Isaiah 44:20
He feeds on ashes. His deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, "Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?"
He feeds on ashes
The phrase "He feeds on ashes" is a vivid metaphor illustrating the futility and emptiness of idolatry. In Hebrew, the word for "ashes" is "אֵפֶר" (epher), which signifies something that is burnt out and worthless. This imagery suggests that those who pursue idols are nourishing themselves with what is devoid of life and substance. Historically, ashes were a symbol of mourning and repentance, yet here they represent the spiritual starvation and deception of idol worship. The conservative Christian perspective sees this as a call to recognize the emptiness of anything that takes the place of God in one's life.

A deluded heart has led him astray
The "deluded heart" refers to the inner self that has been deceived. The Hebrew word for "heart" is "לֵב" (lev), often used to denote the center of one's thoughts, emotions, and will. In this context, it indicates a heart that has been misled by false beliefs and desires. The phrase "led him astray" suggests a departure from truth and righteousness. From a conservative Christian viewpoint, this highlights the danger of allowing one's heart to be swayed by anything other than the truth of God's Word, emphasizing the need for discernment and faithfulness.

he cannot deliver himself
This phrase underscores the helplessness of those ensnared by idolatry. The Hebrew root "נצל" (natsal) for "deliver" conveys the idea of rescue or salvation. The inability to deliver oneself points to the spiritual bondage and powerlessness that comes from relying on anything other than God. In a conservative Christian context, this serves as a reminder of the necessity of divine intervention for true salvation, reinforcing the belief that only through Christ can one be truly set free.

or say, ‘Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?’
The "right hand" in biblical terms often symbolizes power, authority, and action. The Hebrew word "יָמִין" (yamin) for "right hand" suggests a position of strength and capability. However, the inability to recognize the "lie" in one's hand indicates a profound spiritual blindness. The word "lie" in Hebrew is "שֶׁקֶר" (sheker), meaning falsehood or deception. This phrase challenges individuals to examine the objects of their trust and devotion. From a conservative Christian perspective, it calls believers to reject false idols and embrace the truth found in God alone, urging a return to authentic worship and reliance on the Lord.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Isaiah
A major prophet in the Old Testament, Isaiah is the author of the book bearing his name. He prophesied to the Kingdom of Judah and spoke God's messages of judgment and redemption.

2. Judah
The southern kingdom of Israel, which Isaiah primarily addressed. During Isaiah's time, Judah was often tempted by idolatry and alliances with foreign nations.

3. Idolatry
The practice of worshiping idols or false gods, which is a central theme in Isaiah 44. The people of Judah were often led astray by the worship of idols, which Isaiah condemns.
Teaching Points
The Deception of Idolatry
Idolatry is not just the worship of physical idols but can include anything that takes the place of God in our hearts. We must examine our lives for modern "idols" that may lead us astray.

The Danger of a Deluded Heart
A heart that is not aligned with God's truth can easily be deceived. Regular engagement with Scripture and prayer is essential to guard against spiritual deception.

Self-Examination and Repentance
Isaiah challenges us to ask ourselves if we are holding onto lies. We should regularly reflect on our beliefs and practices, seeking God's guidance to identify and correct any falsehoods.

The Inability of Idols to Save
Only God can deliver us. Trusting in anything other than Him for salvation or fulfillment is ultimately futile.

The Importance of Truth
Recognizing and embracing truth is crucial for spiritual health. We must be willing to confront uncomfortable truths about ourselves and our practices.
Bible Study Questions
1. What are some modern-day "idols" that people might hold in their "right hand," and how can they lead us astray?

2. How does the concept of a "deluded heart" manifest in today's world, and what steps can we take to guard against it?

3. In what ways can we apply the lessons from Isaiah 44:20 to ensure that we are not feeding on "ashes" in our spiritual lives?

4. How do the themes in Isaiah 44:20 connect with the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament about truth and deception?

5. Reflect on a time when you realized something you trusted in was a "lie." How did you come to that realization, and what changes did you make as a result?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Exodus 20:3-4
The commandment against idolatry, which Isaiah 44:20 echoes by highlighting the futility and deception of idol worship.

Romans 1:21-23
Paul describes how humanity exchanged the glory of God for images, similar to Isaiah's critique of idolatry.

