Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 2:9

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Isaiah 2:9. Boweth down - "Shall be bowed down"] This has reference to the preceding verse. They bowed themselves down to their idols, therefore shall they be bowed down and brought low under the avenging hand of God.

Therefore forgive them not. — "And thou wilt not forgive them." - L.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Jerusalem as it should be and as it is (2:1-22)

God’s people always looked for the day when Jerusalem would be the religious centre of the world, where people of all nations would go to be taught the ways of God. In that day there would be no more war, but contentment and prosperity (2:1-4). (A note on the new Jerusalem is included in the introduction to Chapters 40-66, where the subject of Jerusalem’s future glory is considered more fully.) Such hope for the future is all the more reason why Judah should walk in the ways of God now (5).
But the people of Judah, instead of leading other nations to know God and enjoy his peace, follow the idolatry and superstitious practices of those nations. Instead of trusting in God, they spend much energy building up their wealth and increasing their fighting force (6-8). Because they proudly trust in their own achievements, God will bring them low. God alone is to be exalted (9-11).
Israel and Judah had always hoped for the time when God would give them victory over all their enemies. Isaiah warns them that before God acts against their enemies, he must act against them (12). All the things they proudly trust in for security, whether natural resources, defence fortifications or prosperous trade, will be destroyed (13-16). Neither arrogant self-confidence nor devotion to idols will save them (17-18).
People will see the worthlessness of the things in which they have trusted, and will flee in a last desperate effort for safety when the day of God’s judgment comes (19-21). They will at last see the uselessness of putting confidence in anything of human origin (22).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"O house of Jacob, Come ye, and let us walk in the light of Jehovah. For thou hast forsaken thy people, because they are filled with customs from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners. And their land is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots. Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. And the mean man is bowed down, and the great man is brought low: therefore forgive them not. Enter thee into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, from before the terror of Jehovah, from the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be brought low, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day."

This paragraph, despite its being addressed to the "House of Jacob" with an appeal for them to walk in the ways of Jehovah, is principally devoted to a recital of wretched apostasy into which the whole nation of Israel had fallen.

"Customs from the east" These were largely the idolatrous customs imported and adopted from foreign nations.

"Strike hands with the children of foreigners" This is a reference to business partnerships, marriages, and other types of fellowship with sinful and idolatrous nations. The extensive wealth, the reliance upon military strength, as indicated by the mention of horses and chariots, and the widespread idolatry of the people were all earmarks of Israel's apostasy; and the words "forgive them not" show that the apostasy of the chosen people had, at this point in their history, reached a status of hardening. This judicial hardening of Israel introduced here by Isaiah was a subject to which he would return later in the prophecy.

"A proud look," cited in Proverbs 6:17 as something that is hated by God Himself, is mentioned here in Isaiah 2:11, along with the haughtiness and arrogant looks of sinful men, such an attitude being common to sinful and rebellious men of all generations. Isaiah then referred to the fact that there would be a "day" when only Jehovah would be exalted. The mention of that day in Isaiah 2:11 seems to have set the tone for the third paragraph of this chapter.

As Hailey exclaimed with references to the last few verses, "What a lesson this should be to the godless, materialistic world of today."Homer Hailey, op. cit., p. 51.

"Their land also is full of idols" Isaiah used a word here for idols (Isaiah 2:8) which Cheyne translated not gods.T. K. Cheyne, The Prophecies of Isaiah (New York: Thomas Whittaker, 1886), p. 18. It is the Hebrew word [~'ililim], which has also been translated "nonentities." Kidner also commented on this, saying that, "The word is a favorite of Isaiah, perhaps because it is identical with the word worthless."Derek Kidner, The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 593.

There is no reason to trust the guesses of scholars as to the date when various prophecies of Isaiah were written, because there is practically no agreement among the participants in such futile activity; but we do like the opinion of Payne who placed the date of this prophecy, "very early in Isaiah's career."David F. Payne, The New Layman's Bible Commentary, p. 771.

