Isaiah 22

A Prophecy About Jerusalem

1 A prophecy against the Valley of Vision: What troubles you now, that you have all gone up on the roofs,
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.
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.
4 Therefore I said, “Turn away from me; let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people.”
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.
6 Elam takes up the quiver, with her charioteers and horses; Kir uncovers the shield.
7 Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen are posted at the city gates.
8 The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah, and you looked in that day to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest.
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.
10 You counted the buildings in Jerusalem and tore down houses to strengthen the wall.
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.
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.
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!”
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.
15 This is what the Lord, the LORD Almighty, says: “Go, say to this steward, to Shebna the palace administrator:
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?
17 “Beware, the LORD is about to take firm hold of you and hurl you away, you mighty man.
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.
19 I will depose you from your office, and you will be ousted from your position.
20 “In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.
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.
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.
23 I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat[a] of honor for the house of his father.
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.
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.

Isaiah 22 Commentary

Chapter 22

The siege and taking of Jerusalem. (1-7) The wicked conduct of its inhabitants. (8-14) The displacing of Shebna, and the promotion of Eliakim, applied to the Messiah. (15-25)

Verses 1-7 Why is Jerusalem in such terror? Her slain men are not slain with the sword, but with famine; or, slain with fear, disheartened. Their rulers fled, but were overtaken. The servants of God, who foresee and warn sinners of coming miseries, are affected by the prospect. But all the horrors of a city taken by storm, faintly shadow forth the terrors of the day of wrath.

Verses 8-14 The weakness of Judah now appeared more than ever. Now also they discovered their carnal confidence and their carnal security. They looked to the fortifications. They made sure of water for the city. But they were regardless of God in all these preparations. They did not care for his glory in what they did. They did not depend upon him for a blessing on their endeavours. For every creature is to us what God makes it to be; and we must bless him for it, and use it for him. There was great contempt of God's wrath and justice, in contending with them. God's design was to humble them, and bring them to repentance. They walked contrary to this. Actual disbelief of another life after this, is at the bottom of the carnal security and brutish sensuality, which are the sin, the shame, and ruin of so great a part of mankind. God was displeased at this. It is a sin against the remedy, and it is not likely they should ever repent of it. Whether this unbelief works by presumption or despair, it produces the same contempt of God, and is a token that a man will perish wilfully.

Verses 15-25 This message to Shebna is a reproof of his pride, vanity, and security; what vanity is all earthly grandeur, which death will so soon end! What will it avail, whether we are laid in a magnificent tomb, or covered with the green sod? Those who, when in power, turn and toss others, will be justly turned and tossed themselves. Eliakim should be put into Shebna's place. Those called to places of trust and power, should seek to God for grace to enable them to do their duty. Eliakim's advancement is described. Our Lord Jesus describes his own power as Mediator, ( Revelation 3:7 ) , that he has the key of David. His power in the kingdom of heaven, and in ordering all the affairs of that kingdom, is absolute. Rulers should be fathers to those under their government; and the honour men bring unto their families, by their piety and usefulness, is more to be valued than what they derive from them by their names and titles. The glory of this world gives a man no real worth or excellence; it is but hung upon him, and it will soon drop from him. Eliakim was compared to a nail in a sure place; all his family are said to depend upon him. In eastern houses, rows of large spikes were built up in the walls. Upon these the moveables and utensils were hung. Our Lord Jesus is as a nail in a sure place. That soul cannot perish, nor that concern fall to the ground, which is by faith hung upon Christ. He will set before the believer an open door, which no man can shut, and bring both body and soul to eternal glory. But those who neglect so great salvation will find, that when he shutteth none can open, whether it be shutting out from heaven, or shutting up in hell for ever.

