Isaiahchapter 22
25 verses · Isaiah · 8th century BC · The Prophets
On that day I will summon My servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.
Introduction
Isaiah, The Prophets, Isaiah Overview.
Here Isaiah turns from the foreign nations to Jerusalem itself, which he calls the valley of vision. The chapter was spoken to a city that had just escaped danger and was celebrating. It has two parts, a word to the whole city and a word to one royal official by name. Listen for what the city did to prepare its defenses, and for what it failed to do. The second part turns on a key carried on the shoulder, a picture the New Testament takes up for Christ.
Context
- Who
- A capital celebrating its own survival, and one high official building himself a monument
- What
- An oracle placing Jerusalem among the nations under judgment, followed by a word removing the steward Shebna and setting Eliakim in his place.
- Where
- Jerusalem, its rooftops, its wall, its pools and the rock-cut tombs on the heights around it.
- When
- Most likely between about 705 and 701 BC, in the years before and during Sennacherib's invasion of Judah.
- Why
- To rebuke a city that trusted its walls and water supply and met God's call to repent with feasting.
Historical context
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.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
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.
Significance
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.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
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.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
No part of this chapter is read in the synagogue. Probed for this lane, the site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts printed parashot 0 and haftarah uses 0 for Isaiah 22, and no festival reading for the book. Across chapters 1 to 22 of Isaiah the same probe found a Haftarah only in chapters 1, 6, 7 and 9.
How it is read
Rashi is the main commentator on this chapter in the corpus, quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. Ibn Ezra is quoted from the Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah, translated by M. Friedlander in 1873, which Sefaria reports as Public Domain.
The Valley of Vision "is Jerusalem, the valley concerning which most prophecies were prophesied" (Rashi on Isaiah 22:1:1). Rashi reads the flight of the officers of the third verse as Zedekiah fleeing by night, with 2 Kings 25:4 beside it (Rashi on Isaiah 22:3:1). The feasting of the thirteenth verse he sets against God's grief: "The Holy One, blessed be He, so to speak, is mourning, and you are eating and rejoicing" (Rashi on Isaiah 22:13:1).
Shebna is read through the Talmud. Rashi cites Sanhedrin 26a for the charge that he wished to hand Hezekiah over to the king of Assyria (Rashi on Isaiah 22:16:1). His place goes to Eliakim.
The key of the House of David is read through Jonathan's Targum as "The key of the Temple and the government of the House of David" (Rashi on Isaiah 22:22:1). The peg in a sure place is a faithful trustee (Rashi on Isaiah 22:23:1). A Christian reader meets this key again in Revelation 3:7, where the one who holds the key of David is Christ. The classical Jewish reading in the corpus keeps it with Eliakim.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries 40 rabbinic locators on the verses of this chapter, 8 in the Talmud and 32 in the Midrash. It carries the text of none, so each is cited by ref here and never quoted or paraphrased. The verse numbers are the Hebrew ones the corpus prints.
On verse 1 it holds Eikhah Rabbah, Petichta 24, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Taanit 4:8 and Ein Yaakov, Taanit 4:12. On verse 2 it holds Midrash Lekach Tov on Lamentations 1:21:1. On verse 3 it holds Midrash Lekach Tov on Lamentations 1:2:1 and Midrash Lekach Tov on Lamentations, Introduction 1. On verse 4 it holds Bereshit Rabbah 36:6, Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Bereshit 84 and Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 19:15:2. On verse 5 it holds Midrash Aggadah, Numbers 24:17:6, Otzar Midrashim, Midrashim of Rabbi Akiba, Aleph Bet of Rabbi Akiba (Version 2) 12 and Seder Olam Rabbah 27:1.
On verse 8 it holds Eikhah Rabbah, Petichta 21, Jerusalem Talmud Yoma 1:1:20 and Kohelet Rabbah 10:18:1. On verse 12 it holds Aggadat Bereshit 68:2, Avodah Zarah 3b:9 and Chagigah 5b:12. On verse 13 it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Taanit 1:44, Ein Yaakov, Taanit 1:49 and Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 2:10:30. On verse 14 it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan 29:5, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Yoma 8:12 and Ein Yaakov, Yoma 8:24. On verse 15 it holds Ein Yaakov, Sanhedrin 3:7, Sanhedrin 26b:2 and Shemot Rabbah 1:10.
