Isaiah 22:24,25

Should people choose to depend only on Eliakim, and not on God, they too would completely fail.

Jerusalem ~ at the time of David and Solomon, the capital of the country called Israel. During the time of Isaiah, Jerusalem was the capital of the country called Judah. But the ‘New Jerusalem’ is God’s future, perfect home for his people.
chariot ~ box (on wheels) that horses pull to carry soldiers into battle.
Lord ~ God’s name in the Bible. In the original language, it means ‘head over all’ and ‘God always’.
sackcloth ~ dress of rough material that people wore to show that they were very sad.
wine ~ a drink which people make from the juice of grapes.
grape ~ small sweet fruit of the vine; its juice makes wine.
vine ~ plant whose fruit makes wine.
peg ~ small round piece of wood.

Isaiah: New *Heavens and a New Earth

Countries near Judah

Isaiah Chapter s 13 to 23

Gordon Churchyard

The words in brackets, […], are not in the *Hebrew Bible. They make the book easier to understand in English. Isaiah wrote his book in the *Hebrew language.

Chapter 22

v1 [This is] a serious message about the Valley [that Isaiah ‘saw’ (understood) in] a *vision.

You have all gone up onto the roofs of your houses. [However, you should not have done that.]

v2 [Your] city is very noisy and [its people are very] excited. The [people in the] town are having a party!

The sword did not kill the people that are dead. They did not die in a battle.

v3 [The enemy] caught all your leaders when they ran away. [The enemy] did not use [even] one bow. However far they ran away, [the enemy] caught them all!

v4 So I said, ‘Leave me alone! Let me cry bitter tears. Do not try to comfort me, because [the enemy will] *destroy the daughter of my people (all my people).

v5 Because my *Lord, the *LORD of Everything, will have a day [when there will be] noise. [It will be] in the Valley of *Vision. There will be [the noise of] feet that are running. And [there will be the noise of] confusion. [The enemy] will destroy walls and people will cry out to the hills.’

v6 [People will say,] ‘[People from] Elam carried baskets of arrows. [There were] men with chariots (soldiers’ special carts) and horses. And [soldiers from] Kir lifted up [their] *shields.’

v7 So your best valleys will be full of chariots (soldiers’ special carts). And men on horses will attack [your city’s] gates.

v8 [The *LORD] will take away the cover [from] Judah. So, in those days, you will look for military arms. [You will look] in the House of the Forest.

v9 You will see that there are many gaps in the walls of David’s City (Jerusalem). Also, you will collect water in the Lower Pool.

v10 Then you will count the houses in Jerusalem. And you will pull down houses to make the walls [of Jerusalem] stronger.

v11 You may have built a place inside [Jerusalem’s] walls to store water from the Old Pool. But you have not looked towards its Maker (God). And you did not see the person that decided what to do a long time ago.

v12 And on that day my *Lord, the *LORD of Everything, will ask this. [He will ask] for [people] to weep and [he will ask for people] to cry aloud. He will ask them to shave [their] heads and [he will ask them] to wear rough hairy clothes.

v13 But look! [Everybody is very] joyful and happy. They are striking male and female cattle (cows) to kill them, and they are killing sheep. They will eat meat and they will drink wine. [They are saying,] ‘We will eat. Then we will drink, because tomorrow we will die.’

v14 But this is what the *LORD of Everything has told me. ‘[I will] certainly not forgive this *sin until you [all] die.’ [That is what] my *Lord, the *LORD of Everything, said.

Notes

A number with the letter ‘a’ means the first part of that verse. A number with the letter ‘b’ means the last part of that verse.

Verse 1a People had built Jerusalem on several hills. There were valleys between those hills. Isaiah ‘saw’ what would happen to one valley. The word ‘saw’ here means ‘understood’. A ‘vision’ is something very special that a person sees. It may really be there. Or it may be something that the person imagines. Here, it is something that God told to Isaiah. We do not know which valley Isaiah meant. It could be inside the city, or it could be the Hinnom valley west from the city. Or it could be the Kidron valley east from the city. Some Bible students say that Isaiah was thinking about the valley in Psalms 23:4. It was called ‘the valley of the shadow of death’.

