Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.
ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
burn
לְבָעֵ֔רle.va.'Er
H1197
to kindle · preposition + verb, piel infinitive construct
take
וַיִּקַּ֤חvai.yi.Kach
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
warm
וַיָּ֔חָםvai.Ya.chom
H2552
to be hot (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
kindleth
יַשִּׂ֖יקya.Sik
H5400
to catch fire · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
baketh
וְאָ֣פָהve.'A.fah
H644
to cook · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
bread
לָ֑חֶםLa.chem
H3899
food (for man or beast) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
maketh
יִפְעַלyif.'al-
H6466
to do or make (systematically and habitually) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
god
אֵל֙'el
H410
strength · noun, common masculine singular absolute
worshippeth
וַיִּשְׁתָּ֔חוּvai.yish.Ta.chu
H7812
to depress · conjunction + verb, sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
maketh
עָשָׂ֥הוּ'a.Sa.hu
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
image
פֶ֖סֶלFe.sel
H6459
an idol · noun, common masculine singular absolute
down
וַיִּסְגָּדvai.yis.god-
H5456
to prostrate oneself (in homage) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Chronicles 25:14 Now it came to pass, after that Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and s…
Judges 2:19 And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods…
Isaiah 44:10 Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?
Isaiah 45:20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their g…
Revelation 9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship de…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 44:9-20
Often before, God, by the prophet, had mentioned the folly and strange sottishness of idolaters; but here he enlarges upon that head, and very fully and particularly exposes them to contempt and ridicule. This discourse is intended, 1. To arm the people of Israel against the strong temptation they would be in to worship idols when they were captives in Babylon, in compliance with the custom of the country (they being far from the city of their own solemnities) and to humour those who were now their lords and masters. 2. To cure them of their inclination to idolatry, which was the sin that did most easily beset them and to reform them from which they were sent into Babylon. As the rod of God…
The same tree that furnishes the material for the god is in part used as fuel for a fire to cook his meals and warm himself!
thereto--rather, "he falleth down before them," that is, such images [MAURER].
John Gill on Isaiah 44:15
Then shall it be for a man to burn,.... And which indeed is the proper use of it, but not all that this man puts it to; only the boughs, and what he cuts off as useless to his purpose, and the chips he makes, which he commits to the fire:
for he will take thereof, and warm himself; with some part of it he makes a fire in his parlour, and warms himself when it is cold weather:
yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; he heats his oven with another part of it, and bakes the bread he has made for himself and family to live on, and which is putting it to a good use:
yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh a graven image, and falleth down thereto; the other part of the tree, and whic…
He shall cut down for himself: The Prophet expresses not only the zeal and furious eagerness of idolaters, but also their rebellion and obstinacy; for when he says that they cut down cedars and plant pine-trees, he shews that they persevere very long in their madness, and are not prompted by any sudden impulse to manufacture gods. "Not only," says he, "do they choose trees that are already grown, but they even plant and water and cultivate them, and wait till they have come to their full size, so as to be fit material for making an idol."
When we read these things, and are instructed concerning this shocking madness, let us know that God lays his hand upon us, so to speak, in order to draw…
The Church Fathers
The prophet proceeds to teach that the Creator gave the forests and woods on the mountains to supply food and fuel and for the sake of human bodies. They, however, take a holm oak, an oak or a cedar that God has planted and watered by providing rain for the benefit of human bodies and use these trees to create gods.
What do you think of them, and what is the nature of those who make gods from inanimate statues? For it is easy to see in the latter that they are works of artisans, prepared by axes and drills and such tools, the invention of skillful and industrious people, who through a need of food have found an instrument of leisurely falsehood. What do you think of the nature of God and about whether God needs our sacrifices and whether God is weak, as if according to Symmachus he is hungry and weak and feeble and cannot even drink water. The statement that God cannot drink water implies that he desperately needs liquid, while in fact God shares in no such thing, as though he were a dumb creature.
And neither do we honour with many sacrifices and garlands of flowers such deities as men have formed and set in shrines and called gods; since we see that these are soulless and dead, and have not the form of God (for we do not consider that God has such a form as some say that they imitate to His honour), but have the names and forms of those wicked demons which have appeared. For why need we tell you who already know, into what forms the craftsmen, carving and cutting, casting and hammering, fashion the materials? And often out of vessels of dishonour, by merely changing the form, and making an image of the requisite shape, they make what they call a god; which we consider not only senseless, but to be even insulting to God, who, having ineffable glory and form, thus gets His name attached to things that are corruptible, and require constant service.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Adore — To worship; to express reverence and homage. The forms of adoration among the Jews were putting off the shoes (Ex. 3:5; Josh. 5:15), and prostration (Gen. 17:3; Ps. 95:6; Isa. 44:15, 17, 19; 46:6).…
Bowing — A mode of showing respect. Abraham “bowed himself to the people of the land” (Gen. 23:7); so Jacob to Esau (Gen. 33:3); and the brethren of Joseph before him as the governor of the land (Gen. 43:28).…
Bread — Among the Jews was generally made of wheat (Ex. 29:2; Judg. 6:19), though also sometimes of other grains (Gen. 14:18; Judg. 7:13). Parched grain was sometimes used for food without any other…
Graving — (1.) Heb. hatsabh. Job 19:24, rendered “graven,” but generally means hewn stone or wood, in quarry or forest. (2.) Heb. harush. Jer. 17:1, rendered “graven,” and indicates generally artistic work in…
Idol — (1.) Heb. aven, “nothingness;” “vanity” (Isa. 66:3; 41:29; Deut. 32:21; 1 Kings 16:13; Ps. 31:6; Jer. 8:19, etc.). (2.) ‘Elil, “a thing of naught” (Ps. 97:7; Isa. 19:3); a word of contempt, used of…
Oven — Heb. tannur, (Hos. 7:4). In towns there appear to have been public ovens. There was a street in Jerusalem (Jer. 37:21) called “bakers’ street” (the only case in which the name of a street in…
Carving · Idols ma — Idols ma
Idol · .Wood and stone — .Wood and stone
Idolatry · Making idols for the purpose of, described and ridiculed — Making idols for the purpose of, described and ridiculed
Trees · Were cut down: For fuel — Were cut down: For fuel
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Isaiah 44:15 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
The prophet now traces the origin of the idols still further back. Their existence or non-existence ultimately depends upon whether it rains or not. "One prepares to cut down cedars, and takes holm and oak-tree, and chooses for himself among the trees of the forest. He has planted a fig, and the rain draws it up. And it serves the man for firing: he takes thereof, and warms himself; he also heats, and bakes bread; he also works it into a god, and prostrates himself; makes an idol of it, and falls down before it. The half of it he has burned in the fire: over the half of it he eats flesh, roasts a roast, and is satisfied; he also warms himself, and says, Hurrah, I am getting warm, I feel the…
he uses part of the wood to make a fire . . . he takes the rest of it and makes himself a god to worship: This description of the process of making an idol drips with sarcasm and ridicule at the stupidity of the foolish idol worshipers (see also 44:19).
Rashi on Isaiah 44:15
And it was for man to ignite And part of that very tree was for man’s necessities, [viz.] to ignite.
and he took from the trees. and he warmed his body opposite them.
he even heated an oven with them and baked bread.
he even made a God from what was left over.
