Isaiah 22

Isaiah 22:1

Isaiah: God controls the nations God controls the future An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on Isaiah chapters 21 to 30 www.easyenglish.info Norman Hillyer This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

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Chapter 22 God warns *Jerusalem v1 (A special message that God gave to Isaiah about *Jerusalem’s future.) You people should not be standing on the flat roof of your houses. v2 You ought not to be making such a cheerful noise. You have not won a war. The soldiers who died did not die in battle. That supposes that your soldiers were brave. But they were afraid. They did not fight. They ran away from the enemy. But in vain. The enemy seized them. v3 And all your rulers are cowards. They too will try to run away. But the enemy will seize them without the necessity to fire one arrow.

v4 Therefore, says Isaiah, I want you people to leave me alone to weep bitterly. I know what will soon happen. All those people of mine will die! Do not try to comfort me. v5 This will be such a terrible time of noise. And a time of defeat. And a time of confusion. Enemies will completely knock down *Jerusalem’s walls. There will be noisy shouts. Your desperate cries for help will be so loud that they will reach the mountains. v6 Soldiers are arriving from the country called Elam. Horsemen are driving *chariots. They have prepared their bows and arrows. Soldiers from the country called Kir have their arms ready. v7 Your beautiful valleys are full of the enemy’s *chariots. Horsemen are taking up their positions near the gates of the city.

v8 But the *Lord has removed his protection from *Jerusalem. At that time, you will run to get military arms from the store called ‘House of the Forest’. v9 You saw that there were gaps in the walls of *Jerusalem, the City of David. You stored the water of the Lower Pool. v10 You surveyed the houses in *Jerusalem. Then you broke up some of the houses and you used the stones to make the city walls stronger. v11 You made a large ditch between the two walls of the city to hold water from the Old Pool. You did all these things. But you did not think to ask the *Lord for his help. He was the one who arranged these events long ago. And now he is causing them to happen.

Verse 1

The order of events is not clear to us today. But many people’s joy about the defeat of Babylon would not last long. The army that overcame Babylon will next head south. Then that army will attack Judah and *Jerusalem.

 The flat roof of houses was the usual place where people talked to neighbours and friends.

Verse 2

Isaiah is surprised that the happy people do not realise the real situation. An enemy is preparing to attack and Judah is without any proper defence.

Verse 6

Elam and Kir were probably nations in part of what is today Iran.

Verse 7

Enemy forces are surrounding *Jerusalem to prepare for the final attack.

Verse 8

‘The House of the Forest’ was the royal store for weapons (military arms) in the palace (see 1 Kings 7:2-5 and 10:17). The room was called by this name because its beautiful wood came from the famous forests in Lebanon.

 Because so many soldiers had run away, the citizens stole arms from the royal store to protect themselves.

Verse 9

The inhabitants of *Jerusalem needed to store water in case an enemy surrounded the city. Only a small supply of water was otherwise available.

Verse 11

It was the *Lord who gave *Jerusalem to David to be his capital (see 2 Samuel 5:6-10). And it was the *Lord who gave the entire country to his people (see Joshua 1:2). The people could not have obtained either the city or the country by their own efforts. So there was no possibility that they could keep them by their own strength. A time for tears v12 On that day my master, the *Lord (commander of heaven’s armies), commanded the people to weep and to be sad. They were to shave their heads and to put on *sackcloth. v13 But instead, people were laughing. They were enjoying themselves. They arranged splendid great meals. They had plenty of meat to eat and plenty of *wine to drink. Because people said, ‘Let us have a great party. We could all be dead tomorrow!’ v14 The *Lord (commander of heaven’s armies) himself whispered to me. ‘I shall never forgive such evil behaviour. No, not for as long as they live. I, the *Lord (commander of heaven’s armies), have spoken.’

Verses 12-14

The people were behaving in a very different manner from how the *Lord intended them to behave.

Verse 13

The people only cared about their own pleasures. They did not bother themselves about God’s instructions. They had not obeyed him. And their actions showed that they were not sorry about their evil behaviour.

 The people did not really expect to ‘die tomorrow’. It was merely a way to say that only today’s pleasure interested them.

Verse 14

The *Lord knew the future. These people would never change their behaviour. So they would never qualify for him to forgive them. God warns Shebna v15 The *Lord (commander of heaven’s armies) told me to go to this man called Shebna. He was manager of the palace staff. The *Lord said, ‘Give him this message from me: v16 You have no right to be acting like this. You have no authority to cut a grave for yourself, high on the rock. And in the Kidron Valley, of all places. This is where they bury kings! v17 The *Lord will shake you and he will fold you, just like a dress. v18 Then he will roll you into the shape of a ball. He will throw you into a vast foreign country. There your life will end. And so will your splendid *chariots. Your master’s officials will laugh at you. v19 You will have no more employment in the royal service. I shall remove you from your important job.

v20 When that happens, I shall send for my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah to replace you. v21 I shall cause Eliakim to wear your uniform. He will take your rank and authority. And he will be like a father to the people in *Jerusalem and in all Judah. v22 I shall place the keys of David’s palace upon his shoulders. So if he opens a door, nobody will be able to shut it. If he shuts a door, nobody will be able to open it. v23 I shall fix him firmly in place like a nail in the wall. Through him all the family of his father Hilkiah will obtain great honour. v24 The whole weight of Eliakim’s family will depend on him.

All his relatives will be like a collection of little containers (objects that people use to store things) of all sorts, from cups to jars.’ v25 ‘One day’, declares the *Lord (commander of heaven’s armies), ‘the nail in the wall will break. That nail will pull out and fall. And that will be the end of all that was hanging on it. The *Lord has spoken.’

Verses 15-25

People must choose between trust in God and trust in human effort. In fact, whole nations must choose between trust in God and trust in human effort. These verses show this principle.

Verse 16

Shebna was the king’s chief minister. He expressed his feelings of importance by his proud actions. He tried to use his job to make himself even more important and powerful.

Verses 17-19

Shebna’s proud actions made God very angry. God’s judgement would soon follow. Shebna would lose everything.

Verse 22

Only important people owned a key, which was long and heavy. In ancient times a key was a long piece of wood. It had wooden *pegs at one end. The *pegs fitted small holes in a wooden bar on the inside of the door.

 Only the owner of a key could use it to open or to close a door. So a key was also a sign of authority. The size and weight of a key meant that the owner carried it on his shoulder (see Revelation 3:7-8).

Verses 24-25

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

© 2007, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

February 2007

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