On verse 16 it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 3:4, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Toldot 10:4 and Midrash Tanchuma, Toldot 11:4. On verse 17 it holds Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Lech Lecha 10, Ketubot 28a:4 and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 26:3. On verse 18 it holds Sanhedrin 26a:27. On verse 20 it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan, Recension B 43:18 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Deuteronomy 3:24:1. On verse 22 it holds Midrash Tanchuma, Noach 3:11 and Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 32:25:12.
On verse 23 it holds Shemot Rabbah 37:1. On verse 24 it holds Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 40:22:1.
What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Isaiah 22:1:1 to 22:24:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Isaiah 22:12:1 to 22:21:1, Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873, reported Public Domain; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/isaiah/22.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators on the verses of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed for Isaiah 22: parashot 0, haftarah uses 0, and no festival reading for the book.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
The Valley of Vision: Feasting While the Wall Breaks
Isaiah 22:1-2
the burden against the Valley of Vision: Jerusalem is called "the Valley of Vision" because prophecy was given there, though it stands among hills. The prophet asks, "What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the rooftops", and Barnes and Delitzsch see citizens watching the enemy. Its slain "did not die by the sword".
Isaiah 22:1
“Blessed are their eyes, for they see, and they have seers by office among them. Where Bibles and ministers are there is a valley of vision, from which is expected fruit accordingly; but here is a burden of the valley of vision, and a heavy burden it is. Note, Church privileges, if they be not improved, will not secure men from the judgments of God.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Isaiah 22:1
“The burden - (see the note at Isa 13:1). “The valley” גיא gay'. Septuagint, Φάραγγος Pharangos - ‘Valley.’ Chaldee, ‘The burden of the prophecy respecting the city which dwells (that is, is built) in the valley, which the prophets have prophesied concerning it.’ There can be no doubt that Jerusalem is intended (see Isa 22:9-10).”
O city of commotion: Barnes hears in the city of commotion the hum of a busy town given to trade or to pleasure. The same Jerusalem is called the city of revelry at 32:13. Its revelry returns in the feast of verse 13.
Isaiah 22:2
“Thou that art full of stirs - Of tumult, of commotion, of alarm. Or, perhaps, this whole description may mean that it was formerly a city distinguished for the hum of business, or for pleasure; a busy, active, enterprising city. The Hebrew will bear this, but I prefer the former interpretation, as indicating mingled alarm and consternation, and at the same time a disposition to engage in riot and revelry. A joyous city - A city exulting; rejoicing; given to pleasure, and to riot.”
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 22:2
“Slain with famine (so some); for Sennacherib's army having laid the country waste, and destroyed the fruits of the earth, provisions must needs be very scarce and dear in the city, which would be the death of many of the poorer sort of people, who would be constrained to feed on that which was unwholesome.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Isaiah 22:3-4
All your rulers have fled together: r, captured without a bow", and even the fugitives who "fled to a distant place" are taken. Isaiah answers in the first person, "Turn away from me, let me weep", and refuses comfort "over the destruction of the daughter of my people".
Isaiah 22:3
“All thy rulers are fled together - The general idea in this verse is plain. It is designed to describe the consternation which would take place on the approach of the invader, and especially the timidity and flight of those on whom the city relied for protection and defense. Hence, instead of entering calmly and firmly on the work of defense, no inconsiderable part of the rulers of the city are represented as fleeing from the city, and refusing to remain to protect the capital.”
