Chapter 46 of Yeshayahu continues the theme seen in the preceding chapters: the prophet mocks idolatry and its worshippers. While earlier chapters mocked one who takes a block of wood, roasts meat over half of it and makes a god of the other half, here the mockery reaches its climax: not only does the idol fail to save its worshippers, but the idol itself bows down and collapses, and its worshippers are forced to carry it on their shoulders into exile. Contrast this with the great distinction between false idols and the true God: the gentile carries his god, whereas regarding Israel - the Holy One, blessed be He, carries them.
כָּרַע בֵּל קֹרֵס נְבוֹ, הָיוּ עֲצַבֵּיהֶם לַחַיָּה וְלַבְּהֵמָה, נְשֻׂאֹתֵיכֶם עֲמוּסוֹת מַשָּׂא לַעֲיֵפָה׃ - Bel bows down, Nevo stoops; their idols are consigned to the beasts and the cattle; the things you once carried are now loaded as a burden upon weary animals.
Rashi explains: the deities of Babylon bowed down and collapsed. Bel is the chief idol of Babylon (the letters of Babel include the name Bel), as is Nevo. Rashi notes here that this is one of the places where Scripture makes fun of idolatry. As the Gemara states: all mockery is forbidden, except for the mockery of idolatry.
Why is this so? Mockery is an extremely dangerous trait. The Gemara teaches that a single act of mockery can deflect a hundred reproofs. For one who mocks, everything becomes trivial; he has no boundaries before his eyes, and even the gravest transgressions like forbidden relations become light in his eyes, since everything is treated with levity and nothing pierces his heart. Therefore, the retribution of the mocker is "Judgments are prepared for mockers": only when the mocker begins to absorb blows does he realize that the world is not a joke. Rationality, intellect, and logic cannot reach him, because whatever you say to him, he simply turns into ridicule.
Nevertheless, there is one thing that is permissible to mock: idolatry. The war against idolatry is so difficult that one is permitted to wield even this weapon. The power of mockery is that it does not operate through logical tools: the mere fact that you make something a laughingstock debases and dismisses it, even if it were true. Here, we seize the spear from the Egyptian's hand: when dealing with defilement and falsehood, and we know with certainty that idolatry is a lie and this can be proven, it is permitted to fight it through mockery as well.
From this we can also understand why many who are distant from Torah and mitzvot use this very tactic against everything sacred. A person mocks the Torah observer, the mitzvah itself, and holy matters, and in doing so excuses himself from confronting the substance or explaining what is supposedly wrong with it. He simply mocked it and walked away. This was the method of the Maskilim of various kinds, whose way was their folly: to take something holy and turn it into ridicule.
At the time when Doron Witztum published his research on Torah codes (in the book "The Added Dimension"), Dr. Eliyahu Rips, a world-renowned, award-winning mathematician, initially wanted to prove that the research was biased and flawed. It should be emphasized that this was not about random "finds" that can be picked out of any book, but serious statistical research showing phenomena whose probability was one in a million or one in twelve million - findings that make no logical sense unless someone deliberately designed them that way.
In scientific research, one can shoot an arrow and then draw the target circles around it: instead of putting in the rigorous work, you determine the conclusion beforehand and gather citations that fit it. Sometimes medications are manufactured on such a basis, and people die as a result. But Rips engaged in genuine, thorough research, and in the wake of it, he became fully observant. He saw the undeniable truth in the Torah - that Someone encoded into it all of history and the future: Chanukah, Purim, Hitler (may his name be blotted out), Saddam Hussein, the assassination of Rabin - all embedded within equidistant letter sequences.
Then a satirical show was produced against the matter, exposing the entire topic to mockery and scorn. Someone related hearing an interview where one of the producers of the show was brought on alongside one of the researchers. They asked the researcher what he had to say, and he replied: "I want to ask only one question: Did you read the research study from beginning to end?" The producer answered, "No." The researcher said to him: "If so, I have nothing to debate with you. You took something you have not read, whose basis you do not even know, and began to make fun of it? Read the study; if you have objections, I am ready to hear them. But putting on a theatrical production that ridicules the subject is completely unserious."