Psalm 115:4-8
This passage describes the lifelessness of idols and the folly of those who trust in them, paralleling Isaiah's message.
A Perverted AppetiteF. B. Meyer, B. A.Isaiah 44:20
Arsenical PoisoningH. Macmillan, LL. D.Isaiah 44:20
Earth Used as FoodH. Macmillan, LL. D.Isaiah 44:20
Feeding on AshesH. Macmillan, LL. D.Isaiah 44:20
Feeding on AshesH. J. Hastings, M. A.Isaiah 44:20
Feeding on AshesJ. T. Davidson, D. D.Isaiah 44:20
Feeding on AshesJ. B. Nies, Ph. D.Isaiah 44:20
Feeding on AshesA. Maclaren, D. D.Isaiah 44:20
He Feedeth on AshesH. Macmillan, LL. D.Isaiah 44:20
Perverted Spiritual AppetitesH. Macmillan, LL. D.Isaiah 44:20
The Deceitfulness of the Heart in Embracing False ConfideJ. Jamieson, M. A.Isaiah 44:20
The Deceived HeartJ. Bolton, B. A.Isaiah 44:20
The Deceived HeartIsaiah 44:20
The Ill-Fed SoulR. Tuck Isaiah 44:20
The Self-Deception of Most Who Affect to be InfidelsG. Mathew, M. A.Isaiah 44:20
The Vanity of IrreligionW. Clarkson Isaiah 44:20
True and False BreadW.M. Statham Isaiah 44:20
Unsuitable FoodH. Macmillan, LL. D.Isaiah 44:20
Unsuitable FoodJ. T. Davidson, D. D.Isaiah 44:20
Jehovah and the ImagesE. Johnson Isaiah 44:6-28
The Idolater's JollyJ. T. Davidson, D. D.Isaiah 44:9-20
The Vanity of Graven ImagesW. S. Ayres.Isaiah 44:9-20
People
Cyrus, Isaiah, Jacob
Places
Israel, Jerusalem
Topics
Ashes, Aside, Astray, Can't, Dead, Deceived, Deliver, Delivereth, Deluded, Dust, Feedeth, Feeding, Feeds, Fire, Heart, Isn't, Led, Lie, Mind, Misleads, Safe, Save, Saying, Soul, Striveth, Twisted, Unable
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 44:20

     5016   heart, fallen and redeemed
     5973   unreliability

Isaiah 44:8-20

     6708   predestination

Isaiah 44:9-20

     5211   art
     7324   calf worship
     8748   false religion

Isaiah 44:13-20

     4552   wood

Isaiah 44:16-20

     1657   numbers, fractions

Isaiah 44:17-20

     5943   self-deception

Isaiah 44:18-20

     1165   God, unique

Library
Feeding on Ashes
'He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?'--ISAIAH xliv. 20. The prophet has been pouring fierce scorn on idolaters. They make, he says, the gods they worship. They take a tree and saw it up: one log serves for a fire to cook their food, and with compass and pencil and plane they carve the figure of a man, and then they bow down to it and say, 'Deliver me, for thou art my god!' He sums up the whole
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Writing Blotted Out and Mist Melted
'I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins.'--ISAIAH xliv. 22. Isaiah has often and well been called the Evangelical Prophet. Many parts of this second half of his prophecies referring to the Messiah read like history rather than prediction. But it is not only from the clearness with which the great figure of the future king of Israel stands out on his page that he deserves that title. Other thoughts belonging to the very substance of the gospel appear in
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Jacob --Israel --Jeshurun
'Yet now hear, O Jacob My servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen.... Fear not, O Jacob, My servant; and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. --ISAIAH xliv. 1, 2. You observe that there are here three different names applied to the Jewish nation. Two of them, namely Jacob and Israel, were borne by their great ancestor, and by him transmitted to his descendants. The third was never borne by him, and is applied to the people only here and in the Book of Deuteronomy. The occurrence of all three here
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Source of My Spirit's Deep Desire
"I will pour water on him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground." -- Isaiah 44:8. Source of my spirit's deep desire For living joys that shall not perish, The patient hope Thy words inspire, Still let Thy tender mercy cherish. On Thee my humbled soul would wait, Her utmost weakness calmly learning, And see Thy grace its way create, Through thorns and briers which Thou art burning. Gladly my inmost heart would know The love that now it faintly traces, And see the streams from Zion flow
Miss A. L. Waring—Hymns and Meditations