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 22:3
“All thy rulers - are bound by the archers “All thy leaders - are fled from the bow” - There seems to be somewhat of an inconsistency in the sense according to the present reading. If the leaders were bound, אסרו usseru, how could they flee away? for their being bound, according to the obvious construction and course of the sentence, is a circumstance prior to their flight. I therefore follow Houbigant, who reads הסרו huseru, remoti sunt, “they are gone off.” גלו galu, transmigraverunt, Chaldee; which seems to confirm this emendation.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
let me weep bitterly!: Barnes reads the order to turn away as grief that seeks to be alone. Jeremiah weeps over the slain daughter of my people at Jeremiah 9:1. Chrysostom calls this the way of the prophets, grieving for others as for themselves.
Isaiah 22:4
“Look away from me - Do not look upon me - an indication of deep grief, for sorrow seeks to be alone, and grief avoids publicity and exposure. I will weep bitterly - Hebrew, ‘I will be bitter in weeping.’ Thus we speak of “bitter” sorrow, indicating excessive grief (see the note at Isa 15:5; compare Jer 13:17; Jer 14:17; Lam 1:16; Lam 2:11; Mic 1:8-9). Labour not - The sense is, ‘My grief is so great that I cannot be comforted. There are no topics of consolation that can be presented.”
Isaiah 22:5-8
a day of tumult and trampling and confusion: This is "a day of tumult", which Barnes and Delitzsch set in the siege of Sennacherib. "Elam takes up a quiver" and "Kir uncovers the shield", troops they take as auxiliaries of Assyria. The people look "to the weapons in the House of the Forest", the armory of Solomon.
Isaiah 22:5
“Some think a valley near Ophel is meant as about to be the scene of devastation (compare see on Isa 32:13,14). breaking . . . walls--that is, "a day of breaking the walls" of the city. crying to the mountains--the mournful cry of the townsmen "reaches" to (MAURER translates, towards) the mountains, and is echoed back by them.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 22:5
“For it is a day of trouble and of treading down - When our enemies trample on everything sacred and dear to us, and endanger all our best interests (see Psa 44:6; Luk 21:24). And of perplexity - In which we know not what to do. We are embarrassed, and know not where to look for relief. By the Lord God of hosts - That is, he is the efficient cause of all this. It has come upon us under his providence, and by his direction (see the note at Isa 10:5).”
Kir uncovers the shield: Kir appears at 2 Kings 16:9, where Assyria took the people of Damascus there as captives. Elam and Kir take up quiver and shield here as peoples subject to Assyria. Amos 9:7 names Kir as the land the Arameans came from.
Isaiah 22:6
“Chariots of men “The Syriac” - It is not easy to say what רכב אדם recheb adam, a chariot of men, can mean. It seems by the form of the sentence, which consists of three members, the first and the third mentioning a particular people, that the second should do so likewise.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
horsemen are posted at the gates: The choicest valleys are the good ground around Jerusalem, and the Hinnom valley on the south was the richest. The horsemen at the gates come at 36:2, where the Rabshakeh stands by the aqueduct of the upper pool. The fields become a camp.
Isaiah 22:7
“Thy choicest valleys - Hebrew, ‘The choice of thy galleys;’ meaning the most fertile and most valued lands in the vicinity of the city. The rich and fertile vales around Jerusalem would be occupied by the armies of the Assyrian monarch. What occurs in this verse and the following verses to Isa 22:14, is a prophetic description of what is presented historically in Isa. 36, and 2 Chr. 32. The coincidence is so exact, that it leaves no room to doubt that the invasion here described was that which took place under Sennacherib.”
He has uncovered the defenses of Judah: Wesley takes the defenses of Judah as its fortified cities, now lost. 1 Kings 7:2 names the House of the Forest of Lebanon for its rows of cedar pillars. 1 Kings 10:17 places the gold shields of Solomon in that house.
Isaiah 22:8
“Covering - He took those fenced cities, which were a covering or safe-guard both to the people of Judah, and to Jerusalem. The armour - Thy trust was placed in the arm of flesh. The forest - More fully called the house of the forest of Lebanon, 1 Kings vii, 2, not because it was built in Lebanon, for it was in Jerusalem; but because it was built of the trees of Lebanon.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 22:8
“The armor “The arsenal” - Built by Solomon within the city, and called the house of the forest of Lebanon; probably from the great quantity of cedar from Lebanon which was employed in the building. See 1Ki 7:2, 1Ki 7:3.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Isaiah 22:9-11
You saw that there were many breaches: Seeing "many breaches in the walls of the City of David", the people "collected water from the lower pool". They "built a reservoir", works that match those of Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:20 and 2 Chronicles 32. Yet "you did not look to the One who made it".
