Isaiah 46:2

"Bel bows down. Nebo stoops. Their idols are carried by animals, and on the livestock. The things that you carried around are heavy loads, a burden for the weary."

Key Reflection

These verses depict the gods Bel and Nebo as powerless, bowing down under their own weight, while their idols are mere burdens carried by animals. This imagery exposes the futility of idolatry, showing that even these supposed deities cannot save or protect their followers.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

They stoop -Bel, and Nebo, and all the Babylonian gods (seeIsaiah 46:1). They could not deliver the burden -The word ‘burden’ here, probably means the load of metal, wood, and stone, of which the idols were composed. The gods whom the Babylonians worshipped had not even power to protect the images which were made to represent them, and which had now become a heavy burden to the animals and wains which were carrying them away. They could not rescue them from the hands of the conqueror; and how unable were they, therefore, to defend those who put their trust in them.

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