About Jerusalem
22
📚The burden concerning the Valley of Vision:What troubles you now,
that you have all gone up
to the housetops?
22:1 Jerusalem was built on hills and there were hills all around and valleys between them. The Valley of Vision was one of these, but which one we cannot say. This prophecy is about Jerusalem. This can be seen by the mention in v 8 of Judah, of the “House of the Forest” (built by King Solomon – 1 Kings 7:2-6; 10:17, 21), of the city of David in v 9 (see 2 Sam 5:6-7, 9), and of Jerusalem in v 10.
Isaiah sees a vision of a future enemy siege. Jerusalem has been besieged many times. The two most significant in the days of the prophets were the one by the Assyrians (701 BC – 2 Chron 32:1-2, 9, 10), and the one by the Babylonians (588 - 586 BC – 2 Kings 25:1-3). In the future lay the siege of the Romans (70 AD). And it seems clear that there will be a siege of Jerusalem at the end of this age (Zech 12:2-3; 14:2). It is not revealed what siege is meant in this chapter.⚜
2 📚You that are full of uproar,
a city full of tumult,
a joyous 📖 city,
your slain men are not killed
by the sword,
or dead in battle.
3 📚All your rulers have fled together,
they are captured by the archers.
all who are found in you,
who have fled from afar,
are captured together.
22:3 Perhaps this was fulfilled in 2 Kings 25:4-6.⚜
4 📚Therefore I said,
“Look away from me.
I will weep bitterly.
Do not attempt to comfort me,
because of the plundering
of the daughter of my people”.
5 📚For it is a day of trouble,
and of trampling down,
and of perplexity from the Lord
God of hosts in the Valley
of Vision,
a breaking down of the walls,
and of crying out to
the mountains 📖.
6 📚And Elam took up the quiver,
with chariots of men and
horsemen,
and Kir 📖 uncovered the shield.
7 📚And it will happen that
your choicest valleys
will be full of chariots,
and the horsemen will set
themselves in array
at the gate.
8 📚And he removes the covering
of Judah.
And you looked in that day
to the armour of The House
of the Forest.
9 📚You have also seen the breaches
in the wall of the city of David,
that they are many.
And you collected the water 📖
of the lower pool.
10 And you numbered the houses
of Jerusalem,
and broke down the houses
to fortify the wall.
11 📚You also made a reservoir
between the two walls for the water
of the old pool;
but you did not look
to its Maker,
or have respect for the one
who formed it long ago.
22:11 This applies to the majority of the people then, but there were, doubtless, always a few who did look to God, as King Hezekiah did at the time of the Assyrian siege (Isa 37:1-2, 14-20).⚜
12 📚And in that day the Lord God
of hosts called for weeping
and for mourning,
and for shaving the head,
and for wearing sackcloth,
13 📚And, look,
joy and gladness,
slaughtering oxen,
and killing sheep, eating flesh,
and drinking wine,
and saying “let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die”.
14 📚And it was revealed in my hearing
by the LORD of hosts,
“Surely this wickedness will not be
purged from you until you die,
says the Lord God of hosts”.
22:12-14 At a time of national disaster when God is commanding repentance and mourning for sin, to be careless and make merry is a great evil in God’s eyes.⚜
15 📚Thus says the Lord God
of hosts,
“Go, get yourselves to this steward,
to Shebna,
who is over the house,
and say,
16 📚‘What do you have here?
And whom do you have here,
that you have cut out a tomb
for yourself here,
like one cutting out
a tomb on high for himself,
and carving for yourself
a resting place in a rock?
17 📚See, the LORD will hurl you down,
you mighty man,
and will surely seize you.
18 📚He will certainly turn violently
and toss you like
a ball into a large country.
There you will die,
and there your glorious chariots
will be the shame
of your lord’s house.’
19 📚And I will drive 📖 you
from your position,
and pull you down
from your state 📖.
20 📚“And this will happen on that day: I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,
22:20 Eliakim means “God will establish”.⚜
21 📚and I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your belt, and I will commit your authority into his hands. And he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.
22:21 Eliakim would be a faithful and compassionate administrator in contrast to the self-seeking Shebna.⚜
22 📚And I will lay the key of the house of David on his shoulder; so he will open, and no one will shut, and he will shut, and no one will open.
22:22 Eliakim would be a powerful palace administrator. He would also be a small picture of the Lord Jesus Who would be given the throne of David and have absolute authority, not over a palace, but over the world (Rev 3:7; Matt 28:18; John 17:2).⚜
23 📚And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place; and he will be as a glorious throne to his father’s house. 24 📚And they will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity, from the cups to all the jars.
22:15-24 Shebna was the highest official in the palace of Judah’s king at one time. Evidently he used his position for his own ends. Only three things about him are recorded. He hewed out a tomb from the rock for himself (v 16. 2 Chron 16:13-14; Matt 27:57-60), he obtained splendid chariots (both of which indicate wealth), and he was a disgrace to the king (v 18). This suggests that his life style was extremely objectionable. Shebna is an example of a man who misused his office. He served himself rather than the king and people. God had two punishments for him. He would lose his position to Eliakim (vs 19-21) and he would die in exile far from his grand tomb (v 18).⚜
22:23-24 What “hangs” on the Lord Jesus who now has the keys of David? The fate of nations and peoples in the whole earth, the eternal destiny of every individual, and the honor of His Father the God of the universe.⚜
25 📚“In that day 📖, says the LORD of hosts, the peg that is fastened in the sure place will be removed, and be cut off, and fall 📖; and the load that was on it will be cut off; for the LORD has spoken”.