Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Isaiah 46:6 - 46:6

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Isaiah 46:6 - 46:6


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The negative answer to this question is the direct result of what precedes, but a still further proof is given in Isa 46:6, Isa 46:7. “They who pour gold out of the bag, and weigh silver with the balance, hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, that they may fall down, yea, throw themselves down. They lift it up, carry it away upon their shoulder, and set it down in its place: there it stands; from its place it does not move: men also cry to it, but it does not answer; it saves no one out of distress.” There is no necessity for assuming that הַזָּלִים is used in the place of the finite verb, as Hitzig imagines, or as equivalent to זָלִים הםֵ, as Rosenmüller and Gesenius suppose; but up to יִשְׂכְּרוּ the whole is subject, and therefore יִשְׁקֹלוּ is the point at which the change into the finite verb occurs (Ges. §131, 2). The point in hazzâlı̄m is not the extravagant expenditure, as Ewald thinks, but the mean origin of the god, which commences with the pouring out of gold from a purse (zūl = zâlal, to shake, to pour out). Qâneh is the lever of the scales (κανών). The metal weighed out is given to a goldsmith, who plates the idol with the gold, and makes the ornaments for it of silver. When it is finished, they lift it up, or shoulder it (יִשָּׂאֻהוּ with a distinctive Great Telisha), carry it home, and set it down in the place which it is to have under it (תַּחְתָּיו). There it stands firm, immoveable, and also deaf and dumb, hearing no one, answering no one, and helping no one. The subject to יִצְעַק is any צֹעֵק. The first admonition closes here. The gods who are carried fall without being able to save themselves, whereas Israel's God carries and saves His people; He, the Incomparable, more especially in contrast with the lifeless puppets of idols.