Isaiah 46

This chapter is part of the message of comfort and restoration to the exiled people that begins in chapter 40 of Isaiah. The preceding chapter, Isaiah 45, foretells deliverance through Cyrus; this chapter then turns to the downfall of Babylon's gods and leads into the judgment on Babylon in Isaiah 47.

Outline

• Verses 1–2 Bel and Nebo, the gods of Babylon, bow down. The idols become heavy loads for weary beasts, and the gods themselves, unable to rescue the burden, go into captivity.
• Verses 3–4 God speaks to the house of Jacob and to all the remnant of the house of Israel. He has borne them from birth, and He promises to carry them and deliver them even into old age and gray hair.
• Verses 5–7 God asks to whom He might be compared. The passage then describes idols: people give gold and silver to a goldsmith to make a god, then lift it onto their shoulders and carry it. The god cannot move from its place, and when people cry out to it, it cannot answer.
• Verses 8–11 God commands the transgressors to remember the former things. He declares that there is no other god besides Him and that He declares the end from the beginning. He also announces that He will call an eagle from the east, the man who will carry out His counsel.
• Verses 12–13 To the stubborn of heart, God says that His righteousness and salvation are near and will not tarry, and that salvation will be granted in Zion.

Key Verses

• Isaiah 46:4 "Even to hoar hairs will I carry you." This is the central verse of the chapter, contrasting idols that people must carry with the God who carries His people.
• Isaiah 46:9 "For I am God, and there is none else." A declaration that God alone is God.
• Isaiah 46:10 "Declaring the end from the beginning." This verse is frequently cited in discussions of God's plan and providence (His governing and guiding of the world).

People and Places

• Bel: Known as a title of Marduk, the chief god of Babylon.
• Nebo: A Babylonian god (Nabu) regarded as the son of Marduk. Not to be confused with Mount Nebo in Moab.
• The house of Jacob and the house of Israel: God's people in exile as a whole.
• The eagle from the east: The Korean Revised Version renders this "ravenous bird." Many interpreters identify this figure with Cyrus, who is named in chapter 45.
• Zion: A name for Jerusalem, presented as the place where salvation will be granted.
• Babylon: Although not named directly in this chapter, it is the nation that worshiped Bel and Nebo.

Interpretive Considerations

• Date of composition: Traditionally, the chapter is understood as a prediction by the prophet Isaiah in the eighth century BC concerning events far in the future. Many critical scholars, by contrast, hold that chapters 40–55 were written in the sixth century BC, near the end of the Babylonian exile. Which view one adopts affects how the "declaring beforehand" of verses 10–11 is explained.
• Verses 1–2 and the historical record: Cyrus took Babylon in 539 BC. However, there is no known record of his destroying the images of the gods at that time; the Cyrus Cylinder, in fact, praises Marduk. Interpreters therefore differ on whether verses 1–2 describe a literal event or offer a poetic portrayal of the powerlessness of defeated gods.
• Verse 10 and predestination: The Reformed tradition frequently cites this verse in support of God's decree (His predetermined will). The Wesleyan tradition and others read it as indicating that God's purposes do not exclude human response. For fuller discussion, see the article on predestination.
• Connections with other texts: The depiction of idols that must be carried by people resembles Jeremiah 10:5 and Psalm 115:4–7. In the New Testament it connects with Acts 17:29, where Paul in Athens says that "we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device." It is also read alongside Revelation 1:8, which speaks of "the beginning and the ending."

In the Korean Church

Verse 4 is frequently read in sermons for elderly believers and at events honoring the elderly.