To whom then will you liken God? or what likeness will you compare to him?
Isaiah 40:25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
Isaiah 46:5,9 To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? …
Exodus 8:10 And he said, To morrow. And he said, Be it according to thy word: that thou mayest know that there is none like unto the LORD our God.
To what image will you compare Him?
This phrase critiques the practice of idolatry, which was prevalent in ancient Near Eastern cultures. The Israelites were often tempted to adopt the idol worship of their neighbors, despite the clear commandments against it (Exodus 20:4-5). The use of "image" refers to the physical representations of deities, which were common in the ancient world. Isaiah's message is that no crafted image can capture the essence or glory of the true God. This is further supported by passages such as Deuteronomy 4:15-19, which warn against making any form of idol. Theologically, this points to the idea that God is spirit (John 4:24) and cannot be contained or represented by physical objects. This also foreshadows the New Testament revelation of Jesus Christ, who is described as the "image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15), providing a true representation of God's nature without the limitations of idolatry.
Isaiah opens with a question that stops us in our tracks. No one—past, present, or future—can be placed on the same level as the LORD.
• Scripture repeatedly makes this point. In Isaiah 40:25, God Himself says, “To whom will you compare Me, or who is My equal?” In Isaiah 46:9 He reminds His people, “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me.”
• Moses tells Israel, “You were shown these things so that you would know that the LORD is God; there is no other but Him” (Deuteronomy 4:35).
• Even the heavens testify to His singular greatness: “For who in the skies can compare with the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD?” (Psalm 89:6).
Every human hero, every angelic being, every power is finite, created, and contingent. God alone is infinite, uncreated, and self-existent. The verse invites us to lift our eyes from whatever we might admire and fix them on the One who stands utterly alone in majesty.
The second question zooms in on the folly of trying to capture God in a physical form.
• The Ten Commandments already laid the foundation: “You shall not make for yourself an idol” (Exodus 20:4).
• Isaiah later ridicules the craftsman who “cuts down cedars” and with part of the wood warms himself, yet with the rest makes “a god, his idol” (Isaiah 44:14–17).
• Paul echoes the same truth in Athens: “We should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone—an image formed by man’s skill and imagination” (Acts 17:29).
Idols are powerless and lifeless (Psalm 115:4–8), while God is living and active. Any physical representation limits Him, distorts His glory, and pulls our worship downward. Isaiah’s question exposes the absurdity of substituting a created image for the Creator: nothing fashioned by human hands can even begin to reflect the fullness of His splendor.
Isaiah 40:18 confronts us with a pair of probing questions that shatter every rival claim to God’s supremacy. No person, no force, no cosmic power can stand beside Him, and no man-made image can capture His glory. The verse calls us to abandon all substitutes, lift our eyes to the incomparable LORD, and give Him the wholehearted worship He alone deserves.
(18) To whom then will ye liken God . . .--The thought of the infinity of God leads, as in St. Paul's reasoning (Acts 17:24-29), to the great primary argument against the folly of idolatry. It is characteristic, partly of the two men individually, partly of the systems under which they lived, that while the tone of Isaiah is sarcastic and declamatory, that of St Paul is pitying, and as with indulgent allowance for the "times of ignorance." We must remember, of course, that the Apostle speaks to those who had known nothing better than the worship of their fathers, the prophet to those who were tempted to fall into the worship of the heathen from a purer faith.Verse 18. is more the complement of what precedes than the introduction to what follows (comp. ver. 25). If God be all that has been said of him in vers. 12-17, must he not be wholly unique and incomparable? Then, out of this, the thought arises of the strange, the poor, the mean "likenesses" of God, which men have in their folly set up in various times and places. It has been said that Israel in captivity did not need to be warned against idolatry, of the inclination to which the Captivity is supposed at once to have cured them (Urwick, 'Servant of Jehovah,' p. 15). But there is no evidence of this. Rather, considering the few that returned, and the many that remained behind (Joseph., 'Ant Jud.,' 11:1), we may conclude that a large number adopted the customs, religion, and general mode of life of their masters.'