Isaiah 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. BEL - The same as the Phoenician Baal - i:e., lord, the chief god of Babylon; to it was dedicated the celebrated tower of Babylon, in the center of one of the two parts into which the city was divided, the palace being in the center of the other. Identical with the Sun, worshipped on turrets, house-tops, and other high places, so as to be nearer the heavenly hosts ( tsaaba (H6635)) (Jeremiah 19:13; Jeremiah 32:29; Zephaniah 1:5). Gesen...

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 incl...

1-4 The heathen insulted the Jews, as if their idols Bel and Nebo were too hard for Jehovah. But their worshippers cannot help them; both the idols and the idolaters are gone into captivity. Let not God's people be afraid of either. Those things from which ungodly men expect safety and happiness, will be found unable to save them from death and hell. The true God will never fail his worshippers. The history of the life of every believer is a kind of abstract of the history of Israel. Our spiritual life is upheld by his grace, as constantly as our natural life by his providence. And God will never leave them. The Author will be the Finisher of their well-being, when, by decays, they need help as much as in infancy. This promise to Israel, enfeebled and grown old as a nation, is applicable to every aged follower of Christ. When compassed about with infirmities, and perhaps those around be...

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 t

BEL BOWETH DOWN - Bel or Belus (בל _bēl_, from בעל _b__e__‛ēl_, the same as בעל _ba‛al_ was the chief domestic god of the Babylonians, and was worshipped in the celebrated tower of Babylon (compare Jeremiah 50:2; Jeremiah 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) say

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 46:1, ISAIAH 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 Asiat

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...

CHAPTER 46 1. _Babylon Is to Fall The Babylonian idols carried by the beasts (Isaiah 46:1)_ 2. _How Jehovah carries His people (Isaiah 46:3)_ 3. _The divine reproach (Isaiah 46:5)_ 4. _A ravenous bird (Cyrus) to come from the east (Isaiah 46:8)_ 5. _Salvation in Zion (Isaiah 46:12) _ 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

THE HELPLESS PLIGHT OF BABYLON'S GODS CONTRASTED WITH THE SAVING MIGHT OF YAHWEH. Isaiah 46:1 f. In vision the prophet sees the images of Babylon's gods (two of the most prominent are named), taken from their proud pedestals and placed upon the victor's 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. Isaiah 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. ISAIAH 46:3. Yahweh ad

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 Acts 14:12). These gods were indeed brought down. YOUR CARRIAGES. the things ye carried about: i.e. in procession (Amos 5:26). WERE HEAVY LOADEN. are become. burden. THEY ARE. BURDEN. [are even now] loaded on beasts [for exile]....