Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low;
    their idols are borne by beasts of burden.
The images that are carried about are burdensome,
    a burden for the weary.
They stoop and bow down together;
    unable to rescue the burden,
    they themselves go off into captivity.

Isaiah 46:1-2

This is an interesting passage because it creates some poetic tension between reality and imagery. An idol is nothing but a man-made object, a thing to be hauled around on an ox-cart. But here we see a depiction that even a lifeless idol will bow down and worship before the Lord. The mere objects which were once worshipped are now worshippers themselves, the gods of the idolators now praising the Living God. The people who paid worship to these objects they made with their own hands, likewise, find themselves marched off to captivity. We can almost see their tired, defeated faces, looking on as their so-called gods become mere plunder for the invader.

Ethan Kirl