had remained faithful of the ten tribes (as Delitzsch supposes), but to the captives of Babylon, designated in these later chapters indifferently as “Jacob” or “Israel” (Isa 40:27; Isa 41:8, Isa 41:14; Isa 42:24; Isa 43:1,Isa 43:28; Isa 44:1, Isa 44:21, Isa 44:23; Isa 45:4, etc.), never as “Judah,” and constantly mentioned as a “remnant”all that was left of the oppressed and down-trodden nation (see Isa 1:9; Isa 10:20-22; Isa 11:16. etc.). Borne by me. Carried in the everlasting arms, as a child in the arms of its nurse or mother (comp. Isa 63:9). From the belly from the womb. From the very beginning of the national existence.
Isa 46:4
Even to your old age I am he; even to hoar hairs, etc. The nurseeven the mothersoon grows tired of carrying the child, and leaves him to shift for himself. But God’s tender care for his people lasts from their infancy, through their boyhood and manhood, to their old age. The everlasting arms never weary. God’s watchfulness, his providence, his protection, never fail. I have made, and I will bear. The maker of a thing has naturally regard to what he has made, loves it, desires its good, seeks to defend and save it.
Isa 46:5
To whom will ye liken me? (comp. Isa 40:18.) Am I to be likened to the idols of Babylon? Will you make images of me? Bethink you what the very nature of an idol is how contrary to my nature! My idol would be no more capable of helping itself or others than the images of Nebo or Bel-Merodach.
Isa 46:7
They bear him upon the shoulder (see the comment on Isa 45:20). Here, however, it is not the carrying in procession that is spoken of, but the conveyance of the imago by the workman from his own workshop to the temple where it is to be set up. The carrying of heavy burdens upon the shoulder is mentioned by Herodotus (2.35), and frequently represented on ancient monuments. From his place shall he net remove; i.e. he (the god) will have no power of moving an inch from the spot on which he is set up. There he will stand motionless, till some one comes and pushes him or pulls him from his place.
Isa 46:8
Remember this, and show yourselves men; or, remember this, and stand firm. Isaiah is addressing those who waver between true religion and idolatry. Hitherto they have not fallen away, but they are in danger of so doing. Remember, he says to them, or “bear in mind constantly the impotence of the idols, and the power of Jehovah, and then stand firmremain in your old faithdo not be drawn over to so foolish a thing as idolatry.” O ye transgressors. It is to be a “transgressor” even to contemplate the turning from Jehovah to idolatry. Israel has been already “called a transgressor from the beginning” (Isa 48:8).
Isa 46:9-11
A FURTHER ADMONITION GROUNDED ON OTHER MOTIVES. Israel is exhorted to continue firm in the faith
(1) by the recollection of God’s mercies in the past (Isa 46:9);
(2) by the consideration of his prophetic power (Isa 46:10); and
(3) by a renewed promise of coming deliverance through Cyrus (Isa 46:11).
Isa 46:9
Remember the former things of old; i.e. God’s wonderful dealings with Israel in times pastthe miracles in Egypt, the passage of the Red Sea, the deliverances from Midian, and Ammon, and the Philistines, and Zerah, and Sennacheribwhich proved him God in a sense in which the word could be applied to no other. I am God I am God. In the original, “I am El I am Elohim.“ El is “the Mighty One,” “the Omnipotent;” Elohim, “the Godhead” in all its fulness.
Isa 46:10
Declaring the end from the beginning; i.e. “possessed of the very highest prophetic power, able to declare from the very beginnings of history its ultimate issues” (see Gen 3:15; Gen 16:12; Gen 21:18, etc.). My counsel; rather, my purpose, or my plan (comp. Psa 33:11; Job 23:13; and supra, Isa 14:24).
Isa 46:11
Calling a ravenous bird; rather, a bird of prey. The imagery is quite natural, and exactly parallel to that by which Nebuchadnezzar is termed “an eagle,” both by Jeremiah (Jer 44:22) and Ezekiel (Eze 17:3). There is no need to suppose any allusion to the fact, if fact it be, that the Persians from the time of Cyrus had for a standard a golden eagle, with wings outspread, on the top of a spear-shaft (Xen; ‘Cyrop.,’ 7.1, 4; ‘Anab.,’ 1.10, 12). From the east (comp. Isa 41:2, Isa 41:25). Both Persia and Susiana, which were the primary seats of the power of Cyrus, lay to the east of Babylon, the latter due east, the former somewhat to the south-east. Even Media might, according to Hebrew usage, be described as east, though lying almost due north-east.
Isa 46:12, Isa 46:13
AN ADMONITION TO THE OBDURATE IN ISRAEL. God’s mercy extends even to those who resist his grace. They who have been hitherto stiff-necked and “far from righteousness,” have a special warning addressed to them, Salvation is drawing nigh; the deliverance of Israel is approaching; there is no time to lose; will they not east in their lot with the true Israel, and take advantage of the deliverance when it comes?
Isa 46:12
Ye stout-hearted (comp. Eze 2:6; Eze 3:7; and infra, Isa 48:4). The LXX. translate by .
Isa 46:13
I bring near my righteousness; i.e. “my righteous judgment is approachingthat judgment which involves vengeance on my enemies, mercy and deliverance to my people.” This latter is the salvation that shall not tarry. In Zion. The headquarters of the “salvation” shall once more be Mount Zion, or Jerusalem, where God’s people shall once more take up their abode, and which shall be “the centre of the renovated nation” (Delitzsch).
HOMILETICS
Isa 46:1-11
The effect of God’s temporal judgments upon nations on the religious history of the world.
In the ancient world, where religions had no revealed or historic basis, but had been evolved by degrees from the thought or imagination of each people, the fate of a religion depended greatly upon the course of secular history, and the success or failure that attended upon the arms of the nation professing it. As no people could have a rational, or, consequently, a firm belief in a system based upon imagination, each was ready to adopt any other which seemed to prove its superiority by triumphs and victories. The downfall of an empire involved, for the most part, the downfall of the system which its rulers had made the state religion; or, if not its absolute downfall, its depression and gradual decay. When God raised up a conquering power, he gave an impetus to its religious system, which was either imposed by force upon conquered tribes, or, in many cases, voluntarily accepted by them. The gross and sensuous idolatry of Assyria and Babylon had obtained almost exclusive possession of Western Asia through the conquests of the Assyrians and Babylonians between the twelfth century b.c. and the sixth. When Cyrus captured Babylon and shattered the Babylonian empire, this idolatry received its death-blow. The subject nations either reverted to their ancient creeds or adopted the belief of the new conquerors. Zoroas-triauism became the predominant religion of civilized Asia. In Babylon itself and its neighbourhood a small knot of believers clung to the old superstition; but, generally speaking, it was discredited, and had to make way for the dualism of Persia. Dualism suffered in its turn when the Persian empire was overthrown by Alexander the Great, and continued under a cloud during the Parthian period, at the close of which it once more reasserted itself under Artaxerxes, son of Babek, who brought the Parthian empire to an end. Military success, similarly, established Mohammedanism as the religion of Syria and Egypt, Asia Minor, Persia, Upper India, Turkestan, Turkey, and North Africa, even Christianity suffering when God’s judgments fell on the effete and debased Byzantine empire. The only religion that has been but slightly affected by military success and failure is the religion of Christ. Originally spreading, like leaven, silently and gradually, without any help from conquerors or from the secular arm, till, having become the religion of the mass of his subjects, it was adopted as the state religion by Constantine; it resisted the great influx of the barbarians into the Roman empire; and, instead of disappearing before Teutonic and Scandinavian heathenism, converted its conquerors. Unarmed missionaries spread it through Central and Northern Europe, through Georgia, Armenia, and Mesopotamia, and again into Abyssinia and the African desert, in America alone was it propagated by the sword. Gradually progressive in almost every quarter, once only and in one quarter has it retrograded through a Divine judgment. The followers of the Arabian prophet were allowed to sweep it from the greater part of the East, from Egypt and from Northern Africa, for a time from part of Spain; but this judgment, provoked by immorality, coldness, and heresies of various kinds, was not a final judgmentalready, in all the regions temporarily lost to it, the religion of the cross has recovered a footing, and is gaining ground. Propagandism by the sword has now ceased; but everywhere the course of secular history is so ordered that Christianity comes more and more to the front. Islam is dying out; Brahminism is shaken to its basis; Buddhism has well-nigh spent itself. The religion on which God has set, and is each year more clearly setting, the seal of success is Christianity.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
Isa 46:1-13
The religion of Jehovah contrasted with idolatry.
I. THE HUMILIATION OF BEL AND NEBO. These were the tutelar gods of Babylon and its suburb, Borsippa. Merodach, or Marduk (Jer 50:2), is another name of a being closely related to or identical with Bel. The idols of the Chaldeans are given up to the beasts, and the images once carried in solemn procession by the priests and nobles are put upon the backs of beasts of burden. Herodotus and Diodorus tell us of the golden statue of the great god at Babylon (the Greeks called him after their own, Zeus), and the great golden table in front of ita “table of demons”and the golden altar. The image was said to have been carried away by Xerxes (Herod; 1:183). These gods, then, once held as mighty, tutelar, delivering saviours in one of the greatest cities in the world, have themselves gone into captivity. Themselves they could not save. Had these gods been really Divine, they would surely have rescued their own images. Conceived as persons by the heathen, they are, in the prophet’s arguments, convicted of being without any of the proper ability of personality. “It is difficult not to think of the last strange journey of these desecrated images,” remarks a commentator (cf. Layard’s picture of the ‘Procession of the Bull beneath the Mound of Nimrod’). The power of the heathen god depended on the faith, i.e. the imagination, of his worshippers. The overthrow of Babylonian power was a great shock to the heathen imagination. It showed that the power in which they had believed was an illusion and a lie from the Hebrew point of view. And so ever; the powers of this present world and its princes and its illusions are seen passing away before the prevalence of true religion.
II. THE PROVIDENCE OF JEHOVAH OVER HIS PEOPLE. He is what the gods counterfeiteda wise superintending Being, a faithful supporting Being, to his people, alike in war and in peace; the gods of conquered peoples had failed to be this, according to the prophet, and according to ancient thought generally. Jehovah is this. Note the extreme tenderness of the representations of him in this attitude to his folk. Not a timid and trembling captive but may appropriate the truth to his own consolation. He is as the Nurse, they as the little helpless infant (cf. Isa 63:9; Deu 1:31; Exo 19:4; Psa 28:9; Hos 11:3). But the thought of the human parent and nurse reminds us of mortality and of transiency belonging to human conditions. “The devoted watchfulness of the parent dies away when his child has come to maturity; and he is commonly removed by death when his offspring has attained to old age.” Not so with Israel and Jehovah. Israel is always the object of the motherly care and affection of God (Isa 42:14; Isa 49:15; Isa 66:9, Isa 66:13). “Even to old age I am the same” (see Psa 71:18, where the people speak as one person). “Even to grey hairs I will bear; I have made, and g will carry, and I will bear and will rescue.”
III. HIS APPEAL TO THE REASON OF THE PEOPLE. Ever we seem to hear him saying, “Come now, and let us reason together.“ There are “rebellious ones” (verse 8), yet Jehovah still reasons with them. Once more the piece of manufactured helplessness called an idol is placed before their thought. What can it do for men? They “cry unto it, but it cannot answer, nor save them out of trouble.” Is Jehovah to be compared with that thing? And then the positive argument is again brought forward. Jehovah alone has the power of prediction. “From the very beginning of a period of history he can announce the far-off issue, utterly incalculable to human eyes.” If, then, now he has announced his purpose, it will stand. If the bird of prey, the eagle Cyrus, has been called from the east, it will be to the certain execution of a mission from Jehovah. To trust in him is to have all difficulties solved, all confidence restored. To believe in Providence; to be assured that the world’s history at any moment, at this moment, is not a mere play of passion, caprice, and chance, but that things are working together to an end foreseen;this is strength, because this is reason. And God would have his people understand what true reason brings to religion; that religion is reason and sense, while idolatry is weakness, folly, and unreason.
IV. THE NEARNESS OF GOD‘S SALVATION. This, too, is an emphatic thought (cf. Isa 56:1). Righteousness and salvation are but two aspects of the same blessing. Yet men may be “far off.” How? It is not space, it is not time, that separates from God. It is in the heart that men are near or far. The power of imagination must not be forgotten. In one sense God is no more near or distant at one time than another, nor to one person than another; that our reason assures us. Yet the evidence of feeling and of imagination is otherwise. They tell us that he may be “near” or “far.” It is, then, in ourselves that the cause must be sought. The warm affection, the lively fancy, the open and lowly intelligence,these bring him near. The obdurate heartwhich means the dull intelligence, the sluggish fancy, the state of coldness in the affectionsthis may place him wide as the poles asunder from man. What is needed in religion, alike in its intellectual and its practical aspects, is simplicity, yielding childlikeness, impressionableness to great and obvious truths.J.
HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM
Isa 46:4
God’s care for the aged.
“And even to your old age I am he,” etc. What a contrast between God and man! Concerning how many may it be said that they are forgotten in old age! Sometimes even children are faithless to their parents, and age has died in a workhouse, when children have been well-to-do. But change comes, too, in other relationships. The world does not want us when we are worn out. Its sweet songs can charm no more. The cunning of the worker’s hand fails. The preacher faints. A new generation of strength and health has won the palm. Then, mark
I. THE SURPRISE. Even. At the time when the world draws off, God comes nearer. Weakness is always welcome to him. He loves to comfort. His infinite strength is not weakened by all outgoings of help to others. Wherever, in age, sickness confines us, or solitude keeps us, there is our Father. Even then, when heart and flesh faint and fail. He has not merely promised this, but the Jacobs of the world can attest the truth: “All my life long.” And apart from promise and experience, it is God’s nature so to do.
II. THE REASONS.
1. “I have made.“ God will not, as Job says, forget us, because “thou hast a desire to the work of thy hands.”
2. “I have rescued.” What else says the prophet? “I will carry and deliver you.” What we could not bear away, God, in the person of his Son, will do for us. “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!’ Hoar hairs may have their perfect whiteness, but hoar hearts have not, and we need a Saviour to the end. Nor is this all. Old age has its sorrows as well as its sins. The young have not always sympathy with the old. They do not understand what it is to feel so “alone,” with buried generations behind, who once joined in the race of life with them, and who worshipped with them in the house of God. Those who admired and understood and loved them are gone, and a generation has risen up who know not Joseph. Beautifully does the next verse begin, “To whom will ye liken me?” “Even to your old age I am he.” Always a Father, always a Saviour, always a Friend.W.M.S.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Isa 46:1-4
Men bearing gods, and God bearing his people.
The pitiable and even ludicrous insufficiency of idolatry is admirably drawn in this picture. We see the beasts bowed down with the images of the helpless deities of Chaldea In what striking and glowing contrast does the relation of Jehovah to his people appear! From the very infancy of Israel God had borne them in the arms of his faithfulness and power; and his tender kindness in the past would extend to the furthest future. Even to old age he would bear them; they might confidently lean on his strength; they might count with absolute assurance on his protecting care, on his delivering grace. “I will carry, and will deliver you.” We learn
I. THAT FALSE TRUSTS, SO FAR FROM LIGHTENING OUR BURDENS, ARE A HEAVY WEIGHT TO CARRY. Men make mistakes now which are as serious in their consequences as that made by the Babylonians. They put their trust in things which prove to be delusive and even burdensome. This is trite of unwise friendships; of ill-gained or excessive wealth; of exalted positions, which we have not strength to fill, or high honours which we have not grace to carry; of learning in one direction, unbalanced by knowledge in other directions. You see men who thought to bless themselves with these “idols,” who expected to be enriched and sustained by them, staggering under their weight, blinded and misled by them, betrayed and ruined by them. Instead of their gods carrying them, they have to carry their gods.
II. THAT TRUST IN GOD WILL BE JUSTIFIED BY THE LONGEST LIFE. (Isa 46:4.)
1. God continued his mercies to us from our birth to our regeneration; though we knew him not, he girded us (Isa 45:5). He fed and clothed and sheltered us.
2. He undertook to befriend us when we gave ourselves to him, and he has done so. He has made good to us his kindest words of promise.
3. A time of special trial may confront us: the pillar and mainstay may have fallen; unfriendly seasons or adverse circumstances may have stripped us; sickness may have weakened us, or infirmity may be visibly advancing on us. Our human powers, our earthly prospects, may be failing and waning.
4. But we may go on undaunted, untroubled. “The Lord will provide.” We have a strong consolationwe whose hope is in the Lord our God.
(1) His word of promise cannot be broken.
(2) We, men, do not desert our servants in their age or their sickness: how much less will he (Psa 71:18; Isa 55:9)!
(3) Our very weakness and distress are a strong guarantee that the compassionate and considerate Father will befriend and sustain us.
(4) The unchangeable One will not begin without concluding his work; he will “perfect that which concerns us;” he will “not forsake the work of his own hands.” To old age, to hoar hairs, he will carry us along the path of life, till we reach the home of unfailing health and unbroken joy.C.
Isa 46:8
Manliness in relation to religion.
“Remember this, and show yourselves men.” The prophet calls on the people of God to show themselves to be men, either by exercising their powers of recollection and reason in remembering the facts and arguments he has adduced, or by taking appropriate, manly action in the recollection and realization of these convincing and constraining reasons. Religion is a manly thing in both these aspects. So far from its being the childish or effeminate thing which its enemies have been pleased to call it, it is a sphere of thought and of action in which the very highest and noblest attributes of our humanity have fullest scope.
I. AS A SPHERE OF HUMAN THOUGHT.
1. It is the most elevated. All objects of creation are worthy of regard, and the study of them is full of recompense. But they differ in the degree of their worthiness; there is an ascending scale, and they culminate in the Divine. The noblest study of mankind is God his nature, his character, his will, his kingdom.
2. It is the most obligatory. Men, as men, should consider that which most claims their attention, should dwell on those themes which most demand their thought and care. And these are found in Divine blessings, Divine dealings, Divine messages, Divine beauties and excellences. We are never doing anything more worthy of our manhood than when we are recalling and realizing what God is, what he has done, what he has been to our race and to ourselves, what sovereign and supreme claims he has on our reverence and love.
II. As A SPHERE OF HUMAN ACTION. If there be anything which can be said to be manlier than patient and earnest thought on the highest themes, it is:
1. Deliberate choice of the wisest and best coursethe determination, at all costs and spite of all inducements, to take that course which commends itself to our judgment as the right and the wise one. This is exactly what men do when they surrender themselves to the will of God, to the service of Jesus Christ.
2. Resolute and persistent pursuit of it. Where does manliness find nobler illustrations than in the persistent worship of God under cruel persecution, the immovable adherence to sacred conviction under the wearying and worrying assaults of worldly and frivolous associates, the steadfast endeavour to extend the kingdom of righteousness and to raise the condition of the degraded, notwithstanding all the discouragements that await the Christian workman?C.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK
Isa 46:4
Grace for a long life.
“Even to boar hairs will I carry you.” Reference is made more especially to the prolonged life and varied experience of the nation; but the promise and assurance are equally applicable to the individualthey exactly match other assurances which are addressed to individuals. And Israel may always be regarded as the type of the godly man. For us all life is full of changes, surprises, and calamities. We have nothing absolutely stable and unchangeable, nothing always true and trustworthy, unless God is such. In an exquisite fragment of autobiography,by Dr. Horace Bushnell, found dimly pencilled on a stray sheet of paper, is the following indication of the rest a soul finds in the permanence, the unchangeableness, of God: “My mother’s loving instinct was from God, and God was in love to me first therefore; which love was deeper than hers, and more protracted. Long years ago she vanished, but God stays by me still, embracing me in my grey hairs, as tenderly and carefully as she did in my infancy, anti giving to me as my joy and the principal glory of my life that he lets me know him, and helps me, with real confidence, to call him my Father.” This truth of God’s permanent gracious relations with those who put their trust in him was stated in its Christian form by the Apostle John (Joh 13:1), when, speaking of his Master, he said, “Those whom he loveth, he loveth unto the end.“ It may be noticed that, while mother’s love and interest never flags or fails, mother’s work, of bearing, tending, carrying, does change and pass as the children grow older. So even with a mother God may be contrasted; for he tends even to old age, even to the end. Opening the general topic suggested by the text, we may observe that the promise
I. ASSUMES US TO BE IN GRACIOUS RELATIONS WITH GOD. Sometimes those relations are presented under the figure of a “covenant.” At other times they are seen as relations brought about by “redemption”-work in our behalf. Here the closer, more natural, more personal, relations of parents and children are referred to. God is represented as feeling towards us like the mother who bore us. Compare the psalmist’s sense of the motherly relation in his plea, “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.”