Isaiah 22:9
“Ye have seen also the breaches - You who are inhabitants of the city. That such breaches were actually made, see 2Ch 32:5. Of the city of David - Of Jerusalem, so called because it was the royal residence of David. Zion was usually called the city of David, but the name was given also to the entire city. And ye gathered together ... - That is, Hezekiah and the people of the city collected those waters. Of the lower pool - (For a description of the upper and lower pool, see the notes at Isa 7:3).”
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 22:9
“Ye shall bring together into the city by subterranean passages cut in the rock of Zion, the fountain from which the lower pool (only mentioned here) is supplied. 2Ch 32:3-5, represent Hezekiah as having stopped the fountains to prevent the Assyrians getting water. But this is consistent with the passage here.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
You counted the houses of Jerusalem: 2 Chronicles 32:5 records Hezekiah rebuilding the broken wall. The houses of Jerusalem were counted to choose which to tear down for stone. Aquinas takes them as the houses next to the wall, torn down so its defenders could move.
Isaiah 22:10
“And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem - That is, you have taken an estimate of their number so as to ascertain how many can be spared to be pulled down to repair the walls; or you have made an estimate of the amount of materials for repairing the walls, which would be furnished by pulling down the houses in Jerusalem. To fortify the wall - The houses in Jerusalem were built of stone, and therefore they would furnish appropriate materials for repairing the walls of the city.”
you did not look to the One who made it: Clarke and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read it as the danger itself, planned by God from a distant time. Isaiah 37:26 says the same to Sennacherib, that God ordained this long ago and planned it in days of old. The siege had an author.
Isaiah 22:11
“Ye made also a ditch - That is, they made a “reservoir” to retain the water. The word ‘ditch,’ however, will well describe the character of the pool of Gihon on the west side of the city (see the notes at Isa 7:3). Between the two walls for the water of the old pool - Hezekiah built one of these walls himself (2Ch 32:5, 2Ch 32:30; compare 2Ki 25:5, and Jer 39:4). Between these two walls the water would be collected so as to be accessible to the inhabitants of the city in case of a siege.”
Isaiah 22:12-14
called for weeping and wailing: The LORD "called for weeping", and the city answers with "joy". Its slogan, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die", is the line Paul cites at 1 Corinthians 15:32 of life with no resurrection. "Until your dying day, this sin of yours will never be atoned for".
Isaiah 22:12
“And in that day - In the invasion of Sennacherib. It might be rendered, ‘And the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, on such a day calls to weeping;’ intimating that in such a time it was a general truth that God required those who were thus afflicted to weep, and fast, and pray. Call to weeping - That is, by his providence; or, it was “proper” that at such a time they should weep. Affliction, oppression, and calamity are indications from God “always” that we ought to be humbled, and to prostrate ourselves before Him.”
butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep: Henry finds under the feast a practical disbelief in any life after this one. Cyprian cites the eating and drinking, with the sentence of verse 14, as a warning against too great a lust for food. The day called for weeping gets meat and wine.
Isaiah 22:13
“Shebna is singled out as the subject of prophecy (the only instance of an individual being so in Isaiah), as being one of the irreligious faction that set at naught the prophet's warnings (Isa 28:1-33:24); perhaps it was he who advised the temporary ignominious submission of Hezekiah to Sennacherib.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Cross references
Isaiah 22:13
- Quoted in1 Corinthians 15:32If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for human motives, what did I gain? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
'Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die' (if the dead rise not)
The word for atoned is kaphar, the verb Leviticus uses for sin covered by sacrifice. The cattle and sheep slaughtered for the feast atone for nothing. Barnes counts revelry in a day called for weeping among the gravest of sins.
