Shebna

The scribe. He was in the court of Hezekiah. (2 Kings 18: 18.)

Sheb´na (A youth), the prefect of the palace to King Hezekiah (Isa 22:15); afterwards promoted to be scribe or secretary to the same monarch, when his former office was given to Eliakim (Isa 22:15; Isa 36:3; 2Ki 18:26-27; 2Ki 19:2).

Steward of King Hezekiah’s palace, Isa 22:15, afterwards his secretary, 2Ki 18:18,37 .\par

Sheb’na. (vigor). A person of high position, in Hezekiah’s court, holding at one time the office of prefect of the palace, Isa 22:15, but subsequently, the subordinate office of secretary. Isa 36:3; 2Ki 19:2. (B.C. 713).

Hezekiah, whose treasurer or prefect, of the palace Shebna was (Isa 22:15); also see Eliakim. (See HEZEKIAH; ELIAKIM.) For pride (Isa 22:16), luxury (Isa 22:18), oppression (in contrast to Eliakim a "father" to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Isa 22:21), and alienation from God (contrasted with "God’s servant," Isa 22:20), he was doomed to be "tossed" away as a ball. Repenting, he was only degraded to the lower post of scribe (Isa 36:3). Whether the threat was finally fulfilled on himself, he apostatizing, or on his posterity, is uncertain. (See TOMB.)

[Sheb’na]

Treasurer to Hezekiah. He was denounced by God through the prophet Isaiah; apparently he afterwards became scribe or secretary. 2Ki 18:18; 2Ki 18:26; 2Ki 18:37; 2Ki 19:2; Isa 22:15; Isa 36:3; Isa 36:11; Isa 36:22; Isa 37:2.

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By: Emil G. Hirsch, Eduard König

Chamberlain of the king's palace, the office being filled also by Jotham (II Kings xv. 5). Shebna may be identified with the officer designated as "ha-soken" (Isa. xxii 15-19), probably a caretaker or steward (see Bloch, "Phönizisches Glossar," s.v. "Zakan").

The prophet censures Shebna because he built for himself a tomb in the upper part of the rock, perhaps near the royal tombs on Mount Zion. The beginning of Isaiah's denunciation, "What hast thou here? And whom hast thou here?" has been construed as implying that Shebna was of alien birth. But probably the meaning implied is that Shebna was an upstart or intruder. His non-Israelitish origin, however, is indicated in the kind of punishment with which he is threatened: Yhwh will roll him like a ball into a country less mountainous than Canaan, but broad—referring to the wide plains of the Euphrates and Tigris.

Shebna favored the political connection of the kingdom of Judah with Egypt; hence it is very probable that he was taken prisoner as an enemy of the Assyrians during an invasion of the latter. The name "Shebna" itself points to a non-Israelitish origin in the more northerly regions, either Phenicia or Syria; the same stem has been found by Levy in ("Siegel und Gemmen mit Aramäischen, Phönizischen, Althebräischen und Altsyrichen Inschriften," p. 40, Breslau, 1869). Probably Shebna had risen to office under King Ahaz, who favored foreign undertakings and connections.

It has been argued that the Shebna to whom reference is made above is not the same as that mentioned in the following passages: Isa. xxxvi. 3, 11, 22; xxxvii. 2; II Kings xviii. 18, 26, 37; xix. 2, in which, with the exception of II Kings xviii. 18, 26 (where occurs), the name is uniformly written . This Shebna, who is called "sofer" (scribe), is everywhere mentioned after Eliakim; but in all likelihood he was identical with the office-holder censured by Isaiah.

Bibliography:

R. Kittel. Handkommentar über die Bücher der Könige, 1900;

Marti, Kurzer Handkommentar über das Buch Jesaja, 1900;

Ad. Kamphausen, Isaiah's Propheey Concerning the Major-domo of King Hezekiah, in the American Journal of Theology, 1901, pp. 43 et seq.

