Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 46

Bel boweth down, Nebo Stoopeth.—Bel or Belus (“Lord”), is perhaps identical with Marduk or Merôdach, but see the 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, January 1880, quoted by Cheyne) presents the conqueror's conduct under a somewhat different aspect. In that inscription, he describes himself as a worshipper of Bel and Nebo, and prays to them for length of days.

From this, the king would seem to have been as broad in his syncretic liberalism as Alexander the Great was later. How are we to reconcile these two accounts? May we say that the prophet idealizes the king's policy and character? Or was the monotheistic element—evident in his treatment of the Jews (2 Chronicles 36:22–23; Ezra 1:1–2)—after all, dominant in his action, despite episodes like the one indicated in the inscription?

It is possible that the recognition of the Babylonian deities followed the submission of the people and was preceded by some rougher treatment. In any case, this contrast makes it probable that the prophecy was not written after the inscription.

Your carriages.—Here, as elsewhere (1 Samuel 17:22; Acts 21:15), this term is used in the sense of “things carried”; i.e., in this case, the images of the gods. These images used to be carried in solemn procession but are now depicted as packed into a load for transport. So Herodotus (1:183) states that Xerxes carried off from Babylon the golden image of Zeus (sc. Bel), the grandson thereby fulfilling the prediction that his grandfather apparently had left unfulfilled.

They could not deliver the burden. —The deities are, for the moment, distinguished from their images. They are powerless to rescue them. So far as they have a soul or being at all, that very being is carried away captive.

Listen to me. —The prophet’s choice of words is exceptionally emphatic. The false gods are carried away as a burden. The true God bears, i.e., supports, His people. He is able to bear that burden. Every “I” is emphasised in the Hebrew.

Even to your old age. —The care of a mother ceases, in the natural course of things, before a man grows old, but the fatherly, we might almost say the mother-like, maternal care of Jehovah for His chosen ones endures even to the end of life.

To whom will you liken me? —The argument against idolatry is renewed in nearly its old form (Isaiah 40:18–25; Isaiah 44:9–17). The fate of Bel and Nebo is urged against those who thought that they might worship Jehovah as those deities had been worshipped. Such was the sin of the calves at Bethel and at Dan. Similar was the act of Israel when it carried the ark into battle against the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:5).