The mention of "that day" (Isaiah 2:12) has been recognized for ages as, "The world's judgment day;"T. K. Cheyne, Prophecies of Isaiah (New York: Thomas Whittaker, 1886), p. 19. but there were to be many typical fulfillments, much more immediately, each of them in turn being a type of that eternal and cataclysmic morning when Almighty God in righteous anger will at last terminate the rebellious race of Adam in the final judgment, when he will arise and cast evil out of his universe! Archer understood this as follows:

"Here the immediate reference is to the historical judgments of the Assyrian and the Chaldean invasions. Not only Israel and Judah, but all the heathen nations of that age as well were to experience the crushing blows of disaster, as each successive empire rose and fell."Gleason L. Archer, Jr., op. cit., p. 614.

Throughout history, God has repeatedly judged and destroyed apostate, heathen, and degenerate cultures; and in each instance, whether stated or not, there is a foreshadowing, a type, for that terminal judgment of the Great Day, prophesied in Genesis 2:17. This lies behind the Saviour's prophecy of (1) the end of the world and (2) of the destruction of Jerusalem with one set of prophecies, the latter most certainly being a type of the former (Matthew 24). Furthermore, there is no need to doubt that, as time progresses, God will further execute his judgments upon excessively wicked and rebellious cultures until, at last, when the cup of human iniquity is full, there will fall upon wretched humanity the terminal judgment of Zephaniah 1:1-3, in which prophecy God said, "I will wipe this Adam off the face of the earth."

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

And the mean man - That is, the man in humble life, the poor, the low in rank - for this is all that the Hebrew word here - אדם 'âdâm - implies. The distinction between the two words here used - אדם 'âdâm as denoting a man of humble rank, and אישׁ 'ı̂ysh as denoting one of elevated rank - is one that constantly occurs in the Scriptures. Our word “mean” conveys an idea of moral baseness and degradation, which is not implied in the Hebrew.

Boweth down - That is, before idols. Some commentators, however, have understood this of bowing down in “affliction,” but the other is probably the true interpretation.

And the great man - The men in elevated rank in life. The expressions together mean the same as “all ranks of people.” It was a common or universal thing. No rank was exempt from the prevailing idolatry.

Therefore forgive them not - The Hebrew is “future” - להם ואל־תשׂא ve'al-tis'â' lâhem. Thou wilt not “bear” for them; that is, thou wilt not bear away their sins (by an atonement), or ‘thou wilt not forgive them;’ - but agreeable to a common Hebrew construction, it has the force of the imperative. It involves a “threatening” of the prophet, in the form of an address to God ‘So great is their sin, that thou, Lord, wilt not pardon them.’ The prophet then proceeds, in the following verses, to denounce the certainty and severity of the judgment that was coming upon them.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

9.And the mean man boweth down Some commentators read these words in immediate connection with what goes before, as if the Prophet were proceeding still farther to show the extent of their criminality. If we adopt this meaning, then by the mean man and the mighty man we must understand all the Israelites; as if the Prophet said that no man is pure and free from this stain. Others not improperly are of opinion that he repeats in other words what he had said about punishment, and that in this way he expresses the destruction which awaits a people forsaken by God. This will agree best with the scope of the passage, that all, both small and great, will speedily be overtaken by the ruin which lays low a whole nation; because amidst so great wickedness there was no reason to expect deliverance from the vengeance of God.

Besides, in those two expressions, bow down and humble, there is a rapid allusion to that bowing down which he mentioned a little before, as if he had said, “They have bowed themselves down before idols, therefore God will lay them low under a vast weight of calamities.” Yet I have no doubt that he likewise attacks their pride; for it was difficult to believe that a nation so abundantly supplied with wealth would, in a short period, be overwhelmed by calamities.