Isaiah 22:14
“It was revealed in mine ears “The voice of Jehovah” - The Vulgate has vox Domini; as if in his copy he had read קול יהוה kol Yehovah; and in truth, without the word קול kol, voice, it is not easy to make out the sense of the passage; as appears from the strange versions which the rest of the ancients, (except the Chaldee), and many of the moderns, have given of it; as if the matter were revealed in or to the ears of Jehovah: εν τοις ωσι Κυριου, in the ears of the Lord, Septuagint.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 22:14
“It is probable that this prophecy was delivered at the same time with that in the former part of the chapter, and began to be fulfilled before Sennacherib's invasion; for now Shebna was over the house, but then Eliakim was ( ch. xxxvi. 3 ); and Shebna, coming down gradually, was only scribe. The prophecy of Shebna's disgrace.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Shebna Thrust Out, Eliakim Given the Key
Isaiah 22:15-19
Shebna, "the steward in charge of the palace", is asked who authorized him "to carve out a tomb". The LORD will "roll you into a ball, and sling you into a wide land". Barnes and Gill note that 2 Kings 18 shows a Shebna as a scribe under Eliakim.
Isaiah 22:15
“Analysis of Isa 22:15-25. - Vision 20. The remainder of this chapter Isa 22:15-25 is occupied with a prediction respecting Shebna, and the promotion of Eliakim in his place. From the prophecy itself it appears that Shebna was prefect of the palace Isa 22:15, or that he was in the highest authority in the time of Hezekiah. That he was an unprincipled ruler is evident from the prophecy, and hence, Isaiah was directed to predict his fall, and the elevation of another in his place. Whether this Shebna is the same that is mentioned in Isa 36:3, is not known.”
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 22:15
“Rather, "the king's friend," or "principal officer of the court" (1Ki 4:5; 1Ch 27:33, "the king's counsellor") [MAURER]. "This" is prefixed contemptuously (Ex 32:1). unto Shebna--The Hebrew for "unto" indicates an accosting of Shebna with an unwelcome message.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
cut your resting place in the rock?: The two questions challenge the right of Shebna to a tomb in Jerusalem at all. Wesley notes the Jewish tradition that he was a foreigner. Clarke explains that men of high position were buried in large tombs cut into the rock.
Isaiah 22:16
“A sepulcher on high - in a rock - It has been observed before, on Isaiah 14, that persons of high rank in Judea, and in most parts of the east, were generally buried in large sepulchral vaults, hewn out in the rock for the use of themselves and their families. The vanity of Shebna is set forth by his being so studious and careful to have his sepulcher on high - in a lofty vault; and that probably in a high situation, that it might be more conspicuous.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 22:16
“What - What right hast thou to this place and office? Whom - What kindred or relations? For the Jews say, he was a stranger by birth; which is the more probable, because his pedigree is not mentioned in any of those places of scripture where he is named.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The LORD is about to shake you violently: The word for mighty man means simply a man, and the shaking is a violent throw. Barnes finds no record of the wide land Shebna was to be slung into, though Assyria is likely. The man who chose his own tomb loses the choice.
Isaiah 22:17
“Behold, the Lord will carry thee away with a mighty captivity,.... Or with the captivity of a man; so the Targum, of a mighty man, Sennacherib king of Assyria; who, as the Jews say (z), when he went from Jerusalem, upon the rumour of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia coming against him, carried away Shebna and his company, as with an inundation: or as a man is carried captive, whose captivity is harder, and more severe and cruel, than a woman's, as the Rabbins (a) observe; a woman finding more mercy in captivity usually than a man does.”
2 more voices on this verse
Isaiah 22:17
“Behold, the Lord will carry thee away - Of the historical fact here referred to we have no other information. To what place he was to be carried, we know not. It is probable, however, that it was to Assyria. With a mighty captivity - Hebrew, גבר geber - ‘Of a man,’ or perhaps, ‘O man.’ If it means ‘the captivity of a man,’ the sense is, a strong, irresistible, mighty captivity where the word “man” is emphatic, and means such as a mighty man would make.”
