Be bowed down— The prophet, as he wrote this, saw the fall of Babylon before his eyes, the city plundered and spoiled, the temples ravaged and destroyed, and the idols of Babylon placed upon the beasts, and carried away into Media and Persia; and as he saw, so he has described; dwelling long and largely, as is common with the prophet, upon the same object; viewing and exhibiting it to view on every side. We may just observe that the prophet, representing the subversion of the Babylonish state in this section, describes it with respect to religion; that is, its shameful superstition. In the following section he sets forth the destruction of the civil state. Bel and Nebo were two principal idols of the Babylonians. See chap. Isaiah 21:9 and Jeremiah 5, 51.
Related Commentaries of Isaiah 46:1
Isaiah 46:1-2
1 Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast.
2 They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselvesa are gone into captivity.