Therefore forgive them not; or, thou wilt not forgive them. This latter clause is explained in two ways, though it does not much affect the real meaning which of the views you adopt; for the design of the Prophet is to show that towards such obstinate men God will not be appeased. If it be taken in the future tense, thou wilt not forgive them, the meaning will be more easily brought out; but if it be taken as a prayer, forgive them not, it will amount to the same thing; for we know that, when the prophets, inflamed by zeal for God, pour out prayers as under the dictation of the Spirit, they threaten just punishment against the ungodly: and we need not wonder that the Prophets offended by crimes so numerous and so shocking, kindles into such warmth that he consigns his countrymen to destruction; for nothing was more dear to him than the sacred honor of God. But at the same time it must be understood that he makes a tacit reservation of a remnant; because he does not here speak of every individual, but of the body of the people, which was so deeply infected by its vices that there was no hope of cure; otherwise it would have been unreasonable to give exhortations to repentance, and to hold out the hope of pardon to men who were incurable and thoroughly obstinate. The meaning therefore amounts to this, that the restoration of a new Church must not be expected till God has executed his judgments by destroying the temple.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 2

Now chapter 2 is introduced again.

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem ( Isaiah 2:1 ).

And now God takes him off to the future.

And it shall come to pass in the last days [or in the latter days], that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it ( Isaiah 2:2 ).

So Isaiah goes from the dark, bleak history and now he jumps forward to a day yet future when Jesus Christ the Messiah comes and establishes the kingdom. And the Jews, as the scripture said, will look upon Him whom they have pierced, and they will recognize Him and they will weep over Him. Weep over their national blindness and their failure to recognize that He was their Messiah. And He will establish His kingdom there on the top of the mountains in Jerusalem.

Traditionally, it is felt that the top of Mount Zion will be the place of the throne of Jesus Christ in the Kingdom Age. And this is going ahead now to the Kingdom Age. All nations show flow unto it.

And many people shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he shall teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem ( Isaiah 2:3 ).

So the Bible tells us in other passages that the kings of the earth will come to Jerusalem to offer their gifts unto the Lord and to just have celebrations there.

Now who are the kings of the earth that are referred to here? Now you're looking at King Charles. In Revelation, chapter 1, as he speaks of Jesus Christ he said, "Unto Him who loved us, and gave himself for us and hath made us unto our God kings and priests," and we shall reign with Him on the earth. To the church he said, "He that overcometh will I grant that he shall sit with Me on the throne of My kingdom, even as I have sat down at the throne of my Father's kingdom. And they shall rule over the earth with a rod of iron." And then in Revelation chapter 5, as the lamb takes the scroll out of the right hand of Him who is sitting upon the throne when the prayers of the saints are offered before the throne of God, the golden vials full of odors which are the prayers of the saints they sang a new song saying, "Worthy is the lamb to take the scroll and loose the seals, for He was slain and He has redeemed us by His blood out of all the nations, tribes, tongues and people and hath made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign with Him upon the earth."

So actually, it's talking about you when it says, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and He will teach us of His ways and we will walk in His paths." Wouldn't it be exciting to go to Jerusalem and just sit down and let Jesus teach us for a while? You know that sounds so exciting to me. And that's just thrilling to me the concept and the whole idea to realize that we'll be having annual trips to Jerusalem just to sit there and to listen to the Lord expound the love, and the grace, and the goodness of God unto us. The law of the Lord. He will teach us of His ways. "For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."

And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: and nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD ( Isaiah 2:4-5 ).

Looking forward to that glorious day when Jesus is reigning and the military budgets are used for agricultural development, beating their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

Last year over one trillion dollars were spent throughout the world forging swords and spears, weapons of war. Military budgets of the world totaled over a trillion dollars last year, and this year we're expanding our military budget. There are many who are warning that war is imminent. I have a personal friend who is a high-ranking officer who has kept in touch with me. He's back in the Pentagon right now going through briefings. And he said, "Chuck, we've never been closer to war before. We're on the verge." And he said, "Everybody is scared."

