Bel is bowed down, Nebo bendeth; their idols are upon the beasts, and upon the cattle the things ye carried are laid on, a burden to the weary [beast].
Isaiah 46 opens with a public collapse. Babylon's two great gods sag on the backs of pack animals, and the enemy hauls them away as loot while the city falls. It raises the question the chapter answers: can what you worship carry you, or must you carry it?
Bel and Nebo were Babylon's own gods. One writer gives their rank, matches them to gods the Greeks knew, and says what their fall proves:
Bel [their chief god, matching the Zeus of the Greeks] bows down, Nebo [matching the Greek Hermes] bends. So, whether chief or lesser, these false gods could do nothing for their worshippers, and could not deliver themselves. The victorious enemy carries them off as part of the loot.
Another writer ties the picture to the conqueror he had already seen taking the city:
The opening verses of Isaiah 46 pick up the theme that runs through these chapters — the persistent idolatry of the people. Bel and Nebo were two of the idols of Babylon, and the prophet sees the images that represent them placed on beasts ready for flight, just as at the beginning of the last chapter he had seen Cyrus taking the city.
Some older English versions call these loads "carriages." That word misleads a reader today. It points to the cargo, not to the cart:
This word does not seem to be used anywhere in Scripture in the modern sense [a vehicle]. It means "the thing carried," "baggage." In Isaiah 46:1 the meaning is probably that the idols once carried with joy in festival processions are now lifted up as loads on beasts of burden.
The prophet is not just reporting. He writes with a smile, and the joke falls on everyone who trusted these images:
So verses 1 and 2 are full of irony. The heavy images rode on the backs of oxen, which staggered and at last collapsed, unable to bring the gods to safety. Bel and Nebo could not even deliver themselves; much less anyone who trusted in them!
A god that has to be manufactured is a god that has to be moved:
Idols are contrasted with Jehovah, but cannot for a moment be compared with the true God. Jehovah is the Maker, but an idol has to be made. Once made, instead of bearing others it has to be borne. And when set in its place it cannot move, cannot answer the cry of need, and cannot save from trouble.
The next verses turn the picture around. God takes the opposite role toward His people:
In contrast to these helpless idols that have to be carried, the house of Israel is reminded that Jehovah carries the remnant of Israel. And while His people may change and grow old, there is no change with God. He can say, "even to your old age I am He" (literally, "I, the SAME"). He made His people, carries them, and will deliver them from all their enemies.
Carry and deliver: those two words become a test anyone can apply to what they believe:
The great test of our religion is twofold: Will it carry? Will it deliver? Every false religion breaks down under this simple test. A false religion, or a true one taken up falsely, has to be carried. True religion carries. A false religion cannot deliver; a true one must.
The test also lands on people who never bowed to an image:
Untold thousands profess Christianity and know nothing of its reality. They take it up in its outward form, and are strangers to its inward power. This outward form is a burden too heavy to bear; to the real Christian Christ's yoke is easy and His burden light.
One writer reads these opening verses as comfort, and sees the chapter's close reaching past Babylon's own fall:
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 into captivity. But Jehovah carries His people from birth to old age. The last verse takes us beyond the fall of the Babylon of the past.
- Carried. Bel and Nebo, the chief and lesser gods of Babylon, ride off as loot. Idols once carried in joyful processions are now baggage.
- Collapsing. The irony bites. The oxen stagger under the weight, and the gods cannot rescue themselves — let alone anyone trusting them.
- Made. An idol must be made before it can be worshipped, and once made it must be moved, cannot answer a cry, and cannot save.
- Carrying. Against this, God says He bears His people from birth to grey hairs and never changes — "I, the SAME."
- Testing. Ask of anything you believe: will it carry, and will it deliver? A false faith is a load; the true one lifts the load off you.
They bend, they are bowed down together; they could not deliver the burden, and themselves are gone into captivity.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.