Cross References 67

  • 1. Isaiah 13:1
  • 2. Psalms 125:2; Jeremiah 21:13; Joel 3:2,12,14
  • 3. S Isaiah 1:1
  • 4. S Joshua 2:8; Jeremiah 48:38
  • 5. Ezekiel 22:5
  • 6. S Isaiah 5:14; S Isaiah 21:5; Isaiah 32:13
  • 7. S Isaiah 10:4
  • 8. S 2 Kings 25:3
  • 9. S Isaiah 13:14
  • 10. S 2 Kings 25:6
  • 11. S Isaiah 15:3; S Lamentations 1:16; Ezekiel 21:6; Luke 19:41
  • 12. Jeremiah 9:1
  • 13. S Isaiah 2:12
  • 14. S Job 40:12; S Psalms 108:13
  • 15. S 2 Samuel 22:43; Isaiah 13:3; Jeremiah 30:7; Lamentations 1:5; Ezekiel 8:17-18; Ezekiel 9:9-10; Joel 2:31; Amos 5:18-20; Zephaniah 1:15
  • 16. S Isaiah 1:1
  • 17. Nehemiah 6:15; S Psalms 89:40; Isaiah 5:5; Jeremiah 39:8; Ezekiel 13:14
  • 18. S Isaiah 21:2
  • 19. Psalms 46:9; Jeremiah 49:35; Jeremiah 51:56
  • 20. S 2 Kings 16:9
  • 21. Joshua 15:8
  • 22. S 2 Chronicles 32:1-2
  • 23. S Isaiah 2:12
  • 24. S 2 Chronicles 32:5
  • 25. S 1 Kings 7:2
  • 26. S Nehemiah 1:3
  • 27. S 2 Kings 18:17; S 2 Chronicles 32:4
  • 28. Jeremiah 33:4
  • 29. S 2 Chronicles 32:5
  • 30. 2 Kings 25:4; 2 Chronicles 32:5; Jeremiah 39:4
  • 31. S 2 Chronicles 32:4
  • 32. S 1 Samuel 12:24
  • 33. 2 Kings 19:25
  • 34. S Isaiah 2:12
  • 35. Joel 1:9; Joel 2:17
  • 36. S Leviticus 13:40; Micah 1:16
  • 37. S Isaiah 3:24; Joel 1:13
  • 38. S Isaiah 21:5
  • 39. S 1 Samuel 25:36; Ecclesiastes 8:15; Isaiah 5:22; Isaiah 28:7-8; Isaiah 56:12; Luke 17:26-29
  • 40. 1 Corinthians 15:32*
  • 41. Isaiah 5:9
  • 42. S 1 Samuel 2:25; Isaiah 13:11; Isaiah 26:21; Isaiah 30:13-14; Ezekiel 24:13
  • 43. S 2 Kings 6:30; S 2 Kings 18:18; Isaiah 36:3
  • 44. ver 21
  • 45. S Genesis 41:40
  • 46. Matthew 27:60
  • 47. S Genesis 50:5; S Numbers 32:42
  • 48. Jeremiah 10:18; Jeremiah 13:18; Jeremiah 22:26
  • 49. S Job 18:11; Isaiah 14:19; Isaiah 17:13
  • 50. S Genesis 41:43
  • 51. S 1 Samuel 2:7; S Psalms 52:5
  • 52. Luke 16:3
  • 53. ver 25
  • 54. S Isaiah 20:3
  • 55. S 2 Kings 18:18; S Isaiah 36:3
  • 56. S Isaiah 5:27
  • 57. ver 15
  • 58. Isaiah 9:6
  • 59. 1 Chronicles 9:27; Matthew 16:19; Revelation 3:7
  • 60. S Isaiah 7:2
  • 61. S Job 12:14
  • 62. ver 25; Ezekiel 15:3; Zechariah 10:4
  • 63. S Ezra 9:8; S Job 6:25
  • 64. S 1 Samuel 2:7-8; S Job 36:7
  • 65. ver 20
  • 66. S ver 23
  • 67. Isaiah 46:11; Micah 4:4

Footnotes 1

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 22

This chapter contains two prophecies, one concerning the invasion of Judah and Jerusalem, not by the Medes and Persians, but by the Assyrian army, under which they served; and the other of the removal of Shebna, an officer in Hezekiah's court, and of the placing of Eliakim in his stead. After the title of the former of these prophecies, the distress of the people, through the invasion, is described, by their getting up to the housetops, Isa 22:1 by the stillness of the city, having left both trade and mirth; by the slain in it, not by the sword, but through fear or famine, Isa 22:2 by the flight of the rulers, and by the lamentation of the prophet, Isa 22:3-5 the instruments of which distress were the Persians and Medes serving under Sennacherib, who are described by their quivers and shields, their chariots and horsemen, Isa 22:6,7 the methods the Jews took to defend themselves, and their vain confidence, are exposed; for which, with their disrespect to the Lord, and his admonitions, their carnal security and luxury, they are threatened with death, Isa 22:8-14 then follows the prophecy of the deposition of Shebna, who is described by his name and office, Isa 22:15 whose pride is exposed as the cause of his fall, Isa 22:16 and he is threatened not only to be driven from his station, but to be carried captive into another country, suddenly and violently, and with great shame and disgrace, Isa 22:17-19 and another put in his place, who is mentioned by name, Isa 22:20 and who should be invested with his office and power, and have all the ensigns of it, Isa 22:21,22 and should continue long in it, to great honour and usefulness to his family, Isa 22:23,24 yet not always, Isa 22:25.

Isaiah 22 Commentaries

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