Isaiah 22

Isaiah 22:1

11. Judgment on Jerusalem (Chap. 22)22:1-5 The Valley of Vision refers to Jerusalem (see vv. 9-11). The city is in siege. The people are milling about on the housetops to see the enemy at the gates. The streets of the once festive city are littered with victims of plague. The rulers and people who attempt escape are captured without a struggle. Isaiah himself is inconsolable as he sees the threatened judgment of God on Jerusalem. 22:6-11 Elam and Kir are the southern and northern units of the Babylonian army. Their chariots and cavalry fill the valleys surrounding the city. The Jews make elaborate plans to withstand the siege. They ransack the armory (the House of the Forest), they demolish houses to get stones for repairing the wall, they try to devise a makeshift water supply. They do everything but look to their Maker who wrought the disaster and planned it long before. 22:12-14 At a time when the Lord is calling them to repentance, they live riotously and callously. For this they will not be forgiven. 22:15-19 Shebna, the palace administrator in Hezekiah’s court, is preparing himself an ornate sepulcher. God says through Isaiah that his efforts are futile. The Lord will toss him into captivity like a wadded ball, and he will die in a foreign land so that he will be long remembered. Perhaps Shebna led the party that advocated alliance with Egypt. 22:20-24 After Shebna is demoted, Eliakim (God will establish) will take his place. A type of the Lord Jesus, Eliakim will be a responsible and compassionate ruler with full authority. He will be given the key of the house of David, controlling the royal chambers and choosing the servants in the royal household. (In Rev_3:7 the Lord Jesus is said to have the key of the house of David.) Eliakim will be firmly established in his position and will have complete authority in his sphere of service. 22:25 Since Eliakim is clearly the peg that is fastened in the secure place (v. 23a), his removal and fall may refer to the captivity of the house of Judah, of which he was a representative.