Rashi explains: "This is mockery of idolaters" - like someone suffering from bowel trouble who cannot even manage to sit down on the privy before his bowels loose. He has barely had time to sit down, and he has already relieved himself (with apologies to the audience). This is the mockery: "Bel bows down, Nevo stoops" - he has not even had time to bow, and he has already collapsed.
"Their idols were" - atzabeichem refers to idols, as in "their idols are silver and gold." "Upon beast and animal" - to what were they compared? To wild beasts and domesticated animals. Bring an animal into the house for just a few minutes, and you will have to wash the floors and spray perfume throughout the house; it has no concept of cleanliness or hygiene, relieving itself anywhere. So too were their idols, filthy and soiled with their excrement. "Your loads are heavily laden" - the filth within their bowels was as heavy as a burden to the weary beast, and so they collapsed under it. Later we will see the profound depth of this mockery specifically regarding excrement.
Radak explains that the prophet returns here to deride the idols. When Babylon fell, not only did their gods fail to save them, but they themselves bowed down and collapsed to the ground. Those you relied upon and expected to protect you, not only did they fail to protect, but they themselves bowed down and collapsed. (The Malbim notes that kores, stoops, is close to kares, belly - through an interchange of letters - expressing a downward fall.)
And after they collapsed and broke, they loaded them onto animals to carry them off to Media and Persia, covered as they were in silver and gold. And what is meant by "wild beast" (chayah)? A domesticated animal (behemah) is a pack animal, but a wild beast? Does anyone load burdens onto a deer or a lion? Radak explains: the elephant. The elephant is a wild pack animal. Thus, "their idols were upon beast and animal" - they carried them on their wild beasts and domesticated livestock: donkeys, cows, oxen, and elephants.
"Your loads are heavily laden" - Radak says this is spoken by way of mockery and derision: the beasts were heavily burdened by your idolatrous figures, overloaded from all the gold, so that the donkey drivers and camel handlers said, "a burden for a weary beast" - the animal was exhausted from the weight of the load. Look at the state to which you have descended: instead of the god protecting you, he bows down and collapses, and like an invalid must be hoisted onto an animal. This is the god you trusted and prayed to: not only did he collapse, but an animal must bear his broken pieces and stagger under the weight.
The Malbim explains in an original way: "Bel bows down, Nevo stoops" does not refer to the idol, but to the person - bowed down has the man who worships Bel, and stooped has the man who worships Nevo.
And what is "their idols" (atzabeichem)? In the Malbim's view, this refers to the form of man and the shaping of his image, as in "Your hands fashioned me (itzvuni)." "Their forms became like beast and animal" - the facial features of the idol worshippers, the sculpting of their image, became like that of a wild beast and a domesticated animal. One who prostrates before such a vile, detestable idol no longer possesses the form of man; he has descended to the level of a beast, and worse than a beast - for a beast does the will of its Creator, whereas you took a piece of wood and made it into a god. They lost their human countenance.
"Your carried burdens are heavily laden, a burden to the weary beast" - the idols that you carry on your shoulders are themselves loaded down: people pile gold, chains, and ornaments onto them. And you carry the idol along with all the burden upon it, instead of it carrying you.
The Malbim notes a precise distinction: What is the difference between nesu'ot (carried) and amusot (laden), given that both denote a burden? Rather, amus always applies when someone loads a burden onto another - "and each man loaded (vaya'amos) his donkey," "your father loaded a heavy yoke upon us." But when one takes something upon oneself and carries it, that is called nosei. Accordingly: "your carried burdens" (nesu'oteichem) - what you carry of your own accord, for you took the idol upon yourselves; "heavily laden" (amusot) - the idol itself was loaded with silver and gold by others. It turns out that, in the end, you carry the very idol you expected to carry you and save you.
