46:4 And [even] to [your] old age I [am] he; and [even] to gray hairs will I carry [you]: {f} have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver [you].(f) Seeing I have begotten you, I will nourish and preserve you forever. read more
ISAIAH INTRODUCTION TO PART TWO The chapters of Part 2 (chaps. 40-46) are chiefly millennial, and so different from the prevailing themes preceding, as to raise a query whether they were not written by some other author a second, or deutero-Isaiah, as some call him. We do not hold that opinion, the reasons for which are briefly stated in the author’s Primers of the Faith. In Synthetic Bible Studies, it was found convenient to treat this part as a single discourse though doubtless, such is not... read more
Precious Promises Isaiah 45-47 In the fifty-fifth chapter we come upon the beginning of many exceeding great and precious promises. However long we may be detained by imagery that is hardly explicable, or by prophecies that appear too remote to be of use to ourselves, we are ever and anon refreshed with doctrines and promises which have a direct reference to our deepest necessities and purest desires. We need more than a grand Bible, as we need more than a high heaven to gaze upon. The heaven... read more
The Lord having, in the preceding verses, shown the wretchedness of idols, utterly unable to help themselves, and consequently incapable of helping others; in these blessed words, calls upon his people to behold him; and most blessedly sets forth the tokens and evidences of his Godhead, in grace and love, from the womb to the grave. Reader! do not hastily pass away from the meditation of what this sweet scripture teacheth, as it concerns yourself, and the Lord's! dealings towards you, both in a... read more
1-4 The heathen insulted the Jews, as if their idols Bel and Nebo were too hard for Jehovah. But their worshippers cannot help them; both the idols and the idolaters are gone into captivity. Let not God's people be afraid of either. Those things from which ungodly men expect safety and happiness, will be found unable to save them from death and hell. The true God will never fail his worshippers. The history of the life of every believer is a kind of abstract of the history of Israel. Our... read more
The Fall of Babylon's Idols v. 1. Bel, the highest deity of Babylon, boweth down, is fallen, Nebo, another Babylonian idol, the tutelary deity of the reigning house of Chaldea, stoopeth, collapsing, or falling prostrate, namely, in the plundering of the city; their idols were upon the beasts and upon the cattle, when the beasts of burden dragged them away as a part of the conqueror's booty. Your carriages were heavy loaden, they are a burden to the weary beast, that is, the statues of... read more
VII.—THE SEVENTH DISCOURSEThe overthrow of the Babylonian idols, and the gain that Israel shall derive from it for its knowledge of GodIsaiah 46:01. ISRAEL SHALL KNOW ITS GOD FROM THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIM WHO BEARS AND THE IDOLS THAT ARE BORNEIsaiah 46:1-41 Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth,Their idols 1were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle:2Your carriages were heavy loaden;They are a burden to the weary beast.2 They stoop, they bow down together;They could not deliver the... read more
God’s Salvation Shall not Tarry Isaiah 46:1-13 Here is a startling contrast! Babylon is broken up. An invading army of stern monotheists have slain the idolatrous priests at their altars and are engaged in carrying out the idols for the bonfire. And as the Jewish remnant is witnessing the extraordinary spectacle, they are reminded that their God does not require to be borne. Nay, on the contrary He has borne His people from the earliest days and will continue to bear them till the heavens... read more
This chapter and the next contain the prophecy of the fall of Babylon. This one describes the failure of the gods. It opens with a graphic picture of the idols being hurried away for safety, carried on beasts of burden. In immediate contrast the prophet describes Jehovah as carrying His people, and the contrast is endorsed as He inquires, "To whom will ye liken Me, and make Me equal, and compare Me, that we may be like?" Thus He sets forth the fundamental difference between false gods and the... read more
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Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Isaiah 46:1-13
CHAPTER 46 1. Babylon Is to Fall The Babylonian idols carried by the beasts (Isaiah 46:1-2 ) 2. How Jehovah carries His people (Isaiah 46:3-4 ) 3. The divine reproach (Isaiah 46:5-7 ) 4. A ravenous bird (Cyrus) to come from the east (Isaiah 46:8-11 ) 5. Salvation in Zion (Isaiah 46:12-13 ) 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 in to... read more