II. DECLARES THAT THE RELATION SHALL BE KEPT UP TO THE END. Such an assurance is necessary, not because we fear any changeableness in God, but because we fear that the wilfulness and changeableness in us may grieve him, and lead him to remove his grace from us. The comfort of the promise of the text lies in the confidence it gives us that our waywardness will not outweary our God. “Though we believe not, yet he abideth faithful.”
III. INVOLVES GRACE SUFFICIENT FOR MAINTAINING THE RELATION. It is not a promise of grace at the end, but unto the end. All along the way we may be quite sure of adaptations of Divine grace such as may go into the words “carry,” “bear,” “deliver.”R.T.
Isa 46:8
God’s call to exercise right reason.
“Show yourselves men.” This is the language of irony. Worshippers of idols should have the courage of their convictions. They should not be such children as to confound the spiritual God with dumb, senseless idols, who can neither counsel nor save. “Remember this, that has often been told you, what senseless, helpless things idols are, and show yourselves menmen, and not brutes; men, and not babes. Act with reason, act with resolution, act for your own interest. Do a wise thing, do a brave thing, and scorn to disparage your own judgment, as you do when you worship idols” (Matthew Henry). The point presented for consideration isthat God is served by the diligent and faithful use of our faculties, and not by crushing them.
I. GOD IS BEST SERVED BY MAN AT HIS BEST. A very curious perversion of St. Paul’s glorying in his infirmities is the notion, which prevails in some quarters, that the more ignorant, weak, and foolish we are, the better we can serve God’s purposes. It is the universal truth that God works out his best purposes through the consecration of man’s best and most cultured powers to his service. It is only the exception of Divine grace that God is pleased sometimes to use man’s feebleness. Sometimes, indeed, it is so, that “out of the mouths of babes and sucklings God perfects praise;” and his so doing efficiently persuades us of the absolute sovereignty of Divine grace; but the normal law is that God shall be served by the best culture and the wisest use of just those powers and faculties which he has himself given us. Let babes be babes, and honour God with infant songs. Since we are men, it is the best-cultured and most fully matured manhood that we must lay upon his altar. When reproached by a mere sentimentalist that “God had no need of his learning,” the cultured divine very wisely as well as smartly replied, “And he has as little need of your ignorance.” We must be in every way the best possible for God, and this includes our mental best.
II. MAN AT HIS BEST IS BUT A SERVANT OF GOD. This conviction will keep him in his place, whatsoever his attainments may be. It is the constantly observed fact that fulness of learning and a genuine humility go together hand-in-hand. It is a “little knowledge” that puffeth up, a “little culture” that nourishes self-will. The things we have in the household and family life, for daily use, need not be chipped, ugly, or inefficient things; they may be in the best shapes, and may be artistic in appearance, pleasant to the eye, without losing their practical usefulness. So we can be the truest, wisest, most cultured, most beautiful men and women, and yet keep in perfect simplicity the humility and the joy of our service.R.T.
Isa 46:10
The goodness of God’s pleasure.
“My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” An anthropopathic expression. Care is necessary in transferring human sentiments and feelings to God. Words may come to be applied in such a way to men that they cannot be wisely used for God. A man’s “pleasure” has come to stand for his mere “self-willedness,” his unreasoning and often unreasonable “wishes.” A man’s “pleasure” is simply the thing that he “likes.” In such senses we cannot properly apply such a word to God. In the text, the word “pleasure” is associated with the word “counsel,” and the suggestion made is that the counsels of the infinite wisdom and goodness are such that God can find a personal pleasure in carrying them out. Just as he looked upon all his creation-work, called it good, and found pleasure in it, so he looks upon all the operations of his providence, for nations and individuals, and finds pleasure in watching them as they bear towards the final issue of universal good. It may be shown that every being finds its pleasure “after its kind,” according to its nature; and we ought to have the utmost satisfaction in God’s getting his pleasure because of what we know of him. His pleasure must be like him, worthy of him; and that is enough.
I. WHAT IS PLEASANT TO GOD MUST BE RIGHT. For men that is true which is expressed in the proverb, “Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” Man finds his pleasure in that which is doubtful, and even in that which is wrong. But we have the most perfect confidence that God finds no pleasure in anything that is not through and through right. If he is well pleased, then we are sure that the thing is right. Indeed, so fixed is this relation between “God” and “right,” that, for us, the right has come to be simply “God’s will.”
II. WHAT IS PLEASANT TO GOD MUST BE KIND. That is, it must have taken all due consideration of the well-being and the wishes of others; and it must involve a going out of God, as it were, beyond himself, to live in the feelings of others. The essence of pleasure is unselfish concern for others. And God may do all his “pleasure,” because he proposes only that which secures our highest welfare. What may be spoken of as the highest pleasure God can know? We are assured that he has “no pleasure at all in the death of the wicked, but that he turn from his evil way and live.” God’s supreme pleasure is found in redeeming; in all that this most suggestive and comprehensive word involves. “The Lord taketh pleasure in them that tear him, in those that hope in his mercy.”R.T.
Isa 46:12
Stout-heartedness.
“Ye stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness.” Ezekiel has other terms. “For they are impudent children and stiff-hearted” (Eze 2:4); “For all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted” (Eze 3:7). The term “stout-hearted” expresses stubborn and confirmed opposition, rebelliousness, obduracy, a state of mind and heart that is beyond the influence of any gracious pleadings and persuasions. And such “stout-heartedness” involves the man’s own self-willed exclusion from the “righteousness of God.” The stout-hearted man gets far away from God, because he has no intentions of obedience to him. The plea of the text is sent to those exiles who were slow to believe in their deliverance through the agency of Cyrus; and it must be admitted that all the later information we have concerning Cyrus helps us to understand how unlikely a person he was for the carrying out of Jehovah’s purposes. Not even yet have we sufficent information to permit our understanding the national circumstances and political pressure which, humanly speaking, led to the restoration. The plea of the text is full of force for all sinners who refuse to accept the offers of mercy and salvation which God has been pleased to make to them. The “stout-hearted” can even refuse God’s mercy in Christ Jesus. But the refusal is rebellion and insult; and the stone that should be a foundation must prove a stone that falls and crushes. Matthew Henry regards these “stout-hearted” as “the unhumbled Jews, that have been long under the hammer, long in the furnace, but are not broken, are not melted; that, like the unbelieving, murmuring Israelites in the wilderness, think themselves far from God’s righteousness (that is, from the performance of his promise, and his appearing to judge for them), and by their distrusts set themselves at a yet further distance from it, and keep good things from themselves, as their fathers, who could not enter into the land of promise because of unbelief.” A study of this state and condition of mind and feeling may follow along three lines.
I. STOUT–HEARTEDNESS AS A NATURAL DISPOSITION. There is a natural obstinacy, a self-willed tendency to object and to resist, which parental training ought to correct, test it should get established as a bad bias for life. Severe child-chastisements only can check this evil.
II. STOUT–HEARTEDNESS AS A PRODUCT OF CIRCUMSTANCES. Illustrate from the distressed condition of exiles in Babylon, the long delay in Divine deliverance, etc. We can hardly wonder that some should say, “Why should we wait for God any longer?”
III. STOUT–HEARTEDNESS AS A RESULT OF ACTS OF WILFULNESS. Nothing is more morally injurious than for us to be successful in first transgressions and little sins, and so to become hardened and proud in our hearts.R.T.
Isa 46:13
God’s people are God’s glory.
“For Israel my glory.” He glories in them. He is glorified in them. He ought to be glorified in them. Some read the clauses from which the text is taken so as to throw out a different meaning: “And I appoint in Zion salvation, unto Israel (I give) my glory.” God’s glory is thus represented as connected with his salvation and his righteousness. God’s glory is his faithfulness and his redemption. As we have so often the declaration of God’s interest in Israel, his joy in her, and the honour he expects her to be to him, we take the simpler thought suggested by the English Version, and suggest such a homily as may be suitable for a week-night service or prayer-meeting. God’s people are God’s glory; they bring honour to him, as we see
I. WHAT HE DOES FOR THEM. Illustrate from God’s moving away all obstacles, and constraining unlikely agents to serve him in the restoring of the exiles to their loved city and country.
II. WHAT HE DOES IN THEM By the very delay of his promise, and by his gracious sanctifyings, preparing them to get the very best moral and spiritual blessings out of their deliverance.
III. WHAT HE DOES WITH THEM. Making them a spectacle and a witness for himself, to their own age and the surrounding nations; and making the marvel of their story a testimony to his faithfulness and mercy to all ages, until the end of the world shall come.R.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Isa 46:1-2. Be bowed down The prophet, as he wrote this, saw the fall of Babylon before his eyes, the city plundered and spoiled, the temples ravaged and destroyed, and the idols of Babylon placed upon the beasts, and carried away into Media and Persia; and as he saw, so he has described; dwelling long and largely, as is common with the prophet, upon the same object; viewing and exhibiting it to view on every side. We may just observe that the prophet, representing the subversion of the Babylonish state in this section, describes it with respect to religion; that is, its shameful superstition. In the following section he sets forth the destruction of the civil state. Bel and Nebo were two principal idols of the Babylonians. See chap. Isa 21:9 and Jeremiah 5, 51.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
VII.THE SEVENTH DISCOURSE
The overthrow of the Babylonian idols, and the gain that Israel shall derive from it for its knowledge of God
Isaiah 46
1. ISRAEL SHALL KNOW ITS GOD FROM THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIM WHO BEARS AND THE IDOLS THAT ARE BORNE
Isa 46:1-4
1Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth,
Their idols 1were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle:
2Your carriages were heavy loaden;
They are a burden to the weary beast.
2They stoop, they bow down together;
They could not deliver the burden,
But 3themselves are gone into captivity.
3Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob,
And all the remnant of the house of Israel,
Which are borne by me from the belly,
Which are carried from the womb:
4And even to your old age I am he;
And even to hoar hairs will I carry you:
I have made, and I will bear;
Even I will carry, and I will deliver you.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
See List for the recurrence of the words: Isa 46:1. Isa 46:3. .
Isa 46:1. and mean to bow, bend ones-self, to fall down. is kindred to the unused root from which comes belly, (Bauch, comp. beugen) Jer 51:34.It is likely no accident that after the discourse does not continue with , but we have instead the particip. . It seems to me nearly accordant with Isaiahs way, to assume that he intends by this participle an allusion to , an allusion whose justification is still more strengthened by the addition of and . Then the sense becomes, that to who attacks, there will be a corresponding () and a on the part of the attacked. an appositional added clause; the fem, is likely occasioned by the preceding and ; unless one takes the fern, in a neuter sense.
Isa 46:2. originally signifies to be smooth, slippery (comp. and ), the Piel then means to make smooth, slippery, and thus to make fit for slipping away, falling out. Hence the meaning to let slip away, of eggs (Isa 34:15) and of the foetus (in the Hiph. Isa 66:7). means here the life-centre in antithesis to the periphery: the person, the proper I or self. Thus is not unfrequently used to strengthen the pronoun, in order to express the notion self, or to emphasize it (comp. e.g., Hos 9:4; Jer 26:19; Jer 37:9).
Isa 46:3. and are in apposition with and
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The reverse of the foregoing picture is now presented. There we have the victor; now we see the fate of the vanquished. But first it is the central point and refuge of the vanquished whose disgraceful end is set before us. The idols of Babylon, of which Bel and Nebo are named as the chief representatives, must come down from the places of honor where they were enthroned. Their images are loaded on beasts of burden to go into captivity (Isa 46:1-2). From the contrast Israel may learn the lofty nature of its God. No one bears Him forth. On the contrary He has borne Israel with maternal love from the time of its birth, and will continue to carry it when no longer a child, but an old man (Isa 46:3-4).
2. Bel bowethinto captivity.
Isa 46:1-2. There have been found in the library of king Asurbanipal two tablets of terra cotta, which contain two lists, one of the Assyrian, the other of the Babylonian superior gods (see Schrader,Assyrisch-Biblisches in Stud. u. Kr., 1874, p. 324 sqq.). From these it appears that the Assyrians and Babylonians had a system of gods ranged in four grades. At the summit was the highest, transcendent god, by the Assyrians called Asur, by the Babylonians Ilu, El (with the female deity Istar, Astarte). Following these, in the second grade, are three gods, also belonging it would seem to the unseen world: Anu, Bel or Bil and Io (Ao). In Babylonian and Assyrian these three bear the same names. Then in a third grade, follow three gods of heaven belonging to the visible world, which again are named alike in both languages: Sin, the moon-god, Samas, the sun-god and Bin, the air-god. Finally, in the fourth degree appear the planet-gods, of which the Assyrian list names five (Marduk, Merodach, i.e., Jupiter; Istar, i.e., Astarte, Venus; Adar=Saturn; Nirgal=Mars; Nabu, Nebo=Mercury), the Babylonian however names only two male and two corresponding female divinities: Marduk (Merodach) with Zarpanituv (Zirbanit) and Nabiuv (Nebo) with Tasmituv (Tasmit). From this it appears that Bel has the second place in the second degree, and Nebo the last place in the lowest degree. Bel (comp. further on it Schrader,Die Keilinschrift. etc., p. 80 sq.), belongs to the divinities of the transcendent, invisible world, whereas Nebo as a planet-god corresponds to Mercury. He is the , the revealing god, and was, in the period of the later Chaldean kingdom along with Merodach, the chief god of the Babylonians, so that most of the kings named themselves after him (Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nabonned). Comp. Schrader, l. c. p. 272.
The highly honored images of the gods, else only served by human hands, are now distributed among the beasts and the cattle, i.e., partly the tamed wild beasts, as elephants and partly the tame domestic beasts, as the camel and the ass. as designation of the animalia agrestia and as designation of animalia domestica recur often conjoined: Gen 1:24-25; Gen 3:14; Gen 7:14; Gen 7:21; Gen 8:1; Lev 25:7, etc. The cattle have therefore the chief work to do with them, which consists in toilsome bearing. What a shame for a god to be so heavy! A god ought to be spirit and light, and therefore imponderable! There is frequent mention of carrying forth the gods of a conquered nation, partly as spoil, partly out of religious policy: Isa 10:10 sq.; Jer 48:7; Jer 49:3 (comp. 1Sa 5:1 sqq.). Comp. also the inscription of Sargon quoted under Isa 20:1. , gestata, gestamina, carried images, comp. Isa 46:7; Isa 45:20; Amo 5:26; Jer 10:5. means carrying in general. only to carry, load up a heavy burden (freight); comp. Gen 44:13; Psa 68:20; Zec 12:3. Thus the Prophet says, your are become , and designates thereby a progress in deterius. How this is so he says by the appositional clause a burden to the weary, viz.: beast.
What is said Isa 46:1 of Bel and Nebo is generalized in Isa 46:2. All the gods together must bow and fall down. They are not able to slip off, let go the load. (See Text, and Gram.). In these words and in the following their soul (person) is gone into captivity (see Text, and Gram.), the Prophet proceeds on the distinction between the idols themselves, the (relatively) transcendent numinibus and the simulacris representing these; a distinction that heathen belief made in thesi at least originally, but gradually in praxi carried out with as little consistency as does the Romish church with its images of the saints (comp. Friedr. Naegelsbach,Nachhomer, Theol. des griech. Volksglaubens, I. 3, and V. 11). Thus the meaning of our passage is they are not able to bring it about that the burden of the images shall slip away (viz.: from the hands of the enemy) as some smooth, slippery object. Were the gods of the heathen really gods, the Prophet would say, then they would be able to effect this, massive as they are. In that case the distinction between the god and his image would be justified. But as the gods do not deliver their images, it results that there is no distinction between them, and the gods are not something better and higher. They are in fact , nothings. If the image goes into captivity, then in fact the idol himself is dragged forth, all that belongs to his substance, for out of the image he does not exist. Babylon was especially rich in extraordinarily costly images of the gods. Bead e.g., in Herodotus (I. 183) the description of the colossal, golden images in the temple of Bel, which moreover neither Cyrus nor Darius Hystaspis touched, notwithstanding the Persian religion recognized no worship of images. It was Xerxes that first took away the massive golden image twelve yards high (Herod. l. c.).
3. Hearken unto medeliver you.
Isa 46:3-4. These verses form an admirable contrast with Isa 46:1-2. The gods are carried to their disgrace; Jehovah carries His people. And He, the strong One, carries them as tenderly and lovingly as a mother her child. Because He would say something earnest and important, He summons the people to give special heed: hearken unto me. It is little probable, in my opinion, that house of Jacob means Judah, while all the remnant of the house of Israel means Israel that in the Assyrian Exile was already for the most part denationalized. First, seems to me to conflict with that, and then the Prophet no where else designates the Israel exiled in Assyria as . This expression (remnant) is an honorable title designating the quintessence of the whole nation, without distinction of tribe, that remains after all siftings (comp. Isa 6:13; Isa 10:20 sqq.). This quintessence belongs to the last time, the old age of the nation. I find, therefore, a reference in the expression to Isa 46:4 a, and that by the thought is expressed that we find e.g., Jer 3:14, viz.: that no one belonging to the remnant. even though he may dwell most concealed and solitary, will be forgotten. In what follows, the motherly love of God is described. For God is Father and Mother in one person, and His love bears not only a masculine but also a feminine character (comp. Isa 42:14; Isa 49:15; Isa 66:9; Isa 66:13). All Israel, at once after its birth, from the belly or womb, thus immediately after its entrance on history as a nation (Jer 2:2), has been born in the arms by the Lord, as a mother carries her little child (comp. Isa 63:9). The form: (only here in Isaiah comp. 30:11) is meant likely to impart an emphasis to the notion involved in the preposition: as if from the mothers womb. But Jehovah was not a mother only to the youthful Israel; He continues so when it has become old; and even to old age (Israels of course) I am the same, Isa 46:4 (comp. Isa 41:4). This is something that does not otherwise happen. Only small children are carried, not men and the old. But Jehovah devotes to Israel this maternal care, mutatis mutandis, to the very last. Did He not make Israel, as He repeatedly assures them (Isa 43:7, comp. Isa 43:1; Isa 43:21; Isa 44:2; Isa 44:21; Isa 44:24; Isa 45:11)? The Lord, says the Prophet, will not forsake His own work. As a mother at one moment lifts her child over an obstacle, at another even carries it a stretch in her arms, until every difficulty and danger is overcome, so the Lord will do to His people even to their old age, i.e., till they have reached the end of their course. Therefore what a difference between Jehovah and idols! The latter let themselves be borne by their worshippers, and then they are borne on beasts of burden to go into captivity. But Jehovah carries His people with maternal tenderness from the beginning to the end. Now who is God? Whom shall one fear and love? Whom trust?
2. ISRAEL SHALL LEARN TO KNOW ITS GOD BY THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIM AND THE IMAGES THAT REPRESENT HIM, WHICH ALSO MUST BE CARRIED
Isa 46:5-7
5To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal,
And compare me, that we may be like?
6They lavish gold out of the bag,
And weigh silver in the balance,
And hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god:
They fall down, yea, they worship.
7They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him,
And set him in his place, and he standeth;
From his place shall he not remove:
Yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer,
Nor save him out of his trouble.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
See List for the recurrence of the words: Isa 46:5. Isa 46:6. .
Isa 46:5. The suffix of is to be supplied for ; also relates to . has for common subject the Lord and the image that represents Him.
Isa 46:6. The entire first half of the verse is subject, only that with there is a return from the participle to the finite verb is derived from , to pour out, pour away, throw away, from which there comes only a Hiphil form (Lam 1:8), and the substantive remotio (hence praeter).
Isa 46:7. (comp. Isa 25:10) is conceived of substantively=inferiora ejus, the place lying under it. The accusative is the acc. loci, denoting whither. has an ideal, indefinite subject (one or they) to which the suffixes in and relate.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Now the Prophet shows up the folly of that idolatry, which would make images of Jehovah Himself. The prohibition of this was impliedly contained in the general prohibition of images (Exo 20:4; comp. Deu 4:12; Deu 4:15; Deu 5:8). Even Aaron trangressed this by setting up the golden calf, which pretended to be a symbol of Jehovah Himself (Exo 32:5). The image of Gideon (Jdg 8:27) and of Micah (Jdg 17:4; Jdg 17:13) and the two golden calves of Jeroboam at Bethel and Dan (1Ki 12:26 sqq.) were trangressions of the same sort. Comp. Michaelis, Laws of Moses, V., 245. Hengstenberg, Introduc. to O. Test. II. All these symbolical figures of beasts were of gold or silver. It was only exceptional where, according to Isa 40:20, poorer people contented themselves with wooden images. But all were in conflict with the eternal truth that it is impossible to make a likeness of the incomparable, invisible God.
It is worthy of note that the Prophet began in Isa 40:17 sqq. his polemic against idolatry by an attack on this finer form of it, and here concludes with just such an attack. For in the Ennead 4048, after our passage, there does not occur again any actual polemic against idolatry. The words of Isa 46:5 recall Isa 40:18; Isa 40:25. The words hire a goldsmith and he maketh,etc., Isa 46:6, recall Jdg 17:4.
