God uses these parallel rhetorical questions to expose the self-evident absurdity of the creature denying its Creator’s existence or wisdom, thereby revealing that Israel’s hidden schemes constitute precisely this kind of cosmic foolishness.

No direct verbal response is recorded. The oracle continues immediately with verse 17, announcing that Lebanon will become a fruitful field and the deaf will hear. God’s promise to reverse Israel’s perversion with His own transformative work.

These twin rhetorical questions devastate any pretense of creature autonomy. The parallel structure reinforces the singular point: denying God’s creative rights or questioning His wisdom is self-refuting absurdity. The Hebrew construction expects an emphatic negative answer, ‘Of course not!’ By framing this as questions rather than assertions, God invites Israel to recognize their position’s inherent foolishness. The work cannot deny its maker; the clay cannot claim superior understanding to the potter. This questioning exposes that Israel’s secret counsels, hidden from God’s supposed ignorance, represent exactly this kind of cosmic incoherence. The theological weight crushes all human pretension to autonomous wisdom or authority.