Matthew Poole and continuators on Isaiah 46

1. BEl boweth down , Nebo stoopeth, their Idols were upon the beasts , and upon the cattel: your carriages were heavy laden , they are a burden to the weary beast.

The chief Idols of the Babylonians, Ier. 50. 2. and 51. 44. called by pro[illegible: 1+ letters]ane Historians Iupiter Belus.

As the Babylonians used to bow down to him to worship him, so now he boweth down and submits himself to the victorious Persians.

Another of the famous Idols, which used to deliver Oracles, as his name signifies.

Were taken and broken, and the materials of them, which were Gold, and Silver, and Brass, as both Scripture and other Authors witness, were carried upon Beasts into Persia.

O ye Persians; to whom he suddenly turneth his speech, as is usual.

They lie upon the backs of your Cattel like dull and unprofitable, and heavy burdens to the beasts, as they had been to men before.

Marginal references: Or, your luggage was born.

2. They stoop, they bow down together , they could not deliver the burden , but themselves are gone into captivity.

Either, 1. The Idols, of whom these words are used, ver. 1. Or, 2. The Babylonians, who are sufficiently implied in that expression, their idols, ver. 1.

Either, 1. one as well as another; Or 2. the Babylonians and their Idols together; neither could help the other.

Either 1. the Idols could not deliver themselves, who were now a burden to the Beasts, and carried away by them; Or 2. the Babylonians could not deliver their Idols, which he now had called burdens. And this Sence seems most probable from the following Clause, which clearly speaks of the same persons or things; but themselves, &c. Heb. their Souls: For although the Soul is here put for the Person, as it commonly is, yet that Title is never given to any Idol or lifeless thing, but onely to such Creatures as have or had Souls within their Bodies. So the meaning of this and the foregoing Verse, is this, That neither the Babylonians, nor their Idols, could Save either themselves or one another; but both are bowed down, and gone into Captivity together.

Marginal references: Heb. their soul.

3. Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel which are born by me, from the belly, which are carried from the womb .

Fitly so called, with respect Either 1. to all the Tribes of Israel, Ten of which were now lost and gone: Or 2. to the state of the Iews at their return from Babylon, there being onely a remnant of the two Tribes which did return.

Whom I have nourished, and cared for from time to time, ever since you were a People, and came out of Egypt; and that as affectionately and tenderly, as Parents bring up their own Children.

Marginal references: Chap. 44. 2.

4. And even to your old age I am he, and even to hoar hairs will I carry you : I have made, and I will bear, even I will carry and will deliver you .

And that care and kindness which I have had for you from the beginning, I will continue to you to the end; never forsaking you, unless you wilfully and obstinately cast me off, as the Iews did when their Messiah came.

You are my Workmanship, both as you are Men, and as you are my peculiar People; and therefore I will preserve and deliver you.

Marginal references: Exod. 19. 4. Deut. 1. 31. & 32. 11.

5. To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like ?

If you are tempred or inclined at any time to exchange me for an Idol, do me and your selves this Right, seriously to consider, Whether you can find another God, who will be more able, and more ready to do you good, than I have been; which, if you can do, I am content you should prefer him before me, but if not, as will appear by what I am now saying, ver. 6, 7. then it is best for you to adhere to your ancient God and Friend.

Marginal references: Chap. 40. 18. 25.

6. They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god : they fall down, yea, they worship.

Let us suppose, a god made with the greatest Cost and Art.

Marginal references: Chap. 40. 19. & 41. 6. & 44. 12. Jer. 10. 3.; Chap. 44. 17.

7. They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him , and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove : yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.

Either 1. in pomp upon solemn Occasions: Or 2. [illegible: 1 word] that place where he is made, unto that place where they intend to set him up, as it is expressed in the following words.

Or rather, he cannot remove. He can stir neither hand nor foot to help his People.

Marginal references: Chap. 45. 20.

8. Remember this , and shew your selves men : bring it again to mind , O ye transgressors .

Consider these things which I now speak, O ye Israelites.

Act like reasonable Creatures, and be not so brutish, as to worship your own Works: Be so wise and couragious, as to withstand all Solicitations to Idolatry.

Think of this again and again.

You who have been guilty of this foolish Sin; and therefore are obliged to take the better heed, that you do not relapse into it again.

Marginal references: Chap. 44. 19.

9. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else, I am God, and there is none like me.

What I have done for you, and in the World, my evident Predictions of future things justified by the event, and those other miraculous Works whereby I have abundantly proved my Divinity.

10. Declaring the end from the beginning , and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand , and I will do all my pleasure:

Foretelling from the beginning of the World, or from the beginning of your Nation, those future Events which should happen in succeeding Ages, even to the end of the World, or to the end of your Common-wealth; for such Predictions we find delivered by Moses, the first Founder of their Common-wealth.

As I will not, so no other Power can, disappoint my Purposes and Predictions.

Marginal references: Psal. 33. 11. Prov. 19. 21. & 21. 30. Heb. 6. 17.

11. Calling a ravenous bird from the East , the man that executeth my counsel from a far country ; yea I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass, I have purposed it, I will also do it.

Cyrus called a bird for his swiftness and great expedition, and ravenous for his fierceness, and victoriousness over his Enemies.

From Persia, as Isa. 41. 2.

Concerning the deliverance of my People, and the destruction of their cruel oppressors, the Babylonians.

From Persia, which was far from Babylon, but much farther from Iudea.

Marginal references: Heb. the man of my counsel.

12. Hearken unto me, ye stout hearted , that are far from Righteousness .

Or, Ye whose hearts are proud or hard or stubborn. He speaks either, 1. To the Babylonians, you who are stout against God, and say or think that neither God nor any man can deliver my people out of your hands: Or rather 2. To the House of Iacob, expressed ver. 3. Where he bespeaks them in the same words here used, hearken to me; and to whom alone he directeth his speech in this whole Chapter, for though he speaketh of the Babylonians, yet he doth not speak to them; and to whom the Prophet, for the most part, turneth his speech in all his Prophecies, unless where there is something in the Text or Context, which determineth it to some other Person or People. And this very crime of stoutness, or hardness of heart is most justly and most frequently charged upon the Iews, by their own Prophets every where, because of their gross contempt of, and incorrigibleness under, all Gods Words and Works. And the Prophet speaks this, either to the Iews of his Generation; Or rather to that generation which was carried Captive to Babylon, whose stoutheartedness is particularly noted and reproved, Zech. 7. 11, 12. Compare Mal. 3. 13, 14, 15.

That are not onely voyd of, but enemies to Righteousness and true holiness, that give up your selves to wickedness, that despise my counsels, and promises, and threatnings.

13. I bring near my righteousness : it shall not be far off , and my salvation shall not tarry; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory .

Though you are most unrighteous persons, and have given me just cause to make you to know my breach of Promise, as I threatned in the like case, Numb. 14. 34. Yet I will shew my self to be a Righteous and Faithful God, making good my promise of delivering you out of Babylon after seventy years; and though you think the time long, and are apt to distrust the thing it self, yet it shall come, and that speedily, I will bring it near, or cause it to approach, or come unto you, and as it follows, it shall not tarry beyond the appointed time.

My work of saving you from the Babylonish Captivity.

I will bring my People from Babylon to Zion, and there I will save them from all their enemies.

In whom I will once again glory as my People, and the illustrious monuments of my glorious Wisdom, and Power, and Truth and Goodness; whom I will make a great and glorious People, though now they are mean and contemptible, and in whom I will once more settle my glorious Presence and Ordinances.