Isaiah 40:15 - Exposition

Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket . "From nature," as Mr. Cheyne says, "we pass to history." If God is so great, so apart and by himself in relation to the material universe, what is he in relation to man? What are nations, compared to him, but "as a drop from a bucket," which drips from it, and is of no account? What are they, hut as the small dust of the balance, which lies on it but does not disturb its equilibrium? They are absolutely "as nothing" ( Isaiah 40:17 )—vanity and emptiness, He taketh up the isles as a very little thing ; literally, he taketh up islands , or perhaps lands generally. As he weighs mountains and hills in his balance ( Isaiah 40:15 ), so he can take up in his own hands "lands," or "countries" (Cheyne), with all their inhabitants, and do with them as seemeth him good. They are no burden to him.