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Commentary on Isaiah 46 verses 1–4
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, etc. These gods they had long worshipped, and in their revels praised them for their successes (as appears, Dan 5:4); 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, Isa 37:19. 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 (Isa 46:2): 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, Psa 105:12-14. 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 11:12), but God bore them, and bore their manners, Act 13:18. 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 (Isa 46:4): "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 8:13. Gray hairs were here and there upon them, Hos 7:9. 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, Deu 33:27. 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."
(Chapter 46, Verses 1, 2.) Bel is broken, Nabo is crushed. Their idols have become beasts and livestock, burdening you with heavy loads until exhaustion. They have melted together and crumbled. They could not save those who carried them, and their souls will go into captivity. Seventy: Bel has fallen, Dagon is crushed. Their statues have become beasts and livestock, bound together as a burden for the laboring, the weak, and the hungry, unable to prevail together. They could not save from war. However, they themselves were led away as captives. After the calling of the Gentiles and the election of the believers from Israel, it is testified that the idols have fallen. Bel has fallen, indeed, he has fallen, or Saturn has been broken: whom the Greeks call Belus and the Latins call Saturn. So great was the reverence for him among the ancients that they not only offered him the human sacrifices of captive and lowly mortals, but also sacrificed their own children to him. But now even that idol itself, which is interpreted as prophecy and divination, signifies that it has fallen silent throughout the whole world after the truth of the Gospel. Or, according to the Septuagint, Dagon, which, however, is not found in Hebrew. And it is the idol of Ashkelon, Gaza, and the other cities of the Philistines. And from a specific case it passes to a general one: their images were made in the form of beasts and animals. Not that the images of the Gentiles were exposed as prey to beasts and animals, but that the religion of the nations is such that the images are of beasts and brute animals, which are especially consecrated to divine worship in Egypt. About which Virgil says (Aeneid VIII, 698):
All the various gods and the barking dog Anubis.
For most of their towns have names derived from animals and beasts, κυνῶν from the dog, λέων from the lion, θμοῦἳς from the Egyptian verb 'to have a bad smell', λύκων from the wolf, not to mention the fearful and horrible onion smell, and the sound of their bloated bellies, which is part of the religious customs of Pelusium. These idols, he says, which cannot save those who carry them, are nothing more than burdens for the priests, weighing them down to exhaustion. And when captivity comes, as payment for the metals from which they are made, the first captive is taken, and they cannot free their own soul or those who carry them. Not that the lifeless images have a soul and some sense of pain, which are devoid of sensation; but that the soul is erroneously called soul, and the limbs of those things which are without sensation and limbs. Otherwise, it is also written in the Proverbs: In the hand of the tongue is death and life. Or it must be said that the heaviest burden among the nations was the error of idolatry, which brought down its worshippers to the ground, and could not save them, but made their souls captive to the devil and demons.
(Verse 1, 3 and following) Hear me, house of Jacob, and all the rest of the house of Israel, who are carried from my womb, who are born from my womb. Even to your old age, I am the one, and even to your gray hairs, I will carry you. I have done it, and I will bear it; I will carry, and I will save. To whom have you likened me, and equalized, and compared me, and made me similar? You who pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver on the scales, hiring a goldsmith to make a god, and they fall down and worship. They carry him on their shoulders, carrying and placing him in his place, and he will stand, and he will not be moved from his place. But when they cry out to him, he will not hear: he will not save them from distress. Listen to me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of Israel who are carried from the womb, and be instructed from infancy to old age. I am, and until you grow old, I am: I will sustain you: I have made you, and I will carry you: I will support you, and I will make you safe. To whom do you liken me? See, consider those who go astray and compare gold from a bag, and silver in a scale, and hire a goldsmith. They make it into an idol, and they bow down and worship it. They lift it to their shoulders and carry it. If they place it in its rightful place, it stays and will not move. It cannot hear those who cry out to it, and it will not save them from their troubles. It is not called Jacob or Israel, as we have explained above, because it is inferior, the house of Jacob, and the remnant of Israel, due to their close relationship of flesh and blood, and they are like the waste and remnants of Israel. And it teaches that they were carried from Egypt as infants and sucklings, just as from God, as if from a mother's womb and the pregnant womb, they were carried. Not because the ineffable and incomprehensible majesty of God has a womb or a womb, feet, hands, and other members of the body; but that we may learn the affection of God through our words. Otherwise, the same is sung in the hundred and ninth psalm from the person of God. For in that place where the Seventy translated, 'From the womb before the morning star I begot you,' in the Hebrew script it has 'Merehem,' which is interpreted as 'from the womb.' But at present, not only is it written about the womb and the vulva, that is, Mebeten and Merehem but also Menni, which signifies 'from my womb' or 'from my vulva'. And the meaning is: I who have begotten you from infancy and carried you in my womb and vulva, I myself will protect you even until old age, not my own, but yours, so that divine mercy may teach them to be saved. For the Creator spares his creature, and the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep (John 10). But the hired hand, whose sheep are not his own, sees the wolf coming and flees. Therefore, because I have made and begotten children, I will bear and carry them myself. According to the Septuagint, which says: 'You who are carried from the womb, and are taught from infancy until old age,' this signifies that it is in vain for them to meditate on the law of God day and night, not having knowledge of God, but venerating the idols of humans and animals. To the extent that they require prophetic correction, by which God speaks to them: 'To whom have you made me similar and equal?' And the rest: what gold and silver they have brought, and what idols they have made by hiring a sculptor, and what works of their hands they have worshiped, which are carried on their shoulders, and which, when nailed and fixed, are unable to move, nor are they able to benefit those who worship them. We pass over the obvious things to uncover the closed mercy of Christ.
