Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.
Their molten images (are) ... confusion - emptiness: Hebrew, thohu, without form (Isaiah 34:11).
Remarks: There is agreed question at issue between God and the world, and between the people of God and the people of the world. The question is, whether the kingdom of God is to prevail, or the kingdom of the world, which is estranged from God. The remarkable interposition of God in behalf of His oppressed people in their Babylonian captivity, whereby He raised up Cyrus to execute His "righteous" will in delivering them, decides the point at issue. That deliverance is a pledge and earnest of the final deliverance of the people of God, the literal and the spiritual Israel, by the Messiah, of whom Cyrus was the type. The nations in vain oppose themselves to the will of God, relying on their earthly idols. The Almighty is the "first," and therefore was before all human devices. He also is "with the last" and therefore shall Himself for ever be, and shall have His people with Him, when all adversaries of Himself and His people shall have been cast out finally. The same antitypical Cyrus, Messiah, shall destroy with the brightness of His coming the God-opposed nations and people, and will deliver the people of His covenant for the sake of Abraham, the forefather of Israel after the flesh, the father of all the faithful, and the "friend of God."