In Isa 46:7 the idea of carrying is emphasized, not without reason: that image, too, made in the likeness of Jehovah is nothing but heavy, vulgar matter, that needs as much to be carried as those Babylonian images of imaginary gods. Manifestly the Prophet would here obviate the objection that images of Jehovah were not to be regarded like other idol images. He answers: Since they must be borne, they are no better than the others.
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3. ISRAEL SHALL LEARN TO KNOW THE TRUE GOD FROM HIS PROPHESYING AND FULFILLING
Isa 46:8-11
8Remember this, and 4show yourselves men:
Bring it again to mind, O ye 5transgressors.
9Remember the former things of old:
6For I am God, and there is none else
I am God, and there is none like me,
10Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times the things that are not yet done,
Saying, My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all my pleasure:
11Calling a ravenous bird from the east,
7The man that executeth my counsel from a far country:
Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass;
I have purposed it, I will also do it.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
See List for the recurrence of the words: Isa 46:8. . Isa 46:10. and comp. . Isa 46:11.
Isa 46:8. is any way . . It is certain that it does not come from , as Jos. Kimchi maintains, and after him Vitringa, Rosenmueller (ed. II.), etc. For what can inflammamini, incendimini mean? The meanings confundamini be ashamed (Jerome), or be full of zeal (Vitringa) are certainly much forced. The derivation from (, comp. 1Co 16:13) is, grammatically and as to sense, not impossible. For if be taken as a denominativum, it does not matter that no trace remains in it of the original (=, comp. ). In the case of weak roots Hithpalel (, becomes ) is the usual formation. And the Prophet might fittingly say, that Israel ought at last to be a man, to press on to , and no longer waver between Jehovah and idols (1Ki 18:21). But cannot be made out of just as well may be made from , because in the latter there was actually at first a , whereas there was not in . I agree, therefore, with those (D. Kimchi, Hitzig, Knobel, Delitzsch, comp. Olsh., 272, a, and 274) who derive from (Arabic assa) fundavit, stabilivit. Of this Isaiah uses also the substantive 16:7fundamenta, i.e., the foundations lying bare as ruins.
Isa 46:9. stands after only here. Comp. Isa 45:6.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
We have had what I may call two negative arguments for the divinity of Jehovah from the case of the Babylonian idols (Isa 46:1-4), and from the symbolic images of Jehovah, that are no better (Isa 46:5-7). Here that positive argument is pressed very emphatically, which, by its being five times repeated, prepared for the mention of the name of Cyrus, and is now finally mentioned as the chief result gained by that naming. This argument is based on the assumption that only God can prophesy and fulfil (Isa 46:8-10), and He will certainly bring into existence that bird of prey that He has called out of the East to be the executor of His counsel. Because the Prophet passes to another kind of argument, he makes here a (relative) conclusion by exhorting the people to impress well on their memory what they have just heard (Isa 43:18; Isa 44:21), and to lay it to heart. This they were to do in order to be fixed. (See Text. and Gram.). For Israel in the Exile it was assuredly the chief task, to whose accomplishment our chaps. 4066 were greatly to contribute, to be at last firmly grounded in the knowledge of Jehovah and in His exclusive worship. On bring it again to mind see on Isa 44:19. By a second Remember, Isa 46:9, the Prophet requires one to recall the old prophecies in the sense of the argumentation often used by him (comp. Isa 41:21 sqq.; Isa 42:9; Isa 43:8-13; Isa 43:19-21; Isa 44:6-10; Isa 44:24-28), by which as here, he infers the divinity of Jehovah from His ability to foretell the future, and that idols are nothing because of their inability in this respect. By and , therefore, I understand things that occurred in the period of the (comp. Isa 46:10) which look over hither from an immeasurably distant past (). But by these old things the Prophet understands ancient prophecies (comp. on Isa 41:22), as clearly appears from Isa 46:10. The clause with contains what will be verified by looking back to those old prophecies, viz., that Jehovah alone is God. is thus no causal particle, but=that. The participial clauses Isa 46:10-11, declaring from the beginning the issue,etc., contain the proofs: remember what is old, viz., that I am God, as He that announces from the beginning and fulfils in its time. If then the clause with Isa 46:9 b is explanatory of remember, etc., and if this explanation consists in this, that the divinity of Jehovah should be known from His prophesying and fulfilling, then it is manifest that one must actually tear the words remember the former things of old from the context if he would have them mean an exhortation to earnestly search out history in general, see Isa 45:5-6; Isa 45:14; Isa 45:18; Isa 45:21. and correspond here in parallelism as they do often not in parallelism (Exo 20:5; Num 16:22; Jos 22:22; Psa 1:1, etc.). Apart from the meaning of the word in itself, the plural has more an abstract meaning=divinity, highest being (comp. 19:4). Isa 46:10. The participles , , depend on the chief notion to be proved, thus on and , not on the secondary notion . For Jehovah is God as He who from the beginning (before it germinated Isa 42:9; Isa 43:19) announced the issue.
The second part of Isa 46:10 enhances what precedes by declaring the firm purpose of carrying out what has been announced. Finally Isa 46:11 presents to view this execution. He that is called from the East (Isa 41:2; Isa 41:25) is Cyrus. He is compared to a bird of prey that swoops on its quarry. Doubtless the noblest of the kind, the eagle is meant. It is possible that is radically kindred to , but it is not proved. The eagle was a sacred bird to the Persians. According to Xenophon (Cyrop.VII. 1, 4) the standard of Cyrus and also of his successors was an Still in the time of the younger Cyrus the royal standard of the Persians was an ( ) (Xenoph. Anab. I. 10, 12). Aeschylus also (Pers. 205210), into a portentous sign that Atossa sees, introduces the Persians under the image of an eagle, the Greeks under the image of a falcon. Comp. DunckerGesch. d. Alterth. II. p. 368 sq. is not here as in Isa 40:13 the fellow-counsellor, but the one called by God Himself to execute His counsel. In conclusion, by a double disjunctive clause, the assurance is emphatically given, that what the Lord has said and projected (37:26; Isa 22:11) in spirit He will surely bring to pass. Here again, also, the Lord pledges His honor that His prophecy, long before announced, shall be fulfilled by Cyrus, and that thereby His, Jehovahs divinity will be proved.
4. GODS RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SALVATION MUST COME SPITE OF ISRAELS HARDNESS OF HEART
Isa 46:12-13
12Hearken unto me, ye stout hearted,
That are far from righteousness:
13I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off,
And my salvation shall not tarry:
And I will 8place salvation in Zion
9For Israel my glory.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
These two verses respond briefly but plainly to an objection or doubt that might be raised against the representations of Isa 46:1-11. Will Israel suffer itself, to be led to the right knowledge of God by the positive and negative proofs just presented (Isa 46:1-7), or even by the positive demonstration, when the prophecy about Cyrus is fulfilled (Isa 46:8-11)? The Lord knows that Israel is stout-hearted. This is meant in a bad sense, like that described Isa 48:4, because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass; comp. Isa 56:11. The obstinate, haughty, self-righteous heart is naturally far from the righteousness of God, for it has, for the purpose of being right, not the objective, divine norm, but only a subjective, self-made norm. There were many such hard, proud hearts in Israel. Proud self-righteousness characterizes the nation (Rom 10:3). Still the Lord, whose gifts and calling are without repentance (Rom 11:29), will fulfil His promises. Note that Isa 46:12 begins with hearken unto me, as does Isa 46:3. Thus it appears that the two verses are co-ordinated. With Isa 46:3 begins the proof of the threefold gain that shall come to Israel by the destruction of Babylon. Isa 46:12 mentions the doubt that may be raised against it. This close relation to Isa 46:3 is indicated by their beginning in the same way. Isa 46:13 resolves the doubt briefly and effectively. The almighty, gracious will of God toward Israel as a whole is not to be frustrated by the unworthiness of individuals. Spite of the evil condition referred to, Isa 46:12, He will bring in his righteousness. As the Prophet here expressly distinguishes between righteousness and salvation, we must take righteousness here in the sense of the quality of righteous, conformity to the divine will. [One denotes the cause and the other the effect, one relates to God, and the other to man. The sense in which salvation can be referred to the righteousness of God is clear from Isa 1:27. (See Vol. I., p. 93.) The exhibition of Gods righteousness consists in the salvation of His people and the simultaneous destruction of His enemies. To these two classes it was therefore at the same time an object of desire and dread.J. A. Alex.] The Lord will yet, spite of the natural unrighteousness of Israel, raise up in Israel the righteousness that avails with Him. But this is the precedent condition of salvation.Both will come at the right time; if perhaps late, still not too late. Then the city of Zion will be full of salvation, and the people full of the glory of Jehovah. Thus Gods gracious will toward Israel will be fulfilled under all circumstances. Even Israels sins will not be able to prevent its salvation.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isa 46:3-4. It is something that God will be with us, will strengthen us, help and preserve us by the right hand of His righteousness (Isa 41:10); it is something that He calls us by our name, and is with us in water and fire (Isa 43:1); it is something that He holds us as a seal and signet ring (Hag 2:23); it is something that He holds us as the apple of His eye (Psa 17:8), that He carries us on His wings (Deu 32:11), yea, that He gathers us under His wings (Mat 23:37),but this exceeds all, that God is willing to be so nearly related to us, that He will carry us under His heart, like a mother does the fruit of her body, and that not only like a mother, who carries the fruit no longer than nine months, but to the greatest and grayest age. Thus the love, fidelity, and services of God far exceed all motherly love, fidelity and services, great as these may be (Isa 49:15).Cramer.
2. On Isa 46:5-8. It is remarkable how deep-seated in the natural man is the desire to comprehend the divinity visibly, in a corporeal form. But God forbids it. First, because it is impossible to represent divinity under any adequate and worthy image; second, because the danger is so great that the image will be taken for the divinity itself. God would be worshipped as a spirit in spirit (Joh 4:24). The Son of God appeared in the flesh, and if there ever was a corporeal form that was worthy and able to be to divinity the medium of its visible manifestation, then it was the corporality of Christ. But this was only visible to His contemporaries. Were it necessary to the church ever to have before its eyes the bodily figure of the Lord, the Lord would surely have provided for that, as He has indeed provided that His Spirit and word shall continue preserved to us. But men would certainly have made an idol of the image of the Lord. The Roman Catholic Church has succeeded in heathenizing what is most Christian of all, by making the host in the Lords Supper to be a transmutation into the visible body of the Lord. There that deep-seated heathen tendency finds then its gratification. There we have a visible image, that would however represent the Lord as an object of worship. There God Himself is made an idol!
3. On Isa 46:12 sq. Were it necessary for us men to deserve the coming of the Redeemer He would never come. Can the physician only come when the sick man has disposed himself to recovery (Luk 5:31)? No, it is just sinners that attract the Lord. They need Him. He calls them to repentance, with them His righteousness finds a place. But a distinction is to be made here between the heard-hearted sinners that will not hear of the righteousness of God, and those sinners that would willingly be quit of it. Were we men only of the former sort, the door would be closed here on earth against all Gods purposes of salvation.
HOMILETICAL HINTS
1. On Isa 46:3-4. Every Christian ought to believe that God will do this for Him. For His mercies, promised to us in Christ, are neither small nor few. Far as the heaven is from the earth, and the east from the west, such is the mercy of God, if we only abide therein and do not tear ourselves away from it by wanton sinning. For we were not baptized that we might have a gracious God for ten or twenty years. He would be our God in eternity, and forever and ever, most of all when we are in distress and need a God and Helper, as in the straits of death and other danger. Therefore we should be afraid of nothing, but have the certain hope: the greater the distress we encounter, the more will God be near us with His help. Veit Dietrich.
2. On Isa 46:3-4. The maternal love of God. 1) It provides for all (great and small). 2) It ever provides (even to old age).
3. On Isa 46:5. What we are and what we are not we ever best learn when we men contrast ourselves with God. Who can measure how small our time is compared with His eternity. He can and will challenge us in everything and say: to whom will ye compare me, that we may be like? Yet the Psalm attempts it: A thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and what to Him is the succession of generations of men? Tholuck.
4. [On Isa 46:10. My counsel shall stand. This proves, (1) That God has a purpose or plan in regard to human affairs. If He had not, He could not predict future events; (2). That Gods plan will not be frustrated. He has power enough to secure the execution of His designs, and He will exert that power in order that all His plans may be accomplished. We may observe, also, that it is a matter of unspeakable joy that God has a plan, and that it will be executed. For (1) if there were no plan in relation to human thing, the mind could find no rest. If there was no evidence that One Mind presided over human affairs; that an infinitely wise plan had been formed, and that all things had been adjusted so as best to secure the ultimate accomplishment of that plan, everything would have the appearance of chaos, and the mind must be filled with doubts and distractions. But our anxieties vanish in regard to the apparent irregularities and disorders of the universe, when we feel that all things are under the direction of an Infinite Mind. (2) If His plans were not occomplished there would be occasion of equal doubt and dismay. If there was any power that could defeat the purposes of God; if there was any stubbornness of matter, or any inflexible perverseness in the nature of mind; if there were any unexpected and unforeseen extraneous causes that could interpose to thwart His plans, then the mind must be full of agitation and distress. But the moment it can fasten on the conviction that God has formed a plan that embraces all things, and that all things which occur will be in some way made tributary to that plan, that moment the mind can be calm in resignation to His holy will. Barnes].
5. On Isa 46:12-13. The righteousness that avails with God. 1) Who brings it about (Isa 46:13 a); 2) who lays hold on it (not the proud and self-righteous Isa 46:12, but the believing); 3) what are its effects (Isa 46:13 b, salvation and glory).
Footnotes:
[1]are to the beast and to the cattle.
[2]Your carried images are loaded up.
[3]Heb. their soul.
[4]be firm.
[5]apostates.
[6]That.
[7]Heb. The man of my counsel.
[8]give.
[9]To.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The prophet here draws a fine contrast between the idol-gods, and the Lord God of Israel; and thence takes occasion to invite the people to the love of God, and confidence in him.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Bel and Nebo were the names of two of the gods of Babylon. Probably from thence, one of the kings of Babylon took the name of Belshazzar, and another that of Nebuchadnezzar. But perhaps the former is a contraction of the word Baal, the well-known name generally given to an idol; and hence the Lord declared that he would take that name out of the mouth of his people. And, as if to endear himself still more, the Lord said he would be called not Baali, which signifies lord; but lshi, which means husband. And was not this an allusion to gospel times, when the Lord of life and glory would take our nature, and become the husband of his people? Hos 2:16-17 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Religious Uses of Memory
Isa 46:9
Of all the powers that God has given us, none is more wonderful than memory. For what is memory? It is a twofold power. It is the power that gathers in the past, and crowds into some secret cabinet here the twice ten thousand things that we have learned. And then it is the power that out of that crowded storehouse brings the things forth again, calls them to mind.
I. There is no religion which lays such an emphasis on memory as Christianity. What do we call Christ’s sayings? We call them memorable words. The words of Jesus are like the seal upon the wax. Once stamped with th s and memory will bear them to the end. Christ recognized the character of memory in making His words so memorable as that.
II. Now I wish to touch on three great offices of memory in the higher life:
1. It is memory which helps us to consecrate the world. The hallowing of earth is memory’s secret. There are villages sweeter than Stratford, and parks more ancient than the parks of Charlcote, but the memories of Shakespeare that cluster there have consecrated these spots for ever.
2. It is an aid to charity. It helps us to understand our friend. It has been said our friends are never ours till we have lost them. It is a strained expression of the certain truth, that of all lights there is none clearer than the light of memory. I cannot judge a man while he is here. Memory redresses things: helps me to see, and know, and understand: lets me do justice to the great, and to the men and women I knew and wronged.
Did you ever regard it as a signal mercy that it is in the light of memory we have to do with Christ? Perhaps you have thought it would be an easier thing to be a Christian if Jesus Christ were here. If I do not know my friend till he is gone, would I have seen the Saviour in a Nazarene? I can look back now. I can appreciate in the light of memory.
3. It helps us to understand ourselves. Only faith and prayer and memory will bring self-knowledge. Faith brings it, for it brings me near to Christ. Prayer brings it, for it shows me what I lack. And memory brings it too.
III. The kind of thing that you remember best is no bad token of the kind of heart you have.
As life advances memory grows richer. Can it be, then, that in the hour of death the memory of the past is blotted out? It is impossible. It is no power extraneous to myself. It is part of this immortal me. And when I wake, freed from this hampering body, enlarged and glorified in every faculty, my memory must share in the full tides of life.
G. H. Morrison, Flood-Tide, p. 1.
References. XLVI. 9. R. Flint, Sermons and Addresses, p. 1. XLVI. 9, 10. J. Martineau, Endeavours After the Christian Life (2nd Series), p. 105. XLVI. 12, 13. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah, p. 332. XLVII. 7. W. R. Huntington, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxiv. 1903, p. 109. XLVII. 14. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. viii. No. 444. XLVIII. Ibid. vol. xl. No. 2379. XLVIII. 6. Newman Smyth, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xliii. 1893, p. 248. XLVIII. 8. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiii. No. 779. XLVIII. 9-11. Ibid. vol. xviii. No. 1041. XLVIII. 10. Ibid. vol. i. No. 35; vol. xxiv. No. 1430. XLVIII. 16. J. Keble, Miscellaneous Sermons, p. 199. XLVIII. 18. Ibid. vol. xi. No. 610. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah, p. 336. R. F. Horton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxi. 1902, p. 374. A. Raleigh, Outlines of Sermons on the Old Testament. J. Keble, Sermons for Advent to Christmas Eve, p. 414. XLIX. 1-23. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlvi. No. 2703. XLIX. 2. B. Wilberforce, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlvi. 1894, p. 356. W. A. Gray, The Shadow of the Hand, p. 9. XLIX. 4. J. M. Neale, Sermons Preached in Sackville College Chapel, vol. ii. p. 207. H. Montagu Butler, Harrow School Sermons, p. 308. J. M. Neale, Sermons on the Prophets, vol. i. pp. 206, 215. J. Keble, Sermons for Advent to Christmas Eve, p. 401. XLIX. 5. Ibid, p. 230. XLIX. 6. J. J. S. Perowne, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lv. 1899, p. 296. XLIX. 8. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ii. No. 103. XLIX. 8-11. B. Wilberforce, Feeling After Him, p. 82. XLIX. 9. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah XLIX.-LXVI. p. 1. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xli. No. 5397. XLIX. 10. Ibid. vol. xxxvi. No. 2128.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Precious Promises
Isaiah 45-47
In the fifty-fifth chapter we come upon the beginning of many exceeding great and precious promises. However long we may be detained by imagery that is hardly explicable, or by prophecies that appear too remote to be of use to ourselves, we are ever and anon refreshed with doctrines and promises which have a direct reference to our deepest necessities and purest desires. We need more than a grand Bible, as we need more than a high heaven to gaze upon. The heaven which we see would be of little use to us but for the earth which it blesses with its warmth and light: so the grander portions of the Bible might dazzle us by their brilliance or astound us by their mysteries, but we need the sweet promises, the tender words of special grace, medicaments prepared for the heart’s disease by the divine Physician. When we are most familiar with the spiritual portions of the Bible we are best prepared to survey within their proper boundaries the portions which lie beyond our verbal exposition. Who would distress himself because of the wildernesses of the earth when he has gardens around him which he can immediately and successfully cultivate? Who would feel so overpowered by the number and glory of the stars as to fail to light a fire on his own hearthstone or a lamp by which he can illuminate his own house? Yet it is true that men have so acted in many instances with regard to the Bible. They have been professedly overwhelmed by its majesty, stunned by its ineffable grandeur, and bewildered by the sublimity of its mysteries, so much so that they have neglected its commandments and declined to appropriate its promises and benedictions. It is furthermore noticeable that many of the tenderest words ever spoken by God to man were spoken in Old Testament times. The prophecies of Isaiah abound in tenderest sentiment. We shall now cull illustrations of this fact, and thus inspire and sustain ourselves by the recollection of the covenants and the oaths by which Almighty God has bound himself to defend and succour his people in all generations. It should always be noticed that God’s promises are addressed to human necessity. God does not call upon us first to be strong, and then to be blessed; he recognises our weakness and offers us strength; he looks upon all our poverty and loneliness, and proffers us the riches and companionship of heaven. God’s ministry, therefore, is always a ministry of condescension. God cannot talk to us as to equals; his voice must always come from above, and ours must always be the upturned ear and the expectant vision. It is necessity that prays; it is fulness that sings.
