UIsaya 46:7

Izhibhalo Ezingcwele

7 Bayasithwala, basityathe emagxeni, basibeke phantsi endaweni yaso, sime; asibuyi sisuke kuloo ndawo yaso; ewe, bayakhala kuso, singaphenduli; asisindisi bani embandezelweni yakhe.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

they carry him: 1 Samuel 5:3, Jeremiah 10:5, Daniel 3:1

one shall cry: Isaiah 37:38, Isaiah 45:20, Judges 10:12-14, 1 Kings 18:26, 1 Kings 18:40, Jeremiah 2:28, Jonah 1:5, Jonah 1:14-16

Reciprocal: Exodus 34:17 - General Deuteronomy 4:28 - neither see Judges 6:31 - if he be Judges 17:4 - two hundred Judges 18:17 - the graven 1 Samuel 12:21 - cannot profit 1 Chronicles 21:13 - but let me Psalms 115:4 - Their idols Psalms 135:15 - idols Isaiah 40:19 - General Isaiah 40:20 - shall not Isaiah 41:7 - the carpenter Isaiah 41:23 - do good Isaiah 44:9 - and their Isaiah 44:12 - The smith Isaiah 44:18 - have not Jeremiah 2:13 - broken cisterns Jeremiah 3:23 - in vain Jeremiah 10:4 - fasten Jeremiah 10:14 - man Daniel 5:4 - of gold Daniel 5:23 - which Acts 14:15 - from

Gill's Notes on the Bible

They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him,.... That is, the idol; men carry him upon their shoulders in procession, and expose him to the view and veneration of the people, just as the host is carried in procession by the Papists; or the idol being made, the workman or his men lift it up, for it cannot lift up itself, and take it upon their shoulders, and carry it home to the proprietor:

and set him in his place; in his house, if an household god: or in the temple, church, or place of public worship, if designed for that:

or cause him to rest under him p, or "in his place"; under the roof of his house or temple; a jeer upon him, as if he was weary of his long journey, though carried. Here again the idols are distinguished from the true God, and he from them; they are on men's shoulders, and set in a certain place, but he carries all his people, and is not limited to, or included in any place:

and he standeth, and from his place he shall not remove; the idol being set in his place stands fast, being nailed; he stands upright as a palm tree, and can never stir from the place where he is, to help any of his worshippers, in whatsoever distress they may be; nor can he get out of the way of any danger to which he may be exposed; if the temple or house, in which he is, is on fire, or overflowed with water, or broke into by thieves, he cannot move out of his place, and escape the danger; a fine deity to be worshipped indeed! see Isaiah 44:13.

Yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer; as Baal's priests and worshippers cried to him, but no voice was heard, nor answer returned, 1 Kings 18:26 for though they have ears, they hear not, and mouths, yet they speak not, Psalms 115:5

nor save him out of his trouble; that is, the idol cannot save the idolatrous worshipper out of his distress, which has caused him to cry unto him; see Isaiah 45:20.

p יניחהו תחתיו "et quiescere eum faciunt suo loco", Musculus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They bear him upon the shoulder - They carry the idol which they have made on their shoulder to the temple, or place where it is to be fixed. This circumstance, with the others, is doubtless introduced to show how ridiculous and absurd it was to offer divine homage to a god whom they could thus carry about on the shoulder.

And set him in his place - Fix the idol on its basis or pedestal, in its proper niche, or place in the temple. The whole design of this verse is to contrast the idol with Yahweh. Yahweh is uncreated and eternal; the idol, on the contrary, is made by human beings, is borne about, is fixed in its place, has no power to move, remains there until it is taken down, and has no ability either to hear or save those who worship it.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 46:7. They bear him upon the shoulder - and set him in his place — This is the way in which the Hindoos carry their gods; and indeed so exact a picture is this of the idolatrous procession of this people, that the prophet might almost be supposed to have been sitting among the Hindoos when he delivered this prophecy. - WARD'S Customs.

Pindar has treated with a just and very elegant ridicule the work of the statuary even in comparison with his own poetry, from this circumstance of its being fixed to a certain station. "The friends of Pytheas," says the Scholiast, "came to the poet, desiring him to write an ode on his victory. Pindar demanded three drachms, (minae, I suppose it should be,) for the ode. No, say they, we can have a brazen statue for that money, which will be better than a poem. However, changing their minds afterwards, they came and offered him what he had demanded." This gave him the hint of the following ingenious esordium of his ode: -

Ουκ ανδριαντοποιος ειμ'

Ὡστ' ελινυσσοντα μ' εργαζε -

σθαι αγαλματ' επ' αυτας βαθμιδος

Ἑσταοτ.Αλλ' επι πασας

Ὁλκαδος εν τ' ακατῳ γλυκει' αοιδα

Στειχ' απ' Αιγινας διαγγελ -

lois' ὁτι Λαμπωνος ὑιος

Πυθεας ευρυσθενης

Νικῃ Νεμειοις παγκρατιου στεφανον. Nem. v.

Thus elegantly translated by Mr. Francis in a note to Hor. Carm. iv. 2. 19.

"It is not mine with forming hand

To bid a lifeless image stand

For ever on its base:

But fly, my verses, and proclaim

To distant realms, with deathless fame,

That Pytheas conquered in the rapid race."

Jeremiah, Jeremiah 10:3-5, seems to be indebted to Isaiah for most of the following passage: -

"The practices of the people are altogether vanity:

For they cut down a tree from the forest;

The work of the artificer's hand with the axe;

With silver and with gold it is adorned;

With nails and with hammers it is fastened, that it may

not totter.

Like the palm-tree they stand stiff, and cannot speak;

They are carried about, for they cannot go:

Fear them not, for they cannot do harm;

Neither is it in them to do good."