By the same token, [Isaiah] says, as all the other burdens that are unable to walk but have to be carried, the idols, by reason of their inanimate nature, constrain their porters to toil. Their impotence is so great that they cannot even—as people do in war time—take flight.
Here [Isaiah] argues that the idols are weak since they will be carried into slavery as the cargo of elephants and even the burden of mules. And the people who carry them will bow low to put them on their shoulders. How can someone bearing God be weak like that? But these burdens are not God. Otherwise how could they be carried off as slaves of war? How would the ones carrying such things worship them? Others say that this burden is like the solemn procession of the demons that priests carry out when they bear statues on their shoulders and process through the streets bearing their burdens.These words also remind Israel of their enemies who led them off: just as their enemies fell down and worshiped these idols who spoke in riddles contrary to reason, so also the demons were a heavy and oppressive burden to the souls [of Israel] whenever these demons enslaved them in ungodliness as they took them prisoner and bound them with the ropes of their [own] sins.
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SUMMARY
Isaiah 46:2 delivers a potent prophetic declaration concerning the utter impotence of the false gods worshipped by Babylon, particularly Bel and Nebo. It vividly portrays these revered deities, embodied by their heavy cultic statues, as being unable to stand or save themselves, let alone their devotees. Instead, they are depicted as mere burdens, stooping and bowing under their own weight, destined to be carried away into captivity alongside their worshippers, a stark and humiliating contrast to the true God of Israel who actively carries and delivers His people.
CONTEXT
Literary Context: This verse is an integral part of a powerful oracle found in Isaiah 46, which serves as a direct challenge to the pagan deities of Babylon. Following the explicit naming of Bel and Nebo in Isaiah 46:1, verse 2 continues to elaborate on their ignominious fate. The passage as a whole forms a crucial segment within the broader "Book of Consolation" (Isaiah 40-55), where God repeatedly contrasts His unparalleled sovereignty and faithfulness with the futility of idols. This particular oracle underscores the theme of God's unique ability to declare the end from the beginning and to accomplish His purposes, specifically the liberation of His people from Babylonian exile, as seen in Isaiah 46:9-11. The imagery of idols being carried as burdens stands in profound antithesis to God's tender promise to carry His people from birth to old age, highlighting His enduring strength and steadfast love.
Historical & Cultural Context: The prophecy in Isaiah 46 is set against the backdrop of the impending fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire to the rising power of Persia under Cyrus the Great (c. 539 BC). Babylon was renowned for its elaborate religious system and numerous gods, chief among them Marduk (often identified with Bel) and Nabu (Nebo), who were central to the state cult and public processions. During religious festivals, massive statues of these gods were paraded through the city, symbolizing their power and the nation's security. The act of "carrying" these gods was a sign of devotion and strength. Isaiah's prophecy directly subverts this cultural norm, depicting the very objects of worship as helpless burdens, unable to resist their own capture and removal. For the exiled Israelites, who had witnessed Babylon's grandeur and its gods, this prophecy offered immense hope, demonstrating that their God, Yahweh, was superior to all other deities and was orchestrating their deliverance from a powerful empire that seemed invincible.
Key Themes: The verse powerfully contributes to several overarching themes within Isaiah and the broader prophetic literature.