קָרְסוּ כָרְעוּ יַחְדָּו, לֹא יָכְלוּ מַלֵּט מַשָּׂא, וְנַפְשָׁם בַּשְּׁבִי הָלָכָה׃ - They stoop, they bow down together; they could not rescue the burden, and their soul has gone into captivity.
Rashi continues along this same line of mockery: "They could not rescue the burden" - to discharge the excrement in their bowels like others who eliminate properly. If previously the ridicule was that they defecated uncontrollably, here the mockery is the opposite: they also suffer from constipation and cannot discharge. "Melet" is an expression of discharge and delivery, as in "and she gave birth to a male" (ve-himlitah zachar).
Radak explains: they could not rescue themselves from being a burden - so that the beasts would not need to carry them. Well, you are a god, and beasts have to haul you? They could not escape this state of being like mummies, like invalids who need animals to carry them.
And the Malbim explains according to his approach: now, when the worshippers of Bel and Nevo go into exile with their idols - those very people who bowed and stooped before the idols - they carry them upon their shoulders. "They stoop, they bow down together" and bowed to them to save them, yet "they could not rescue the burden": the idols could not grant them even the minor salvation of at least being spared from carrying this heavy burden, which is the idol with everything loaded upon it. In simple terms: not only did you fail to save me, but you do not even save me from the need to lug you on my back. Even this small salvation you could not grant me.
"And their soul has gone into captivity" - they believed that the idols possessed a soul, will, and powers, yet behold, their soul goes into captivity. The worshipper and his idol march together into exile, and even from the heavy burden upon the shoulder, the idol cannot save him.
שִׁמְעוּ אֵלַי בֵּית יַעֲקֹב, וְכָל שְׁאֵרִית בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל, הַעֲמֻסִים מִנִּי בֶטֶן, הַנְּשֻׂאִים מִנִּי רָחַם׃ - Listen to Me, O house of Yaakov, and all the remnant of the house of Yisrael, who are borne from birth, carried from the womb:
Rashi explains: "Borne from birth" - from the time you were born in the house of Lavan the Aramean, I carried you in My arms. For even from that time, the Jewish people were persecuted - by Lavan, by Esav, and from then on in every generation. And unlike the idolaters, says Rashi, who load and carry their gods as mentioned above, you are loaded and carried in My arms.
Here the contrast is sharpened: the gentile must take his helpless god, which broke and could not save, and hoist it onto his shoulders. Meanwhile, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I carry you on My shoulders, I carry you in My arms. This is the difference between the true God and false idols.
A wonderful parable is told: a person envisioned the path of his life as footprints in the sand, and along the entire way, he noticed an additional set of footprints alongside his own - "Hashem is your shade at your right hand," the Holy One, blessed be He, always accompanies him. Yet precisely during difficult periods, in times of crisis, he saw only one set of footprints. He turned and asked: Master of the Universe, why is it that specifically in times of hardship and trouble I do not see Your footprints beside me? A heavenly voice emanated and said to him: My son, the set of footprints you saw was Mine, for during those times, I carried you in My arms.
It is precisely in difficult times that Hashem is closest to a person. There is no time of greater closeness to Hashem, blessed be He, than when a person is in trouble, in pain, or undergoing a trial. Then, the Holy One, blessed be He, carries him in His arms, for on his own, the person could not endure it at all; and if you did endure - says the Holy One, blessed be He - I carried you in My arms, I lifted you so that you could make it through that time.
The Malbim explains: in contrast to the idolaters, the prophet says - listen, "House of Jacob" refers to the masses of the Ten Tribes, and "all the remnant of the House of Israel" refers to the survivors remaining from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin; thus, he is addressing all of them. And as for you - you do not carry; rather, you are carried.
