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Wednesday 18 April 2012

Isaiah 46:1-13 - the gods of Babylon

In Babylonian Religion Bel and Nebo were gods. Bel is another name for Marduk and is the same as the Canaanite baals, which means "lord". Bel was the chief god. Nebo was the god of learning and writing and was the son of Bel. 
Isaiah is mocking these gods. They will bow down to the true God.  These supposedly powerful gods had to be carried about by the people. They were unable to do anything, unable to rescue the people. Why did they worship these lumps of metal or stone? Today many worship evolution, they say a totally undirected random process brought about all of life. Now I am not saying all of evolution is complete nonsense, but there are many questions to be asked, and some have an unhealthy and unscientific attitude towards it (see here for a much fuller treatment of the matter).
The key point of Isaiah's message is that Israel should not fear these gods nor the nation that worships them. The Babylonians had to go to great lengths to carry their gods around, putting in great effort. God, on the other hand, carried Israel.
God had made Himself known to Israel, and there is only one God. He had shown them this in the past, and He would show them again in the future.

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