Isaiah 22

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:10

(10) Ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem.—The preparations for defence are continued. The houses were numbered that some might be pulled down and others left, as strategical plans might determine. (Comp. 2 Chronicles 32:5.) So in what was probably a contemporary psalm we have, “Walk about Zion . . . tell the towers thereof . . . mark ye well her bulwarks” (Psalms 48:12). So in the later siege of Jerusalem houses were thrown down by (or, more accurately, on account of) the mounds that were... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:11

(11) Ye made also a ditch between the two walls.—Better, a pond or pool, to form a reservoir for the supply of the city. This was probably identical with the “pool of Hezekiah,” known also as the Birket-el-Batrak (“pool of the patriarchs”), between two walls, that to the north of Zaon, and that which runs to the north-east round the Acra. During the rainy season this is supplied by the small conduit which runs from the upper pool along the surface of the ground, and then under the wall near the... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:12

(12) To weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness . . .—National danger, Isaiah adds, should call to a national repentance in its outward manifestations, like the fast described in Joel 2:0 “Baldness,’ produced by the tearing of the hair in extreme grief, took its place naturally, with weeping and sackcloth, in those manifestations. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:13

(13) And behold joy and gladness . . .—As things were, however, the danger, imminent as it was, led, as in the plague at Athens in the time of Pericles, and that of Florence in the time of Boccaccio, not to repentance, but to recklessness and sensuality. The cry of the baser form of epicureanism in all ages (1 Corinthians 15:32) was uttered, or acted on, and the prophet echoes the spoken words, or gives utterance to the unspoken thought, in tones of burning indignation. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:14

(14) It was revealed in mine ears . . .—The special form indicates that the warning was “borne in,” ringing, as it were, on the inward ears of the prophet, as an oracle of God. That sensual recklessness could have but one end in all countries and ages, and that end was death. No formal religion, no chastisement, even, would avail to purge an iniquity like that in the absence of a true repentance. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:15

(15) Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna.—The section that follows opens a chapter in the internal politics of the reign of Hezekiah. The word for “treasurer” (literally, companion) implies a position like that of a vizier, identical, probably, with that of the “king’s friend” of Genesis 26:26; 2 Samuel 15:37; 1 Kings 4:5. In addition to this office Shebna had the position of being “over the house,” an office, like that of a Lord Chamberlain, of such importance that it was... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:16

(16) What hast thou here? . . .—The prophet’s indignation is roused by Shebna’s last act of arrogance. He had no “sepulchre of his fathers” to deck with fresh stateliness, and, like the kings and great ones of the earth (the kings of Sidon, the Pharaohs of Egypt, the kings of Assyria), had built one for himself, hollowed out of the wells (probably on one of the hills of Jerusalem), to be his own everlasting “habitation,” his domus œterna. So in Ecclesiastes 12:5, the grave is the “long home” of... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:17

(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. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:18

(18) Like a ball into a large country.—The picture is that of a ball flung violently on a smooth, even plain where it bounds on and on with nothing to stay its progress. The “large country” is, probably, the plain of Mesopotamia, where Shebna is to end his days in exile.There the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord’s house.—Better, Thither shall go the chariots of thy glory, the shame of thy lord’s house. The words point to another form of Shebna’s ostentatious pride. Not... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:19

(19) I will drive thee . . . shall he pull thee down.—The change of person has led some interpreters to refer the latter clause to Hezekiah. Such changes, however, are common enough in Hebrew prophetic speech (e.g., Isaiah 10:12; Isaiah 42:13-14), and Jehovah is the subject of both clauses. read more

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:10

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:11

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:12

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:13

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:14

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:15

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:16

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:17

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:18

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 22:19

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