Isaiah 46:1-2

Isaiah 46:1-2

[1] Bel  boweth down,  Nebo  stoopeth,  their idols  were upon the beasts,  and upon the cattle:  your carriages  were heavy loaden;  they are a burden  to the weary  [2] They stoop,  they bow down  together;  they could  not deliver  the burden,  but themselves  are gone  into captivity. 

What does Isaiah 46:1-2 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Bel and Nebo were the two chief gods of Babylonia. Bel ("lord," cf. the Canaanite Baal) was the title of the father of the gods in the Babylonian pantheon, whose name was Enlil. Bel was also later the title of Marduk, the city god of Babylon and the hero of Enuma Elish, the Babylonian Creation account. Nebo was Bel"s Song of Solomon , and he was supposedly a wise administrator. The names Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar ("Nebo, protect the boundary"), and Nabonidus, among others, show reverence for Nebo, and the name Belshazzar (" Bel and the Dragon , protect the king") honored Bel. [1] Nebo was the god of learning, writing, and astronomy. The Babylonians carried images of these prominent gods in their New Year"s Day parades.
Isaiah envisioned Bel and Nebo as bending over as the Babylonians carried their images in procession (cf. 1 Samuel 5:3-4). These images rode on carts that beasts of burden hauled with some difficulty, evidently because of their weight. The gods, which the images both represented and contained, were a burden to these animals. Rather than lifting burdens, these idols created them for their worshippers. The prophet foresaw the idol images and the Babylonian gods being carried off into captivity (by Cyrus), powerless to aid their worshippers.