SHEBNA (in 2Ki 18:18; 2Ki 18:26 SHEBNAH).—A major-domo or palace-governor of king Hezekiah, against whom is directed one of the recorded utterances of Isaiah (Isa 22:15-25). The prophetic denunciation appears to have found its fulfilment in Shebna’s degradation to the office of ‘scribe’ or secretary, and the elevation of Eliakim (wh. see) to the post of palace-governor (2Ki 18:18; 2Ki 18:26-27; 2Ki 19:2 = Isa 36:3; Isa 36:11; Isa 37:2). Shebna was in all probability a foreigner.

sheb´na (שׁבנא, shebhnā’; Σόμνας, Sómnas; but שׁבנה, shebhnāh, in 2Ki 18:18, 2Ki 18:26; meaning uncertain (2Ki 18:18, 2Ki 18:26, 2Ki 18:37 and 2Ki 19:2 = Isa 36:3, Isa 36:11, Isa 36:22 and Isa 37:2; lsa Isa 22:15)):

1. Position in Isaiah 22:

In Isa 22:15 Shebna is referred to as he “who is over the house,” or household, apparently that of the king. The phrase is translated “steward of the house” in the Revised Version (British and American) of Gen 43:16, Gen 43:19; Gen 44:1, and occurs also in Gen 39:4, “overseer”; Gen 44:4. It is used of an officer of the Northern Kingdom in 1Ki 16:9; 1Ki 18:3; 2Ki 10:5. This officer is distinguished from him “that was over the city” in 2Ki 10:5, and it is said in 2Ki 15:5 that after his father Azariah was stricken with leprosy, “Jotham, the king’s son, was over the household, judging all the people of the land.” Again Isa 22:15 speaks of “this ṣōkhēn,” a phrase that must apply to Shebna if the prophecy refers to him. This word is the participle of a verb meaning “to be of use or service,” so “to benefit” in Job 15:3; Job 22:2; Job 34:9. The feminine participle is employed of Abishag in 1Ki 1:2, 1Ki 1:4, where King James Version, margin translates “cherisher”; BDB renders it “servitor” or “steward” in Isa 22:15. It occurs also as a Canaanite gloss in the Tell el-Amarna Letters (Winckler, number 237, 9). The ṣōkhēn was evidently a high officer: Shebna had splendid chariots (Isa 22:18), but what the office exactly was is not certain. The other reference to Shebna in the title of the prophecy would lead one to conclude that it denoted him “who was over the household,” i.e. governor of the palace, probably, or major-domo. The word ṣōkhēn is thus a general title; others deny this, maintaining that it would then occur more frequently.

2. Shebna in 2 Kings 18 F:

In 2 Ki 18 f = Isa 36 f we find too a Shebna mentioned among the officers of Hezekiah. There he is called the ṣōphēr, “scribe” or “secretary,” i.e. a minister of state of some kind, whereas Eliakim is he “who is over the household.” Is then the Shebna of Isa 22 the same as this officer? It is of course possible that two men of the same name should hold high office about the same time. We find a Joshua (ben Asaph) “recorder” under Hezekiah (2Ki 18:18) and a Joshua (ben Joahaz) having the very same position under Josiah a century later (2Ch 34:8). But such a coincidence is rare. Had there been two high officers of state bearing this name, it is most probable that they would somehow have been distinguished one from the other. Shebna’s name is thought to be Aramaic, thus pointing to a foreign descent, but G. B. Gray, “Isa,” ICC, 373 ff, denies this. We can perhaps safely infer that he was a parvenu from the fact that he was hewing himself a sepulcher in Jerusalem, apparently among those of the nobility, whereas a native would have an ancestral burial-place in the land.

However, in 2 Kings, Shebna is the scribe and not the governor of the palace. How is this to be explained? The answer is in Isaiah’s prophecy.

3. Isa 22:15 ff:

The prophecy of Isa 22 divides itself into 3 sections. The words “against (not as the Revised Version (British and American) “unto”) Shebna who is over the house,” or palace, are properly the title of the prophecy, and should come therefore at the very beginning of Isa 22:15.