Verses 1b-2a The *Hebrew text has a question here. Isaiah asks, ‘Why have you all gone up onto the roofs of your houses?’ The *Hebrew word for ‘why’ means ‘what to you?’ Some Bible students translate it, ‘What is the matter (or trouble) with you?’ ‘You’ here means ‘everyone in the city’. The houses in Jerusalem had flat roofs. There were stairs on the outside that led to the roofs. Isaiah asked why the people had gone onto their roofs for a party. Bible students have several answers to that. We do not know which is the right one. Here are two possible reasons for the party:

• because Hezekiah had finished his work with Jerusalem’s reserve of water (2 Kings 20:20);

• because Sennacherib had taken his soldiers away from Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:35-36).

Those two possible reasons happened at different times. Perhaps the first reason is more likely. That is because the writer mentions ‘pools’ of water a lot in this chapter. But ‘leaders’ in verse 3 may mean ‘leaders of an army’. That would make the second reason more likely! However, the note about verse 20 makes us think that the second reason is probably not correct. When Isaiah asks ‘why’, he wants to say this. ‘You should not have a party, because something bad has happened.’

Verses 2b-3 The bad thing that happened was this. The enemy’s soldiers took the people’s leaders into their possession. Perhaps those ‘leaders’ were leaders of Judah’s army. The enemy killed them. But they did not die in a battle. They died in prison.

Verse 4 So Isaiah cries on behalf of his people, because he is very sad. Jesus did the same (Matthew 23:37). ‘The daughter of my people’ is a special way to say ‘all my people’.

Verse 5 ‘Lord’ means ‘master’. Here it is a name for God. ‘*LORD of Everything’ is also a name for God. Sometimes we translate it ‘*LORD of Armies of Angels’. ‘Angels’ are God’s special servants in heaven, which is the home of God. Here we read again about the ‘Valley of *Vision’. The note about verse 1a explains that. The *Hebrew words for ‘noise’, ‘confusion’ and ‘feet that are running’ sound rather similar. They are ‘mehumah’, ‘mebusah’ and ‘mebukah’. That is a special type of poetry. The sounds of the words make people feel what the writer feels.

Verse 6 Elam was a country that was east from Babylon. We do not know where Kir was. It was not the same Kir as in Isaiah 15:1. A ‘chariot’ was a special cart that horses pulled. Soldiers rode in chariots. ‘Shields’ were hard, flat objects that soldiers used to protect themselves from an enemy’s sword.

Verse 8 ‘Cover’ means ‘somewhere to hide’. The *Hebrew word for ‘cover’ can mean several things, for example:

• the lid of a well (2 Samuel 17:19).

• a cloud that hid the *Jews from Egypt’s soldiers (Psalms 105:39).
• the screen in the temple in Jerusalem. The ‘screen’ here means a cover to hide part of a building. The ‘temple’ was God’s special house in Jerusalem. The ‘screen’ hid the front part from the back.

In this verse, the word ‘cover’ may mean three things:

• the cities round Jerusalem. They were like a cover that protected it from its enemies.

• the ‘cover’ that covered the ‘eyes’ of the people in Jerusalem. We do not mean an actual object here. Here, ‘cover’ is a word picture for something that causes people not to understand the truth. It is as if the people cannot ‘see’ the reality of the situation.
• the fact that God himself protected Jerusalem, as if he had put a cover over it. So ‘take away the cover’ might mean that God would not continue to protect Jerusalem.

The House of the Forest was the place where the soldiers kept their arms. Where we read ‘in those days’, the *Hebrew text has ‘on that day’. When Isaiah uses those words, it always means a time in the future.

Verse 9 ‘David’s City’ is a name for Jerusalem. When the people see the gaps in the walls, they will try to repair them. Also, they will store water in ‘the Lower Pool’. King Hezekiah built an underground passage. It brought water from a well outside Jerusalem. It brought that water into the Lower Pool in the city. Perhaps Hezekiah finished what Ahaz had started. Therefore some Bible students think that the people in verses 1b-2a were having a party for that reason. It was because the passage was complete. So when the enemy attacked, the people would have plenty of water!

