Isaiah 22:20
in Isaiah 22On that day I will summon My servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:
KJV
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:
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This verse in Isaiah 22
Commentary
10 notes on this verseWhen 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.
This site's exposition
I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah
on Isaiah 22:20-23
Eliakim receives what Shebna lost, robe and girdle and government, and is called a father to Jerusalem and Judah, language of paternal care rather than mere administration. The key of the house of David laid on his shoulder makes him the single gatekeeper of royal access, so he shall open, and none shall shut, and he shall shut, and none shall open, an absolute authority the older writers from the fathers onward read as reaching past Eliakim toward Christ. Revelation 3:7 takes the identical title, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, and applies it to the risen Christ writing to Philadelphia, verified as this chapter's own vocabulary carried forward. Fastened as a nail in a sure place, Eliakim becomes for a time the glorious throne of his father's house, the type carrying weight the man himself could not permanently bear.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
(Verse 15, 16, etc.) Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts: Go, enter to him who dwells in the tabernacle, to Shebna, the overseer of the temple, and say to him: What are you doing here? or who are you here? for you have carved out a sepulchre here for yourself. You have carved out a lofty memorial for yourself diligently in the rock for your tent. Behold, the Lord will cast you down as one is cast down, like a cockerel; and he will lift you up like a cloak.
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.
(Verse 15 onward) Thus says the Lord God of hosts: Go, go into him who dwells in the tabernacle, to Shebna, the overseer of the Temple, and say to him: What are you doing here? Or who are you here, because you have dug for yourself here a tomb? You have dug your memorial on high, diligently in the rock you have made a dwelling for yourself. Behold, the Lord will carry you away: like the lifting of a rooster or like a garment he will lift you up. He will surely overthrow you and throw you into a wide and spacious land: there you shall die, and there shall be the chariots of your glory; the disgrace of your Lord's house. And I will drive you out from your office, and I will remove you from your position. And on that day, I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah. And I will clothe him with your robe, and I will strengthen him with your sash, and I will give your authority into his hand. And he will be like a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And I will place the key of the house of David on his shoulder, and he will open, and no one shall shut; and he will shut, and no one shall open. And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the Lord hath spoken it. We have already mentioned that Shebna was a high priest who betrayed the city to the Assyrians. […]
The Medieval Church1 voice
And it shall come to pass in that day. Here he sets out the substitution of another, and concerning this he sets out three things. His election: I will call, one of the twenty-four mentioned in 1 Chronicles 25; I will raise me up a …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And it shall come to pass in that day,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
He is God's servant, has approved himself faithfully so in other employments, and therefore God will call him to this high station. Those that are diligent in doing the duty of a low sphere stand fairest for preferment in God's books.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
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.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
son of Hilkiah--supposed by KIMCHI to be the same as Azariah, son of Hilkiah, who perhaps had two names, and who was "over the household" in Hezekiah's time (1Ch 6:13).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהָיָ֖ה | vehayah | and it will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| בַּיּ֣וֹם | baiyom | in the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַה֑וּא | hahu' | <the> that | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| וְקָרָ֣אתִי | vekarati | and I will summon | H7121 → | 733 times |
| לְעַבְדִּ֔י | leavdi | <to> servant my | H5650 → | 799 times |
| לְאֶלְיָקִ֖ים | leelyakim | <to> Eliakim | H471 → | 12 times |
| בֶּן־ | ben- | [the] son of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| חִלְקִיָּֽהוּ׃ | chilkiyahu | Hilkiah | H2518 → | 34 times |
וְהָיָ֖הand it will be
vehayahH1961 →3559 times
בַּיּ֣וֹםin the day
baiyomH3117 →2304 times
הַה֑וּא<the> that
hahu'H1931 →1879 times
וְקָרָ֣אתִיand I will summon
vekaratiH7121 →733 times
לְעַבְדִּ֔י<to> servant my
leavdiH5650 →799 times
לְאֶלְיָקִ֖ים<to> Eliakim
leelyakimH471 →12 times
בֶּן־[the] son of
ben-H1121 →4930 times
חִלְקִיָּֽהוּ׃Hilkiah
chilkiyahuH2518 →34 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 36:22Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they relayed to him the words of the Rabshakeh.
it leads to
- Isaiah 36:3
Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to him.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 33:7
Behold, their valiant ones cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 36:3
Through
2 Kings 18:18Then they called for the king; and Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebnah the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to them.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 19:2
And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Samuel 20:24
Adoram was in charge of the forced labor; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder;
- 2 Chronicles 34:8
Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, in order to cleanse the land and the temple, Josiah sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah son of Joahaz,…
- Isaiah 36:22
Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they relayed to him the words of the Rabshakeh.
- 2 Kings 19:2
Through
2 Kings 18:37Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they relayed to him the words of the Rabshakeh.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 5:7
When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and asked, “Am I God, killing and giving life, that this man expects me to cure a leper? Surely you can see…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Kings 5:7
Through
Isaiah 37:2And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz
it leads to
- Isaiah 1:1
This is the vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
- Isaiah 1:1
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Isaiah
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 22:10-14; Eusebius of Caesarea, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 148:6-20; 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; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.