But a day is coming when no one is going to have to fear war anymore. We're not gonna have to fear mass destruction. You're not going to have to fear the exotic poison gases, neutron, hydrogen bombs. They'll study war no more; the war colleges will all be closed. The Lord will reign. Now this is the blessing that is to come, but before the blessing can come there is going to be some rough times.

Therefore thou has forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers. Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots: Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made ( Isaiah 2:6-8 ):

So the idea of man worshipping and serving the creature rather than the Creator is brought up here. Men worshipping the works of their own hands more than the Creator. What an apt description of humanism. And really, the materialism of the present day where man has placed his value upon the material objects, the works of his own hands rather than upon the Lord. God speaks of this time.

And the mean man bows down, and the great man humbles himself: therefore forgive them not. Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low ( Isaiah 2:9-12 ):

Now this could very well be referring to the time after the exodus of the church, for when the church makes its exodus out of the world, it's gonna be a time of great world prosperity, for a time. At the beginning of the reign of the man of sin, people are gonna be singing, "Happy days are here again," because this man is gonna come in with a program of peace and of economic prosperity, and they will move in to take the wealth of the church that has departed. So they're gonna have this twenty acres and these buildings, my house, my car. They can have it all. And suddenly they're gonna have all this extra thrown in to the whole economy and you won't have the housing shortage in Orange County. There will be a lot of empty houses for people to move into. People can grab a second car, and they're going to really get into a real materialistic kick because of all of these things that have been left. But then, after three and a half years, then God is gonna bring down the proud; God is gonna begin to smite the earth.

For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and they will be brought low; and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, those that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon the pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD ( Isaiah 2:12-19 ),

Remember in Revelation in the sixth seal it said and they cry unto the rocks and the mountains, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of the Lamb, for the day of His wrath has come and who shall be able to stand"? Going into the holes of the rocks and the caves of the earth, for the fear of the Lord.

and for the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake terribly the eaRuth ( Isaiah 2:19 ).

God said, "Once more I'm gonna shake this earth until everything that can be shaken shall be shaken until only that which cannot be shaken shall remain." And all of these lofty works of man... Man, I wouldn't want to be in downtown Los Angeles when this shaking takes place; all of these lofty works of man brought low.

In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake terribly the eaRuth ( Isaiah 2:20-21 ).

You read how that in Athens and Italy there after the earthquakes the people were living outside. They were afraid to go back into the houses because of the shaking and all. It would be the same experience only on a worldwide basis where people will be afraid to move back in the houses. And they would get a cave or something to live in for a while for fear of the shaking that is taking place as God once more shakes the earth terribly.

Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils ( Isaiah 2:22 ):

In other words, don't trust in man. He has to breathe just like you do. Better to trust in God and put your confidence in Him.

for wherein is man to be accounted of? ( Isaiah 2:22 ) "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The results of trusting in people 2:5-22

This emphasis is a major one in Isaiah 1-39, and the prophet introduced it at this point. Many in his day-and this is still true today-preferred to trust in strong people, especially nations, rather than in the Lord.

The prophet’s first exhortation 2:5

In view of what the nations will do eventually, Isaiah appealed to the house of Jacob (Israel) to do the same thing immediately, namely: walk in the Lord’s light (presence and truth). Commit to following the Lord. This motivation is also applicable to present-day Christians (cf. Ephesians 5:8-20). Virtually all the commentators recognized that this verse is transitional. Some make it the end of the previous section and others the beginning of the next.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The cause of the problem: self-sufficiency 2:6-9

Several facets of Israel’s national life, all evidences of self-sufficiency rather than trust in Yahweh, invited judgment (cf. Micah 5:10-14).