Verse 10 People would use the stones from the houses that they pulled down. They would use those stones to make the walls of the city stronger.

Verse 11 The water went to the Old Pool before Hezekiah built his new Lower Pool inside the city. ‘Maker’ is another name for God. It reminds us that he made everything. And he is also ‘the person that decided what to do’. This verse has the words ‘looked towards’. And it has the word ‘see’. Those words do not just refer to people that are watching God. They refer to people that are obeying God.

Verses 12-13 Where we read ‘those days’, the *Hebrew text has ‘that day’. In this passage, ‘those days’ or ‘that day’ means when the people finished the underground passage. (Look at the notes about verses 9 and 11.) The people were so happy (verse 2a) that they wanted to have a party. For that party, they killed cows and sheep. Isaiah told the people that the enemy would defeat them (verses 6-10). So they said this. ‘We will eat. Then we will drink, because tomorrow we will die.’

But God did not want the people to have a party. He wanted them to look towards him. ‘Look’ here means ‘obey’. (Look at the note about verse 11.) And to show that they will obey God, the people must be sorry about their wrong behaviour in the past. So they will weep. They will shave their heads and they will wear rough hairy clothes. People often did that when they were sorry for their *sins. By such actions, they showed that they were sad.

The enemy may have left the city now (see the note about verses 1b-2a). But the enemy will attack again in the future. In Isaiah’s book, ‘those days’ (‘that day’) always means some time in the future. So, before the enemy attacks again, Israel must be sorry. They must show to God that they are sad. They must show to God that they want to obey him.

Verse 14 The *Hebrew words for ‘told me’ really mean this. They mean ‘showed me in my ear’. So it was a private message to Isaiah. But the word ‘you’ is plural. God used it to mean all the people in Jerusalem that did not weep. Neither did they shave their heads, and neither did they wear rough hairy clothes. Isaiah did weep, of course (verse 4). A ‘sin’ is when we do not obey God’s rules. In the New Testament (later part of the Bible), Jesus taught his friends about a special sin. It is ‘the sin that God cannot forgive’. Look in the section ‘Something to do’. There you can find where Jesus taught about it. The people in Jerusalem did not obey God’s rules. And they did not do what he asked them to do. Therefore he could not forgive them! That is ‘the sin that God cannot forgive’ in the Old Testament (earlier part of the Bible).

v15 This [is what] my *Lord, the *LORD of Everything, said. [He said,] ‘Stand up and go to this [man] Shebna. He has authority in [the king’s] house.

v16 [Say to him,] “You [are doing] here what [you should not be doing]. And [nobody said] that you [should be] here. Because here [in the rock] you have cut a tomb (place for a dead body) for yourself. You have cut a tomb in the side of the hill. You have cut for yourself a place to rest in the rock.

v17 Look! The *LORD will throw you. He will throw you [away, you] Strong Man! [First] he will hold onto you with a strong hold.

v18 [Then] he will roll you up. [Yes,] he will roll you up. [Then he will] throw you like a ball into a wide country. You will die there. [There, those in] your masters’ house will be ashamed about your wonderful chariots (special carts that important people rode in).

v19 I (God) will remove you from your job. And he (God) will throw you down from your important employment.

Notes

Verse 15 The first 14 verses were about the people in Jerusalem. Now Isaiah talks about two leaders in Jerusalem. The first one is Shebna. That is not a name that *Jews used. So Shebna was probably a foreigner. He was a minister in King Hezekiah’s government. Perhaps he was the chief minister. Or maybe he was the minister that dealt with foreign affairs. He did deal with people from Assyria (Isaiah 36:11). Also in Isaiah 36:11, we read that he spoke Aramaic, the language of Syria’s people. That is evidence that maybe he was a foreigner. Perhaps, because Shebna was a foreigner, he wanted Hezekiah’s army to help foreign countries in a war against Assyria’s army. But in Chapter s 13 to 23, Isaiah tells us that God did not want that. It was a bad plan to go together with those other countries’ armies to fight. Because an enemy would destroy them all!

