Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal. Bel bows downThe name "Bel" refers to the chief deity of Babylon, often associated with Marduk. In the Hebrew text, "Bel" is derived from the Akkadian word "bēlu," meaning "lord" or "master." This phrase signifies the humiliation and powerlessness of Babylon's gods before the true God of Israel. Historically, Bel was a central figure in Babylonian worship, and his bowing down symbolizes the collapse of false religious systems. This imagery serves as a powerful reminder of the supremacy of the God of Israel over all man-made deities. Nebo stoops low
"Nebo" was another prominent Babylonian deity, associated with wisdom and writing. The Hebrew root for Nebo is "nabu," which means "to prophesy" or "to announce." The act of stooping low indicates submission and defeat. In the context of Isaiah, this portrays the futility of relying on idols for guidance and wisdom. The historical context reveals that Nebo was often invoked for divine insight, yet here, he is depicted as powerless, emphasizing the superiority of divine revelation through the prophets of Israel. their idols are borne by beasts of burden
The phrase highlights the physicality and helplessness of idols, which need to be carried by animals. The Hebrew word for "borne" is "nasa," meaning "to lift" or "to carry." This imagery contrasts the living God, who carries His people, with lifeless idols that require transportation. Archaeological findings have uncovered numerous Babylonian idols, often small and portable, underscoring their dependency on human and animal effort. This serves as a metaphor for the burdens that false gods impose on their worshippers, in contrast to the liberating power of the true God. The images that are carried about
"Images" refers to the crafted representations of deities. The Hebrew term "pesel" denotes a carved or graven image. These images, despite their artistic craftsmanship, are lifeless and impotent. The act of carrying them "about" suggests a lack of inherent power or presence, needing human intervention to be moved. This highlights the contrast between the omnipresent God of Israel and the static, immobile idols of Babylon. are burdensome, a burden for the weary
The repetition of "burden" emphasizes the weight and futility of idol worship. The Hebrew word "masa" means "load" or "burden," and it conveys the idea of something heavy and oppressive. Idolatry is depicted as a spiritual and physical burden, exhausting those who engage in it. This serves as a poignant reminder of the freedom found in worshiping the true God, who offers rest and relief to the weary. The historical context of Babylon's eventual fall illustrates the ultimate futility of relying on idols, reinforcing the message of divine sovereignty and deliverance. Persons / Places / Events 1. BelA title for the Babylonian god Marduk, considered the chief deity of Babylon. The name "Bel" means "lord" or "master" in Akkadian. 2. NeboAnother Babylonian deity, associated with wisdom and writing. Nebo was often depicted as the son of Marduk. 3. BabylonThe ancient city and empire known for its wealth, power, and idolatry. It serves as a symbol of human pride and rebellion against God. 4. IdolsPhysical representations of deities worshiped by the Babylonians. These idols are depicted as burdensome and powerless in contrast to the living God. 5. Beasts of BurdenAnimals used to carry heavy loads, symbolizing the futility and weight of idolatry. Teaching Points The Futility of IdolatryIdols, no matter how revered, are ultimately powerless and burdensome. They cannot save or deliver. God's SupremacyUnlike idols, God is living and active. He is not a burden but a deliverer who carries His people. The Burden of False WorshipWorshiping anything other than God leads to spiritual weariness and bondage. Trust in the True GodBelievers are called to place their trust in God alone, who is able to sustain and save. Cultural Idols TodayReflect on modern-day "idols" such as wealth, power, or status, and consider how they can become burdensome. Bible Study Questions 1. What does the imagery of idols being carried by beasts of burden suggest about the nature of idolatry? 2. How does the portrayal of Bel and Nebo in Isaiah 46:1 challenge the power structures of Babylon? 3. In what ways can modern believers identify and avoid the "idols" present in today's culture? 4. How does the message of Isaiah 46:1 encourage us to trust in God's sovereignty and power? 5. Reflect on a time when you felt burdened by something you were placing above God. How did you find freedom in turning back to Him? Connections to Other Scriptures Jeremiah 50-51These chapters also speak of the fall of Babylon and the futility of its idols, reinforcing the message of Isaiah 46:1. Psalm 115This Psalm contrasts the living God with lifeless idols, emphasizing the powerlessness of man-made gods. 1 Corinthians 8Paul discusses the nature of idols and the one true God, providing a New Testament perspective on idolatry. People Isaiah, JacobPlaces Babylon, Cush, ZionTopics Animal, Animals, Beast, Beasts, Bel, Bendeth, Bent, Borne, Bowed, Boweth, Bows, Burden, Burdens, Burdensome, Carriages, Carried, Carry, Cattle, Consigned, Falling, Heavy, Idols, Images, Laid, Livestock, Load, Loaded, Loaden, Loads, Low, Nebo, Stoopeth, Stooping, Stoops, Tired, Weary, WeightDictionary of Bible Themes Isaiah 46:1 5582 tiredness