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Isaiah 46:2 masterfully employs several literary devices to convey its message. Personification is central, as the inanimate idol statues are described with human actions: "stooping," "bowing down," and "going into captivity." This imbues them with a mock-human vulnerability, making their defeat more palpable and humiliating. Irony is powerfully present; the very "gods" who are supposed to protect and deliver their worshippers are themselves unable to deliver their own physical forms from capture, becoming burdens rather than bearers. This reversal of roles underscores their impotence. Furthermore, the verse uses Contrast implicitly but effectively. By depicting the weakness of the Babylonian gods, it highlights, by antithesis, the incomparable strength, sovereignty, and active deliverance of the God of Israel, who, unlike these idols, does not need to be carried but carries His people.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Isaiah 46:2 profoundly articulates the theological truth of God's unique and incomparable nature as the only true and living God. Unlike the crafted, immobile, and ultimately helpless idols, the God of Israel is an active, sovereign, and omnipotent being who transcends creation and orchestrates history. This verse serves as a powerful polemic against idolatry, revealing that anything or anyone elevated to the place of God in human hearts will inevitably prove to be a "burden" that cannot deliver. True security, deliverance, and hope are found only in the one who is not carried, but who carries His people through all of life's challenges. The theological implication is clear: trust placed in anything other than the Creator is misplaced and will ultimately lead to disappointment and spiritual captivity.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
While modern society may not typically bow down to physical statues of Bel or Nebo, the principle of Isaiah 46:2 remains profoundly relevant for contemporary believers. This verse compels us to critically examine what we truly rely on, what we elevate to a position of ultimate trust or security in our lives apart from God. Modern "idols" can manifest as career success, financial wealth, social status, personal achievements, relationships, comfort, or even self-reliance and intellectual pride. Anything that promises ultimate fulfillment, security, or deliverance, yet falls short of God's perfect provision, can become a spiritual "burden" that ultimately fails to deliver us from life's challenges, anxieties, or the ultimate reality of death. This passage calls us to a radical reorientation of our allegiances, urging us to recognize that only the sovereign God, who carries His people through all circumstances, can provide true and lasting security, purpose, and deliverance. It invites us to release the burdens of false hopes and to place our complete faith and dependence upon Him alone.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Who are "they" in this verse, and why are they stooping and bowing?
Answer: The "they" in Isaiah 46:2 primarily refers to the Babylonian idols, specifically Bel and Nebo, mentioned in Isaiah 46:1. These were prominent deities in the Babylonian pantheon, whose large, heavy cultic statues were central to their worship and often paraded in public processions. They are depicted as "stooping" and "bowing down" because they are literal, inanimate burdens. The prophet uses vivid personification to show their utter helplessness: far from being powerful gods who can stand tall or deliver their worshippers, they are themselves collapsing under their own weight, being carried off as spoils of war by conquering armies. This imagery highlights their impotence in stark contrast to the living God of Israel.
How does the fate of these idols contrast with God's relationship with His people?
Answer: This verse provides a powerful and deliberate contrast with God's relationship with Israel, a theme explicitly developed in the subsequent verses of Isaiah 46. While the Babylonian gods are burdens to be carried by their worshippers (and ultimately, by their captors), the Lord God declares that He is the one who "carries" His people. Isaiah 46:3-4 states, "Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save." This contrast underscores God's active, personal, and enduring care for His people, demonstrating His power and faithfulness as the true Deliverer, unlike the lifeless idols who cannot even save themselves from captivity.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Isaiah 46:2, with its vivid portrayal of helpless idols being carried into captivity, finds its profound Christ-centered fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The idols of Babylon represent every false god, every human construct, and every earthly power that promises deliverance or security but ultimately proves to be a burden and leads to spiritual captivity. In stark contrast, Jesus is the one true God, the very image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), who does not need to be carried but rather carries the burdens of humanity. He is the ultimate Deliverer, who, unlike the powerless idols, actually entered into our captivity—the captivity to sin and death—and through His sacrificial death and glorious resurrection, broke its chains (Romans 8:2). Where idols are inert, Jesus is active and powerful, having triumphed over all spiritual principalities and powers (Colossians 2:15). He invites all who are weary and burdened to come to Him, promising rest (Matthew 11:28-30), for He is the true Shepherd who carries His flock (John 10:11). Thus, the futility of idols in Isaiah 46:2 serves as a powerful backdrop for the unparalleled power, love, and saving work of Christ, the only one who can truly deliver us from all forms of captivity.