An Oracle Concerning Jerusalem
Isa 22:1 A prophecy against the Valley of Vision: What troubles you now, that you have all gone up on the roofs,
Isa 22:2 you town so full of commotion, you city of tumult and revelry? Your slain were not killed by the sword, nor did they die in battle.
Isa 22:3 All your leaders have fled together; they have been captured without using the bow. All you who were caught were taken prisoner together, having fled while the enemy was still far away.
Isa 22:4 Therefore I said, “Turn away from me; let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people.”
Isa 22:5 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, has a day of tumult and trampling and terror in the Valley of Vision, a day of battering down walls and of crying out to the mountains.
Isa 22:6 Elam takes up the quiver, with her charioteers and horses; Kir uncovers the shield.
Isa 22:7 Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen are posted at the city gates.
Isa 22:8 The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah, and you looked in that day to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest.
Isa 22:9 You saw that the walls of the City of David were broken through in many places; you stored up water in the Lower Pool.
Isa 22:10 You counted the buildings in Jerusalem and tore down houses to strengthen the wall.
Isa 22:11 You built a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the Old Pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago.
Isa 22:12 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.
Isa 22:13 But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! “Let us eat and drink,” you say, “for tomorrow we die!”
Isa 22:14 The LORD Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for,” says the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
Isa 22:15 This is what the Lord, the LORD Almighty, says: “Go, say to this steward, to Shebna the palace administrator:
Isa 22:16 What are you doing here and who gave you permission to cut out a grave for yourself here, hewing your grave on the height and chiseling your resting place in the rock?
Isa 22:17 “Beware, the LORD is about to take firm hold of you and hurl you away, you mighty man.
Isa 22:18 He will roll you up tightly like a ball and throw you into a large country. There you will die and there the chariots you were so proud of will become a disgrace to your master’s house.
Isa 22:19 I will depose you from your office, and you will be ousted from your position.
Isa 22:20 “In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.
Isa 22:21 I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah.
Isa 22:22 I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
Isa 22:23 I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat of honor for the house of his father.
Isa 22:24 All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.
Isa 22:25 “In that day,” declares the LORD Almighty, “the peg driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.” The LORD has spoken.
1 The prophet lament the invasion of Jewry by the Persians. 8 He reproves their human wisdom and worldly joy. 15 He prophesies Shebna’s deprivation, 20 and Eliakim, prefiguring the kingdom of Christ, his substitution.
An Oracle Concerning Jerusalem
Isa 22:1 A prophecy against the Valley of Vision: What troubles you now, that you have all gone up on the roofs,
Jerusalem is the “valley of vision,” as the message itself makes clear (see vs. 4, 8–10).
Gone up the roofs. The flat roofs of the houses of Palestine were customary places for various activities (Judges 16:27; Neh. 8:16). At a time of grave danger, the people had gathered on the housetops, lighthearted and reckless, indulging in drinking and revelry (see v. 13).
Isa 22:2 you town so full of commotion, you city of tumult and revelry? Your slain were not killed by the sword, nor did they die in battle.
While the country of Judah was being devastated by the Assyrian armies and multitudes were dying, the inhabitants of Jerusalem were not risking their lives upon the field of battle, helping their compatriots. They were engaged in a strange and tumultuous seeking for pleasure. It was a sin for them to act thus at a time when so many of their brothers were suffering the loss of life and property (vs. 4–11), especially since God had proclaimed mourning (v. 12).
Isa 22:3 All your leaders have fled together; they have been captured without using the bow. All you who were caught were taken prisoner together, having fled while the enemy was still far away.
Leaders have fled. Isaiah may refer to a lull in Sennacherib’s siege of Jerusalem, caused by the approach of Taharka with his Ethiopian army (see ch. 37:8, 9), which gave some of the leaders in Jerusalem an opportunity to flee the city. Such a lifting of the siege, temporary though it was, could well have been regarded by the populace of Jerusalem as marking the end of the Assyrian danger, and thus could have led to widespread rejoicing.
Isa 22:4 Therefore I said, “Turn away from me; let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people.”
Isaiah is deeply affected over the plight of Jerusalem, and requests to be left alone in his grief. Later, Jeremiah also wailed bitterly over the fate of the city, which he likewise termed “the daughter of my people” (Lam. 3:48; cf. Jer. 8:19).
Isa 22:5 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, has a day of tumult and trampling and terror in the Valley of Vision, a day of battering down walls and of crying out to the mountains.
Isaiah pictures the day of trouble and distress when the enemy surrounds the city and breaks down its walls with battering rams, and when its people cry to the mountains in their anguish (see Isa. 2:19, 21; Hosea 10:8; cf. Luke 23:30; Rev. 6:16).
Isa 22:6 Elam takes up the quiver, with her charioteers and horses; Kir uncovers the shield.
Among the Assyrian forces invading Judea were skilled archers from Elam (Jer. 49:35).
Uncovered the shield. That is, prepared for battle.
Isa 22:7 Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen are posted at the city gates.
There were many valleys around Jerusalem, including those of Hinnom and Kidron. These would be filled with hostile forces attacking the city.
Isa 22:8 The Lord stripped away the defences of Judah, and you looked in that day to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest.
Palace of the forest. The royal armory. The golden (later bronze) shields of the royal guard were kept in the house of the forest of Lebanon (see on 1 Kings 10:17; 14:27). The people are pictured as turning to their weapons of defense.
Isa 22:9 You saw that the walls of the City of David were broken through in many places; you stored up water in the Lower Pool.
Upon the threat of attack the people of Jerusalem became aware of various parts of the wall of the city of David that were in urgent need of repair (2 Chron. 32:5).