8747 false gods
8769 idolatry, in OT
8799 polytheism Isaiah 46:1-2 5211 art
8816 ridicule, nature of Isaiah 46:1-4 1080 God, living Library A Righteousness Near and a Swift Salvation
'Hearken unto Me, ye stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness: I bring near My righteousness; it shall not be far off, and My salvation shall not tarry.'--ISAIAH xlvi. 12,13. God has promised that He will dwell with him that is humble and of a contrite heart. Jesus has shed the oil of His benediction on the poor in spirit. It is the men who form the exact antithesis to these characters who are addressed here. The 'stout-hearted' are those who, being untouched in conscience and ignorant of …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureThe God of the Aged
THOSE will be peculiar circumstances under which I shall stand up to address the people next Tuesday; circumstances which perhaps seldom occur,--possibly may never have occurred before. It might have been more in order that the aged minister should himself address the people; but nevertheless, as it is his own choice, so it must be; and I shall draw my consolation from the third verse, where it is declared, that though God be the God of the close of our life, yet he is also the God of its beginning. …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856 Whether the Seven Petitions of the Lord's Prayer are Fittingly Assigned?
Objection 1: It would seem that the seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer are not fittingly assigned. It is useless to ask for that to be hallowed which is always holy. But the name of God is always holy, according to Lk. 1:49, "Holy is His name." Again, His kingdom is everlasting, according to Ps. 144:13, "Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages." Again, God's will is always fulfilled, according to Isa 46:10, "All My will shall be done." Therefore it is useless to ask for "the name of God to be hallowed," …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Of Internal Acts
Of Internal Acts Acts are distinguished into External and Internal. External acts are those which bear relation to some sensible object, and are either morally good or evil, merely according to the nature of the principle from which they proceed. I intend here to speak only of Internal acts, those energies of the soul, by which it turns internally to some objects, and averts from others. If during my application to God I should form a will to change the nature of my act, I thereby withdraw myself …
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer Of Inward Silence
Of Inward Silence "The Lord is in His Holy Temple, let all the earth keep silence before him" (Hab. ii. 20). Inward silence is absolutely indispensable, because the Word is essential and eternal, and necessarily requires dispositions in the soul in some degree correspondent to His nature, as a capacity for the reception of Himself. Hearing is a sense formed to receive sounds, and is rather passive than active, admitting, but not communicating sensation; and if we would hear, we must lend the ear …
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer Of Rest in the Presence of God --Its Fruits --Inward Silence --God Commands it --Outward Silence.
The soul, being brought to this place, needs no other preparation than that of repose: for the presence of God during the day, which is the great result of prayer, or rather prayer itself, begins to be intuitive and almost continual. The soul is conscious of a deep inward happiness, and feels that God is in it more truly than it is in itself. It has only one thing to do in order to find God, which is to retire within itself. As soon as the eyes are closed, it finds itself in prayer. It is astonished …
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents "And this is his Commandment," &C.
1 John iii. 23.--"And this is his commandment," &c. There are different tempers of mind among men, some more smooth and pliable, others more refractory and froward. Some may be persuaded by love, who cannot be constrained by fear. With some a request will more prevail than a command. Others again are of a harsher disposition. Love and condescension doth rather embolden them, and therefore they must be restrained with the bridle of authority. It would seem that the Lord hath some regard to this in …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning "Come unto Me, all Ye that Labour, and are Wearied," &C.
Matth. xi. 28.--"Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are wearied," &c. It is the great misery of Christians in this life, that they have such poor, narrow, and limited spirits, that are not fit to receive the truth of the gospel in its full comprehension; from whence manifold misapprehensions in judgment, and stumbling in practice proceed. The beauty and life of things consist in their entire union with one another, and in the conjunction of all their parts. Therefore it would not be a fit way …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning Epistle v. To Theoctista, Sister of the Emperor.
