Isaiahchapter 22
25 verses · BSBIsaiah book hub →
Speaks with:Jeremiah 14×2Jeremiah 39×2Isaiah 10×2Isaiah 36×22 Kings 18×2Jeremiah 21×1
Summary
Chapter summary
Jerusalem itself ("the valley of vision") receives a burden alongside the foreign nations. The city crowds its housetops in tumult while its rulers flee and are bound without a battle; Elam bears the quiver and Kir uncovers the shield at the gates. Judah's response is purely practical: weapons from the house of the forest, counted houses broken down to fortify the wall, a reservoir between the two walls, but no look toward "him that had done this." When Jehovah calls for weeping, the city feasts instead: "let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die," an iniquity not forgiven till death. The chapter then turns personal: Shebna the treasurer, hewing himself a grand tomb, will be hurled away like a ball, and Eliakim the son of Hilkiah receives his robe, his government, and the key of the house of David (opening what none shut), language Revelation 3:7 applies to Christ. Yet even this fastened nail will one day give way.
Context
Prophecy · Isaiah — Isaiah overview
- A. 1–14 The Valley of Vision: Feasting While the Wall Breaks
- B. 15–25 Shebna Thrust Out, Eliakim Given the Key
The outline
A.The Valley of Vision: Feasting While the Wall Breaksvv. 1 to 14
Read vv. 1 to 14 →B.Shebna Thrust Out, Eliakim Given the Keyvv. 15 to 25
Read vv. 15 to 25 →
The world behind this chapter
Isaiah 22The history
The valley of vision is Jerusalem, and putting her in the middle of the oracles against the nations is the whole shock of the chapter. The city is up on its flat roofs, which is where people gathered for news and for parties, and it is full of shouting. Meanwhile the rulers have fled and been captured without a fight, and men have died who were not killed in battle — the picture of a city that has been through famine and siege and is now throwing a party over the reprieve.
The defense works described match what was actually done. The text lists it in order: you counted the houses of Jerusalem and pulled houses down to fortify the wall; you made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool; you gathered the waters of the lower pool. Excavators in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter found a wall about seven meters thick from this period built straight across the demolished foundations of houses. And Hezekiah's water tunnel, cut through solid rock from the spring to the pool inside the walls, still carries an inscription left by the two teams describing the moment their picks met in the dark.
The armory is called the House of the Forest, the great hall of cedar pillars built by Solomon and used as a weapons store. Taking stock of it, and of the wall, and of the water, was sensible. The complaint is not that Hezekiah's engineers were wrong; it is that in all the planning, nobody looked to the one who made it.
The second half turns on two officials. Shebna, the steward over the household, is found cutting himself a tomb on a height, hewing a chamber out of the rock — the kind of monument reserved for the great, and a foreigner's presumption if he had no family holding. A rock-cut tomb inscription from exactly this period, found in the village across the Kidron, belongs to a royal steward whose name ends the same way, and many connect it with him. He is replaced by Eliakim, who is given the key of the house of David on his shoulder. Palace and temple keys were large wooden bars, carried openly on the shoulder as the visible badge that this man opened and shut the doors.
What it meant to them
The line that stung was the slogan quoted back at them: let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. A city that had just been spared decided the lesson was to enjoy itself.
God had called for weeping and sackcloth, and got joy and feasting instead. Isaiah says that of all Judah's sins this is the one that would not be purged — because it was the response to mercy.
Sources cited
- The Siloam Tunnel inscription, Jerusalem, late 8th century BC
- Walton, Matthews & Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Isaiah 22. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Connections from this chapter
v. 22 · The title points back
Philadelphia title 'holy and true, hath the key of David' cites Isa 22:22 (Eliakim's key) + Rev 1:18 (key of death and Hades).
Revelation 3:7→…One who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no…
Read the whole verse
To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of the One who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open.
biblical text ASV/WEB (PD); Isa 22:22; Rev 1:18
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.