Isaiah 22:17

Behold, the Lord will carry thee away with a mighty captivity,.... Or with the captivity of a man; so the Targum, of a mighty man, Sennacherib king of Assyria; who, as the Jews say (z), when he went

Behold, the LORD will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee.

I will carry thee away with a mighty captivity; will cause thee to be carried into captivity by a strong hand, or by the hand of a mighty man, from which therefore thou shalt not be able to escape. Or, will cast thee away with the casting of a mighty man, i.e. with great force; or, in casting will cast thee away, O thou mighty man. Will surely cover thee, to wit, with confusion, as is here implied, and as this phrase is more fully expressed, 109:29. Or covering may be put for obscuring his glory, which he designed to publish, and to that end erected stately monuments, &c. Or this may be an allusion to the ancient custom of covering the faces of condemned persons; of which see . Compare ,12.

Isaiah 22:17 Behold, the LORD will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee.Ver. 17. Behold, the Lord will carry thee away, &c.] Or, Is casting thee out with casting, O thou mighty man. Not, God will carry thee away as a cock is carried, so the Vulgate translator hath it; which caused a learned interpreter to say he wondered whence this cock flew into the text. And will surely cover thee.] As they used to do to condemned persons unworthy any longer to see the light, they covered their faces,

(17) The Lord will carry thee away with a mighty captivity.—Better, will hurl thee with the hurling of a mighty man—i.e., strongly and effectually. The words have, however, been rendered (Cheyne), “will hurl, will hurl thee, O mighty man.” The marginal rendering rests on no sufficient grounds.Will surely cover thee.—Better, Will surely grasp thee, so that thou shalt not escape.

Verse 17. Cover thee] That is, thy face. This was the condition of mourners in general, and particularly of condemned persons. See Esther 6:12; Esther 7:8.

Ch. Isaiah 22:15-25. A Philippic against an influential PoliticianShebna, the minister here addressed, is supposed from his name and from Isaiah’s indignation at his ambitious desire to have a magnificent sepulchre in Jerusalem, to have been a foreigner in the royal service. The office which he holds is the highest in the court, and is of course a measure of his influence with the king. That he was a partisan of the Egyptian alliance may be safely assumed, and it is likely that Isaiah had found in him the most astute and resolute opponent of the policy which he advocated. This opposition, together with hearty contempt for the character of the man, is the occasion of Isaiah’s only invective against an individual. The prophecy is therefore probably contemporaneous with ch. 28–31. Eliakim was probably the leader of the party favourable to Isaiah’s views, and the substitution of the one minister for the other was equivalent to a radical change of policy on the part of Hezekiah. This change seems to have taken place before the crisis of the invasion, for in ch. Isaiah 36:3, Isaiah 37:2 we find Eliakim in possession of the dignity which Shebna here holds. But since the latter then occupied the lower office of secretary, we must conclude that some compromise had been arranged, and that Shebna’s power was not altogether broken. The passage contains three parts: i. The denunciation of Shebna, and the announcement of his deposition and banishment, Isaiah 22:15-19. ii. The installation of Eliakim, and the honour of his family, Isaiah 22:20-23. iii. A very perplexing appendix, which seems to warn Eliakim against nepotism, and to anticipate the ruin of his house, Isaiah 22:24-25.

Behold, the Lord will carry thee away - Of the historical fact here referred to we have no other information. To what place he was to be carried, we know not. It is probable, however, that it was to Assyria.

17-19. Behold — The doom of this faithless heathen officer, also a leader away of the people, now follows.