Isaiah 46:1-13--The Idols of Babylon and the One True God

Isaiah 46
English Standard Version

The Idols of Babylon and the One True God
46 Bel bows down; Nebo stoops;
    their idols are on beasts and livestock;
these things you carry are borne
    as burdens on weary beasts.
2 They stoop; they bow down together;
    they cannot save the burden,
    but themselves go into captivity.

3 “Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
    all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been borne by me from before your birth,
    carried from the womb;
4 even to your old age I am he,
    and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
    I will carry and will save.

5 “To whom will you liken me and make me equal,
    and compare me, that we may be alike?
6 Those who lavish gold from the purse,
    and weigh out silver in the scales,
hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;
    then they fall down and worship!
7 They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it,
    they set it in its place, and it stands there;
    it cannot move from its place.
If one cries to it, it does not answer
    or save him from his trouble.

8 “Remember this and stand firm,
    recall it to mind, you transgressors,
9     remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
    I am God, and there is none like me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning
    and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
    and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
11 calling a bird of prey from the east,
    the man of my counsel from a far country.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
    I have purposed, and I will do it.

​12 “Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,
    you who are far from righteousness:
13 I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off,
    and my salvation will not delay;
I will put salvation in Zion,
    for Israel my glory.”

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The gods after whom the kings of Babylon were named and whom they tried to make Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azarriah take Babylonian names in honor of (Shadrach< Mishak, and Abed-Nego).  are the very gods that the LORD says are nothing and they bow in submission to Him.  He says their gods are like livestock to him (and he would make one of the kings of Babylon like livestock for several years when he needed to be humbled).  The people of Babylon want the idols to take on their heavy burdens like a beast of burden does, but the idols themselves are heavy burdens that must be carried along with all the other burdens the people were already carrying, because their idols are unable to help alleviate or lighten any of their burdens.

God reminds His people that He is different.  Even in their old age, He carried them and bears their burdens and sorrows as His own.  He does this for all of them at all times.  There is none like Him and nothing can compare to Him.  Certainly, the gods of gold, silver, bronze, wood, and stone (all things that He creator) are not in the same category as Him, the Uncreated One.

We are to remember our greatest burden is our sin, and He bears that for us too.  There is no one like Him because none of the other gods that people worship can truly deal with the issue of sin.  Only Jesus could do that.  He alone knows the end from the beginning and declares it to us through His Word spoken to His prophets and apostles.  He has revealed His plans and purposes to us, and they will not be thwarted or subverted.

​In this case, it is part of His plans and purposes to send the people of Israel out of the Land and into Exile, and it is part of His good plans and purposes to use the kingdom of Babylon to accomplish this.  Is this because the kingdom of Babylon is some morally good agent?  Certainly not!  They are brutally wicked, but God will still use them to accomplish His good plans that bring about His purposes for His people and brings much glory to Himself.

Those who were crying that Israel and Judah were doomed forever and had been cut off from the LORD's salvation did not pay attention to history or know the LORD's nature and character.  They do not need to be in the Land to experience His salvation.  Just think of their greatest salvation at that time which is remembered every year by the Passover.  They were in Egypt, and the LORD showed that He was superior to all the gods of the Egyptians.  He brought them through all their wanderings in the wilderness and shows that was superior to all the gods of the surrounding nations and the gods of the Canaanites in the Land that He was providing for them.  He is certainly able to save them while they are in exile and show Himself to be the only Living God and their only Savior and Redeemer once again.  He also says that very soon (though for us it would have seemed like still a long way off) Jesus would be coming to provide ultimate salvation and to be the glory of God in Israel once again (the glory of the LORD departed Israel in the days of Ezekiel to go with the people into captivity, but the promise was that the LORD's presence would always be with His people and was not attached to a physical building like the pagans assumed--destruction of the Temple was not destruction of the LORD's power or presence).