(1) Isa 22:15-18 form one whole. In Isa 22:16 the words “hewing him out a sepulchre,” etc., should be placed immediately before the rest of the verse as Isa 22:16 with the rest of the section is in the second person. We thus read (Isa 22:15-17): ‛Against Shebna who was over the house. Thus saith the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, Go unto this steward (Revised Version margin) that is hewing him out a sepulchre on high, graying a habitation for himself in the rock, (and say) What doest thou here and whom hast thou here that thou hast hewed thee out here a sepulchre? Behold, Yahweh of hosts, ...’ etc. G.H. Box (Isaiah) would further transpose some parts of Isa 22:17 f. Shebna is to be tossed like a ball into “a land wide of sides,” i.e. a broad extensive land. He is addressed as a disgrace to the house of his royal master. The prophet’s language is that of personal invective, and one asks what had made him so indignant. Some (e.g. Dillmann, Delitzsch) suggest that Shebna was the leader of a pro-Egyptian party, while others (e.g. Cheyne) believe that the party was pro-Assyrian (compare Isa 8:5-8). The actual date of the prophecy can only be inferred.

(2) Isa 22:19-23 contains a prophecy which states that Eliakim is to be given someone’s post, apparently that of Shebna, if this section be by Isaiah; Isa 22:23, however, is held by many to be a gloss. These verses are not so vehement in tone as the previous ones. Some maintain that the section is not by Isaiah (Duhm, Marti). It can, however, be Isaianic, only later in date than Isa 22:15 ff, being possibly meant to modify the former utterance. The palace governor is to lose his office and to be succeeded by Eliakim, who is seen to hold that post in 2 Ki 18 f. See ELIAKIM.

(3) Isa 22:24 f are additions to the two utterances by a later hand; they predict the ruin of some such official as Eliakim owing to his own family.

4. Date of the Prophecy:

There is nothing a priori against believing that these three sections are entirely independent one of another, but there seems to be some connection between (1) and (2), and again between (2) and (3). Now the question that has to be solved is that of the relation of Isa 22:15 ff with 2 Ki 18 f = Isa 36 f, where are given the events of 701 BC. We have the following facts: (a) Shebna is scribe in 701, and Eliakim is governor of the palace; (b) Shebna is governor of the palace in Isa 22:15, and is to be deposed; (c) if Isa 22:18-22 be by Isaiah, Eliakim was to succeed Shebna in that post. Omitting for the moment everything but (a) and (b), the only solution that is to any extent satisfactory is that Isa 22:15-18 is to be dated previous to 701 BC. This is the view preferred by G.B. Gray, in the work quoted And this is the most satisfactory theory if we take (2) above into consideration. The prophecy then contained in (1) had not been as yet fulfilled in 701, but (2) had come to pass; Shebna was no longer governor of the palace, but held the position of scribe. Exile might still be in store for him.

Another explanation is put forward by K. Fullerton in AJT, IX, 621-42 (1905) and criticized by E. Konig in X, 675-86 (1906). Fullerton rejects Isa 22:24 f as not due to Isaiah, and maintains that Isa 22:15-18 was spoken by the prophet early in the reign of Manasseh, i.e. later than 2 Ki 18 f, “not so much as a prophecy, a simple prediction, as an attempt to drive Shebna from office.... It must be admitted that Isaiah probably did not succeed. The reactionary party seems to have remained in control during the reign of Manasseh.... Fortunately, the moral significance of Isaiah does not depend on the fulfillment of this or that specific prediction. We are dealing not with a walking oracle, but with a great character and a noble life” (p. 639). He then infers from the massacres of Manasseh (2Ki 21:16) “that a conspiracy had been formed against him by the prophetic party which proposed to place Eliakim on the throne” (p. 640). Isaiah he thinks would not “resort to such violent measures,” and so the character of Isaiah makes it questionable whether he was the author of Isa 22:20-23. This part would then be due to the prophetic party “who went a step farther than their great leader would approve.” This view assumes too much, (a) that the terms in Isa 22:20-23 refer to kingly power; (b) that Eliakim was of Davidic descent, unless we have a man of non-Davidic origin aiming at the throne, which is again a thing unheard of in Judah; and (c) that there was such a plot in the reign of Manasseh, of which we have no proof.