The first promise that we have ( Isa 55:1 ) is the promise of “waters.” A great appeal is addressed to those who are athirst. Thus the Lord accommodates his ministry to human necessity. When men are thirsting for water he does not offer them sublime visions of the future, or stately ideas concerning the economies and dominions of time. He would say to men, Let us, in the first place, supply your need; until your thirst is quenched your mind cannot be at rest; until your bodily necessities are supplied your imagination will be unable to exercise itself in high thoughts. The promises of God are addressed to our necessities for more than merely temporary reasons. There is a whole philosophy of government in such appeals. Only at certain points can we profess to understand God, and those points touch our need, our pain, our immediate desire; when we are quite sure that God gives us water for our bodily thirst we may begin at least to feel that there is a possibility that he may not neglect the more burning thirst of the soul. God approaches the spirit through the body. The God who grows corn for our hunger may also have bread for our spirit’s cry of weakness. We cannot estimate the blessing of water because we live in a land that is full of rivers and fountains; those only who live in desert countries know what it is to suffer from want of water. A gospel in one country may be no gospel in another. It is nothing to those who live in tropical climes to promise them warmth; but what a promise would that be to many who are shivering in the bitterest cold.
Not only is there a promise of water, there is a promise of a higher blessing still. May we not call it the all but ultimate blessing, the all but crowning benediction, forgiveness?
“Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” ( Isa 55:6-7 ).
The blessings promised in the Scriptures are always more of less conditional. Here, for example, is a condition of time, “while he may be found,” and again, “while he is near.” What these words mean in all their depth and breadth no man can tell, but he would be a superficial reader who does not detect in them a tone of pressure and of importunate urgency. We cannot tell how long the Lord will tarry at the door, so we should arise at once and open it. We know not but that in one moment the Lord may separate himself from us by the measure of the whole universe; we should therefore put out both our hands that we may at least grope after him, and show by that very sign that we are anxious to lay hold upon him. Then again, there are conditions on the part of men: the wicked man is to forsake his way, the unrighteous man is to forsake his thoughts, the sinner is to return unto the Lord, put himself in an attitude of coming back, that is, of coming home. This is the Gospel doctrine of repentance before the time. In the Old Testament we often have the word “return;” in the New Testament we have the word “repent;” both words may involve, practically, the same profound and vital meaning, that meaning being that the soul is utterly to change its course, to reverse its purposes, to reconstruct its motive, and to begin a new, a better, and a grander life. Sweet is the promise which follows this return on the part of the sinner the Lord will have mercy upon him, and our God will abundantly pardon. The last words may be rendered, The Lord will multiply to pardon; that is, he will not pardon as if with niggardliness or reluctance, but will add pardon to pardon, forgiveness to forgiveness, as wave chases wave over the face of the deep. Lest men should be overwhelmed by this great promise, or should be perplexed by its mystery, and deterred by the very extent of the offer, the Lord proceeds to reason, saying
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord” ( Isa 55:8 ).
Thus the Lord will have the working according to his own will; he will not adopt another level; he will not accommodate himself to the usual standards of time; he will set up his mystery amongst the affairs of life as he has set up his tabernacle amongst the dwellings of men. As that tabernacle can never be confused or mistaken for an ordinary dwelling-place, so the mystery of the divine action is to be distinguishable above all philosophies and apart from them, as a new thing in the earth, new because it comes up from eternity, and startles as with sudden light and glory all the dimness of earth’s poor twilight. It is as if the Lord should say, Do not hesitate to accept the promise because you cannot understand my action; do not put away from you heavenly blessing because you have not earthly explanation; remember that a divine worker must have divine motives and purposes, and that in proportion to the divinity of the worker is the mystery of his whole action; receive this by faith, and prove your faith by the outstretching of your hand, that you may claim the pardon which is written in blood and laid upon the altar of the Cross.
The Lord now returns from purely spiritual blessings to give the assurance that he is not only the source of forgiveness but the source of the harvests which enrich and gladden the earth:
“For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater” ( Isa 55:10 ).
That is a revelation of nature intended to be a type of a higher revelation still. Everything on earth is made into a ladder by which we may scale higher meanings. The rain is not a self-contained blessing; it is a type, a symbol, a hint of a larger benediction. The seed which is given to the sower and the bread which is enjoyed by the eater signify more than is conveyed by merely literal meanings; there is a seed with which the soul is to be sown, and there is a bread on which the spirit is to feed. The Lord makes, however, another and most beautiful application of the imagery, for he applies it to the success of his own word.
“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” ( Isa 55:11 ).
So the Lord himself is to reap a great harvest upon the earth, a harvest of living souls, a harvest of redeemed and rejoicing spirits. The rain and the dew may represent the gracious influences which prepare the heart for the reception of the heavenly seed or the word of God. The sower is none other than the Son of man, and the harvest is the Lord’s own inheritance. How the Lord rejoices in the prospect of abundant harvesting. Jesus Christ is not satisfied with a small return; he wills that the whole earth may be brought to accept his dominion and own the righteousness and blessedness of his sceptre. How can God be ultimately disappointed? How can he who made the world for himself ever turn it over to the dominion of another? When God made man in his own image and likeness, it was that man might enjoy divine companionship and represent divine purposes. How long all this may take in accomplishment none can tell; the years are many to us, and we are weary because of the slowness of their lapse; in our souls we often sigh the question we dare not definitely articulate, saying in our very sighing, O Lord! how long? Canst thou not cut through this flow of weary time and bring in the eternal Sabbath? We have the promise, and we long for its fulfilment; we cannot but believe in its fulfilment because thine own mouth has spoken the holy words. Bless us with thine own patience, or we shall fall into despair, and in our despair we shall blaspheme against thy throne.
The great principle of evolution or progress is constantly affirmed in the Bible. It is notably affirmed in these words:
“Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree” ( Isa 55:13 ).
The Lord promises honour to obedience.
“For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off” ( Isa 56:4-5 ).
Some men have had this testimony, that they pleased God, that is to say, God looked upon them and derived pleasure from his survey, so simple was the motive, so candid the action, so beneficent the spirit, that he saw in the advancing saint a type and symbol of his own holiness. God promises permanence of blessing. The men who please him are to have a place in his house, and within his walls they are to have a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters; none shall take them out of the place to which God assigns them; they shall dwell in an inviolable temple; their home shall be a sacred sanctuary, where the angels come whose windows open upon eternal spheres, and from whose elevation can be heard supernal music. Thus blessing upon blessing is given to earnest souls, as if God could never give enough; it is we who must declare our vessels are exhausted, for God’s great benefactions can know no end.
Chapter fifty-seven opens with a most gracious and precious promise:
“The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness” ( Isa 57:1-2 ).
The words may have been written in presence of the actual persecution inaugurated by Manasseh. The writer may have seen one prophet after another cruelly destroyed. Several prophets have vexed their souls even to death on account of the evils by which they were surrounded and overwhelmed. It was given to the prophet to see, even in the removal of the righteous, a deliverance from a fate unrelieved by a single gleam of light. If in this life only we had hope we should be of all men most miserable. Unless we interpret the littleness of time by the greatness of eternity we should be overwhelmed by daily distress. “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory: while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” The world is never to be looked at in its solitariness, as if it were one world only, a poor unrelated wanderer in the infinite spaces. Time has a relation to eternity, earth to heaven, the present to the future; and unless we grasp all the elements that are involved in the unity of life, we shall continually be distracted and our spirits will be darkened by despair. When the good man dies we should say, he has escaped the evil of life; when the merciful man dies we should say, he has entered into peace. The “bed” referred to in the second verse is the grave. The Christian does not terminate his thought by the grave, for he lives in the light of a larger and nobler revelation. The grave is no longer a bed, a final resting-place; it is but a point to halt at; the spirit has gone beyond the boundaries of the tomb, and is already rejoicing in the dewy morning of eternal day. Thus we are lifted up in contemplation, thus we are strengthened in faith, thus we are ennobled in all intellectual thought, by coming into contact with the spirit and revelation of Jesus Christ. The grave is no longer a boundary line; it is but a transient shadow soon to be driven away by the rising light. Beyond it lies the garden of the Lord; one inch beyond, and all heaven glows in infinite summer.
We next come upon the greatest spiritual promises that can be offered to the souls of men. We see those promises the more clearly by reason of the contrast in which God the Giver and Author of these promises establishes himself. Thus
“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” ( Isa 57:15 ).
The fifty-seventh chapter ends with a declaration which shows that amid all the goodness and graciousness of the divine way the standard of righteousness is never lowered, never is the dignity of law impaired. Read these awful yet gracious words: “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” ( Isa 45:1 ). If we thought that God was about to lose righteousness in sentiment, we are thus suddenly with a very startling abruptness brought back to the remembrance of the fact that wickedness is infinitely and eternally hateful to God, and that peace and wickedness are mutually destructive terms. The wicked man may create a wilderness and call it peace, but real contentment, benignity, resignation, or harmony, he can never know in wickedness. Herein we find the testimony of the divine presence, the assertion and glory of the divine law. God does not take away peace from the wicked in any arbitrary sense. Wickedness is itself incompatible with peace: the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt The unrest is actually in the wickedness; the tumult does not come from without, it comes from within; whenever a man touches a forbidden tree, in that day he dies. He may find momentary pleasure in the fruit which he has stolen, but no sooner will he have appropriated that fruit than the very tree itself withers away, and the whole garden is as a blighted landscape. If any man who is out of harmony with God claim to have peace he is a liar, and the truth is not in him. Peace is obtainable in one way only, and that is by the divinely revealed way of repentance, confession, contrition of heart, and unreserved and grateful trust in all the mystery of the priesthood of Christ Unity with Christ means peace. It does not mean that the peace is superimposed upon a man as a crown might be set upon his head; it means that in his heart there springs up holy harmony with the divine nature, an assurance and consciousness of rest because the whole motion of the life is in movement with the purpose and law of heaven. We cannot buy peace, we cannot sell peace, we cannot lend one another peace; we can only have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Prayer
We are fearfully and wonderfully made: truly how great and how little is man: yet thou hast made him in thine image and likeness, thou mighty and loving Maker. Now we are so triumphant, and anon so dejected; new brighter than any summer day, now more desolate than winter. Thou hast put a song in our mouth, and yet there is sorrow in our heart, which spoils the music. Our life, how changeful! without consistency; now sunny, now cloudy; now on the hill-top, now in the deep valley; now planting flowers, now digging graves. Vanity of vanities! surely all is as a veering wind; there is none abiding, there is only One eternal; as for men, their breath is in their nostrils, they die whilst they say they live. Yet how wondrous art thou to the children of men, in all care and love, in all pity and redeeming compassion! Thou dost care for each one; there is none neglected, there are no orphans; all men say, Our Father in heaven. This is thy purpose; if they do not say it now they will say it some day, brighter than any that has yet dawned upon the hills of time; glad will be that day, brightest of mornings will be that morning. We pray for it, we live in its anticipation, and when men chide us because of our hope we say, the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. We bless thee for what revelation of thee we have seen. Sometimes we look upon thee as righteous and terrible; at other times as fatherly, approachable, all love, always welcoming us to thy smile and protection: but whether we see thee in the one aspect or the other we know that thy way is right, thy purpose is love, and thou wilt, by way of the Cross, bring men to restoration, pardon, sonship. Verily, by way of the Cross! Other way there is none; that way is open; it is filled with angels of love; we are continually invited to walk therein and find the dying yet living Christ, the priestly Sacrifice, the Intercessor and the Victim in one. We have seen him of whom Moses and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, and we have given our whole love to him. Other king shall not reign over us. He is to us Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the All-in-all; and to him we give our heart, our mind, our soul, our strength, our hand, our whole being: if he will take it we shall thus be enriched evermore. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XXVII
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IN ISAIAH
The relation between the New Testament Christ and prophecy is that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. To him give all the prophets witness. All the scriptures, the law, the prophets, and the psalms, testify of him. And we are fools, and slow of heart to credit adequate testimony when we distrust any part of the inspired evidence.
Of the ancient prophets Isaiah was perhaps the most notable witness of the coming Messiah. An orderly combination of his many messianic utterances amounts to more than a mere sketch, indeed, rather to a series of almost life-sized portraits. As a striking background for these successive portraits the prophet discloses the world’s need of a Saviour, and across this horrible background of gloom the prophet sketches in startling strokes of light the image of a coming Redeemer.
In Isa 2:2-4 we have the first picture of him in Isaiah, that of the effect of his work, rather than of the Messiah himself. This is the establishment of the mountain of the Lord’s house on the top of the mountains, the coming of the nations to it and the resultant millennial glory.
In Isa 4:2-6 is another gleam from the messianic age in which the person of the Messiah comes more into view in the figure of a branch of Jehovah, beautiful and glorious. In sketching the effects of his work here the prophet adds a few strokes of millennial glory as a consummation of his ministry.
In Isa 7:14 he delineates him as a little child born of a virgin, whose coming is the light of the world. He is outlined on the canvas in lowest humanity and highest divinity, “God with us.” In this incarnation he is the seed of the woman and not of the man.
The prophet sees him as a child upon whom the government shall rest and whose name is “Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6 ). This passage shows the divinity of Christ and the universal peace he is to bring to the world. In these names we have the divine wisdom, the divine power, the divine fatherhood, and the divine peace.
In Isa 11:1-9 the prophet sees the Messiah as a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, i.e., of lowly origin, but possessing the Holy Spirit without measure who equips him for his work, and his administration wrought with skill and justice, the result of which is the introduction of universal and perfect peace. Here the child is presented as a teacher. And such a teacher! On him rests the seven spirits of God. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. He judges not according to appearances and reproves not according to rumors. With righteousness he judges the poor and reproves with equality in behalf of the meek. His words smite a guilty world like thunderbolts and his very breath slays iniquity. Righteousness and faithfulness are his girdle. He uplifts an infallible standard of morals.
In Isa 40:3-8 appears John the Baptist, whom Isaiah saw as a voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way for the coming King.
In Isa 11:2 ; Isa 42:1 ; Isa 61:1-3 the prophet saw the Messiah as a worker in the power of the Spirit, in whom he was anointed at his baptism. This was the beginning of his ministry which was wrought through the power of the Holy Spirit. At no time in his ministry did our Lord claim that he wrought except in the power of the Holy Spirit who was given to him without measure.
In Isa 35:1-10 the Messiah is described as a miracle worker. In his presence the desert blossoms as a rose and springs burst out of dry ground. The banks of the Jordan rejoice. The lame man leaps like a hart, the dumb sing and the blind behold visions. The New Testament abounds in illustrations of fulfilment. These signs Christ presented to John the Baptist as his messianic credentials (Mat 11:1-4 ).
The passage (Isa 42:1-4 ) gives us a flashlight on the character of the Messiah. In the New Testament it is expressly applied to Christ whom the prophet sees as the meek and lowly Saviour, dealing gently with the blacksliding child of his grace. In Isa 22:22 we have him presented as bearing the key of the house of David, with full power to open and shut. This refers to his authority over all things in heaven and upon earth. By this authority he gave the keys of the kingdom to Peter one for the Jews and the other for the Gentiles who used one on the day of Pentecost and the other at the house of Cornelius, declaring in each case the terms of entrance into the kingdom of God. This authority of the Messiah is referred to again in Revelation:
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying. Fear not: I am the first and the last, and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore and I have the keys of death and of Hades. Rev 7:17
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphis write: These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and none shall shut, and shutteth and none openeth. Rev 3:7
In Isa 32:1-8 we have a great messianic passage portraying the work of Christ as a king ruling in righteousness, in whom men find a hiding place from the wind and the tempest. He is a stream in a dry place and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
In Isa 28:14-18 the Messiah is presented to w as a foundation stone in a threefold idea:
1. A tried foundation stone. This is the work of the master mason and indicates the preparation of the atone for its particular function.
2. An elect or precious foundation stone. This indicates that the stone was selected and appointed. It was not self-appointed but divinely appointed and is therefore safe.
3. A cornerstone, or sure foundation stone. Here it is a foundation of salvation, as presented in Mat 16:18 . It is Christ the Rock, and not Peter. See Paul’s foundation in 1 Corinthians:
According to the grace of God which was given unto me; as a wise masterbuilder I laid a foundation; and another buildeth thereon. But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1Co 3:10-11 .
In Isa 49:1-6 he is presented as a polished shaft, kept close in the quiver. The idea is that he is a mighty sword. In Revelation, Christ is presented to John as having a sharp, twoedged sword proceeding out of his mouth.
In Isa 50:2 ; Isa 52:9 f.; Isa 59:16-21 ; Isa 62:11 we have the idea of the salvation of Jehovah. The idea is that salvation originated with God and that man in his impotency could neither devise the plan of salvation nor aid in securing it. These passages are expressions of the pity with which God looks down on a lost world. The redemption, or salvation, here means both temporal and spiritual salvation salvation from enemies and salvation from sin.
In Isa 9:1 f. we have him presented as a great light to the people of Zebulun and Naphtali. In Isa 49:6 we have him presented as a light to the Gentiles and salvation to the end of the earth: “Yea, he saith, It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.”
In Isa 8:14-15 Isaiah presents him as a stone of stumbling: “And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble thereon, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.”
The prophet’s vision of his maltreatment and rejection are found in Isa 50:4-9 ; Isa 52:13-53:12 . In this we have the vision of him giving his “back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.” We see a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. His visage is so marred it startled all nations. He is a vicarious sacrifice. The chastisement of the peace of others is on him. The iniquity of others is put on him. It pleases the Father to bruise him until he has poured out his soul unto death as an offering for sin.
The teaching of Isaiah on the election of the Jews is his teaching concerning the “holy remnant,” a favorite expression of the prophet. See Isa 1:9 ; Isa 10:20-22 ; Isa 11:11 ; Isa 11:16 ; Isa 37:4 ; Isa 37:31-32 ; Isa 46:3 . This coincides with Paul’s teaching in Romans 9-11.
In Isa 32:15 we find Isaiah’s teaching on the pouring out of the Holy Spirit: “Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest,” and in Isa 44:3 : “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.”
In Isa 11:10 he is said to be the ensign of the nations: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, that standeth for an ensign of the peoples unto him shall the nations seek; and his resting place shall be glorious.”
Isa 19:18-25 ; Isa 54:1-3 ; Isa 60:1-22 teach the enlargement of the church. The great invitation and promise are found in Isa 55 .
The Messiah in judgments is found in Isa 63:1-6 . Here we behold an avenger. He comes up out of Edom with dyed garments from Bozra. All his raiment is stained with the blood of his enemies whom he has trampled in his vengeance as grapes are crushed in the winevat and the restoration of the Jews is set forth in Isa 11:11-12 ; Isa 60:9-15 ; Isa 66:20 . Under the prophet’s graphic pencil or glowing brush we behold the establishment and growth of his kingdom unlike all other kingdoms, a kingdom within men, a kingdom whose principles are justice, righteousness, and equity and whose graces are faith, hope, love, and joy, an undying and ever-growing kingdom. Its prevalence is like the rising waters of Noah’s flood; “And the waters prevailed and increased mightily upon the earth. And the water prevailed mightily, mightily upon the earth; and all the high mountains, that are under the whole heavens, were covered.”
So this kingdom grows under the brush of the prophetic limner until its shores are illimitable. War ceases. Gannenta rolled in the blood of battle become fuel for fire. Conflagration is quenched. Famine outlawed. Pestilence banished. None are left to molest or make afraid. Peace flows like a river. The wolf dwells with the lamb. The leopard lies down with the kid. The calf and the young lion walk forth together and a little child is leading them. The cow and the bear feed in one pasture and their young ones are bedfellows. The sucking child safely plays over the hole of the asp, and weaned children put their hands in the adder’s den. In all the holy realms none hurt nor destroy, because the earth is as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the fathomless ocean is full of water. Rapturous vision! Sublime and ineffable consummation! Was it only a dream?
In many passages the prophet turns in the gleams from the millennial age, but one of the clearest and best on the millennium, which is in line with the preceding paragraph, Isa 11:6-9 : “And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together: and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.”
The prophet’s vision of the destruction of death is given in Isa 25:8 : “He hath swallowed up death for ever; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of his people will he take away from all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken it,” and in Isa 26:19 : “Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead.”
The clearest outlines of the prophet’s vision of “Paradise Regained” are to be found in Isa 25:8 , and in two passages in chapter Isa 66 : Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn over her; that ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and ye shall suck thereof; ye shall be borne upon the side, and shall be dandled upon the knees, as one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And ye shall see it, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass: and the hands of Jehovah shall be known toward his servants ; and he will have indignation against his enemies. Isa 66:10-14
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith Jehovah. Isa 66:22-23
QUESTIONS
1. What is the relation between the New Testament Christ and prophecy?
2. What can you say of Isaiah as a witness of the Messiah?
3. What can you say of Isaiah’s pictures of the Messiah and their background?
4. Following in the order of Christ’s manifestation, what is the first picture of him in Isaiah?
5. What is the second messianic glimpse in Isaiah?
6. What is Isaiah’s picture of the incarnation?
7. What is Isaiah’s picture of the divine child?
8. What is Isaiah’s vision of his descent, his relation to the Holy Spirit, his administration of justice, and the results of his reign?
