Isaiah 2:8

Isa 2:8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:

Ver. 8. Their land also is full of idols.] As Babylon, "a land of idols"; {Jer 50:38} as Athens, "wholly given to idolatry"; {Act 17:16} as China is said to have in it at this day a hundred thousand gods. And what shall we think of Popish idols? The word here rendered idols signifieth nihilitates, nothingness; for an idol is nothing in the world. {1Co 8:4}

They worship the work of their own hands.] Scelestum el immane facinus, dirum scelus et execrandum; effraenata et praeceps amentia. See Isa 44:15; Isa 44:18.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa_2:8

Their land also is full of idols

Idols

The philosophic theory of polytheism is one centre, many emanations.

Iamblicus and Porphyry defend it on this line against the monotheism of early Christianity. Hermes Trismegistus, according to St. Augustine, says the Egyptians regarded images as being merely the bodies of the gods. In India there may be seen any day of the week the ceremony of praying a spirit of Vishnu or of Shiva Into a statue, or into a symbolic stone, by the Brahmin priest. The priestly theory is one of consubstantiation, like the Lutheran theory of the Eucharist, the difference being between the spiritual indwelling in material bread and material wine In the one case, and material wood and stone in the other. The gods, thus made visible to the common people, are endowed, by the popular consent, with human passions and human prejudices. Each represents one or more of these human propensities. Some are emblems of the reproductive powers of nature--fertilizers of the flocks and fields. Their worship, pure at the first possibly, became beyond all telling, licentious and abominable. (F. Sessions.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa 2:8-9. Their land also is full of idols — Every city had its god, (Jer 11:13,) and, according to the goodness and fertility of their lands, they made goodly images, Hos 10:1. They worship the work of their own hands — They gave that worship to their own creatures, to the images which their own fancies had devised, and their own fingers had made, which they denied to JEHOVAH their Creator, than which nothing could be more impious or more absurd. And the mean man boweth down, &c. — Men of all ranks, both high and low, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, fall down and worship idols. The corruption is universal, and the whole land is given to idolatry. Therefore forgive them not — Thou wilt not forgive them, the imperative being put for the future, as we have seen it frequently is in the Psalms. Vitringa, however, Dr. Waterland, and Bishop Lowth, with many others, consider this verse, not as describing their idolatry, but as a predicting the punishment which God was about to bring upon them for it; and therefore translate it, in perfect consistency with the Hebrew, in the future tense, thus: Therefore the mean man shall be bowed down, and the mighty man shall be humbled; and thou wilt not forgive them. “They bowed themselves down to their idols, therefore shall they be bowed down, and brought low, under the avenging hand of God.” — Bishop Lowth. According to this interpretation, “the prophet begins here to describe the imminent severe judgments of God, wherewith he would punish the pride of these men, and their alienation from the true worship of God and their disobedience to his law.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(Hos 8:4). Not so much public idolatry, which was not sanctioned in Uzziah's and Jotham's reign, but (see Kg2 15:4, Kg2 15:35) as private.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 8. Their land also is full of idols - "And his land is filled with idols"] Uzziah and Fotham are both said, 2Kg 15:3-4; 2Kg 15:34-35, "to have done that which was right in the sight of the Lord;" that is, to have adhered to and maintained the legal worship of God, in opposition to idolatry and all irregular worship; for to this sense the meaning of that phrase is commonly to be restrained; "save that the high places were not removed where the people still sacrificed and burned incense." There was hardly any time when they were quite free from this irregular and unlawful practice, which they seem to have looked upon as very consistent with the true worship of God; and which seems in some measure to have been tolerated, while the tabernacle was removed from place to place, and before the temple was built. Even after the conversion of Manasseh, when he had removed the strange gods, commanded Judah to serve JEHOVAH the God of Israel, it is added, "Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still on the high places, yet unto JEHOVAH their God only," 2Ch 33:17. The worshipping on the high places therefore does not necessarily imply idolatry; and from what is said of these two kings, Uzziah and Jotham, we may presume that the public exercise of idolatrous worship was not permitted in their time. The idols therefore here spoken of must have been such as were designed for a private and secret use. Such probably were the teraphim so often mentioned in Scripture; a kind of household gods, of human form, as it should seem, (see 1Sa 19:13, and compare Ge 31:34,) of different magnitude, used for idolatrous and superstitious purposes, particularly for divination, and as oracles, which they consulted for direction in their affairs.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(8) Their land also is full of idols.—The word which Isaiah chooses for “idols” (elîlîm—i.e., vain, false, gods) seems intentionally contrasted with elîm (gods, or mighty ones), and may fairly be rendered by no-gods. The reign of Ahaz was conspicuous from the first for this cultus (2Ch_28:2-3), but it had been prominent even under Jotham (2Ch_27:2).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. idols] Lit. “nonentities.”—The word (’ìlîlîm) is almost peculiar to Isaiah; and appears to contain a scornful play on the word for “gods” (’êlîm). work of their own hands] The prophet refuses to distinguish, as a heathen might, between the false deity and his image; the latter alone has real existence. Cf. Hos_13:2; Isa_40:19 f., Isa_41:7; Isa_44:12-20, &c.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Their land also is full of idols,.... Of the Virgin Mary, and of saints departed, whose images are set up to be worshipped in all their churches, and had in private houses:

and they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made; namely, idols of gold, silver, brass, wood, and stone, Rev 9:20.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Their land also is full of idols - compare Hos 8:4; Hos 10:1. Vitringa supposes that Isaiah here refers to idols that were kept in private houses, as Uzziah and Jotham were worshippers of the true God, and in their reign idolatry was not publicly practiced. It is certain, however, that though Uzziah himself did right, and was disposed to worship the true God, yet he did not effectually remove idolatry from the land. The high places were not removed, and the people still sacrificed and burned incense on them; 2Ki 15:4. It was customary with the pagan to keep in their houses “Penates or household gods” - small images, which they regarded as “protectors,” and to which they paid homage: compare Gen 30:19; Jdg 17:5; 1Sa 19:13; Hos 3:4. ‘This is a true and literal description of India. The traveler cannot proceed a “mile” through an inhabited country without seeing idols, and vestiges of idolatry in every direction. See their vessles, their implements of husbandry, their houses, their furniture, their ornaments, their sacred trees, their “domestic” and public temples; and they all declare that the land is full of idols.’ - “Roberts.”

The work of their own hands ... - Idols. It is often brought as proof of their great folly and degradation that they paid homage to what “they” had themselves made. See this severely satirized in Isa 40:18-20; Isa 41:6-7; Isa 44:9-17.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Horses. Which the kings were forbidden to multiply, Deuteronomy xvii. 16. Great riches often precede the ruin of states.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

They give that worship to their own creatures which they deny to me their Creator, than which nothing can be more impious and absurd.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. Land… is full of idols — It is scarcely to be supposed that the idolatry mentioned here was public. The “idols” were a private possession of individuals and of families, like the teraphim in Jacob’s family. Gen_31:34. The word rendered “idols” properly signifies unrealities, nonentities, of no avail as deities or any thing else. Such is the prophet’s view of them. Psa_46:5.

Their own fingers have made — This expresses still deeper contempt of them. So, also, in Isa 41-67.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Full of idols. The historians declare that both Uzziah and Jotham maintained the worship of Jehovah and disallowed idolatry, (2Ki_15:3, 34 2Ch_26:4 2Ch_27:2) so that we must regard the idol-worship of the time as an irregular and private practice. (It is, perhaps, alluded to in 2Ch_27:2; and the fact of its prevalence is stated (Amo_2:1 Mic_5:13) Perhaps Bishop Lowth is right in regarding it as mainly a continuation of the old private teraphim worship ("Notes," p. 25).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The third and greatest evil flowing from this intercourse with foreign nations was idolatry itself, which was usually introduced under the cloak of mere political alliances (see e. g. 2Ki 16:10). Here as elsewhere the terms used to describe it are contemptuous in a high degree. “And his land is filled with idols” (properly nonentities, ‘gods which yet are no gods,’ (Jer 2:1); ‘for we know that an idol is nothing in the world,’ (1Co 8:4)), "to the work of their hands they bow down, to that which their fingers have made, one of the great absurdities charged by the Prophets on idolaters, as if that could be a god to them which was not only a creature but their own creature" (Matthew Henry).

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

they prostrate themselves Heb. ישתחוו. Although the form is future, it is to be rendered like מִשְׁתַּחֲוִים, they prostrate themselves.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

אלילים Idols. Root אַל "not"; the idols are called by this name, because there is no reality in them.

They worship the work of his hands, that which his fingers have made. They—all the people—worship the work of his—the smith’s—hands, that which his—the smith’s—fingers have made. ידיו "his hands", and ישתחוו "they worship"; the Version evades the difficulty by translating ידיו "their hands".

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.