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.
Bel - The same as the Phoenician Baal - i:e., lord, the chief god of Babylon; to it was dedicated the celebrated tower of Babylon, in the center of one of the two parts into which the city was divided, the palace being in the center of the other. Identical with the Sun, worshipped on turrets, house-tops, and other high places, so as to be nearer the heavenly hosts ( tsaaba (H6635)) (Jeremiah 19:13; Jeremiah 32:29; Zephaniah 1:5). Gesenius identifies Bel with the planet Jupiter, which, with the planet Venus (under the name Astarte or Astaroth), was worshipped in the East as the god of fortune, the most propitious star to be born under (note, Isaiah 65:11). According to the Apocryphal Book, Bel and the Dragon, Bel was cast down by Cyrus. The mound 'Babil' still remains, identical with the old temple of Bel or Belus, an oblong mass of unbaked bricks, rising above the plain 140 feet, 200 yards long by 140 broad. Berosus states that Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt it; this is confirmed by the fact that all the inscribed bricks found bear Nebuchadnezzar's name. It formed the tower of the temple surmounted by a chapel, but the main shrine, altars, and residences of the priests were below. The Kasr remains, which are south of Babil-mound, are probably the old palace coeval with Babylon; in it are found bricks inscribed with the names of kings earlier than Nebuchadnezzar. The sense of Bel or Baal is lord, not so much the ruler, as the owner and master.
Boweth down, Nebo stoopeth - falleth prostrate (Isaiah 10:4; 1 Samuel 5:3-4; Psalms 20:8).
Nebo - the planet Mercury or Hermes, in astrology. The scribe of heaven, answering to the Egyptian Anubis. The extensive worship of it is shown by the many proper names compounded of it: Nebuchadnezzar, Neb-uzaradan, Nab-onassar, etc.
Were upon the beasts - i:e., were a burden (supplied from the following clause) upon them. It was customary to transport the gods of the vanquished to the land of the conquerors, who thought thereby the more effectually to keep down the subject people (1 Samuel 5:1, etc.; Jeremiah 48:7; Jeremiah 49:3; margin, Daniel 11:8).
Your carriages. Pagninus (with the Hebrew commentators) translates, 'the beasts which carry upon are loaden with the burden to weariness.' Otherwise, in the Old English sense, the things carried, the lading (Acts 21:15, "carriages"), not the vehicles, but the baggage; 'the images which used to be carried by you' formerly in your solemn processions (Maurer).
Were heavy loaden - or, 'are put as a load on the beasts of burden' (Maurer). So Chaldaic, 'The burdens of their idols are heavy to those that carry them.' Horsley translates, 'They (the idols) who should have been your carriers (as Yahweh is to His people, Isaiah 46:3-4) are become burdens' (see note, Isaiah 46:4).