9. What is Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah’s herald?
10. What is the prophet’s vision of his anointing?
11. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a miracle worker?
12. What is the prophet’s vision of the character of the Messiah?
13. What is the prophet’s vision of him as the key bearer?
14. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a king and a hiding place?
15. What is the prophet’s vision of the Messiah as a foundation stone?
16. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a polished shaft?
17. In what passages do we find the idea of the salvation of Jehovah, and what the significance of the idea?
18. What is Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah as a light?
19. Where does Isaiah present him as a stone of stumbling?
20. What is the prophet’s vision of his maltreatment and rejection?
21. What is the teaching of Isaiah on the election of the Jews?
22. Where do we find Isaiah’s teaching on the pouring out of the Holy Spirit?
23. Where is he said to be the ensign of the nations?
24. What passages teach the enlargement of the church?
25. Where is the great invitation and promise?
26. Where is the Messiah in judgment?
27. What passages show the restoration of the Jews?
28. What is the prophet’s vision of the Messiah’s kingdom?
29. What is the prophet’s vision of the millennium?
30. What is the prophet’s vision of the destruction of death?
31. What is the prophet’s vision of “Paradise Regained?”
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
XX
THE BOOK OF ISAIAH PART 12
Isaiah 46-48
The general theme of these chapters is the victory over idolatry; the fall of Babylon and its idols. The special theme of Isa 46 is “The Overthrow of the Gods of Babylon.”
There are two of the Babylonian deities named in Isa 46:1-2 , Bel and Nebo. Bel, the local representation of Baal, the Phoenician sun-god, is identified with Merodach and, in the BabyIonian astrology, he is connected with the planet, Jupiter. Bel appears in several names of the Babylonian princes, as in Belshazzar and Belteshazzar. Nebo, the Babylonian god of learning, the son of Merodach, was the messenger of their gods to men. He is thought by some to have been connected with the planet, Mercury. Nebo, appears, also, in the names of their princes, as in Nebopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar, and Nebuzaradan. According to Herodotus there was a golden statue of Bel in the temple of Belus, twelve cubits high, which was carried away by Xerxes.
The picture here in these two verses is that of the conquered gods bowing to their victors. Now instead of being borne lightly along in the procession they are borne away on beasts of burden. These gods and their subjects together go into captivity.
In Isa 46:3-7 we have a contrast with the preceding picture of the captives of Babylon bearing their gods away on beasts of burden. Here Jehovah pictures himself bearing his people. They have been borne by him from their birth, and will be borne by him down to old age and to hoary hairs. This reminds us of the stanza in “How Firm a Foundation,” which embodies this truth and the sentiment of which was taken from this passage. Then the prophet follows with another description of the process of making a god. This time it is the process of molding it rather than shaping it out of wood. But the results are the same. They fall down and worship it. They pray unto it but it cannot answer, nor save them out of trouble. So the contrast between Jehovah and idols is this: Jehovah bears his people, but the idols have to be borne by their people; Jehovah saves his people out of their troubles, but the idols cannot save out of trouble.
The exhortation to the transgressors of Israel found in Isa 46:8-10 is an exhortation to remember. The first thing to remember is “this,” which refers to the contrast between Jehovah and idols. Since Jehovah bears Israel, then let Israel show themselves men. The marginal reading here is “stand firm.” This reminds us of the conflict on Mount Carmel between Jehovah and Baal. Elijah said, “Why go limping between two opinions? If Jehovah is God serve him; if Baal, then serve him.” The people here were weak in their conviction and, doubtless, needed Just such an exhortation as this: “Stand firm for Jehovah, for he is the only God.” The prophet here also intimates that to waver between Jehovah and idols was transgression.
Remember the First and Second Commandments: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shall not make unto thee a graven image and bow thyself down to it.” Remember this is transgression. Then remember “the former things of old”: that Jehovah is God, and there is none else: that there is none like him; that he declares the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done. Remember that he is a God who foreknows all things and tells them beforehand, even things that are yet unfulfilled, O ye Radical Critics. Remember your former experiences, O House of Israel. How ye saw that Jehovah was the great and terrible God. It sounds like the war cry, “O ye Mexicans, Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!” or Abraham’s voice across the impassable gulf, “Remember, son, remember that thou in thy lifetime hadst thy good things, and Lazarus, his evil things.” Remember, O remember. If God’s people and the world would only remember! “Remember, too, O Israel, that my counsel never fails and that I will do my pleasure; that I have already told you that I will call that ravenous bird, Cyrus, from the East, to do my counsel, and remember that what I have purposed I will do.”
The prophet closes this chapter with an exhortation to the stubborn in Israel, who were far from righteousness. Jehovah then announces the speedy approach of his righteous judgments upon the godless and his salvation in Zion for Israel.
The special theme of Isa 47 is “the overthrow of Babylon, the mistress of kingdoms.” This chapter is a song of triumph and divides itself into four stanzas, as follows: (1) Isa 47:1-4 ; (2) Isa 47:5-7 ; (3) Isa 47:8-11 ; (4) Isa 47:12-15 the first two commencing with a double imperative and the last two, with a single imperative.
Jehovah is the speaker all the way through except in Isa 47:4 which is a kind of parenthetical ejaculation by Isaiah and his God-given children, or, maybe a chorus in Israel.
There is here a call by Jehovah to Babylon, who boasted that she had never been captured, to come down from her lofty throne and sit in the dust. Babylon had hitherto been one of the chief seats of Oriental luxury, the glory of kingdoms and the beauty of the Chaldean excellency, the golden city. She was given to revelry and feasting, to mirth and drunkenness, to shameless licensed debauchery. All this must now be changed (Isa 47:1 ).
She was now to sit at the mill and grind like a slave. She must remove the veil, strip off the train, and uncover the leg to cross the streams, etc. This, of course, is taken from the figure of the female who had been taken captive, and represents the great humiliation that must come to the proud and luxurious Babylon, in which also no man shall be spared.
Isa 47:4 in this song, which is so different from the rest of it, is thought by some to be a marginal note of a sympathetic scribe, which has made its way by accident into the text. It is admittedly different from the rest of the song and its removal would artistically improve it. But it may be consistently retained as an outburst of the chorus upon recognizing their Redeemer, when they exclaim: “Our Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts, the Holy One of Israel.”
The first part of Isa 47:5 is an entreaty to the fallen people to hide their shame in silence and darkness, as disgraced persons do who shrink from being seen by their fellows.
Babylon was not mistress of the kingdoms in Isaiah’s time, or at any earlier period, unless at a very remote one. She had been subject to Assyria for centuries when Isaiah wrote, and it was ruled under Sennacherib by viceroys of his own appointment. The explanation then is that inspiration and prophetic foresight enabled Isaiah to see Babylon at the height of her glory, as in the days of Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar, when she had taken to herself the greatness of Assyria and ruled a large part of Western Asia.
The reason assigned for letting Israel go into captivity is that he was wroth with them, and therefore profaned them. They did not receive any mercy at the hand of the Chaldeans but they laid a heavy yoke upon the aged. This God will not tolerate and with man it is a mark of the crudest barbarism. The attitude of Christianity toward the aged is, Be kind to each other The night’s coming on, When friend and when brother Perchance will be gone.
An additional cause cited (Isa 47:7 ) is her pride and boastfulness. Without due consideration she said, “I shall be mistress forever.” This is true to the primary instincts of human nature. We confidently expect the sun to rise tomorrow because it has never failed yet to rise on a single day. Peter tells us that in the last days mockers will come, saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? for, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” And so the world goes on. Perhaps Babylon had more excuse for making such a boast than other nations. Her capital was one of the most ancient cities in the world. For two thousands years or more she had maintained a prominent position among the chief peoples of the earth, and had finally risen to a very proud eminence. But she ought to have remembered that all things come to an end, and to have so deported herself as not to have provoked God to anger. If the management and passengers of the Titanic had remembered this, one of the greatest disasters in the world, perhaps, would have been averted. But the boast of the “unsinkable” and the vainglory of the “world-beater” came to nought. “And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? thou shalt be brought down to hell.”
The characteristics of Babylon are set forth in Isa 47:8-11 as follows:
1. She was given to pleasures. Herodotus says that when. Cyrus invested the city the inhabitants made light of his siege and occupied their time in dancing and revelry.
2. She was self-confident. The evidence goes that, when Cyrus captured the city, very slight and insufficient preparations had been made for the defense of the city.
3. She was boastful. “I am, and there is none else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children.”
4. She was conceited. “None seeth me.”
Jehovah made reply to these characteristics of the boastful city, thus:
1. Jehovah warns her that loss of children and widowhood should come upon her in a moment in one day, notwithstanding her multiplied sorceries and enchantments. This was fulfilled when Cyrus took the city 539 B.C. Then “in a moment” Babylon lost the whole of her prestige, ceased to reign, ceased to be an independent power, became a “widow,” had a portion of her population taken away from her, and was brought down in the dust.
2. Jehovah warns her that her wisdom and knowledge had perverted her, and that evil should come upon her unawares; that mischief should fall upon her that she should not be able to put away and that sudden desolation would overtake her unexpectedly.
The import of Isa 47:12-15 is “sorcery cannot remove the impending calamity” and the contest between their sorcery and Jehovah is precipitated by Jehovah’s challenge to the soothsayers and enchanters to the conflict pretty much in the same way that Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. There is a touch of irony in Isa 47:12-13 , which would paraphrase thus: “If Babylon uses all the resources of her magical art, perhaps she may succeed, who knows? Perhaps she may strike terror into the hearts of her assailants.”
The three terms, “astrologers,” “star-gazers,” and “prognosticators” in Isa 47:13 , do not mean three classes of persons, but rather the same class under three designations. “Astrologers” were dividers of the heavens; “star-gazers” were observers of the stars; and “monthly prognosticators” were almanac-makers. The astronomy of the Babylonians consisted (1) of dividing the heavens into constellations for purposes of study and comprehension; (2) of observing the sun, moon, and planets, noting eclipses, occultations, conjunctions, and the like, all of which was legitimate science; (3) of prognostication of events from the changing phenomena of the heavens. Almanacs were prepared and put forth in which these predictions were made and on these much dependence was placed. This phase of their work is called astrology, and is that which the prophet here ridicules.
The result of this contest here as foretold by the prophet is that these men and their means shall be as stubble, i.e., they will offer no more resistance to Jehovah than dry stubble offers to fire. It burns up so clean that there is not left a coal to warm at or sit before. This shall be such a complete desolation that the traders shall flee to their own countries and the commerce of the great and flourishing city shall be destroyed forever. The special theme of Isa 48 is the expostulations with, and exhortations to Israel in view of its stubbornness and impenitence. Its profession is indicated in Isa 48:1-2 by the expressions, “called by the name of Israel,” “swear by the name of Jehovah,” “make mention of the God of Israel,” “call themselves of the holy city,” and “stay themselves upon the God of Israel,” all of which indicate their adherence to the names and formalities of their religion. Their professions were loud but they were “not in truth, nor in righteousness.”
Jehovah here (Isa 48:3-11 ) reveals Israel’s characteristics, as obstinacy, stiff-neckedness, brazen-faced, dull of hearing, treacherous, and transgressing. These characteristics Jehovah endeavored to offset by revelations beforehand, in two cycles of predictions, the earlier and the later being reserved for the emergency of the occasion such as the present crisis in their history.
All these were not sufficient to save Israel, therefore, he, for his name’s sake, deferred the just punishment of destruction and put them in the furnace of affliction that he might purify them, at the same time save his own name from profanation and reserve the glory to himself.
The meaning and application of Isa 46:11 is that God had selected Israel out of all the nations of the earth to be his “peculiar” people, and having declared this he supported them by miracles in their struggles with other nations and peoples. Thus he was committed to protect and defend Israel “for his name’s sake,” lest his name should be blasphemed among the Gentiles. He had rolled away the reproach of Egypt when he landed them safe in Canaan, so that Egypt could never say that he had failed in his promise to Israel to carry them into their Promised Land. So now he must save his name from profanation by deferring his anger and chastising Israel. A great lesson is this. God’s people will not be utterly destroyed nor forsaken, but they cannot escape the Lord’s chastisements if they sin. He takes care of his name and his people at the same time. This is far-reaching in its application. All Jehovah’s promises to Israel, and the world through Israel) were at stake. Israel occupied an important position with respect to the scheme of salvation in its relation to the whole world, and therefore Jehovah could not let Israel go. He must refrain his anger, and preserve Israel through the furnace of affliction or the plan of redemption for the world fails and the name of Jehovah is profaned and his glory given over to another.
The appeal to Israel in Isa 48:12-16 is an appeal to profit from the work of Cyrus. Jehovah asserts his eternity of being and his creative work, and then challenges the nations to match it if they can. Then he introduces Cyrus as the instrument of his pleasure on Babylon and invites them to take notice that this is by the authority of Jehovah, who had sent the prophet, and his Spirit.
The possibilities for Israel here (Isa 48:17-19 ) pointed out are the possibilities of peace, like a river; righteousness, like the waves of the sea; their offspring, like the grains of sand on the shore; and a perpetual name before Jehovah; all this on the one condition that Israel hearken to his commandments. His purpose throughout their existence was to teach them for their profit. Thus he had led them through the many dark valleys of affliction and brought them to their own good land where they had enjoyed his loving favor and protection, with a bright hope for their future. But they sinned and forfeited the divine favor, and now they must hear the sad refrain, “Oh that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea; thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the grains thereof; his name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me,” which is much like the saying of the poet: Of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: “It might have been.”
The exhortation of Isa 48:20-22 was to “go forth from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans.” At first thought such an exhortation would seem superfluous. It might be reasonably expected that, when the prison doors should fly open, there would be a mighty rush from Babylon back to their native land, but not so. The history of the return shows how poor was the response to the exhortation. So this exhortation, to “go forth from Babylon, and flee from the Chaldeans,” was far from being superfluous.
They were to go in the spirit of joy, singing the song of their redemption, as at the deliverance from the land of Egypt. With a voice of singing they were to recite the history of Jehovah’s gracious dealings with them in the wilderness, which were paralleled here in their deliverance from Babylon.
There was a distinct advance here. The subject of the last twenty-seven chapters of Isaiah is not merely the return of Judah from Babylon to Jerusalem. Higher themes engage the prophet’s mind, viz: That preparation of the way of Jehovah, and the manifestation of his glory, for all flesh to see it together. All this was in the mind of the prophet, and the deliverance from Babylon was only a prefiguring of the far greater deliverance of the world from the thraldom of sin. As the exodus from Egypt was the high-water mark of God’s grace to his people of the Old Testament dispensation, so is this last mention by Isaiah of the struggle with Babylon. There is joyous victory here like that which it typifies in Revelation where the mystical Babylon falls and God’s people shout their everlasting praises to him who rules over the kingdoms of the earth.
There is a connection between Isa 48:22 , “There is no peace, saith Jehovah to the wicked,” and the fall of Babylon. God’s judgments fell heavily on Egypt at the deliverance of Israel at the Red Sea and his judgments are heavier on Babylon at the deliverance of his people from the captivity. But Egypt and Babylon are types of the great spiritual enemies of God’s kingdom. So when the Babylon of Revelation falls there is fear and trembling because of the judgments on her from Jehovah. When God stretches forth his hand in judgments, there is no peace to the wicked.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the general theme of these three chapters?
2. What is the special theme of Isa 46 ?
3. What is the principal gods of Babylon and what the prophetic picture of Isa 46:1-2 ?
4. What is the contrast found in Isa 46:3-7 ?
5. What is the exhortation to the transgressors of Israel found in Isa 46:8-10 ?
6. How does the prophet close this chapter?
7. What is the special theme of Isa 47 ?
8. What is the nature of the composition and what the divisions of it?
9. Who is the speaker of this song?
10. What is the great change in the position of Babylon to be brought about by its capture?
11. What was to be her new occupation and what the shame of her new condition?
12. How do you account for Isa 47:4 in this song, which is so different from the rest of it?
13. What is the import of Isa 47:5 and how is it that Isaiah saw Babylon as the mistress of kingdoms?
14. What is the reason assigned here for Babylon’s having Israel in captivity and how are they said to have been treated while in captivity?
15. What is the added cause of Babylon’s downfall given in Isa 47:1 ?
16. What are the characteristics of Babylon as set forth in Isa 47:8-11 ?
17. What reply does Jehovah make to these characteristics of the boastful city?
18. What is the import of Isa 47:12-15 ?
19. How is the contest between their sorcery and Jehovah precipitated and what the irony of their passage?
20. What is the meaning of “astrologers,” “star-gazers,” and “prognosticators” in Isa 47:13 , and what the value of the work of these men?
21. What is the result of this contest here as foretold by the prophet?
22. What is the special theme of Isa 48 ?
23. How is Israel’s profession here set forth (Isa 48:1-2 )?
24. What arethe characteristics of Israel herein set forth and what Jehovah’s efforts to counteract this disposition?
25. What is the result of these favors from Jehovah and in view of such result what course did Jehovah take with them?
26. What is the meaning and application of Isa 48:11 ?
27. What is the appeal to Israel in Isa 48:12-16 ?
28. What are the possibilities for Israel here (Isa 48:17-19 ) pointed out and why had it not realized them?
29. What is the exhortation of Isa 48:20-22 and what the special need for such exhortation?
30. In what spirit were they to go from Babylon?
31. How does the exodus here compare with the exodus from Egypt i.e., was there any advance to something greater and higher as one might expect in the work of God?
32. What is the connection between Isa 48:22 , “There is no peace, saith Jehovah to the wicked,” and the fall of Babylon?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Isa 46:1 Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages [were] heavy loaden; [they are] a burden to the weary [beast].
Ver. 1. Bel is bowed down. ] Jupiter Belus (as Pliny a calleth him), Babel’s chief God, is now become a prey to the Persians, and might be to them of as great worth as was Nebuchadnezzar’s solid gold image dedicated in Dura. Dan 3:1-2 This great golden image some think to be the same that is here called Nebo or Nebuchadnezzar. Others think it to be Apollo Deus vaticinus. Tremellius rendereth it, the prophesying or oracular God. Jeremiah seemeth to call him Merodach. Jer 51:2 Dagon the Septuagint render him, but not well.
Your carriages were heavy laden.
a Lib. vi. cap. 26.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isaiah Chapter 46
The chapters 46 – 48. close this section of the prophecy, the discussion of Israel’s guilty love of idols in presence of the doom of Babylon, the patron of idolatry and the instrument of the punishment of the Jews for that sin.
Chapter 46 in the most spirited way contrasts the fall of the helpless objects of Babylonish worship with God’s gracious care over Israel. “Bel [their chief god, answering to the Zeus of the Greeks] boweth down, Nebo [answering to the Greek Hermes] bendeth: their idols are upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your loads are lifted up, a burden to the weary [beast]. They bend, they bow down together, they could not deliver the burden, and themselves are gone into captivity” (vv. 1, 2). Thus, chief or subordinate these false deities could do nothing for their votaries, and could not deliver themselves. The victorious foe carries them off as part of the spoil. The Persians detested idols.
On the other hand, Jehovah had carried Israel from their national birth to their old age: “Hearken unto me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne [by me] from the belly, who have been carried from the womb: even to old age I [am] He, and to hoary hairs will I carry [you]: I have made and I will bear; and I will carry and will deliver” (vv. 3, 4).
Next follows the challenge to whom they would liken the God of Israel. As for the Chaldean gods, it was but a question of gold and silver, which the goldsmith made up, and the people fell down and worshipped. “To whom will ye liken me, and make [me] equal, and compare me, that we may be like? Such as lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, hey hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god; they fall down, yea, they worship. They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, [one] shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble. Remember this, and show yourselves men: bring [it] again to mind, ye transgressors” (vv. 5-8).
Nor is this the only appeal. It was well to bethink them that the gods of the nations were beneath those that adored them: but the prophet adds, “Remember the former things of old: for I [am] God, and there is none else; I [am] God, and there is none like me. declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times [the things] that are not done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure, calling a bird of prey from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country. Yea, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed [it], I will also do it” (vv. 9-11). Cyrus is here again cited as a striking proof of the reality of God’s dealings with His people, and this both in foreknowledge, in declared purpose, and in providential ways. This leads to the concluding call: “Hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted, that [are] far from righteousness: J bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry; and I will give salvation in Zion unto Israel my glory” (vv. 12, 13). Such is the end of Jehovah, and He is very pitiful and of tender mercy. He Who carried His people as a nurse through the wilderness at the beginning will manifest unfailing grace at the end. In the face of their long and manifold wanderings from Him Who did them nothing but good, He will deliver. Yet will His salvation be no more sure than His righteousness. This we know now in the gospel, as Israel also will when the kingdom comes in display.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 46:1-2
1Bel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over;
Their images are consigned to the beasts and the cattle.