And he compares this to a woman carrying the fruit of her womb: first she carries it for nine months in her belly (beten), and afterward, when it emerges from her womb (rechem), she carries it in her arms. "Borne from the belly" refers to the days of pregnancy; "carried from the womb" refers to the time of birth and onward. For the term beten (belly) always refers to pregnancy, and rechem (womb) to birth, as in, "Upon You I was cast from the womb" - at the time of birth, and "from my mother's belly You are my God" - even earlier; and likewise regarding the reverse: "The wicked are estranged from the womb," and not only from the womb, but "from the belly the speakers of falsehood stray" - already at the stage of pregnancy.
According to the distinction we saw between amus (borne as a placed load) and nasu (carried voluntarily), this is remarkably precise: amus is when someone else places a load, and therefore in pregnancy - where the seed comes through the father - someone else placed the load of the pregnancy upon the woman, hence "borne from the belly." Whereas after birth, the mother lifts the baby of her own volition, which is a voluntary carrying, hence "carried from the womb."
וְעַד זִקְנָה אֲנִי הוּא, וְעַד שֵׂיבָה אֲנִי אֶסְבֹּל, אֲנִי עָשִׂיתִי וַאֲנִי אֶשָּׂא, וַאֲנִי אֶסְבֹּל וַאֲמַלֵּט׃ - Even to old age I am He, and even to gray hair I will bear; I made [you], and I will carry, and I will bear and deliver.
"Even to old age" - until you are already old and your strength is spent, and you seemingly possess no merit. At first we had the merit of the Avot, but as we aged, we had already used it up. To this the Holy One, blessed be He, says: "Even to old age I am He, and even to gray hair I will bear" - I am still prepared in My benevolence to save you, to carry and deliver.
Rashi notes precisely: regarding the deity of the nations, it is said that it is borne - meaning carried by its worshipers, for the idolater must haul his idol on his back and walk. But regarding the Holy One, blessed be He: "I will bear" - I bear others and carry them upon Myself, and deliver their burden. (And "bearing" here does not mean suffering, but comes from the word for a porter, one who bears a burden.)
The Malbim adds that the manner in which the Holy One, blessed be He, carries His children is greater than the way parents carry their children. For with parents, the relationship is such that when the child is small, the parent carries him; and when the child grows up and the parent ages, naturally the child is expected to support his parents. (In reality, of course, it is hard to rely on this; as the saying goes, one father can support ten children, but ten children do not support one father or look after him - go track them down: one is unavailable, another traveled away, another is busy. Yet at any rate, that is the natural order: a parent does not continue to carry his child at age twenty, thirty, forty, and fifty; rather, the children support their parents and help them.)
The Holy One, blessed be He, says: with Us, this is not so. "Even to old age I am He, and even to gray hair I will bear" - I carry the people of Israel even when they have grown old, and even when they reach advanced old age (seivah). And seivah always comes after ziknah (old age), as in, "and I have grown old and gray-haired." Even when you have turned gray and grown very old - not only do you not carry Me, but I carry you. "I made [you], and I will carry, and I will bear and deliver": not only did I make you, but like a porter I carry all your needs and deliver you from every harm.
The chapter opens with piercing mockery of Bel and Nevo, the idols of Babylon, who bowed and bent down and could not rescue their worshipers - nor even themselves from becoming a burden upon the shoulders of their worshipers and on the backs of beasts on the way into exile. Rashi teaches us that this is the source for the license to mock idolatry, which is the only permitted tool in waging war against falsehood; Radak depicts the image of the idols laden with gold on elephants and donkeys; and the Malbim explains that the one bowing and stooping is man himself, who lost the divine image of man and became like a wild beast. In contrast to them stands Israel: "borne from the belly, carried from the womb" - a nation that does not carry its God, but is carried by Him, from the belly and from the womb even unto old age and gray hair. Unlike the way of the world, where a son supports his father in his old age, the Holy One, blessed be He, carries us forever, and especially in difficult times - when He carries us in His arms.