XLVI. (1) BEL BOWETH DOWN, NEBO STOOPETH. — Bel or Belus (“Lord “), is perhaps identical with Marduk or Merôdach, but see Note on Jeremiah 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 tha... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY COULD NOT DELIVER THE BURDEN. — The deities are, for the moment, distinguished from their images. They are powerless to rescue them. So far as they have a soul or being at all, that very being is carried away captive.... [ Continue Reading ]
HEARKEN UNTO ME. — The prophet’s choice of words is singularly emphatic. The false gods are borne away as a burden. The true God bears, _i.e.,_ supports, His people. He is able to bear that burden. Every “I” is emphasised in the Hebrew.... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN TO YOUR OLD AGE. — The care of a mother ceases, in the natural course of things, before a man grows old, but the fatherly, we might almost say the _mother-like,_ maternal care of Jehovah for His chosen ones endures even to the end of life.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO WHOM WILL YE LIKEN ME? — The argument against idolatry is renewed in nearly its old form (Isaiah 40:18; Isaiah 44:9). The fate of Bel and Nebo is urged against those who thought that they might worship Jehovah as those deities had been worshipped. Such had been the sin of the calves at Bethel and... [ Continue Reading ]
SHEW YOURSELVES MEN. — As elsewhere, the prophet’s challenge is couched in the language of irony. The worshippers of idols should at least have the courage of their convictions. A conjectural emendation gives the opposite meaning, _Be ye deeply ashamed. _... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM GOD. — The first predicate is _El,_ the mighty and strong one, the second _Elohim,_ the one true object of worship. The verse that follows asserts what in modern language would be called the omniscience and the omnipotence of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
CALLING A RAVENOUS BIRD. — Cyrus is thus described as Nebuchadnezzar is in Jeremiah 49:22; Ezekiel 17:3. The image derives a special significance from the fact that the standard borne by Cyrus and his successors was a golden eagle (Xen., _Cyrop. vii._ 1. 4; _Anab. i._ 10, 12). (Comp. also Matthew 24... [ Continue Reading ]
YE STOUTHEARTED. — The word, like analogous terms in Ezekiel 2:4; Ezekiel 3:7, implies at once obduracy and ignorance. Such as these are self-excluded at once from the “righteousness” and the “salvation” of Jehovah, which ultimately imply, and coincide with each other. Their unfaithfulness, however,... [ Continue Reading ]