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Glorifying created things rather than the Creator results in the humiliation and abasement of those who do these things (cf. Romans 1). Forgiveness is unthinkable when people do these things (Isaiah 2:9; cf. Exodus 34:7). "Do not forgive them" is an idiom meaning "for sure you will not forgive them." [Note: Motyer, p. 56.] Isaiah was not asking God to refrain from forgiving His people.

"A major motif in OT theology is here (and in Isaiah 2:11-22): pride and ambition are humanity’s besetting and most devastating sins. Idolatry is seen as an expression of this drive by which man seeks to exalt himself." [Note: Watts, Isaiah 1-33, p. 35.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself,.... Both high and low, rich and poor, bow down unto, humble themselves before, and worship idols made by the hands of men: the words for the "mean man" and "the great man" are אדם and

איש, "Adam" and "Ish"; and which are also interpreted by Jarchi of little or mean men, and of princes and mighty ones:

therefore forgive them not; their sins of soothsaying, covetousness, and idolatry; and such that worship the beast and his image shall not be forgiven, but drink of the wine of divine wrath, and be tormented with fire for ever and ever, Revelation 14:9. These are either the words of the prophet to the Lord representing the church, and imprecating evils on antichristian worshippers; or of the angel to the Christian powers, exhorting them not to spare Babylon, Revelation 18:6 some refer these words to the mean and great men bowing down and humbling themselves, and read them in connection with them thus, "and lifts not up unto them"; that is, the head or soul; so Aben Ezra, who also observes, that the word "earth" may be wanting, and supplied thus, "and the earth shall not bear them"; they shall be destroyed from off it, both the idols and the worshippers of them. See Psalms 10:16.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      6 Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.   7 Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots:   8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:   9 And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.

      The calling in of the Gentiles was accompanied with the rejection of the Jews; it was their fall, and the diminishing of them, that was the riches of the Gentiles; and the casting off of them was the reconciling of the world (Romans 11:12-15); and it should seem that these verses have reference to that, and are designed to justify God therein, and yet it is probable that they are primarily intended for the convincing and awakening of the men of that generation in which the prophet lived, it being usual with the prophets to speak of the things that then were, both in mercy and judgment, as types of the things that should be hereafter. Here is,

      I. Israel's doom. This is set forth in two words, the first and the last of this paragraph; but they are two dreadful words, and which speak, 1. Their case sad, very sad (Isaiah 2:6; Isaiah 2:6): Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people. Miserable is the condition of that people whom God has forsaken, and great certainly must the provocation be if he forsake those that have been his own people. This was the deplorable case of the Jewish church after they had rejected Christ. Migremus hinc--Let us go hence. Your house is left unto you desolate,Matthew 23:38. Whenever any sore calamity came upon the Jews thus far the Lord might be said to forsake them that he withdrew his help and succour from them, else they would not have fallen into the hands of their enemies. But God never leaves any till they first leave him. 2. Their case desperate, wholly desperate (Isaiah 2:9; Isaiah 2:9): Therefore forgive them not. This prophetical prayer amounts to a threatening that they should not be forgiven, and some think it may be read: And thou wilt not forgive them. This refers not to particular persons (many of them repented and were pardoned), but to the body of that nation, against whom an irreversible doom was passed, that they should be wholly cut off and their church quite dismantled, never to be formed into such a body again, nor ever to have their old charter restored to them.

      II. Israel's desert of this doom, and the reasons upon which it is grounded. In general, it is sin that brings destruction upon them; it is this, and nothing but this, that provokes God to forsake his people. The particular sins which the prophet specifies are such as abounded among them at that time, which he makes mention of for the conviction of those to whom he then preached, rather than that which afterwards proved the measure-filling sin, their crucifying Christ and persecuting his followers; for the sins of every age contributed towards the making up of the dreadful account at last. And there was a partial and temporary rejection of them by the captivity in Babylon hastening on, which was a type of their final destruction by the Romans, and which the sins here mentioned brought upon them. Their sins were such as directly contradicted all God's kind and gracious designs concerning them.