To Theoctista, Sister of the Emperor. Gregory to Theoctista, &c. With how great devotion my mind prostrates itself before your Venerableness I cannot fully express in words; nor yet do I labour to give utterance to it, since, even though I were silent, you read in your heart your own sense of my devotion. I wonder, however, that you withdrew your countenance, till of late bestowed on me, from this my recent engagement in the pastoral office; wherein, under colour of episcopacy, I have been brought …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great The First Commandment
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' Exod 20: 3. Why is the commandment in the second person singular, Thou? Why does not God say, You shall have no other gods? Because the commandment concerns every one, and God would have each one take it as spoken to him by name. Though we are forward to take privileges to ourselves, yet we are apt to shift off duties from ourselves to others; therefore the commandment is in the second person, Thou and Thou, that every one may know that it is spoken to him, …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments The Power of God
The next attribute is God's power. Job 9:19. If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong.' In this chapter is a magnificent description of God's power. Lo, he is strong.' The Hebrew word for strong signifies a conquering, prevailing strength. He is strong.' The superlative degree is intended here; viz., He is most strong. He is called El-shaddai, God almighty. Gen 17:7. His almightiness lies in this, that he can do whatever is feasible. Divines distinguish between authority and power. God has both. …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity The Iranian Conquest
Drawn by Boudier, from the engraving in Coste and Flandin. The vignette, drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a statuette in terra-cotta, found in Southern Russia, represents a young Scythian. The Iranian religions--Cyrus in Lydia and at Babylon: Cambyses in Egypt --Darius and the organisation of the empire. The Median empire is the least known of all those which held sway for a time over the destinies of a portion of Western Asia. The reason of this is not to be ascribed to the shortness of its duration: …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 9 Barzillai
BY REV. GEORGE MILLIGAN, M.A., D.D. "There is nothing," says Socrates to Cephalus in the Republic, "I like better than conversing with aged men. For I regard them as travellers who have gone a journey which I too may have to go, and of whom it is right to learn the character of the way, whether it is rugged or difficult, or smooth and easy" (p. 328 E.). It is to such an aged traveller that we are introduced in the person of Barzillai the Gileadite. And though he is one of the lesser-known characters …
George Milligan—Men of the Bible; Some Lesser-Known Purposes of God.
In discussing this subject I shall endeavor to show, I. What I understand by the purposes of God. Purposes, in this discussion, I shall use as synonymous with design, intention. The purposes of God must be ultimate and proximate. That is, God has and must have an ultimate end. He must purpose to accomplish something by his works and providence, which he regards as a good in itself, or as valuable to himself, and to being in general. This I call his ultimate end. That God has such an end or purpose, …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology The Unchangeableness of God
The next attribute is God's unchangeableness. I am Jehovah, I change not.' Mal 3:3. I. God is unchangeable in his nature. II. In his decree. I. Unchangeable in his nature. 1. There is no eclipse of his brightness. 2. No period put to his being. [1] No eclipse of his brightness. His essence shines with a fixed lustre. With whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.' James 1:17. Thou art the same.' Psa 102:27. All created things are full of vicissitudes. Princes and emperors are subject to …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity The Shepherd of Our Souls.
"I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep."--John x. 11. Our Lord here appropriates to Himself the title under which He had been foretold by the Prophets. "David My servant shall be king over them," says Almighty God by the mouth of Ezekiel: "and they all shall have one Shepherd." And in the book of Zechariah, "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts; smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered." …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII Isaiah
CHAPTERS I-XXXIX Isaiah is the most regal of the prophets. His words and thoughts are those of a man whose eyes had seen the King, vi. 5. The times in which he lived were big with political problems, which he met as a statesman who saw the large meaning of events, and as a prophet who read a divine purpose in history. Unlike his younger contemporary Micah, he was, in all probability, an aristocrat; and during his long ministry (740-701 B.C., possibly, but not probably later) he bore testimony, as …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Isaiah 46:1 NIVIsaiah 46:1 NLTIsaiah 46:1 ESVIsaiah 46:1 NASBIsaiah 46:1 KJV
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