Verse 16 The first 6 *Hebrew words in this verse mean ‘(1)What (2)to-you (3)here (4)and-who (5)to-you (6)here?’ The numbers show the different *Hebrew words. Those words are actually in the form of a question. In English translations, the writers usually add words that help us to understand the meaning. So we could translate the question like this. ‘What [are] you [doing] here? And who [said] that you [could be] here?’ The important question is where Shebna was. He was making a tomb for himself in a hill. A ‘tomb’ is a special grave. People cut a hole in a rock in order to make it. This tomb was in the side of a hill. Only important people had tombs like this one. So, Shebna was making himself important! When he died, his body would rest in a special tomb!

Verse 17 The word ‘throw’ here has a special meaning. It means ‘swing you round and round, and then let you go’. The words ‘Strong Man’ are ones that the speaker says with humour. The speaker means the opposite of what he says. We have shown those words with capital letters because they are like a name. Shebna thinks that he is a strong man. But in God’s hands, he is weak!

Verse 18 The ‘wide country’ was probably Assyria. Shebna will die abroad. People will not bury him in the fine tomb (special grave) that he was building. The shameful thing was that he used his job to get wonderful chariots (special carts that important people rode in). And he used his job to get a fine tomb! Or, the verse may mean that soldiers from Assyria would take away Shebna’s chariots. And people in Jerusalem would be ashamed of Shebna when he died in Assyria.

Verse 19 ‘Important employment’ can include government ministers. ‘I’ and ‘he’ both mean the *LORD God. Isaiah often changes ‘I’ to ‘he’ when he means the same person.

v20 And this is what will happen on that day. I will send for my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah.

v21 And I will put your (Shebna’s) special clothes on him and I will tie your sash (long piece of material) round him. And I will give your authority to him. Then he (Eliakim) will become a father to everyone that lives in Jerusalem. And he will become a father to the [royal] family in Judah.

v22 And I will put the key of David’s house on [Eliakim’s] shoulder. What [Eliakim] opens, nobody will close. What he closes, nobody will open.

v23 And I will fix [Eliakim firmly] in place. [I will fix him like a] firm *peg of a tent. And he will bring honour to his father’s family.

v24 But the whole weight of his father’s family will hang on him. All [Eliakim’s] children [will hang on him]. And their children [will hang on him]. [They will all hang] like cups and bottles that contain things.” ’

v25 [This is what] the *LORD of Everything says. ‘On that day, the *peg that [people] fixed in a firm place will become loose. [I will] cut it down and it will fall. And the load on it will fall off.’ [This thing will happen] because the *LORD has spoken [it].

Notes

Verse 20 ‘That day’ was in the future. It was the day when God would remove Shebna from his job. In his place, God would appoint Eliakim. In 701 *B.C. Assyria’s King Sennacherib sent his officials to Jerusalem. They had an army with them. At that time, Eliakim was doing the job that Shebna had done before. (Look at Isaiah 36:1-3.) Read the note above about verses 1b-2a of chapter 22. The first reason there for the party is probably correct, if we refer to Isaiah 36:1-3. Shebna had already lost his job at that future time, but Sennacherib had not taken his army away from Jerusalem yet. So that event anyway would not be the reason for a party yet. We do not know who Hilkiah was.

Verse 21 The special clothes (long coats) showed that Shebna and then Eliakim were important officials. A ‘sash’ is a long piece of material. Some people tied sashes round their bodies. It showed the authority that they had. The *Hebrew words for ‘give authority to him’ mean this. They mean ‘put authority into his hand’. ‘Become a father’ means that Eliakim will do good things for the people. It will be as if he is a good father to his family. He will not be like Shebna. Shebna built for himself a fine tomb (place for a dead body). And he drove about in wonderful chariots (special carts that important people rode in). Perhaps he should have been ‘a father to everyone’. Shebna was ‘a father’ to himself only! The *Hebrew text has ‘house of Judah’. It means the royal family in Judah.

