イザヤ書 46:1-4 JCB

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 46:1-4

We are here told, I. That the false gods will certainly fail their worshippers when they have most need of them, Isa. 46:1, 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.... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 46:1

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" F8 Sanchoniatho apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 1. c. 10. p. 34. , 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 F9 Apud Euseb.... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 46:2

They stoop, they bow together ,.... Either the beasts under their burdens, or other idols besides those mentioned; or rather the Babylonians themselves, who were obliged to submit to the conquerors: they could not deliver the burdens ; the idols could not save themselves from being laid as burdens upon the beasts, any more than they could save their worshippers: so the Targum understands this and the preceding clause of them; "they are cut off, and cut to pieces together, they could... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 46:3

Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob ,.... The Jews, the descendants of Jacob: and all the remnant of the house of Israel ; those that remained of the ten tribes that had been carried captive long ago. These may, in a spiritual sense, design those who are Israelites indeed; the household of the God of Jacob; the chosen of God, and called; the remnant according to the election of grace: which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb : here the Lord distinguishes... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 46:4

And even to your old age I am he ,.... The same he ever was, the eternal and unchangeable Jehovah; the same in his love and affections; in his sympathy and care; in his power and protection; in his promises, truth, and faithfulness to his people, in their last days, as at the first moment of their conversion; and therefore they are safe; see Psalm 102:27 , and even to hoar hairs will I carry you F14 This seems to express more than old age, as Ben Melech observes hence the Jews say,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 46:1

Their carriages were heavy loaden "Their burdens are heavy" - For נשאתיכם nesuotheychem , your burdens, the Septuagint had in their copy נשאתיהם nesuotheyhem , their burdens. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 46:2

They could not deliver the burden "They could not deliver their own charge" - That is, their worshippers, who ought to have been borne by them. See the two next verses. The Chaldee and Syriac Versions render it in effect to the same purpose, those that bear them, meaning their worshippers; but how they can render משא massa in an active sense, I do not understand. For לא lo , not, ולא velo , and they could not, is the reading of twenty-four of Kennicott's, sixteen of De Rossi's,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 46:3

Which are borne by me from the belly "Ye that have been borne by me from the birth" - The prophet very ingeniously, and with great force, contrasts the power of God, and his tender goodness effectually exerted towards his people, with the inability of the false gods of the heathen. He like an indulgent father had carried his people in his arms, "as a man carrieth his son," Deuteronomy 1:31 . He had protected them, and delivered them from their distresses: whereas the idols of the heathen... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 46:1

Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth . In the later Babylonian period, to which Isaiah's prophetic vision transports him, Bel and Nebo (if we understand by Bel, Bel-Merodach) were decidedly the two principal gods. Of the seven kings of the last dynasty, three had names in which Nebo, and two names in which Bel or Merodach, wad an element. Bel-Merodach and Nebo are the chief gods worshipped by Nebuchadnezzar and Neriglissar. Bel, Nebo, and Merodach are the only three Babylonian gods that receive... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 46:1-2

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... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 46:1-4

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 46:1

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 46:2

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 46:3

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 46:4

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 46:1

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 46:2

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 46:3

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 46:1

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 46:1-2

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