Isaiah 22:17
“For all these things will work for your destruction [i.e., Shebna's], since you have been deposed and rejected from the high priesthood, of which you showed yourself unworthy, God being a just judge who gives to each according to his worth. On you, then, he will bring these things; but on the other, Eliakim, whom he has assessed as his good servant and slave, he will invest with your robe and will honor by placing on him the crown of the high priesthood, whose ministry you had hitherto been entrusted with. For he is a man worthy of it.”
Eusebius of Caesarea · written before 339 · Commentary on Isaiah 148:6-20patristic
roll you into a ball: Barnes follows Lowth in taking the verb as the whirl of a sling before the stone is let go. Glorious chariots marked rank, as with Absalom and Adonijah at 2 Samuel 15:1 and 1 Kings 1:5. The steward's glory becomes his master's disgrace.
Isaiah 22:18
“He will surely violently turn - Lowth has well expressed the sense of this: He will whirl thee round and round, and cast thee away. Thus it refers to the action of throwing a stone with a “sling,” when the sling is whirled round and round several times before the string is let go, in order to increase the velocity of the stone.”
I will remove you from office: Shebna is ousted from his position by the LORD, and Barnes takes both lines of the sentence as the act of God. Aquinas compares Solomon removing Abiathar from office at 1 Kings 2:27. Henry observes that high places are slippery places.
Isaiah 22:19
“Third, the punishment of deposition, and I will drive you out from your station: so Solomon cast out Abiathar from being the priest of the Lord (1 Kgs 2:27).”
Thomas Aquinas · written before 1274 · Commentary on Isaiahpatristic
Isaiah 22:20-23
My servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah: Eliakim receives what Shebna lost, "your authority", and becomes "a father to the dwellers of Jerusalem". The LORD places "the key to the house of David", "What he opens no one can shut". Revelation 3:7 gives the key of David to Christ, and Eliakim becomes "a throne of glory".
Isaiah 22:20
“When he says, "I will call my servant Eliakim" (the name Eliakim means resurrection of God), then everyone who is glorious in the house of his father will trust in him [Eliakim]. Yet what is the house of Christ's Father if not the church? And who are glorious there? Those who put their trust in Christ, and they are not just those who are glorious according to the judgment of this world. On the opposite they may be very small people according to that judgment. But God is just and unprejudiced.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on Isaiah 22:10-14patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 22:20
“My servant Eliakim - A man who will be faithful to me; who will be trustworthy, and to whom the interests of the city may be safely confided; a man who will not seek to betray it into the hands of the enemy. Of Eliakim we know nothing more than what is stated here, and in Isa. 36. From that account it appears that he was prefect of the palace; that he was employed in a negotiation with the leader of the army of the Assyrians; and that he was in all things faithful to the trust reposed in him.”
I will clothe him with your robe: The robe and the authority echo the rise of Joseph at Genesis 41:42, and Joseph too was made a father to Pharaoh at Genesis 45:8. The sash held the purse and the sword. Henry calls rulers to be fathers to the people they govern.
Isaiah 22:21
“And I will clothe him with thy robe - He shall succeed thee in the office, and wear the garments which are appropriate to it. And strengthen him with thy girdle - That is, he shall wear the same girdle that thou didst (see the note at Isa 3:24). In that girdle was usually the purse, and to it was attached the sword. Often, among the Orientals, the girdle was adorned with gold and precious stones, and was regarded as the principal embellishment of the dress.”
the key to the house of David: Isaiah 9:6 lays the government on the shoulders of the child to be born, the same place the key of David is put here. Gill describes large keys of office hanging from the shoulder.
Isaiah 22:22
“And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder,.... In allusion either to magistrates carrying a key on their shoulder, hanging down from thence, having a hook at one end of it fit for that purpose; or having one embroidered on that part of their garment: or one carried before them by their servants.”
