Context No. 3572 of 4322 · Isaiah

Isaiah 46:1-13: in context

1Bel 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. 2They stoop and they bow down together. They could not deliver the burden, but they have gone into captivity. 3“Listen to me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been carried from their birth, that have been carried from the womb. 4Even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear. Yes, I will carry, and will deliver. 5“To whom will you compare me, and consider my equal, and compare me, as if we were the same? 6Some pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver in the balance. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They fall down— yes, they worship. 7They bear it on their shoulder. They carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands there. It cannot move from its place. Yes, one may cry to it, yet it can not answer. It cannot save him out of his trouble. 8“Remember this, and show yourselves men. Bring it to mind again, you transgressors. 9Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me. 10I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done. I say: My counsel will stand, and I will do all that I please. 11I call a ravenous bird from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. Yes, I have spoken. I will also bring it to pass. I have planned. I will also do it. 12Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, who are far from righteousness! 13I bring my righteousness near. It is not far off, and my salvation will not wait. I will grant salvation to Zion, my glory to Israel.

Isaiah draws a devastating contrast between idols and the true God. The Babylonian gods Bel and Nebo have to be loaded onto animals and hauled away; the idols are a burden their worshipers must carry, dead weight that cannot even save itself, much less anyone else.

But then God speaks the reverse. Listen to me, you who have been borne by me from before your birth, whom I have carried from the womb. 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. There is the whole difference between the idol and the living God. The idol must be carried; the true God carries his people. False gods are a weight we lug about, demanding our effort and giving nothing back; the living God has borne us since birth and promises to carry us all the way to old age and gray hairs. We do not hold him up; he holds us up, and will carry us safely home.

Do I trust the God who carries me from birth to old age, rather than laboring to prop up "idols" that only weigh me down and can save no one?

Sources

Isaiah 46:4: "Even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs I will carry you... Yes, I will carry, and will deliver."
Isaiah 46:1: "Bel bows down. Nebo stoops. Their idols are carried by animals... a burden for the weary."
Isaiah 46:9: "For I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me."