Isaiah 22

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 22:15-25

Denunciation of ShebnaThis section contains Isaiah’s only invective against an individual. He denounces Shebna, the king’s chief minister, who may have been a leader of the party which favoured alliance with Egypt. The prophecy was delivered before Sennacherib’s invasion (701 b.c.), because at that time we read that Eliakim held the office Isaiah here promises him, while Shebna occupied a subordinate position (Isaiah 36:3; Isaiah 37:2).15-25. The deposition of Shebna. The elevation of... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:1

XXII.(1) The burden of the valley of vision.—The “valley of vision” is Jerusalem, lying as it did (Jeremiah 21:13) in a valley, as compared with the hills round about it (Psalms 125:2). If we think of the prophet’s dwelling as being in the lower city, in the valley of Tyropœon, the epithet becomes still more appropriate. That valley would be to him in very deed a “valley of vision,” where he saw things present and to come. Possibly the name became more characteristic from the impulse given to... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:2

(2) A joyous city . . .—It would seem from Isaiah 32:13 as if this was the characteristic on which Jerusalem, like Athens afterwards (Thucyd. ii. 40), specially prided itself.Thy slain men are not slain with the sword . . .—The words imply something like a reproach of cowardice. Those who had perished had not died fighting bravely in battle, but by the pestilence which then, as at all times, was prevalent in the crowded streets of a besieged city. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:3

(3) They are bound by the archers.—Better, fettered without the bow. The taunting charge of cowardice is carried farther. The rulers had ventured on a sortie, and had been captured without a struggle, not even drawing their bows in their defence. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:4

(4) Therefore said I, Look away from me.—The tone is that of one who wishes to be alone in his sorrow. It is too deep for visits of consolation. He “refuses to be comforted.” Isaiah bewails the destruction of “the daughter of his people” in much the same strain as that of Jeremiah over a later catastrophe (Lamentations 3:48). read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:5

(5) For it is a day of trouble.—The earlier clauses paint the mental emotions of the coming day of judgment. In the latter we hear the actual crash of the battering-rams across the walls. The cry of the panic-stricken people shall rise to the surrounding mountains, possibly as to the hills from whence they expected help, either as true worshippers looking to Mount Zion (Psalms 121:1), or to the high places which were so long the objects of their worship, and which led their enemies to say that... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:6

(6) Elam . . . Kir . . .—The two nations are named as the chief elements of the Assyrian army then invading Judæa. Elam, previously named as the destroyer of Babylon (Isaiah 21:2), was at this time, as the inscriptions of Sargon show, subject to Assyria (Records of the Past, vii. 29). As in later history (Herod. i. 73, iii. 21; Jeremiah 49:35), it was conspicuous chiefly for its archers. “Kir,” named in 2 Kings 16:11 as the region to which Tiglath-pileser carried off the people of Damascus, has... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:7

(7) That thy choicest valleys . . .—These were the valleys of Gibeon, Rephaim, Hinnom, and Jehoshaphat, which encircled Jerusalem on the west and south. They are painted as filled with the chariots and cavalry of the Assyrian army, ready to make their attack on the very gate of the city, the “great gate” named in Sennacherib’s inscription (Records of the Past, i. 39). read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:8

(8) And he discovered the covering of Judah—i.e., Jehovah removed the veil which till then had hidden the approaching danger from the eyes of the inhabitants, and laid bare their weakness to those of the invaders. The verbs which in the English version are in the past tense are really in a kind of prophetic present, painting the future as if actually passing before the prophet’s gaze.The armour of the house of the forest.—More fully (as in 1 Kings 7:2; 1 Kings 10:17), “the house of the forest... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:9

(9) Ye have seen also the breaches . . .—The prophet paints the hasty preparations for defence. So in 2 Chronicles 32:5 : “Hezekiah built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers,” and added an outer line of defence. The “city of David” is, of course, the fortress of Zion.The waters of the lower pool.—This was the Lower Gihon, now the Birket-es-Sultan. The operation is described more fully in 2 Chronicles 32:3-4. Its object was to stop the outflow of the streams, and... read more

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 22:15-25

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:1

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:2

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:3

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:4

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:5

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:6

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:7

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:8

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:9

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