3 more voices on this verse
Isaiah 22:22
“And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder - As the robe and the baldric, mentioned in the preceding verse, were the ensigns of power and authority, so likewise was the key the mark of office, either sacred or civil. The priestess of Juno is said to be the key-bearer of the goddess, κλειδουχος Ἡρας· Aeschyl. Suppl. 299. A female high in office under a great queen has the same title: - Καλλιθοη κλειδουχος Ολυμπιαδος βασιλειης. “Callithoe was the key-bearer of the Olympian queen.” Auctor Phoronidis ap. Clem. Alex. p. 418, edit. Potter.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Isaiah 22:22
“Our Lord Jesus describes his own power as Mediator by an allusion to this ( Rev. iii. 7 ), that he has the key of David, wherewith he opens and no man shuts, he shuts and no man opens. His power in the kingdom of heaven, and in the ordering of all the affairs of that kingdom, is absolute, irresistible, and uncontrollable.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Isaiah 22:22
“But the phrase is rather figurative for sustaining the government on one's shoulders. Eliakim, as his name implies, is here plainly a type of the God-man Christ, the son of "David," of whom Isaiah (Isa 9:6) uses the same language as the former clause of this verse.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
ConnectionsRevelation 3:7
I will drive him like a peg into a firm place: The peg is the pin or spike driven into a wall or the ground to hold vessels and tents. Ezra 9:8 uses the same picture for the firm hold God gave the returned remnant in His holy place. Zechariah 10:4 names the tent peg among the rulers from Judah.
Isaiah 22:23
“And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place - The word ‘nail’ here (יתד yâtēd) means properly a peg, pin, or spike; and is applied often to the pins or large spikes which were used to drive into the ground to fasten the cords of tents. It is also applied to the nails or spikes which are driven into walls, and on which are suspended the garments or the utensils of a family. In ancient times, every house was furnished with a large number of these pegs, or nails.”
2 more voices on this verse
Isaiah 22:23
“Thus lasting shall the honour be that comes from God to all those who use it for him. Our Lord Jesus is as a nail in a sure place: his kingdom cannot be shaken, and he himself is still the same. That he should be a great blessing in his office; and it is this that crowns the favours here conferred upon him.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Isaiah 22:23
“The sense is: all that is valuable to the nation shall rest securely on him. In Ezr 9:8 "nail" is used of the large spike driven into the ground to fasten the cords of the tent to. throne--resting-place to his family, as applied to Eliakim; but "throne," in the strict sense, as applied to Messiah, the antitype (Lu 1:32, 33).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Isaiah 22:24-25
they will hang on him all the glory: The house of Eliakim hangs like vessels on a peg, "the descendants and the offshoots", every fortune of the family resting on one position. In the next verse "the peg driven into a firm place will give way", and "the load upon it will be cut down".
Isaiah 22:24
“Same image as in Isa 22:23. It was customary to "hang" the valuables of a house on nails (1Ki 10:16, 17, 21; So 4:4). offspring and the issue--rather, "the offshoots of the family, high and low" [VITRINGA].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
the peg driven into a firm place will give way: Barnes, Clarke, Henry and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read this falling peg as Shebna, who counted himself fixed for good. Verse 24 leaves room for the other reading, with the house of Eliakim hanging its whole weight on him. Every peg holds only as long as the LORD wills.
Isaiah 22:25
"The nail that is now fastened in the sure place (that is, Shebna, who thinks himself immovably fixed in his office) shall be removed, and cut down, and fall. " Those are mistaken who think any place in this world a sure place, or themselves as nails fastened in it; for there is nothing here but uncertainty.
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 22:25
“In that day shall the nail - Not Eliakim, but Shebna. Eliakim was to be fastened, that is, confirmed in office. But Shebna was to be removed. That is fastened in the sure place - Or, that was once fastened, or was supposed to be fastened - a phrase appropriate to an office which the incumbent supposed to be firm or secure. It here refers to Shebna. He was regarded as haying a permanent hold on the office, and was making provisions for ending his days in it.”
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Cyprian, Treatise XII. Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3:60; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES CONCERNING THE STATUES 18:8; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.