To the Afflicted, Tossed with Tempests and not Comforted. Isa 44:5-11
To the afflicted, tossed with tempests and not comforted. Isa 44:5-11 Pensive, doubting, fearful heart, Hear what CHRIST the Savior says; Every word should joy impart, Change thy mourning into praise: Yes, he speaks, and speaks to thee, May he help thee to believe! Then thou presently wilt see, Thou hast little cause to grieve. "Fear thou not, nor be ashamed, All thy sorrows soon shall end I who heav'n and earth have framed, Am thy husband and thy friend I the High and Holy One, Israel's GOD by
John Newton—Olney Hymns

Fourteenth Day for the Church of the Future
WHAT TO PRAY.--For the Church of the Future "That the children might not be as their fathers, a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God."--PS. lxxviii. 8. "I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thy offspring."--ISA. xliv. 3. Pray for the rising generation, who are to come after us. Think of the young men and young women and children of this age, and pray for all the agencies at work among them; that in association and societies
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

The Nature of Justification
Justification in the active sense (iustificatio, {GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA}) is defined by the Tridentine Council as "a translation from that state wherein man is born a child of the first Adam, to the state of grace and of the adoption of the sons of God through the second Adam,
Joseph Pohle—Grace, Actual and Habitual

Catalogue of his Works.
There is no absolutely complete edition of Eusebius' extant works. The only one which can lay claim even to relative completeness is that of Migne: Eusebii Pamphili, Cæsareæ Palestinæ Episcopi, Opera omnia quæ extant, curis variorum, nempe: Henrici Valesii, Francisci Vigeri, Bernardi Montfauconii, Card. Angelo Maii edita; collegit et denuo recognovit J. P. Migne. Par. 1857. 6 vols. (tom. XIX.-XXIV. of Migne's Patrologia Græca). This edition omits the works which are
Eusebius Pamphilius—Church History

Moses' Prayer to be Blotted Out of God's Book.
"And Moses returned unto the Lord and said. Oh! this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou--wilt, forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray they, out of thy book which than hast written." In the preceding discourse we endeavored to show that the idea of being willing to be damned for the glory of God is not found in the text--that the sentiment is erroneous and absurd--then adduced the constructions which have been put on the text by sundry expositors,
Andrew Lee et al—Sermons on Various Important Subjects

Centenary Commemoration
OF THE RETURN OF BISHOP SEABURY. 1885 THE RT. REV. SAMUEL SEABURY, D.D. FIRST BISHOP OF CONNECTICUT, HELD HIS FIRST ORDINATION AT MIDDLETOWN, AUGUST 3, 1785. On the ninth day of June, 1885, the Diocesan Convention met in Hartford. Morning Prayer was read in Christ Church at 9 o'clock by the Rev. W. E. Vibbert, D.D., Rector of St. James's Church, Fair Haven, and the Rev. J. E. Heald, Rector of Trinity Church, Tariffville. The Holy Communion was celebrated in St. John's Church, the service beginning
Various—The Sermons And Addresses At The Seabury Centenary

"But if Ye have Bitter Envying and Strife in Your Hearts, Glory Not," &C.
James iii. 14.--"But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not," &c. It is a common evil of those who hear the gospel, that they are not delivered up to the mould and frame of religion that is holden out in it, but rather bring religion into a mould of their own invention. It was the special commendation of the Romans, that they obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine into which they were delivered, (Rom. vi. 17) that they who were once servants, or slaves of sin, had now
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Impiety of Attributing a visible Form to God. --The Setting up of Idols a Defection from the True God.
1. God is opposed to idols, that all may know he is the only fit witness to himself. He expressly forbids any attempt to represent him by a bodily shape. 2. Reasons for this prohibition from Moses, Isaiah, and Paul. The complaint of a heathen. It should put the worshipers of idols to shame. 3. Consideration of an objection taken from various passages in Moses. The Cherubim and Seraphim show that images are not fit to represent divine mysteries. The Cherubim belonged to the tutelage of the Law. 4.
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

