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 a burden. they are a burden = [are even now] loaded on beasts [for exile]. read more
The prophecy here foretells the fall of the idols of Babylon, emphasizing their incompetence to provide any help whatever to Babylon, or to give any kind of protection. Such gods even had to be carded about in the processions when they were honored on festive occasions, affording a dramatic contrast with Jehovah, the God of Israel, who instead of requiting that men, or beasts, carry him from one place to another, had himself "carded" the Jews from their very beginning as a nation until that... read more
Isaiah 46:1-2. Be bowed down— The prophet, as he wrote this, saw the fall of Babylon before his eyes, the city plundered and spoiled, the temples ravaged and destroyed, and the idols of Babylon placed upon the beasts, and carried away into Media and Persia; and as he saw, so he has described; dwelling long and largely, as is common with the prophet, upon the same object; viewing and exhibiting it to view on every side. We may just observe that the prophet, representing the subversion of the... read more
1. Bel—the same as the Phoelignician Baal, that is, 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, housetops, and other high places, so as to be nearer the heavenly hosts (Saba) (Jeremiah 19:13; Jeremiah 32:29; Zephaniah 1:5). GESENIUS identifies Bel with the planet Jupiter, which, with the planet... read more
Bel and Nebo were the two chief gods of Babylonia. Bel ("lord," cf. the Canaanite Baal) was the title of the father of the gods in the Babylonian pantheon, whose name was Enlil. Bel was also later the title of Marduk, the city god of Babylon and the hero of Enuma Elish, the Babylonian Creation account. Nebo was Bel’s son, and he was supposedly a wise administrator. The names Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar ("Nebo, protect the boundary"), and Nabonidus, among others, show reverence for Nebo, and... read more
The Contrast between Jehovah and the Deities of Babylon1, 2. The idols of Babylon will be borne away by the conquerors amongst the spoil, the gods being powerless to save their images. i. Bel] the chief Babylonian deity (Jeremiah 50:2).Boweth.. stoopeth] before the conqueror.Nebo] son of Bel, the Babylonian Mercury. The name means ’revealer.’ Your carriages, etc.] RV ’the things that ye carried about in processions are made a load,’ of spoil for the conquerors: see on Isaiah 10:28. 3, 4. So far... read more
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 that drag them. An inscription recently deciphered by Sir H. Rawlinson (Journal of Asiatic Society, Jan. 1880, quoted by Cheyne) presents the conduct of the conqueror under a somewhat different aspect. In... read more
Religious Uses of Memory Isaiah 46:9 Of all the powers that God has given us, none is more wonderful than memory. For what is memory? It is a twofold power. It is the power that gathers in the past, and crowds into some secret cabinet here the twice ten thousand things that we have learned. And then it is the power that out of that crowded storehouse brings the things forth again, calls them to mind. I. There is no religion which lays such an emphasis on memory as Christianity. What do we call... read more
CHAPTER XIBEARING OR BORNEIsaiah 46:1-13CHAPTER 46. is a definite prophecy, complete in itself. It repeats many of the truths which we have found in previous chapters, and we have already seen what it says about Cyrus. But it also strikes out a new truth, very relevant then, when men made idols and worshipped the works of their hands, and relevant still, when so many, with equal stupidity, are more concerned about keeping up the forms of their religion than allowing God to sustain... read more
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Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Isaiah 46:1-13
Babylon’s helpless gods (45:20-46:13)Cyrus’s conquest of Babylon will prove to those Babylonians who survive that to trust in idols for victory is useless. Wooden gods could not foresee Cyrus’s conquest, but Yahweh, the only true God, predicted it long ago (20-21). People of surrounding nations may previously have fought against Yahweh by trusting in idols, but now they should forsake those idols and submit to the living God. Then they will find victory, righteousness and strength, and will... read more