      1. God set them apart for himself, as a peculiar people, distinguished from, and dignified above, all other people (Numbers 23:9); but they were replenished from the east; they naturalized foreigners, not proselyted, and encouraged them to settle among them, and mingled with them, Hosea 7:8. Their country was peopled with Syrians and Chaldeans, Moabites and Ammonites, and other eastern nations, and with them they admitted the fashions and customs of those nations, and pleased themselves in the children of strangers, were fond of them, preferred their country before their own, and thought the more they conformed to them the more polite and refined they were; thus did they profane their crown and their covenant. Note, Those are in danger of being estranged from God who please themselves with those who are strangers to him, for we soon learn the ways of those whose company we love.

      2. God gave them his oracles, which they might ask counsel of, not only the scriptures and the seers, but the breast-plate of judgment; but they slighted these, and became soothsayers like the Philistines, introduced their arts of divination, and hearkened to those who by the stars, or the clouds, or the flight of birds, or the entrails of beasts, or other magic superstitions, pretended to discover things secret or foretel things to come. The Philistines were noted for diviners, 1 Samuel 6:2. Note, Those who slight true divinity are justly given up to lying divinations; and those will certainly be forsaken of God who thus forsake him and their own mercies for lying vanities.

      3. God encouraged them to put their confidence in him, and assured them that he would be their wealth and strength; but, distrusting his power and promise, they made gold their hope, and furnished themselves with horses and chariots, and relied upon them for their safety, Isaiah 2:7; Isaiah 2:7. God had expressly forbidden even their kings to multiply horses to themselves and greatly to multiply silver and gold, because he would have them to depend upon himself only; but they did not think their interest in God made them a match for their neighbours unless they had as full treasures of silver and gold, and as formidable hosts of chariots and horses, as they had. It is not having silver and gold, horses and chariots, that is a provocation to God, but, (1.) Desiring them insatiably, so that there is no end of the treasures, no end of the chariots, no bounds or limits set to the desire of them. Those shall never have enough in God (who alone is all-sufficient) that never know when they have enough of this world, which at the best is insufficient. (2.) Depending upon them, as if we could not be safe, and easy, and happy, without them, and could not but be so with them.

      4. God himself was their God, the sole object of their worship, and he himself instituted ordinances of worship for them; but they slighted both him and his institutions, Isaiah 2:8; Isaiah 2:8. Their land was full of idols; every city had its god (Jeremiah 11:13); and, according to the goodness of their lands, they made goodly images, Hosea 10:1. Those that think one God too little will find two too many, and yet hundreds were not sufficient; for those that love idols will multiply them; so sottish were they, and so wretchedly infatuated, that they worshipped the work of their own hands, as if that could be a god to them which was not only a creature, but their creature and that which their own fancies had devised and their own fingers had made. It was an aggravation of their idolatry that God had enriched them with silver and gold, and yet of that silver and gold they made idols; so it was, Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked, see Hosea 2:8.

      5. God had advanced them, and put honour upon them; but they basely diminished and disparaged themselves (Isaiah 2:9; Isaiah 2:9): The mean man boweth down to his idol, a thing below the meanest that has any spark of reason left. Sin is a disparagement to the poorest and those of the lowest rank. It becomes the mean man to bow down to his superiors, but it ill becomes him to bow down to the stock of a tree,Isaiah 44:19; Isaiah 44:19. Nor is it only the illiterate and poor-spirited that do this, but even the great men forgets his grandeur and humbles himself to worship idols, deifies men no better than himself, and consecrates stones so much baser than himself. Idolaters are said to debase themselves even to hell,Isaiah 57:9; Isaiah 57:9. What a shame it is that great men think the service of the true God below them and will not stoop to it, and yet will humble themselves to bow down to an idol! Some make this a threatening that the mean men shall be brought down, and the great men humbled, by the judgments of God, when they come with commission.