The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 191

EXPOSITION. primary reference to the overthrow of their OHAPTER XLVI. images by the conqueror, but includes e.ls0 Vere. 1, 2.-THE FALL OIi' THIii Gons OJI' the idea. of the fall of the gods themselves BAnYL0N. Among the direct consequences in th~ c,pinions of men. Their idols were of the victories of Cyrus will be the down- upon the beasts. Tho Chaldcan images generally-not only those of Bel-Merodach fall, in a certain sense, of the Babylonian e.nd Nebo, but also of Anu. anrl Hea and idolatry. The prophet expresses tho down- Belt is, anrl Ishtar, and N er gal, and' Sin, fall by material imagery, graphically de- and ~hamas, and Gula, and others-would scribing the fate of the idols themselves. be torn from their shrines, e.nrl placed upon But we must regard him as exulting mainly the backs _of beasts of burden, to be carried off by the conqnerors. No doubt this was in the thought of the blow that would be the case with e. large number of the images, dealt to idolatry in general, and to the which were among the most precious of the Babylonian form of it in particular, by the spoils seized by the soldiers. But it appears substitution of the non-idolatrous and almost that numerous exceptions were made. monotheistic Persians for the polytheistic Neither Cyrus nor Cambyses touched the famous golden image of Bel-Meroclach at and grossly idolatrous Babylonians, in the Babylon, which was first carried off from sovereignty of the Asia.tic world. The the great temple by Xerxes (Hero,!., i. 183). Dabylonie.n religion no doubt maintained Cyrnd, moreover, ]'Jlstored various i,lols, which itself at Babylon until e.nd beyond the time Nabonirlns had ta.ken to R,bylon from of Alexander; but it he.d lost all its prestige. provincial towns, to tlie temples to whicli they of right belonged (Journal of R01;al From the state religion of the chief empire .Asiatic &ciety, January, 1880, a.rt. ii.). But of Western Asia., it had sunk to the position though their fate was in tliis way often of e. provincial cult. delayed, ultimately it is probable every Ver. 1.-:Bel boweth down, N'ebo stoopeth. valuable idol was carried off and committed In the later Babylonian period, to which to the melting-pot. Yonr ol\rriages were Isaiah's prophetic vision transports him, Ilel heavy loaden; rather, the things that ye and Nebo (if we understand by Bel, Bel- carried ( in procession) a1·e now borne along Merode.ch) were decidedly the two principal heavily. The allusion is to the contrast gods. Of the seven kings of the le.et betW<•en the light-heBrted carrying of the dyu,isty, three had no.mes in which Nebo, im:iges on festal occasions by tlieir votaries and two names in which Bel or Merodach, (eh. xiv. 20), and tlleir slow transport to was e.n element. Bel-Mcrodach o.nd NeLo foreign lands on the backs of wearied aro the chief gods wor~hipped by Nebu- beasts. cho.dnezzo.r and Neriglissar. Del, Nebo, o.nd Ver. 2.-They stoop, they bow down Merodach ll1'0 the only three Babylonian together; i.e. all the Babylonian gods would gods that receive e.c-knowledgment from suffer equally-not one would he able to Cyrus in the so-called 'Cyrus Cylinder.' protect himself. They oonld not deliver the Bo! is, in the Babylonian," Bil," or·• Belu," bnrden. A distinction is here mode between and means simply "lord." There was an the god and the idol, which ho.ve hitherto ancient god of the name, one of the First been identified. The god was, in co.eh case Tread (Ann, Bel, and Hee. or Hoo.), who came uno.blo to deliver, or save from capture, th~ by degrees to be identified with Merodach, heavy "burden" of gold, or silver, or bronze the tutelary deity ofB,1bylon. Bel-1\feroduch (i.e. his own imo.ge) which was carried off was the BijAos (Belue) of the Greeks nnd on the back of the "weary beast." On the Romans, who was worshipped in tho great contrary, the gods themselves-the "souls" temple of Babylon, now represented by the of the images, immanent in them-were ruin called "Be.bil." His nBme forms e.n carried off with the images into captivity. element in those of Bel-lush, Bel-kuclur-azur, Vera. 3--8.-AN ADMONITION TO lsRAEL. Bel-ipni, Bel-zo.kir-iskun, o.nd Belshazzar, IsrMl should learn from the fate of tho all of them king~ or viceroys of either B,1bylonian idols to trust in Jehovah, who Babylonia. or Assyria. Nebo WBS the Babylonian god of learning, and has there- can and will deliver them, rather them in fore been compared to Mercury. He wBB gods of gold and silver, which can give no the special deity of Borsippe.. The nl\me is a.id, either to themselves or others. thought to be etymologically connected with Ver. 3.-All the remnant of the house of the Hebrow nnbi, prophet. 'l'he " bow- Israel. The address is not to those who ing" e.nd "stooping" of Btil an<! Nebo be.a bad remained faithful of tho ten tribes (a.a  196 'l'HE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH, [arr. XLVI. 1-18,