The things that you carry are burdensome,
A load for the weary beast.
2They stooped over, they have bowed down together;
They could not rescue the burden,
But have themselves gone into captivity.
Isa 46:1 Bel Bel (BDB128, KB 132, Akkadian for lord) is a similar title to the Canaanite title Ba’al. This is a reference to the chief god of the Akkadian pantheon (Enlil, who was called lord). As Babylon came to power the chief deity’s name was changed to Marduk (BDB 597, cf. Jer 50:2).
Nebo This was the son of Marduk (named only here in the OT) and was the god of learning and writing (BDB 612). Bel and Nebo can be seen in many of the Babylonian names of the period (Nebuchadnezzar [Dan 1:1]; Nebushazban [Jer 39:13]; Nebuzaradan [Jer 39:9]; Nabopolassar [first king of Neo-Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar’s father]; Nabonidus [Belshazzar’s father, last king of Neo-Babylon]; Belteshazzar [Dan 1:7]; Belshazzar [Dan 5:1]). These were the two chief gods of the Babylonian pantheon.
bowed down. . .stoops over There is a play on the concept bow down (BDB 505, KB 499). It relates to Isa 45:23, the deities of Babylon are bowing before YHWH the Creator.
you carry. . .load. . .the burden There is a play on the word carry in Isa 46:1-4. First of all the idols of Babylon must be carried on beasts of burden to try to escape the Persians or in ritual marches through the street of the large cities. God carries His children, both metaphorically in the womb and later, throughout their lives (cf. Isa 46:4). It is the inability of the Babylon gods to hear, to act versus the care, provision, and grace acts of the God of Israel, with which they are contrasted in Isa 46:1-4.
Isa 46:2 But have themselves gone into captivity Here these Babylonian idols are personified as going into captivity with their people.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Bel. Abbreviation of Baal = lord. Here = Zeus, or Jupiter of the Greek and Roman mythology.
Nebo. Answers to the Egyptian Anubis, Greek Hermes, and Roman Mercurius (compare Act 14:12). These gods were indeed brought down.
your carriages = the things ye carried about: i.e. in procession (Amo 5:26).
were heavy loaden = are become a burden.
they are a burden = [are even now] loaded on beasts [for exile].
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isaiah chapter 46. Now in Isa 46:1-13 we get a short contrast between God, the true and the living eternal God that created the heavens and the earth, and the false gods that these people were worshipping. And the tragic thing is these people were the Israelites, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They had turned to idolatry. And as you read the prophecy of Isaiah and of Jeremiah, they are crying out against the idolatry of the people, warning them that their continued idolatry would bring upon them the judgment of God. Using Babylon as His instrument of judgment, and that they would be going into captivity as the result of their idolatry. You remember Jeremiah cried out, “For My people have committed two sins; one, they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have hewn out for themselves cisterns, cisterns that can hold no water” ( Jer 2:13 ).
Men will worship something. Men will believe in something. They must. Every man has a god. But there are some religious systems that hold no water at all. They just do nothing for the people who believe, but bring them into captivity. And so God’s cry against the people.
Now it is interesting in some of the most recent archaeological excavations there in Israel, above the springs of Gihon on that section of the hill that comes down that was known as Ophel, which was the site of the ancient city of Jerusalem in David’s day and on through to Hezekiah’s time, there in the houses that have recently been excavated by the archaeologists, houses that were actually destroyed by the Babylonian army. Houses that have laid in ruins for 2,500 years. As they uncovered the stones and the rubble of these houses, within the houses they have found multitudes of little pagan gods, the gods that the people had worshipped, the gods that the people had turned to. And thus, we find actually by the archaeologist’s spade just tremendous confirmation to what Isaiah is saying, as he is rebuking the people for their worship of the false gods.
Now he speaks concerning two of their false gods, and they had many.
Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth; their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy laden; they are a burden to the weary beast. They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity ( Isa 46:1-2 ).
And so he speaks of their worship of these false gods. But he points out a great truth here, and that is, their false gods became a burden. Even the cattle strain under the load of them. For as was the custom, the false gods would be brought out of their temples or out of their centers of worship, placed upon carts and driven through the streets on the various festivals and holy days in which they worshipped those particular gods. Sometimes they would be borne by the men on a platform as they would walk with the poles on their shoulder.
Now, these things are not totally uncommon today. There is a holiday in Mexico for the Virgin Guadalupe and you can go down on that holiday and you can see them as they take the statues of the Virgin Guadalupe and put them in these glorious chariots or carts and all, and they’ll carry the Virgin Guadalupe through the street as the people kneel and bow and genuflect and so forth and worship the Virgin Guadalupe. So these things are not totally unfamiliar even in our day. But they were very common in those days. And here the people of God, who should surely know better, have turned to the worship of Bel and of Nebo. But in reality, the worship of these false gods constituted an interesting study, because these gods couldn’t even carry themselves. They had to be carried by man. And in man carrying them or in the beast pulling them, they became a burden and they bowed down and stooped those who tried to carry them or bear them along.
Now in contrast to that, God declares,
Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel ( Isa 46:3 ),
Now here is an interesting verse because the remnant of the house of Israel would have been those from the Northern Kingdom, who, when the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom, fled down into Judah. So there was a remnant when the Northern Kingdom fell, there was a remnant from each of the tribes that escaped and came down to Judah and became a part of the Southern Kingdom at that time. The rest of them were dispersed by the Assyrians into the various parts of the world. But many of them from the various tribes came and settled in Judah after the Assyrian invasion.
So,
the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me ( Isa 46:3 )
In contrast to these people bearing their gods or carrying their gods, God declares, “I am carrying you.”
and I’ve carried you from the womb: And I will carry you till you come to the grave; until your grey hairs, your old age. I am he that carries you: for I have made you, and I will bear you; and I will carry you, and I will deliver you ( Isa 46:3-4 ).
And so the true and the living God, rather than having to be carried, will carry you; rather than having to be supported, will support you. So it all depends on what kind of a god you want. Do you want a god that you have to support? Or do you want a god that will support you? You want a god that you have to carry? Or do you want a god that can carry you? You want a god that will bring you into captivity, or do you want a god who is able to deliver you? And this is the contrast that has been made between the false idols that the people had turned to when they had turned away from God and the true and the living God.
Now God said,
To whom will ye liken me ( Isa 46:5 ),
Now, they had made their images of their gods. They had carved or they had made their molds and poured in the hot metals and had their molten images, or they had carved the likenesses of their god. Now God said, “If you were going to carve a likeness of Me, what would you make Me like? What kind of a figure would you make? What would be the likeness? What would you liken Me to?”
[or to what would you try] to make me equal, or to compare me, that we may be like? ( Isa 46:5 )
What kind of a comparison can you make with God? That is, anything that we know on the human level. What are you going to make Him like? If you’re going to start to carve Him out, how and in what? Are you going to carve Him out like a man? When God is a Spirit, where do you start in carving the likeness of a spirit? Now he again speaks of how they had made their own gods in various… and have you seen some of the idols of these gods? These carvings that they made and said, “That is god.” These carvings that they bowed down to and worshipped. These carvings that they have built great temples for. Have you ever seen idols of Diana? She is supposed to be god. Many people worshipped her. The multi-breasted Diana, breasts all down the front of her. And she is god. The nourisher of life in a symbolic form. And so they say, “That’s god.” And so they worship this image or idol of Diana or Astarte.
So God said, “What are you going to make Me like?” Now he is talking about their making gods.
For they lavish gold out of the bag, and they weigh silver in the balances, and then they hire a goldsmith; and he makes it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship it ( Isa 46:6 ).
Now, he was made by a man, and yet the people are so foolish as to fall down and worship it. Imagine, he makes a god. Men make their own gods.
Somehow within the consciousness of man, innate within, there is the consciousness of God. And it is just a part of man’s nature to worship. So that you’ll find in every culture, even the most primitive cultures, there are forms of worship of God or of gods. And in most cases, men have made gods after the projections of themselves. “If I were God, this is what I would do. This is how I would do it.” And so they make up their legends of their gods. And they have super power in hunting and great cunning abilities. And they worship that.
Down in the jungles of South America where the primitive people do not wear clothing, and when the storms come their bodies are cold and shivering, some of them do not make permanent dwelling places but are nomadic. Now, these people in their minds think, “If I were God I would live in that tree because it’s so big and strong and when the wind comes and the rain descends, it doesn’t seem to be affected. It doesn’t shiver with the wind like I am shivering. So if I were God, I would be in that tree and I would live in that tree.” And so you find them worshipping a tree and they have trees that they’ve set out for special worship. That’s god.
Or the full moon that gives light in the jungles at night. And so you’ll find them out in the full moon, arms around each other, in a circle as they do their little dance and then their little chants as they are worshipping their god. For, “If I were God I would ride there in the moon and I would give beautiful light at night, the silvery light through the jungles and so forth.” And so they worship the moon.
Now the Greeks had interesting concepts of God. And they’re expressed in, “If I were God I would live on mount Olympus and I would look down and I would see these men down below. And those earthlings, those mortals would not have a chance with the beautiful maidens that are there, for I would use my supernatural powers to charm them and to bewitch them and I would take advantage over those mortals.” And so you have your various concepts of God that men have created in their own mind.
So here is the interesting thing. He makes a god. And then the people bow down and worship it. And then,
They bear him on their shoulders ( Isa 46:7 ),
This is our God.
they carry him [on their shoulders], and they set him in his place, and he stands in his place; and he doesn’t move from it: yes, they will cry unto him, yet he can not answer them, nor save him out of their trouble ( Isa 46:7 ).
And yet people worship these things that cannot move, cannot respond, cannot talk to them, and they worship them in lieu of worshipping the true and the living God. That’s the tragedy. People say, “Well, I don’t believe in God.” Well, they don’t believe, what they mean is, in a God who created the heavens and the earth and everything that is in them and sent His Son to die for man’s sins. They don’t believe in the true and the living God, but they believe in god. And they have a god. But they refuse to worship the true and the living God who is able to help them and respond to their needs. And instead they are worshipping gods that cannot be of any help to them whatsoever, but will only bring them into captivity. They worship, really, the gods of pleasure so many times. But you give your life over to pleasure and you’re going to end up with lust. So many people worshipping the god of the intellect. You give yourself over to the god of intellect and you’re going to end up with pride. So many people are worshipping the god of power and their whole life is dedicated to the power principle and they end up with greed. So God speaks out about these false gods. They cannot answer you. They cannot move. They cannot even carry themselves.
Remember this, [God said] and show yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none other; I am God, and there is none like me, For I have declared the end from the beginning ( Isa 46:8-10 ),
There is no God that is able to declare the end from the beginning. There is no religious system outside. Well, there just is no religious system really that has been predicated upon the ability of God to declare from the beginning what the end of the matter or a situation is going to be.
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done ( Isa 48:10 ),
At that time of Isaiah’s writing there were prophecies that still had not been fulfilled.
saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do my pleasure ( Isa 48:10 ):
So God has already established what shall be. That cannot change. God said, “I will do My pleasure.”
Calling ( Isa 46:11 )
And now He refers back to chapter 45 where He said that Cyrus the king of the Medo-Persians would be His instrument in releasing the children of Israel from their Babylonian captivity. Now that’s a hundred and fifty years before Cyrus was born. That’s why God is declaring, “There’s no God like me. I’m declaring to you before it happens what’s going to happen. I’m naming the fellow before he is ever born. He doesn’t know Me, but I’m calling him by his name. And his name is Cyrus and he’s going to allow you to be released from your captivity.” And so referring back to that prophecy of Cyrus, He said,
Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, and also I will do it ( Isa 46:11 ).
Now you go ahead and read the history and you’ll find that God did do it. He purposed it. He did do it. And Cyrus was the name of the Medo-Persian king that gave the decree that the children of Israel might return from their captivity in Babylon. Giving unto the children of Israel that permission to go back and to rebuild the temple.
Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness: it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory ( Isa 46:12-13 ).
And so God promises that their salvation, their righteousness will be placed in Zion.
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Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Isa 46:1-7
Isa 46:1-2
The prophecy here foretells the fall of the idols of Babylon, emphasizing their incompetence to provide any help whatever to Babylon, or to give any kind of protection. Such gods even had to be carded about in the processions when they were honored on festive occasions, affording a dramatic contrast with Jehovah, the God of Israel, who instead of requiting that men, or beasts, carry him from one place to another, had himself “carded” the Jews from their very beginning as a nation until that present time (Isa 46:1-4). Then God, through his prophet Isaiah, exposed in his usual forcible and elegant style, the absurdity of idolatry (Isa 46:5-7). Next he vigorously asserted the claims of the One True God as the one and only Unique Deity, citing as proof of his claims the miracles, and the prophecies with which Israel had been familiar for generations (Isa 46:8-10). God also reiterated his intention of delivering the Jews from captivity by the hand of Cyrus (Isa 46:11), and at the same time he delivered a pointed warning to the Jewish captives (not to all of them, but probably to the majority of them) already hardened in sin and rebellion (Isa 46:12-13).
Isa 46:1-2
“Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth; their idols are upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: the things that ye carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary beast. They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.”
The reference here is to the practice of ancient conquerors who carried off the gold and silver idols of the gods of the nations conquered. Note that the passage does not declare that Cyrus would thus dispose of the idols of Babylon. As a matter of fact, that particular monarch did not busy himself in such activity; and yet, as Hailey pointed out, that in spite of the truth that Cyrus accepted Babylon’s gods and even worshipped them, “They were eventually cast down and carried into oblivion. Persian successors to Cyrus, notably Xerxes, actually carted off to their homeland that great gold statue of Bel and other rich treasures, including all of the pagan deities of Babylon. Therefore the exact words of the prophet here are fully justified.
Bel was the principal one of Babylon’s pagan gods. He was the equivalent of Jupiter and Zeus of the Greeks and Romans; and Nebo corresponded to their Mercury. The broad base of their ancient paganism was actually the worship of the host of heaven, notably the sun, moon, and stars. Another one of the ancient gods was Astarte, though not particularly identified with Babylon; and she was identified with Venus; Jupiter was the planet identified with Bel, and Mercury was the symbol of Mercury. These planets are at times seen as “the morning star,” or “the evening star.”
Bel was also identified with the Baal gods of ancient Canaan; and his name was often connected with kings and rulers as in Belshazzar and Belteshazzar. The same was true of Nebo, as in Nabopolasser, or Nebuchadnezzar. The strong tendency of Israel to accept such pagan practices is seen in the fact that Israel’s King Saul named his fourth son, Esh-Baal (1Ch 8:33; 1Ch 9:39).
The bowing of Bel and the stooping of Nebo here refer to their surrender and submission to conquerors. In such an hour of danger and disaster, the idol gods are not only powerless to help, but are themselves an intolerable burden. They cannot carry the people out of danger, but must themselves be carried. The next two verses point out the contrast with Jehovah.
Isa 46:3-4
“Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been borne by me from their birth, that have been carried from the womb; and even to old age I am he, and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear you; yea, I will carry, and will deliver.”
What a marvelous contrast! Whereas the idols had to be carried, even on the festal days, Jehovah is the one who has carried Israel already for centuries. He carried them during their captivity in Egypt while they were becoming a great people; he carried them in the wilderness; he carried them into Canaan, through the period of their judges, and during the turbulent times of their monarchy, and through the disasters that befell them in the division of their kingdom; and now he would carry them in their captivity and through it, and even back to Jerusalem!
The mention of the remnant of Israel is not a reference to any residue of the ten tribes carried away into Assyria; but a reference to the Southern Israel alone which is the remnant of Israel.
George Adam Smith entitled this chapter “Bearing or Borne,” stating that, “It makes all the difference to a man how he conceives his religion, whether as something he has to carry, or as something that will carry him.” The prophecy here makes it quite clear that idolatry is the kind of religion that men have to carry, not the kind that can carry them.
No doubt many of the Jews desperately needed the kind of encouragement provided by this chapter. According to the ideas of that day, when a people were defeated it meant that their god could not prevent it; and there was always the temptation to join up with the victors, idolatry and all.
Kelley was correct in seeing the last clause of Isa 46:4 as a promise that, “doubtless refers to their delivery from exile.” It should be noted here that the Jews would never have received with any confidence a promise like this from some “Unknown Isaiah.” Such a person could have had no influence whatever. On the other hand, Isaiah, known to all of them, being a relative of their godless king Manasseh, and in all probability soon to be put to death by him. Moreover, Isaiah had named one of his sons Shear-Jashub, which means, “A Remnant Shall Return” (Isa 7:3); and there could not possibly have been any reason for doubting the truth of it.
Archer followed a line adopted by a number of scholars on this chapter, writing that, “The helpless images of these gods had to be packed like baggage on the backs of the draft animals of the Chaldean refugees, as they fled before the Persian invaders.” As a matter of fact there was no pursuit by the Persians and no flight on the part of the people. The war was over before they even knew it. The king was already dead and the Persians had taken the kingdom while everyone slept!
Isa 46:5-7
“To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? Such as lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, they hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god; they fall down, yea, they worship. They bear it upon the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it standeth; from its place it shall not remove: yea, one may cry unto it, yet can it not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.”
Here we have exactly the same line of argument made in a number of previous chapters. This is a continuation of the brilliant words against idolatry found in Isa 40:18-20; Isa 44:9-20; Isa 41:5-7; and Isa 46:1-2. This repetition of such warnings indicates that God was very concerned lest the attractions of idolatry would seduce many of the chosen people. “Isa 46:5 is almost identical to Isa 40:18 and stresses the impossibility of representing Jehovah by means of an image.
Isa 46:1-7 DEMISE OF IDOLS: Bel (otherwise known as Merodach or Marduk) was the principal god of the Babylonians. Nebo (or Nabu) was the son of Bel and in later times was identified with the Greek god Mercury because Nabu means speaker. The Babylonian gods were (as the name Bel indicates) descendants of Baal, the Canaanite god.. Bels major temple was in Borsippa, twelve miles to the south of Babylon. According to the historian Herodotus, the image of Bel was gold and 18 feet tall. These great, impressive, expensive images with the authority of centuries of pagan heritage added, which seem invincible, will be dismantled and carried away from their place to a foreign pantheon. When will this happen? When Cyrus conquers Babylon, October 29, 539 B.C.! (see, Daniel, ch. 5, 7, 8). The thrust of Isaiahs message here is: these pagan images, impressive as they may be, powerful as their people claim they are, will suffer humiliation and defeat. They will be carried away on the backs of khayyah (wild animals, probably asses) and behemah (large animals, probably oxen). Those objects of metal (precious gold they may be) of which the Hebrew people were so enamored will ignominiously disappear, loaded unceremoniously onto the backs of dumb brutes and transported at the whim of a conquering emperor. Where are the gods these images represent? If they are images of a real god surely this god would not allow his image to be thus humiliated and obliterated! The answer is: there are no gods. Otherwise they would deliver their images. The gods are figments of human imagination-mere fantasies-less than the wood and metal of which their images are composed. This was fulfilled in a way which would not be admitted by Cyrus. He had claimed that it was under the auspices of the gods that he had marched into Babylon. But the idols were powerless (Isa 46:7); it was the Lord, Jehovah, who was bringing his conquest of Babylon and its gods to fulfillment.
After exposing the nothingness of Babylons gods, Jehovah calls the remnant of the Jews to attention. Why should they put their trust in the gods of foreign nations when it was Jehovah who gave birth to them as a people and a nation (cf. Isa 44:2; Isa 44:24; Isa 49:5). He bore them (sustained) them through centuries of deliverance from enemies all around them many times more powerful than they (cf. Deu 1:31) Deu 33:27; Isa 40:11). Jehovah nurtured them, chastened them, enriched them and kept them free (cf. Eze 16:1 f), but they turned to other gods. He wants to care for them when they become aged and silver-haired, even for all their lives. But He cannot care for them if they refuse His covenant of care. They should know by now the difference between pagan gods and Jehovah. There are no pagan gods in all the history of mankind which can compare at all to Jehovah. He delivers! He keeps His word! He is invincible! He cannot be moved by men. The gods of the Gentiles are made by craftsmen (cf. Isaiah 44)-works of human hands-and then human beings fall down and worship the works of their own hands. Utterly absurd! Furthermore, these man-made gods are carried about from place to place. They can be manipulated, misplaced, displaced, burned up, melted down, and carried off to foreign temples. They cannot move once they are set in one place by human hands. It takes human hands for them to move again. Men cry to them, offer sacrifices to them, disfigure themselves in fear of them and all to no avail-the images of wood and metal say not a word. They cannot answer; they cannot deliver anyone from trouble nor can they bless anyone. They are dead! They were never alive!