The lower pool. See on 2 Chron. 32:4. A reservoir constructed especially to supply the city with water during a siege, and to deprive an enemy outside the city of an ample water supply.
Isa 22:10 You counted the buildings in Jerusalem and tore down houses to strengthen the wall.
(Brought wall)
A list was made of the houses in Jerusalem, certain of which were selected for demolition in order to provide materials for the repair of the city walls.
Isa 22:11 You built a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the Old Pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago.
The reservoir was built by Hezekiah to conduct the waters from the old pool at Gihon, a distance of 1,749 ft. (533 m.) southwest, to another pool, or reservoir, known as the Pool of Siloam. Outside an earlier wall, and outside Hezekiah’s aqueduct and the Pool of Siloam, was a second wall (see on 2 Chron. 32:5).
The entire water supply of the Gihon was thus made available to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and denied an enemy without the city. The walls protected the water system.
Many in Jerusalem no longer looked to God for protection, but to the works they had themselves devised. They forgot that the Lord was the true builder and maker of the city, and alone able to provide the help needed in time of distress.
Isa 22:12 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.
The danger confronting the city should lead the people to repentance and prayer. This was true of Hezekiah (ch. 37:1–4, 15–20). In view of the coming of the day of the Lord, Joel similarly called upon the people to turn to God with fasting and weeping, that He might be gracious to them (Joel 2:12–17).
Isa 22:13 But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! “Let us eat and drink,” you say, “for tomorrow we die!”
In spite of their desperate situation the people did not turn to God, but continued in revelry and feasting. They had given themselves over to reckless sensuality, from which nothing could dissuade them. Compare Paul’s comments on the Epicurean philosophy of his time (1 Cor. 15:32).
Isa 22:14 The LORD Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for,” says the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
The people refused to turn to the Lord, and their iniquity could not be pardoned. This was no arbitrary decree on the part of God. The Lord could not save them while they persisted in their perversity.
Isa 22:15 This is what the Lord, the LORD Almighty, says: “Go, say to this steward, to Shebna the palace administrator:
Jotham had been “over the house” (2 Kings 15:5).
Shebna’s position as treasurer was one of the most important in the realm. He may have been the royal vizier, acting on behalf of the king in all important affairs of state.
Isa 22:16 What are you doing here and who gave you permission to cut out a grave for yourself here, hewing your grave on the height and chiseling your resting place in the rock?
Isaiah was roused to indignation by the arrogance of Shebna. He seems to have newly risen to power and affluence, and to have had no family tomb where his fathers would have been interred. Accordingly, he determined to construct a new and stately tomb to honour him in his position of importance and to ensure him a place in the memory of future generations.
Instead of devoting his efforts to the saving of the nation in this time of peril, his chief aim was to promote his personal interests. Rock-hewn sepulchers of the type Shebna was constructing for himself are common in the environs of Jerusalem.
Prof. N. Avigad has identified this tomb of Shebna with one on the slopes of the Mount of Olives discovered many years ago, and from which an inscription was taken to the British Museum. This inscription, which defied decipherment for many years, reads: “This is [the sepulcher of Sheban]yahu, who is over the house.
There is no silver or gold here, but [his bones] and the bones of his slave-wife with him. Cursed be the man who will open this!” (Brackets indicate a conjectural restoration of broken and illegible portions of the inscription in its present state.)
Isa 22:17 “Beware, the LORD is about to take firm hold of you and hurl you away, you mighty man.
He would not occupy the tomb, but perish in a foreign land.
Isa 22:18 He will roll you up tightly like a ball and throw you into a large country. There you will die and there the chariots you were so proud of will become a disgrace to your master’s house.
Isaiah vividly foretells the fate of Shebna.
A large country. Probably Mesopotamia. Ostentatious pride was the weakness of Shebna. He provided himself with a splendid chariot, which would, however, accompany him into captivity.
Isa 22:19 I will depose you from your office, and you will be ousted from your position.
The Lord would remove Shebna from his post of honor. When Sennacherib’s envoys came to Jerusalem, another (see on v. 21) took his place “over the household,” while he filled the inferior position of scribe (ch. 36:22).
Isa 22:20 “In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.
Eliakim has not been mentioned previously, and we know nothing of his earlier history.
Isa 22:21 I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah.
Eliakim was to be given Shebna’s position, together with the robe and girdle, the insignia of office. This prediction soon came to pass (Isa. 36:22; cf. Prov. 16:18; Dan. 4:37; Luke 14:11).
Will be a father. Unlike Shebna, Eliakim was to exercise his office wisely, ruling for the good of the people and proving to be “a father” to them in their time of need. Nothing is known of his later activities other than the fact that he was head of the delegation that treated with Sennacherib’s envoys who came to demand the surrender of Jerusalem (ch. 36:11, 22).
Isa 22:22 I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
As royal chamberlain, Eliakim would carry the keys of the palace.
Isa 22:23 I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat of honour for the house of his father.
Eliakim would be an honor to the hitherto obscure house of his father. It is the Lord who thus raises the poor and lowly to positions of trust and honor (1 Sam. 2:7, 8; see on Luke 14:11).
Isa 22:24 All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.
Isa 22:25 “In that day,” declares the LORD Almighty, “the peg driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.” The LORD has spoken.
This verse provides the climax to a solemn message against Judah and Jerusalem (see on v. 1). Here, it may refer to the nation as such, and not to Eliakim as an individual. That peg would be removed, the burden fastened to it would fall, and the end would be disgrace and ruin. Such was indeed the fate of Jerusalem and Judah, and of those against whose riotous revelry this “burden” was directed.