Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 22

Verse 1

22:1 The burden of the {a} valley of vision. What {b} aileth thee now, that thou hast wholly gone up to the housetops?

(a) Meaning, Judea, which was compassed about with mountains, and was called the valley of visions, because of the prophets, who were always there, whom they named Seers.

(b) He speaks to Jerusalem, whose inhabitants fled up to the housetops for fear of their enemies.

Verse 2

22:2 Thou that art full of {c} shoutings, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: thy slain [men are] not slain {d} with the sword, nor dead in battle.

(c) Which was wont to be full of people and joy.

(d) But for hunger.

Verse 3

22:3 All thy rulers have fled together, they are {e} bound by the archers: all that are found in thee are bound together, [who] have fled from {f} far.

(e) And led into captivity.

(f) Who have fled from other places to Jerusalem for comfort.

Verse 4

22:4 Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep {g} bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the plundering of the daughter of my people.

(g) He shows what is the duty of the godly, when God’s plagues hang over the Church, and especially of the ministers, Jeremiah 9:1 .

Verse 5

22:5 For [it is] a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of {h} crying to the mountains.

(h) That is, the shout of the enemies whom God had appointed to destroy the city.

Verse 6

22:6 And Elam {i} bore the quiver with chariots of men [and] horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.

(i) He reminds them how God delivered them once from Sennacherib, who brought the Persians and Syrians with him, that they might by returning to God avoid that great plague which they would suffer by Nebuchadnezzar.

Verse 8

22:8 And he uncovered the {k} coverings of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest.

(k) The secret place where the armour was: that is, in the house of the forest, 1 Kings 7:2 .

Verse 9

22:9 Ye have seen also {l} the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool.

(l) You forfeited the ruinous places which were neglected in times of peace: meaning, the whole City, and the City of David, which was within the compass of the other.

Verse 10

22:10 And ye have numbered the houses {m} of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall.

(m) Either to pull down such as might hurt, or else to know what men they were able to make.

Verse 11

22:11 Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the {n} water of the old pool: but ye have not looked to {o} its maker, neither had respect to him that fashioned it long ago.

(n) To provide if need should be of water.

(o) To God who made Jerusalem: that is, they trusted more in these worldly means than in God.

Verse 13

22:13 And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us {p} eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.

(p) Instead of repentance you were joyful and made great cheer, contemning the admonitions of the prophets saying Let us eat and drink for our prophets say that we will die tomorrow.

Verse 15

22:15 Thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, Go, repair to this {q} treasurer, [even] to Shebna, who [is] over the house, [and say],

(q) Because the Hebrew word also signifies one who nourishes and cherishes, there are those of the scholars who think that this wicked man nourished a secret friendship with the Assyrians and Egyptians to betray the Church and to provide for himself against all dangers: in the mean season he packed craftily, and got of the best offices into his hand under Hezekiah, ever aspiring to the highest.

Verse 16

22:16 What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre {r} here, [as] he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, [and] that cut out an habitation {s} for himself in a rock?

(r) Meaning, that he was a stranger, and came up of nothing.

(s) While he thought to make his name immortal by his famous sepulchre, he died most miserably among the Assyrians.

Verse 18

22:18 With violence he will surely turn and toss thee [like] a ball into a wide country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory [shall be] the {t} shame of thy lord’s house.

(t) Signifying that whatever dignity the wicked attain to, at length it will turn to the shame of those princes by whom they are preferred.

Verse 20

22:20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will {u} call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:

(u) To be steward again, out of which office he had been put, by the craft of Shebna.

Verse 22

22:22 And the {x} key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.

(x) I will commit to him the full charge and government of the king’s house.

Verse 23

22:23 And I will fasten him [as] a {y} nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house.

(y) I will establish him, and confirm him in his office, of this phrase read Ezra 9:9 .

Verse 24

22:24 And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, {z} all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.

(z) Meaning that both small and great who will come from Eliakim, will have praise and glory by his faithful officer.

Verse 25

22:25 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the {a} 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].

(a) He means Shebna, who in man’s judgment should never have fallen.