Isaiah 46:1-13
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 themselvesa 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.
5 To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?
6 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.
7 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.
8 Remember this, and shew 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 else; I am God, and there is none like me,
10 Declaring 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:
11 Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the 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.
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.
Isaiah 46:1. Bel or Baal. See on Numbers 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. קרס 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.
Isaiah 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 Ζευς, 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. Psalms 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 Jacob's God, and in him alone. God is highly offended when nations liken him to idols, the work of men's 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.