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
This chapter and the next contain the prophecy of the fall of Babylon. This one describes the failure of the gods. It opens with a graphic picture of the idols being hurried away for safety, carried on beasts of burden. In immediate contrast the prophet describes Jehovah as carrying His people, and the contrast is endorsed as He inquires, “To whom will ye liken Me, and make Me equal, and compare Me, that we may be like?” Thus He sets forth the fundamental difference between false gods and the true. They have to be ‘carried. He carries. On the basis of this the prophet appeals to the transgressors to remember it; and to the stout-hearted, that is to the enemies of His people, to hearken, and to understand that He will yet be the Deliverer of His own.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Gods Salvation Shall not Tarry
Isa 46:1-13
Here is a startling contrast! Babylon is broken up. An invading army of stern monotheists have slain the idolatrous priests at their altars and are engaged in carrying out the idols for the bonfire. And as the Jewish remnant is witnessing the extraordinary spectacle, they are reminded that their God does not require to be borne. Nay, on the contrary He has borne His people from the earliest days and will continue to bear them till the heavens have passed away.
The contrast is a perpetual one. Some people carry their religion; others are carried by it. Some are burdened by minute prescriptions and an external ritual; others yield themselves to God, to be borne by Him in old age as they were in the helplessness of childhood. They are persuaded that He will bear them as a man doth bear His son, in all the way that they go, until they come to the prepared place. See Deu 1:31; Isa 63:9. God immediately responds to a trust like that, and His salvation does not tarry.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
EXPOSITORY NOTES ON
THE PROPHET ISAIAH
By
Harry A. Ironside, Litt.D.
Copyright @ 1952
edited for 3BSB by Baptist Bible Believer in the spirit of the Colportage ministry of a century ago
ISAIAH CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
THE EVERLASTING ONE CONTRASTED WITH IDOLS
GOD is still contrasting Himself with idols and, He says, they can do nothing to save themselves. When Cyrus attacked Babylon and the city fell, the idolatrous priests loaded their helpless gods upon carts to wheel them away and set them up somewhere else. Idols who could not deliver their worshipers had to be delivered by them from absolute destruction.
“Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast. They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity. Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb: And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you. To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship. They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble. Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me” (verses 1-9).
GOD says, “I am altogether different from these gods who have to be carried by their makers. I undertake to carry you. I have brought you hitherto and I will continue to carry you through, even down to old age will I carry you, when hoar hairs adorn your brow I will be there to carry you, to deliver, to sustain you, and to see you through.”
GOD had satirized the making of gods out of the trees of the forest. Now He ridicules those who make graven images out of the various metals. The goldsmith takes metal, fashions and works over it and then sets it up and says, “This is a god.” But it is immovable. It cannot walk. It cannot see. It cannot hear. It cannot do anything, and in time of danger it needs someone to protect it. What a god!
Notice the satire here and the irony, and the wonderful precious promises brought before us. GOD says, “How differently I have acted toward you, Israel. How could you ever turn aside to such senselessness as idolatry when you have known how wonderfully I have sustained and cared for you through the centuries. Look back over the past and see what I have done. And I promise to care for you just as wonderfully in the future.”
~ end of chapter 46 ~
http://www.baptistbiblebelievers.com/
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Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Isa 46:5
In these words, as in other and similar passages of Scripture, God asserts an immeasurable difference between Himself and all created beings.
I. We distinguish the Creator from every creature by declaring Him self-existent. There is no way of accounting for the origin of everything except by supposing something which never had origin. Nothing could have begun to be unless there had been something which never began to be. Here is the grand distinction between the Creator and the creature: the being of the one is underived, and that of the other derived. The existence of all creatures is a dependent existence; it has been imparted by another, and may be withdrawn by that other. The existence of the Creator is a necessary existence, altogether independent, indebted to none for commencement, and resting on none for continuance. It is by His name Jehovah-that name which breathes self-existence-that God proclaims Himself inscrutable and unimaginable.
II. We learn from this the vanity of all attempts to explain or illustrate the Trinity in Unity. If we were able to produce exact instances of the union of three in one, we should have no right to point it out as at all parallel with the union of the Godhead. We ought to know beforehand that the created can furnish no delineation of the uncreated; so that it shows a forgetfulness of the self-existence of God to seek His resemblance in what he hath called into being. He best shows the workings of a sound judgment and ripened intellect who, in such a matter as the doctrine of the Trinity, submits to the disclosures of revelation, and receives it on the authority of God, though unable to explain it through any reasoning of his own. The doctrine of the Trinity is above reason, but it is not against reason.
III. Consider the paramount importance of the doctrine of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity is so bound up with the whole of Christianity, that to think of removing it and yet of preserving the religion is to think of taking from the body all its sinew and its bone, and yet leaving it all its symmetry and its strength. The whole falls to pieces if you destroy this doctrine. The short but irresistible way of proving that the doctrine of the Trinity is in the largest sense a practical doctrine is to remind you that if this doctrine be false, Jesus Christ is nothing more than a man and the Holy Spirit nothing more than a principle or quality. To remove the doctrine of the Trinity is to remove whatever is peculiar to Christianity, to reduce the religion to a system of loftier morals and stronger sanctions than the world before possessed; but nevertheless having nothing to deserve the name of Gospel, because containing no tidings of an expiation for sin. Without a Trinity I must save myself; with a Trinity I am to be saved through Christ.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1731.
Reference: Isa 46:5.-H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 299.
Isa 46:12-13
I. God’s dealings with mankind have all been of a character which may be called unexpected. We do not know in the whole of Scripture a more beautiful transition than that of the text, one less to have been anticipated where there was no acquaintance with redemption. The very circumstance that men are addressed as stouthearted, and far from righteousness, prepares you for an announcement at which the boldest should tremble; it is as the prelude to the storm, and you can look for nothing but a burst of thunder which shall make the mountains rock. But that instead of the thunder should succeed the sweet and gentle music of love; that those who are called stouthearted should be summoned to listen, not to a threatening of destruction, but to a promise of deliverance; that they should be told of the approach, not of a ministry of anger, but of a ministry of mercy,-in this it is that we find cause for wonder, this it is we could not have expected, could not have explained, if we did not know of arrangements through which God can be just, and yet the justifier of sinners.
II. We may be sure that, having summoned the stouthearted to hearken, the words which immediately follow are such as God knows to be specially adapted to the case of the stouthearted; that is, to contain the motives which are most likely to bring them to contrition and repentance. The nearness of salvation is made an argument with the ungodly why they should turn from evil courses-just as preached the Baptist, “Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” There is a motive to repentance in the approach of a Deliverer. There is a motive in our standing within the possibility of forgiveness. Hitherto we could only despair; now we may hope.
III. It is salvation which God declares He will place in Zion, and we must connect this salvation with the righteousness which He is said to bring near. You have here the most faithful description of the deliverance provided through the mediation of Christ. Sum it up in one word, and that deliverance is righteousness. God placed salvation in Zion when in Zion stood the Mediator who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2147.
Isa 46:13
(Isa 51:5)
I. What are these two things-Jehovah’s righteousness and Israel’s salvation? How are they related to one another and connected with one another? And what in particular is the meaning of the precedence or priority assigned to the one as coming before the other-My righteousness, My salvation? (1) It is very evident that the Lord’s righteousness must mean, not a Divine attribute, but a Divine work, or effect or manifestation of some kind. (2) A judicial dealing with His enemies, on the part of God, precedes and prepares the way for the deliverance or salvation of His people; and when He brings near the one, the other will not tarry. (3) God must first consult for His own righteous name before He can consult for His people’s complete safety; He must first right Himself before He can consistently and conclusively deliver them. Only in the train of the righteousness of God can His salvation go forth.
II. It may be said that the Lord brings His righteousness near, or that it is near, in three senses. (1) It is near, the Lord brings it near, in the Gospel offer as a free gift, wholly of grace, not of works at all. (2) The Lord bringeth near this righteousness in the powerful striving and working of His Spirit. (3) The Lord brings near His righteousness in the believing appropriation of it which His Spirit enables you to make.
R. S. Candlish, The Gospel of Forgiveness, p. 246.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
CHAPTER 46
1. Babylon Is to Fall The Babylonian idols carried by the beasts (Isa 46:1-2) 2. How Jehovah carries His people (Isa 46:3-4) 3. The divine reproach (Isa 46:5-7) 4. A ravenous bird (Cyrus) to come from the east (Isa 46:8-11) 5. Salvation in Zion (Isa 46:12-13) The opening verses are comforting. The helplessness of the Babylonian idols is described. They have to be carried. They cannot deliver out of captivity, for they themselves have gone in to captivity. But Jehovah carries His people from birth to old age. The last verse takes us beyond the fall of the Babylon of the past. When the final Babylon described in Revelation is accomplished then it will be true I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Bel: Bel, called Belus by the Greek and Roman writers, is the same as Baal; and Nebo is interpreted by Castell and Norberg of Mercury; the two principal idols of Babylon. When that city was taken by the Persians, these images were carried in triumph. Isa 21:9, Isa 41:6, Isa 41:7, Exo 12:12, 1Sa 5:3, Jer 48:1-25, Jer 50:2, Jer 51:44, Jer 51:47, Jer 51:52
a burden: Isa 2:20, Jer 10:5
Reciprocal: Gen 31:30 – my gods Num 32:38 – Nebo Jdg 6:31 – if he be Jdg 18:17 – the graven 2Sa 5:21 – burned them 2Ki 19:18 – have cast 2Ch 25:15 – which could Job 39:11 – leave Psa 96:5 – For Psa 115:4 – Their idols Isa 19:1 – the idols Isa 30:6 – burden Isa 37:19 – And have Isa 44:9 – and their Jer 25:12 – that I Jer 43:12 – in the Jer 48:7 – Chemosh Jer 48:13 – ashamed Jer 50:38 – the land Jer 51:18 – in the Eze 23:14 – portrayed Dan 3:14 – my gods Dan 4:8 – Belteshazzar Dan 11:8 – their gods Hos 10:6 – carried Nah 1:14 – out Hab 2:18 – profiteth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 46:1-2. Bel The chief idol of the Babylonians, called by profane historians Jupiter Belus; boweth down As the Babylonians used to bow down to him to worship him, so now he bows down, and submits himself to the victorious Persians. Nebo stoopeth Another of their famous idols, probably a deified prophet, the word signifying to deliver oracles, or to prophesy. The names of these idols were included in the names of several of their princes, as Bel, in Belshazzar; Nebo, in Nabonassar; Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan. Their idols were upon their beasts Were taken and broken, and the materials of them, which were gold, and silver, and brass, were carried upon beasts into Persia. Your carriages O ye Persians, to whom he suddenly turns his speech, were heavy loaden With these useless gods, which were so far from being able to come forward to the help of their worshippers, that they could not move themselves, but must be dragged on carriages by cattle. They bow down together The Babylonians and their idols, neither of them being able to help the other. They could not deliver the burden The Babylonians could not deliver their idols, which he now had called a burden; but themselves are gone into captivity They as well as their idols.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 46:1. Bel or Baal. See on Num 32:38. It is understood that the name is derived from Belus; the history is involved in obscurity. The priests every night prepared him a voluptuous supper, and they and their wives entered by a private door and ate the meat. Daniel detected this imposture, as mentioned in the Apocrypha.
Nebo stoopeth. korais, stoops or crouches. His worshippers used to bow to receive his oracles; now the god himself stoopeth. The verb occurs only in this place, and I doubt not but it is the primitive of the Gothic to crouch. The Chaldean princes were proud to bear the name of this ancestor, and to worship his image; as in Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nabonassar, Nabonidus. Our Saxon princes did the same, tracing their regal line as far as they could, and naming the last father as the son of Odin. This is a prediction of the fall of Babylon by the fall of their idol gods.
Isa 46:11. Calling a ravenous bird from the east. This is Cyrus, whose standard, says Xenophon, was a golden eagle with extended wings. What a luminous prediction!
REFLECTIONS.
The Assyrians had cast the gods of Hamath and Arphad into the fire, because they could not save; now the gods of Chaldea receive the same sentence. Bel or Baal was the ancient idol of Babylon. Belus, the name of their king, gave the name, and they built a temple to his memory where the idol stood. The ancients are not agreed whether Bel among the Babylonians was the same as , or Jupiter among the Greeks. Nebo or Nabo was the secondary idol of Babylon, and the word signifies to prophesy. However, they very much agree with the Jupiter and Mercury of the gentiles in latter times. As a proof that these idols were deified by men, the Babylonian princes were frequently called after their names, as before explained. Psa 106:28. How keen is the satire of the prophet, when he views the carriages burdened, and the beasts groaning under the broken fragments of divinities supposed for ages past to support the universe. Happy, thrice happy is the soul which trusts in Jacobs God, and in him alone. God is highly offended when nations liken him to idols, the work of mens hands. To whom will ye liken me? He also takes occasion from the sure words of ancient prophecy to exalt himself above all idols, having declared the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the events not yet accomplished in the earth. Hence, prophecy fairly stated, is an incontestible evidence of divine revelation; and it covers the quibbles of infidelity with everlasting confusion.
That God must not be likened to idols, or to the greatest of princes, is obvious from his calling Cyrus his bird, or eagle, in the east. So Nebuchadnezzar also is called by Ezekiel: chap. 17. When a nation becomes putrid by crimes, providence assembles its birds of prey to devour it. Let us pray God that England may yet have salt enough of good men to preserve the body from putrefaction.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 46:1-13. The Helpless Plight of Babylons Gods Contrasted with the Saving Might of Yahweh.
Isa 46:1 f. In vision the prophet sees the images of Babylons gods (two of the most prominent are named), taken from their proud pedestals and placed upon the victors beasts. So far from delivering others, or even their own images, Bel and Nabu are carried away captive. The general drift is clear, but details are uncertain owing to corruption of the text.
Isa 46:1. and upon the cattle: delete as gloss on beasts.the things that ye carried about: the images carried in festive processions, but perhaps after beasts we should read simply, laid as a load upon the weary cattle.
Isa 46:3-13. Yahweh addresses all the survivors of Israel, wherever they may dwell; He compares His people to an infant; He has carried them from birth, and will carry them to the end. How then can He be likened to any image, which is a burden, not a bearer? (Isa 46:6-8 is late, probably of the same origin as Isa 44:9-20. It pours scorn on the men who weigh out precious metal to be made into an image which they worship, though they have to bear it to its pedestal, from which it cannot move to the help of its devotees. The apostate Jews are bidden reflect on their idolatry.) Let His people remember His former predictions, since fulfilled, proving His power to carry out His will. He is calling Cyrus to perform His plan, rapid in execution, like a swift-swooping bird of prey. The downhearted (LXX) who are despairing of salvation are promised that Yahweh shall bring it without delay.
Isa 46:4. made: read, borne.
Isa 46:8. shew yourselves men: read, own your guilt.
Isa 46:11. counsel: purpose.
Isa 46:12 f. righteousness: deliverance.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
46:1 Bel boweth down, {a} Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the {b} beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages [were] heavily loaded; [they were] a burden to the weary [beast].
(a) These were the chief idols of Babylon.
(b) Because they were of gold and silver, the Medes and Persians carried them away.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Bel and Nebo were the two chief gods of Babylonia. Bel ("lord," cf. the Canaanite Baal) was the title of the father of the gods in the Babylonian pantheon, whose name was Enlil. Bel was also later the title of Marduk, the city god of Babylon and the hero of Enuma Elish, the Babylonian Creation account. Nebo was Bel’s son, and he was supposedly a wise administrator. The names Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar ("Nebo, protect the boundary"), and Nabonidus, among others, show reverence for Nebo, and the name Belshazzar ("Bel, protect the king") honored Bel. [Note: See Archer, p. 642.] Nebo was the god of learning, writing, and astronomy. The Babylonians carried images of these prominent gods in their New Year’s Day parades.
Isaiah envisioned Bel and Nebo as bending over as the Babylonians carried their images in procession (cf. 1Sa 5:3-4). These images rode on carts that beasts of burden hauled with some difficulty, evidently because of their weight. The gods, which the images both represented and contained, were a burden to these animals. Rather than lifting burdens, these idols created them for their worshippers. The prophet foresaw the idol images and the Babylonian gods being carried off into captivity (by Cyrus), powerless to aid their worshippers.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
; Isa 44:1-28; Isa 45:1-25; Isa 46:1-13; Isa 47:1-15; Isa 48:1-22
CHAPTER IX
FOUR POINTS OF A TRUE RELIGION
Isa 43:1-28 – Isa 48:1-22
WE have now surveyed the governing truths of Isa 40:1-31; Isa 41:1-29; Isa 42:1-25; Isa 43:1-28; Isa 44:1-28; Isa 45:1-25; Isa 46:1-13; Isa 47:1-15; Isa 48:1-22 : the One God, omnipotent and righteous; the One People, His servants and witnesses to the world; the nothingness of all other gods and idols before Him; the vanity and ignorance of their diviners, compared with His power, who, because He has a purpose working through all history, and is both faithful to it and almighty to bring it to pass, can inspire His prophets to declare beforehand the facts that shall be. He has brought His people into captivity for a set time, the end of which is now near. Cyrus the Persian, already upon the horizon, and threatening Babylon, is to be their deliverer. But whomever He raises up on Israels behalf, God is always Himself their foremost champion. Not only is His word upon them, but His heart is among them. He bears the brunt of their battle, and their deliverance, political and spiritual, is His own travail and agony. Whomever else He summons on the stage, He remains the true hero of the drama.
Now, chapters 43-48 are simply the elaboration and more urgent offer of all these truths, under the sense of the rapid approach of Cyrus upon Babylon. They declare again Gods unity, omnipotence, and righteousness, they confirm His forgiveness of His people, they repeat the laughter at the idols, they give us nearer views of Cyrus, they answer the doubts that many orthodox Israelites felt about this Gentile Messiah; chapters 46 and 47 describe Babylon as if on the eve of her fall, and chapter 48, after Jehovah more urgently than ever presses upon reluctant Israel to show the results of her discipline in Babylon, closes with a call to leave the accursed city, as if the way were at last open. This call has been taken as the mark of a definite division of our prophecy. But too much must not be put upon it. It is indeed the first call to depart from Babylon; but it is not the last. And although chapter 49, and the chapters following, speak more of Zions Restoration and less of the Captivity, yet chapter 49 is closely connected with chapter 48, and we do not finally leave Babylon behind till Isa 52:12. Nevertheless, in the meantime chapter 48 will form a convenient point on which to keep our eyes.
Cyrus, when we last saw him, was upon the banks of the Halys, 546 B.C., startling Croesus and the Lydian Empire into extraordinary efforts, both of a religious and political kind, to avert his attack. He had just come from an unsuccessful attempt upon the northern frontier of Babylon, and at first it appeared as if he were to find no better fortune on the western border of Lydia. In spite of his superior numbers, the Lydian army kept the ground on which he met them in battle. But Croesus, thinking that the war was over for the season, fell back soon afterwards on Sardis, and Cyrus, following him up by forced marches, surprised him under the walls of the city, routed the famous Lydian cavalry by the novel terror of his camels, and after a siege of fourteen days sent a few soldiers to scale a side of the citadel too steep to be guarded by the defenders; and so Sardis, its king and its empire, lay at his feet. This Lydian campaign of Cyrus, which is related by Herodotus, is worth noting here for the light it throws on the character of the man, whom according to our prophecy, God chose to be His chief instrument in that generation. If his turning back from Babylonia, eight years before he was granted an easy entrance to her capital, shows how patiently Cyrus could wait upon fortune, his quick march upon Sardis is the brilliant evidence that when fortune showed the way, she found this Persian an obedient and punctual follower. The Lydian campaign forms as good an illustration as we shall find of these texts of our prophet: “He pursueth them, he passeth in safety; by a way he (almost) treads not with his feet. He cometh upon satraps as on mortar, and as the potter treadeth upon clay. {Isa 12:3} I have holden his right hand to bring down before him nations, and the loins of kings will I loosen,” (poor ungirt Croesus, for instance, relaxing so foolishly after his victory!) “to open before him doors, and gates shall not be shut” (so was Sardis unready for him), “I go before thee, and will level the ridges; doors of brass I will shiver, and bolts of iron cut in sunder. And I will give to thee treasures of darkness, hidden riches of secret places.” {Isa 45:1-3} Some have found in this an allusion to the immense hoards of Croesus, which fell to Cyrus with Sardis.
