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].

WE have read, in your hearing, the occasion of these words. Shebna the scribe, having become proud and vainglorious, was to be put away and his place to be occupied by a better man on whom God promised to establish His favor. When Shebna the scribe was put away, it was like the drawing out of a nail which, apparently, had been well fastened, and all that had been hanging upon it came down with its fall. Thus did Shebna's family suffer for his sin. It is just so in the world at this day.

WE have read, in your hearing, the occasion of these words. Shebna the scribe, having become proud and vainglorious, was to be put away and his place to be occupied by a better man on whom God promised to establish His favor. When Shebna the scribe was put away, it was like the drawing out of a nail which, apparently, had been well fastened, and all that had been hanging upon it came down with its fall. Thus did Shebna's family suffer for his sin. It is just so in the world at this day. It were well if some men who have gone into evil ways had considered this. It is not they, alone, who suffer. Such is the order and constitution of the commonwealth of manhood, that when the husband sins, the household must feel much of the smart. Oftentimes, for wife and children, there has been wrung out a cup of bitterness, of which they have been made to drink, not through their own fault, but through the fault of the head of the family. Should there be any men here who have strayed into this house, tonight, who contemplate putting forth his hand to that which is not good, though he might dare to risk the consequences for his own sake, yet, for the sake of the children of his loins and the wife of his bosom, let him pause lest, perhaps, he fill their lives with bitterness, or send them to their graves prematurely in poverty and shame. That is not, however the subject upon which I shall talk at this time. When Shebna was removed, there was room for Eliakim. Let this furnish the key to a spiritual lesson. It has been generally propounded and admitted by commentators and expositors that Eliakim is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. While this passage literally refers to Eliakim, himself, it may, with very great instructiveness, be used as applicable to the Lord Jesus—and so I use it. The first point will be this— I.

All the glory - One considerable part of the magnificence of the eastern princes consisted in the great quantity of gold and silver vessels which they had for various uses. “Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver; it was nothing accounted of in Solomon’s days;” 1Ki 10:21. “The vessels in the house of the forest of Lebanon,” the armory of Jerusalem so called, “were two hundred targets, and three hundred shields of beaten gold.” Ibid. 1Ki 10:16, 1Ki 10:17. These were ranged in order upon the walls of the armory, (see Son 4:4), upon pins worked into the walls on purpose, as above mentioned. Eliakim is considered as a principal stake of this sort, immovably fastened in the wall for the support of all vessels destined for common or sacred uses; that is, as the principal support of the whole civil and ecclesiastical polity. And the consequence of his continued power will be the promotion and flourishing condition of his family and dependents, from the highest to the lowest. Vessels of flagons “Meaner vessels” - נבלים nebalim seems to mean earthen vessels of common use, brittle, and of little value, (see Lam 4:2; Jer 48:12), in opposition to אגנות aganoth, goblets of gold and silver used in the sacrifices. Exo 24:6.

And they shall hang upon him - This figure is a continuation of that commenced in the previous verse; and is derived from the custom of “hanging” clothes or ornaments on the spikes that were fixed in the walls; and, perhaps, more particularly from the custom of suspending shields, swords, suits of armor, etc., taken in battle, around the walls of a temple. A great portion of the wealth of the ancients consisted in gold and silver vessels, and in changes of raiment. These would be hung around a house in no inconsiderable degree for ostentation and parade. ‘Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold; and all the vessels of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver’ 1Ki 10:21. ‘The vessels in the house of the forest of Lebanon were two hundred targets and three hundred shields of beaten gold’ 1Ki 10:16-17. That these were hung on spikes or pins around the house is apparent from Son 4:4: ‘Thy neck is like the tower of David, builded for an armory, whereon there bans a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.’ Eliakim is considered as a principal support like this, whereon would be suspended all the glory of his father’s family, and all the honor of his house; that is, he would be the principal support of the whole civil and ecclesiastical polity. The offspring and the issue - All that proceeded from the family; all that were connected with it. Kimchi and Aben Ezra render it, ‘Sons and daughters.’ The Septuagint: ‘From the least to the greatest.’ The Chaldee, ‘Sons and grandsons, youth and children.’ The idea is, that all the prosperity, near and remote, would depend on him; and that his character would sustain and give dignity to them all. […]