Verse 22 ‘David’s house’ was the palace where the royal family lived. People had built it for King David, as we can read in 2 Samuel 5:11. The key was probably so large that Eliakim carried it on his shoulder. The *Hebrew words for the second sentence mean this. ‘What he opens with his key, nobody will shut. And what he shuts, nobody will open with a key.’ That was the authority ‘in his hand’ (verse 21). Apart from Judges 3:25, this is the only key in the Old Testament (first 39 books in the Bible). Look in the section ‘Something to do’. It has a list of ‘keys’ in the New Testament (last 27 books in the Bible).

Verse 23 ‘Pegs’ are strong sticks of wood or metal. The pegs of a tent keep the tent firm, so that it will not blow away in the wind. People fix those pegs into the ground. Eliakim would be firm, like a strong peg, when there was difficulty and danger. He would not be like something weak that ‘blows away’. The *Hebrew words for ‘he will bring honour’ mean ‘he will be a seat of honour’. Here and in the next verse, the *Hebrew text has ‘his father’s house’. It means all Eliakim’s family.

Verse 24 The trouble was that Eliakim’s family wanted him to do too much for them! They were like a heavy load that hung on a *peg. In this verse, the peg was on the wall. People hung things on it. ‘Cups and bottles’ are probably special descriptions of his family. They all wanted something to fill them! Nothing satisfied them! And they all wanted Eliakim to support them!

Verse 25 Although Eliakim was better than Shebna, God removed Eliakim too. We do not know why. Perhaps he had too many problems in his family.

Something to do

1. In Chapter s 21 and 22, the writer mentions the names of many places. If you can, study a suitable map to find them. Those places include Negev, Elam, Media, Babylon, Judah, Israel, Dumah, Seir, Arabia, Dedan, Tema, Kedar, Jerusalem, and Kir. You may not find them all. Bible students are not sure where some places were. Try to find out the modern names for the countries. Or find out which countries they are in today.

2. Read Psalms 29. It describes a storm like the one in Isaiah 21:1.

3. Study the ‘keys’ in the New Testament (last 27 books in the Bible). You will find them in Matthew 16:19; Luke 11:52; and Revelation 1:18; Revelation 3:7 and Revelation 9:1.

4. Some Bible students say this. Eliakim shows us a little bit about what Jesus would be like. Find out how Eliakim was a bit like Jesus. You may like to think also about the ‘keys’ in number 3 above.

5. When there is trouble, follow Isaiah’s advice. Look towards our Maker (God) and obey him (Isaiah 22:11). Learn that verse by heart. That means to learn it so that the words are in your memory.

6. Read about the ‘*sin that God cannot forgive’ in Matthew 12:31; Mark 3:28-29 and Luke 12:10.

heavens ~ either the home of God or the skies.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.
Jews ~ people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.
vision ~ what somebody sees, perhaps in their imagination. God gave visions to prophets, so that they could see (understand) the reality of things.
prophet ~ someone who tells people what God is saying.
destroy ~ to punish people in the most severe manner possible, usually by death or in exile. Also, to ruin their cities and their land.
exile ~ an exile is a person who lives away from his home and country. We say that he or she is ‘in exile’.
lord ~ master. With a capital L, it can be a name for God.
LORD ~ LORD is a special name of God. In the Hebrew language it is YAHWEH. It may mean ‘always alive’. So LORD is a sign that the Hebrew word is YAHWEH.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.
Jews ~ people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.
lord ~ master. With a capital L, it can be a name for God.
LORD ~ LORD is a special name of God. In the Hebrew language it is YAHWEH. It may mean ‘always alive’. So LORD is a sign that the Hebrew word is YAHWEH.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.
Jews ~ people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.
vision ~ what somebody sees, perhaps in their imagination. God gave visions to prophets, so that they could see (understand) the reality of things.
prophet ~ someone who tells people what God is saying.
shield ~ what a soldier uses to protect his body against an enemy’s sword.
sin ~ not to obey God; or, what you do when you do not obey God.
Jews ~ people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.
peg ~ something that holds things in the right place.