With Lydia, the rest of Asia Minor, including the cities of the Greeks, who held the coast of the Aegean, was bound to come into the Persians hands. But the process of subjection turned out to be a tong one. The Greeks got no help from Greece. Sparta sent to Cyrus an embassy with a threat, but the Persian laughed at it and it came to nothing. Indeed, Spartas message was only a temptation to this irresistible warrior to carry his fortunate arms into Europe. His own presence, however, was required in the East, and his lieutenants found the thorough subjection of Asia Minor a task requiring several years. It cannot have well been concluded before 540, and while it was in progress we understand why Cyrus did not again attack Babylonia. Meantime, he was occupied with lesser tribes to the north of Media.
Cyrus second campaign against Babylonia opened in 539. This time he avoided the northern wall from which he had been repulsed in 546. Attacking Babylonia from the east, he crossed the Tigris, beat the Babylonian king into Borsippa, laid siege to that fortress and marched on Babylon, which was held by the kings son, Belshazzar, Bil-sarussur. All the world knows the supreme generalship by which Cyrus is said to have captured Babylon without assaulting the walls, from whose impregnable height their defenders showered ridicule upon him; how he made himself master of Nebuchadrezzars great bason at Sepharvaim, and turned the Euphrates into it; and how, before the Babylonians had time to notice the dwindling of the waters in their midst, his soldiers waded down the river bed, and by the river gates surprised the careless citizens upon a night of festival. But recent research makes it more probable that her inhabitants themselves surrendered Babylon to Cyrus.
Now it was during the course of the events just sketched, but before their culmination in the fall of Babylon, that chapters 43-48 were composed. That, at least, is what they themselves suggest. In three passages, which deal with Cyrus or with Babylon, some of the verbs are in the past, some in the future. Those in the past tense describe the calling and full career of Cyrus or the beginning of preparations against Babylon. Those in the. future tense promise Babylons fall or Cyrus completion of the liberation of the Jews. Thus, in Isa 43:14 it is written: “For your sakes I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring down as fugitives all of them, and the Chaldeans in the ships of their rejoicing.” Surely these words announce that BabyIons fate was already on the way to her, but not yet arrived. Again, in the verses which deal with Cyrus himself, Isa 45:1-6, which we have partly quoted, the Persian is already “grasped by his right hand by God, and called”; but his career is not over, for God promises to do various things for him. The third passage is Isa 45:13 of the same chapter, where Jehovah says, “I have stirred him up in righteousness, and” changing to the future tense, “all his ways will I level; he shall build My city, and My captivity shall he send away.” What could be more precise than the tenor of all these passages? If people would only take our prophet at his word; if with all their belief in the inspiration of the text of Scripture, they would only pay attention to its grammar, which surely, on their own theory, is also thoroughly sacred, then there would be today no question about the date of Isa 40:1-31; Isa 41:1-29; Isa 42:1-25; Isa 43:1-28; Isa 44:1-28; Isa 45:1-25; Isa 46:1-13; Isa 47:1-15; Isa 48:1-22. As plainly as grammar can enable it to do, this prophecy speaks of Cyrus campaign against Babylon as already begun, but of its completion as still future. Chapter 48, it is true, assumes events as still farther developed, but we will come to it afterwards.
During Cyrus preparations, then, for invading Babylonia, and in prospect of her certain fall, chapters 43-48 repeat with greater detail and impetuosity the truths, which we have already gathered from chapters 40-42.
1. And first of these comes naturally the omnipotence, righteousness, and personal urgency of Jehovah Himself. Everything is again assured by His power and purpose; everything starts from His initiative. To illustrate this we could quote from almost every verse in the chapters under consideration. “I, I Jehovah, and there is none beside Me a Saviour. I am God”-El. “Also from today on I am He. I will work, and who shall let it? I am Jehovah. I, I am He that blotteth out thy transgressions. I First, and I Last; and beside Me there is no God”-Elohim. “Is there a God,” Eloah, “beside Me? yea, there is no Rock; I know not any. I Jehovah, Maker of all things. I am Jehovah, and there is none else; beside Me there is no God. I am Jehovah, and there is none else. Former of light and Creator of darkness, Maker of peace and Creator of evil, I am Jehovah, Maker of all these. I am Jehovah, and there is none else, God,” Elohini, “beside Me, God-Righteous,” El Ssaddiq, “and a Saviour: there is none except: Me. Face Me, and be saved all ends of the earth; for I am God,” El, “and there is none else. Only in Jehovah-of Me shall they say-are righteousnesses and strength. I am God,” El, “and there is none else; God,” Elohim, “and there is none like Me. I am He; I am First, yea, I am Last. I, I have spoken. I have declared it.”
It is of advantage to gather together so many passages-and they might have been increased-from chapters 43-48. They let us see at a glance what a part the first personal pronoun plays in the Divine revelation. Beneath every religious truth is the unity of God. Behind every great movement is the personal initiative, and urgency of God. And revelation is, in its essence, not the mere publication of truths about God, but the personal presence and communication to men of God Himself. Three words are used for Deity-El, Eloah, Elohim-exhausting the Divine terminology. But besides these, there is a formula which puts the point even more sharply: “I am He.” It was the habit of the Hebrew nation, and indeed of all Semitic peoples, who shared their reverent unwillingness to name the Deity, to speak of Him simply by the third personal pronoun. The Book of Job is full of instances of the habit, and it also appears in many proper names, as Eli-hu, “My God-is-He,” Abi-hu, “My-Father-is-He.” Renan adduces the practice as evidence that the Semites were “naturally monotheistic,”-as evidence for what was never the case! But if there was no original Semitic monotheism for this practice to prove, we may yet take the practice as evidence for the personality of the Hebrew God. The God of the prophets is not the it, which Mr. Matthew Arnold so strangely thought he had identified in their writings, and which, in philosophic language, that unsophisticated Orientals would never have understood, he so cumbrously named “a tendency not ourselves that makes for righteousness.” Not anything like this is the God, who here urges His self-consciousness upon men. He says, “I am He,”-the unseen Power, who was too awful and too dark to be named, but about whom, when in their terror and ignorance His worshippers sought to describe Him, they assumed that He was a Person, and called Him, as they would have called one of themselves, by a personal pronoun. By the mouth of His prophet this vague and awful He declares Himself as I, I, I, – no mere tendency, but a living Heart and urgent Will, personal character and force of initiative, from which all tendencies move and take their direction and strength. “I am He.”
History is strewn with the errors of those who have sought from God something else than Himself. All the degradation, even of the highest religions, has sprung from this, that their votaries forgot that religion was a communion with God Himself, a life in the power of His character and will, and employed it as the mere communication either of material benefits or of intellectual ideas. It has been the mistake of millions to see in revelation nothing but the telling of fortunes, the recovery of lost things, decision in quarrels, direction in war, or the bestowal of some personal favour. Such are like the person, of whom St. Luke tells us, who saw nothing in Christ but the recoverer of a bad debt: “Master, speak unto my brother that he divide the inheritance with me”; and their superstition is as far from true faith as the prodigals old heart, when he said, “Give me the portion of goods that falleth unto me,” was from the other heart, when, in his poverty and woe, he cast himself utterly upon his Father: “I will arise and go to my Father.” But no less a mistake do those make, who seek from God not Himself, but only intellectual information. The first Reformers did well, who brought the common soul to the personal grace of God; but many of their successors, in a controversy, whose dust obscured the sun and allowed them to see but the length of their own weapons, used Scripture chiefly as a store of proofs for separate doctrines of the faith, and forgot that God Himself was there at all. And though in these days we seek from the Bible many desirable things, such as history, philosophy, morals, formulas of assurance of salvation, the forgiveness of sins, maxims for conduct, yet all these will avail us little, until we have found behind them the living Character, the Will, the Grace, the Urgency, the Almighty Power, by trust in whom and communion with whom alone they are added unto us.
Now the deity, who claims in these chapters to be the One, Sovereign God, was the deity of a little tribe. “I am Jehovah, I Jehovah am God, I Jehovah am He.” We cannot too much impress ourselves with the historical wonder of this. In a world, which contained Babylon and Egypt with their large empires, Lydia with all her wealth, and the Medes with all their force; which was already feeling the possibilities of the great Greek life, and had the Persians, the masters of the future, upon its threshold, -it was the god of none of these, but of the obscurest tribe of their bondsmen, who claimed the Divine Sovereignty for Himself; it was the pride of none of these, but the faith of the most despised and, at its heart, most mournful religion of the time, which offered an explanation of history, claimed the future, and was assured that the biggest forces of the world were working for its ends. “Thus saith Jehovah, King of Israel, and his Redeemer Jehovah of Hosts, I First, and I Last; and beside Me there is no God. Is there a God beside Me? yea, there is no Rock; I know not any.”
By itself this were a cheap claim, and might have been made by any idol among them, were it not for the additional proofs by which it is supported. We may summarise these additional proofs as threefold: Laughter, Gospel, and Control of History, -three marvels in the experience of exiles. People, mournfullest and most despised, their mouths were to be filled with the laughter of truths scorn upon the idols of their conquerors. Men, most tormented by conscience and filled with the sense of sin, they were to hear the gospel of forgiveness. Nation, against whom all fact seemed to be working, their God told them, alone of all nations of the world, that He controlled for their sake the facts of today and the issues of tomorrow.
2. A burst of laughter comes very weirdly out of the Exile. But we have already seen the intellectual right to scorn which these crushed captives had. They were monotheists and their enemies were image worshippers. Monotheism, even in its rudest forms, raises men intellectually, -it is difficult to say by how many degrees. Indeed, degrees do not measure the mental difference between an idolater and him who serves with his mind, as well as with all his heart and it not for the additional proofs by which it is a difference that is absolute. Israel in captivity was conscious of this, and therefore, although the souls of those sad men were filled beyond any in the world with the heaviness of sorrow and the humility of guilt, their proud faces carried a scorn they had every right to wear, as the servants of the One God. See how this scorn breaks forth in the following passage. Its text is corrupt, and its rhythm, at this distance from the voices that utter it, is hardly perceptible; but thoroughly evident is its tone of intellectual superiority, and the scorn of it gushes forth in impetuous, unequal verse, the force of which the smoothness and dignity of our Authorised Version has unfortunately disguised.
1.
Formers of an idol are all of them waste,
And their darlings are utterly worthless!
And their confessors – they! they see not and know not
Enough to feel shame.
Who has fashioned a god, or an image has cast?
Tis to be utterly worthless.
Lo! all that depend ont are shamed,
And the gravers are less than men:
Let all of them gather and stand.
They quake and are shamed in the lump.
2.
Iron-graver-he takes a chisel,
And works with hot coals,
And with hammers he moulds;
And has done it with the arm of his strength. –
Anon hungers, and strength goes;
Drinks no water, and wearies!
3.
Wood-graver-he draws a line,
Marks it with pencil,
Makes it with planes,
And with compasses marks it.
So has made it the build of a man,
To a grace that is human-
To inhabit a house, cutting it cedars.
4.
Or one takes an ilex or oak,
And picks for himself from the trees of the wood
One has planted a pine, and the rain makes it big,
And tis there for a man to burn.
And one has taken of it, and been warmed;
Yea, kindles and bakes bread, –
Yea, works out a god, and has worshipped it!
Has made it an idol, and bows down before it!
Part of it burns he with fire,
Upon part eats flesh,
Roasts roast and is full;
Yea, warms him and saith,
“Aha, I am warm, have seen fire!”
And the rest of it-to a god he has made-to his image!
He bows to it, worships it, prays to it,
And says, “Save me, for my god art thou!”
5.
They know not and deem not!
For He hath bedaubed, past seeing, their eyes
Past thinking, their hearts.
And none takes to heart,
Neither has knowledge nor sense to say,
“Part of it burned I in fire-
Yea, have baked bread on its coals,
Do roast flesh that I eat, –
And the rest ot, to a
Disgust should I make it?
The trunk of a tree should I worship?”
Herder of ashes, a duped heart has sent him astray,
That he cannot deliver his soul. neither say,
“Is there not a lie in my right hand?”
Is not the prevailing note in these verses surprise at the mental condition of an idol-worshipper? “They see not and know not enough to feel shame. None takes it to heart, neither has knowledge nor sense to say, Part of it I have burned in fire and the rest, should I make it a god?” This intellectual confidence, breaking out into scorn, is the second great token of truth, which distinguishes the religion of this poor slave of a people.
3. The third token is its moral character. The intellectual truth of a religion would go for little, had the religion nothing to say to mans moral sense-did it not concern itself with his sins, had it no redemption for his guilt. Now, the chapters before us are full of judgment and mercy. If they have scorn for the idols, they have doom for sin, and grace for the sinner. They are no mere political manifesto for the occasion, declaring how Israel shall be liberated from Babylon. They are a gospel for sinners in all time. By this they farther accredit themselves as a universal religion.
God is omnipotent, yet He can do nothing for Israel till Israel put away their sins. Those sins, and not the peoples captivity, are the Deitys chief concern. Sin has been at the bottom of their whole adversity. This is brought out with all the versatility of conscience itself. Israel and their God have been at variance; their sin has been, what conscience feels the most, a sin against love. “Yet not upon Me hast thou called, O Jacob; how hast thou been wearied with Me, O Israel I have not made thee to slave with offerings, nor weaned thee with incense but thou hast made Me to slave with thy sins, thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities”. {Isa 43:22-24} So God sets their sins, where men most see the blackness of their guilt, in the face of His love. And now He challenges conscience. “Put Me in remembrance; let us come to judgment together; indict, that thou mayest be justified” (Isa 43:26). But it had been age long and original sin. “Thy father, the first had sinned; yea, thy representative men”-literally “interpreters, mediators-had transgressed against Me. Therefore did I profane consecrated princes, and gave Jacob to the ban, and Israel to reviling” (Isa 43:27-28). The Exile itself was but an episode in a tragedy, which began far back with Israels history. And so chapter 48 repeats: “I knew that thou dost deal very treacherously, and Transgressor-from-the-womb do they call thee” (Isa 48:8). And then there comes the sad note of what might have been. “O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! then had thy peace been as the river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea” (Isa 48:18). As broad Euphrates thou shouldst have lavishly rolled, and flashed to the sun like a summer sea. But now, hear what is left. “There is no peace, saith Jehovah, to the wicked” (Isa 48:22).
Ah, it is no dusty stretch of ancient history, no; long-extinct volcano upon the far waste of Asian politics, to which we are led by the writings of the Exile. But they treat of mans perennial trouble; and conscience, that never dies, speaks through their old-fashioned letters and figures with words we feel like swords. And therefore, still, whether they be psalms or prophecies, they stand like some ancient minster in the modern world, -where, on each new soiled day, till time ends, the heavy heart of man may be helped to read itself, and lift up its guilt for mercy.
They are the confessional of the world, but they are also its gospel, and the altar where forgiveness is sealed. “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of Me. I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins; turn unto Me, for I have redeemed, thee. Israel shall be saved by Jehovah with an everlasting salvation; ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.” {Isa 43:25; Isa 44:21-22; Isa 45:17} Now, when we remember who the God is, who thus speaks, -not merely One who flings the word of pardon from the sublime height of His holiness, but, as we saw, speaks it from the midst of all His own passion and struggle under His peoples sins, -then with what assurance does His word come home to the heart. What honour and obligation to righteousness does the pardon of such a God put upon our hearts. One understands why Ambrose sent Augustine, after his conversion, first to these prophecies.
4. The fourth token, which these chapters offer for the religion of Jehovah, is the claim they make for it to interpret and to control history. There are two verbs, which are frequently repeated throughout the chapters, and which are given together in Isa 43:12 : “I have published and I have saved.” These are the two acts by which Jehovah proves His solitary divinity over against the idols.
The “publishing,” of course, is the same prediction, of which chapter 41 spoke. It is “publishing” in former times things happening now; it is “publishing” now things that are still to happen. “And who, like Me, calls out and publishes it, and sets it in order for Me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and that shall come, let them publish. Tremble not, nor fear: did I not long ago cause thee to hear? and I published, and ye are My witnesses. Is there a God beside Me? nay, there is no Rock; I know none”. {Isa 44:7-8}
The two go together, the doing of wonderful and saving acts for His people and the publishing of them before they come to pass. Israels past is full of such acts. Chapter 43, instances the delivery from Egypt (Isa 43:16-17), but immediately proceeds (Isa 43:18-19): “Remember ye not the former things”-here our old friend rishonoth occurs again, but this time means simply “previous events”-“neither consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; even now it springs forth. Shall ye not know it? Yea, I will set in the wilderness a way, in the desert rivers.” And of this new event of the Return, and of others which will follow from it, like the building of Jerusalem, the chapters insist over and over again, that they are the work of Jehovah, who is therefore a Saviour God. But what better proof can be given, that these saving facts are indeed His own and part of His counsel, than that He foretold them by His messengers and prophets to Israel, -of which previous “publication” His people are the witnesses. “Who among the peoples can publish thus, and let us hear predictions?-again rishonoth, “things ahead-let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified, and let them hear and say, Truth. Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah,” to Israel. {Isa 43:9-10} “I have published, and I have saved, and I have shewed, and there was no strange god among you; therefore”-because Jehovah was notoriously the only God who had to do with them during all this prediction and fulfilment of prediction” ye are witnesses for Me, saith Jehovah, that I am God” (id. Isa 43:12). The meaning of all this is plain. Jehovah is God alone, because He is directly effective in history for the salvation of His people, and because He has published beforehand what He will do. The great instance of this, which the prophecy adduces, is the present movement towards the liberation of the people, of which movement Cyrus is the most conspicuous factor. Of this Isa 45:19 ff. says: “Not in a place of the land of in Secret have I spoken, darkness. I have not said to the seed of Jacob, In vanity seek ye Me. I Jehovah am a speaker of righteousness, a publisher of things that are straight. Be gathered and come in; draw together, ye survivors of the nations: they have no knowledge that carry about the log of their image, and are suppliants to a god that cannot save. Publish, and bring it here; nay, let them advise together; who made this to be heard,”-that is, “who published this, -of ancient time?” Who published this of old? I Jehovah, and there is none God beside Me: a God righteous,”-that is, consistent, true to His published word, -“and a Saviour, there is none beside Me.” “Here we have joined together the same ideas as in Isa 43:12.” There “I have declared and saved” is equivalent to “a God righteous and a Saviour” here. “Only in Jehovah are righteousnesses,” that is, fidelity to His anciently published purposes; “and strength,” that is, capacity to carry these purposes out in history. God is righteous because, according to another verse in the same prophecy, {Isa 44:26} “He confirmeth the word of His servant, and the advice of His messengers He fulfilleth.”
Now the question has been asked, To what predictions does the prophecy allude as being fulfilled in those days when Cyrus was so evidently advancing to the overthrow of Babylon? Before answering this question it is well to note, that, for the most part, the prophet speaks in general terms. He gives no hint to justify that unfounded belief, to which so many think it necessary to cling, that Cyrus was actually named by a prophet of Jehovah years before he appeared. Had such a prediction existed, we can have no doubt that our prophet would now have appealed to it. No: he evidently refers only to those numerous and notorious predictions by Isaiah, and by Jeremiah, of the return of Israel from exile after a certain and fixed period. Those were now coming to pass.
But from this new day Jehovah also predicts for the days to come, and He does this very particularly, Isa 44:26, “Who is saying of Jerusalem, She shall be inhabited; and of the cities of Judah, They shall be built; and of her waste places, I will raise them up. Who saith to the deep, Be dry, and thy rivers I will dry up. Who saith of Koresh, My Shepherd, and all My pleasure he shall fulfil: even saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built, and the Temple shall be founded.”
Thus, backward and forward, yesterday, today and for ever, Jehovahs hand is upon history. He controls it: it is the fulfilment of His ancient purpose. By predictions made long ago and fulfilled today, by the readiness to predict today what will happen tomorrow, He is surely God and God alone. Singular fact, that in that day of great empires, confident in their resources, and with the future so near their grasp, it should be the God of a little people, cut off from their history, servile and seemingly spent, who should take the big things of earth-Egypt, Ethiopia, Seba-and speak of them as counters to be given in exchange for His people; who should speak of such a people as the chief heirs of the future, the indispensable ministers of mankind. The claim has two Divine features. It is unique, and history has vindicated it. It is unique: no other religion, in that or in any other time, has so rationally explained past history or laid out the ages to come upon the lines of a purpose so definite, so rational, so beneficent-a purpose so worthy of the One God and Creator of all. And it has been vindicated: Israel returned to their own land, resumed the development of their calling, and, after the centuries came and went, fulfilled the promise that they should be the religious teachers of mankind. The long delay of this fulfilment surely but testifies the more to the Divine foresight of the promise; to the patience, which nature, as well as history, reveals to be, as much as omnipotence, a mark of Deity.
These, then, are the four points, upon which the religion of Israel offers itself. First, it is the force of the character and grace of a personal God; second, it speaks with a high intellectual confidence, whereof its scorn is here the chief mark; third, it is intensely moral, making mans sin its chief concern; and fourth, it claims the control of history, and history has justified the claim.