The Unity of God
Q-5: ARE THERE MORE GODS THAN ONE? A: There is but one only, the living and true God. That there is a God has been proved; and those that will not believe the verity of his essence, shall feel the severity of his wrath. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.' Deut 6:6. He is the only God.' Deut 4:49. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thy heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath, there is none else.' A just God and a Saviour; there is none beside
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Hiram, the Inspired Artificer
BY REV. W. J. TOWNSEND, D.D. The Temple of Solomon was the crown of art in the old world. There were temples on a larger scale, and of more massive construction, but the enormous masses of masonry of the oldest nations were not comparable with the artistic grace, the luxurious adornments, and the harmonious proportions of this glorious House of God. David had laid up money and material for the great work, but he was not permitted to carry it out. He was a man of war, and blood-stained hands were
George Milligan—Men of the Bible; Some Lesser-Known

A Few Sighs from Hell;
or, The Groans of the Damned Soul: or, An Exposition of those Words in the Sixteenth of Luke, Concerning the Rich Man and the Beggar WHEREIN IS DISCOVERED THE LAMENTABLE STATE OF THE DAMNED; THEIR CRIES, THEIR DESIRES IN THEIR DISTRESSES, WITH THE DETERMINATION OF GOD UPON THEM. A GOOD WARNING WORD TO SINNERS, BOTH OLD AND YOUNG, TO TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION BETIMES, AND TO SEEK, BY FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, TO AVOID, LEST THEY COME INTO THE SAME PLACE OF TORMENT. Also, a Brief Discourse touching the
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

In the Last, the Great Day of the Feast'
IT was the last, the great day of the Feast,' and Jesus was once more in the Temple. We can scarcely doubt that it was the concluding day of the Feast, and not, as most modern writers suppose, its Octave, which, in Rabbinic language, was regarded as a festival by itself.' [3987] [3988] But such solemn interest attaches to the Feast, and this occurrence on its last day, that we must try to realise the scene. We have here the only Old Testament type yet unfilfilled; the only Jewish festival which has
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Song of the Redeemed
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou ... hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation ... T he extent, variety, and order of the creation, proclaim the glory of God. He is likewise, ^* Maximus in Minimis . The smallest of the works, that we are capable of examining, such for instance as the eye or the wing of a little insect, the creature of a day, are stamped with an inimitable impression of His wisdom and power. Thus in His written Word, there
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

Of the Decrees of God.
Eph. i. 11.--"Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will."--Job xxiii. 13. "He is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth." Having spoken something before of God, in his nature and being and properties, we come, in the next place, to consider his glorious majesty, as he stands in some nearer relation to his creatures, the work of his hands. For we must conceive the first rise of all things in the world to be in this self-being, the first conception
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Third Stage of the Roman Trial. Pilate Reluctantly Sentences Him to Crucifixion.
(Friday. Toward Sunrise.) ^A Matt. XXVII. 15-30; ^B Mark XV. 6-19; ^C Luke XXIII. 13-25; ^D John XVIII. 39-XIX 16. ^a 15 Now at the feast [the passover and unleavened bread] the governor was wont { ^b used to} release unto them ^a the multitude one prisoner, whom they would. { ^b whom they asked of him.} [No one knows when or by whom this custom was introduced, but similar customs were not unknown elsewhere, both the Greeks and Romans being wont to bestow special honor upon certain occasions by releasing
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Water of Life;
OR, A DISCOURSE SHOWING THE RICHNESS AND GLORY OF THE GRACE AND SPIRIT OF THE GOSPEL, AS SET FORTH IN SCRIPTURE BY THIS TERM, THE WATER OF LIFE. BY JOHN BUNYAN. 'And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.'--Revelation 22:17 London: Printed for Nathanael Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, 1688. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Often, and in every age, the children of God have dared to doubt the sufficiency of divine grace; whether it was vast enough to reach their condition--to cleanse
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Being of God
Q-III: WHAT DO THE SCRIPTURES PRINCIPALLY TEACH? A: The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man. Q-IV: WHAT IS GOD? A: God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Here is, 1: Something implied. That there is a God. 2: Expressed. That he is a Spirit. 3: What kind of Spirit? I. Implied. That there is a God. The question, What is God? takes for granted that there
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

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