Isaiah 22:15

"Thus saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, who is over the house, and say, What doest thou here? and whom hast thou here? that thou hast hewed thee out here a sepulchre? hewing him out a sepulchre on high, graving a habitation for himself in the rock? Behold, Jehovah, like a strong man, will hurl thee away violently; yea, he will wrap thee up closely. He will surely wind thee round and round, and toss thee like a ball into a large country; there shalt thou die, and there shall be the chariots of thy glory, thou shame of thy lord's house. And I will thrust thee from thine office; and from thy station shalt thou be pulled down."

"This treasurer ..." The whole attitude of Isaiah here is one of depreciation and scorn. Every line in the paragraph is designed to belittle and to show contempt for Shebna. The office mentioned here was an important one. "Over the house," means over the king's house; and apparently, Isaiah visited Shebna at the site where his rock sepulchre was being carved out at a place high on some cliff or mountainside, and there uttered the words of this prophecy. We do not know just why a special prophecy was directed to the "comptroller of the king's house"; but it could be that God in the person of this selfish official was rebuking all of Judah, especially its officialdom, who were making their plans as if they thought they would live forever; whereas, demotion, military conquest, and captivity awaited all of them in the not too distant future.

Regarding the date of this oracle against Shebna, Payne placed it a year or two prior to 701 B.C.[13] This is reasonable, because in 701 B.C. Shebna had already been demoted (Isaiah 36:3), although even then he still held an important office. (See also 2 Kings 18:18.) Archer believed that Shebna and Eliakim, who succeeded him, were singled out here as symbolical representatives of the two general classes in Jerusalem: "(1) Eliakim, a truly devoted follower of God, representing the righteous remnant, and (2) Shebna," representing the carnal and rebellious majority of the old Israel.

It has also been conjectured by a number of scholars that Shebna was singled out for the denunciation here because he had been one of the advocates of Hezekiah's joining an alliance with Egypt and Ethiopia against Assyria, an alliance which Isaiah, through the leading of the Lord, bitterly opposed.

In Isaiah 22:16, there is an abrupt change of persons. First, Isaiah speaks in the second person directly to Shebna; and in the same breath he speaks of Shebna in the third person. This change of persons is characteristic of many passages in the Bible; and, in no case, is such a change an indication either of an interpolation or of different authors. As Peake properly observed, when Isaiah here addressed Shebna in scornful anger in the third person, "He seems to be addressing the bystanders."[14]

Archer believed that Shebna and Eliakim were singled out in this prophecy as representatives of the two classes in Jerusalem at that time, (1) the righteous remnant who trusted God, and (2) the carnal, worldly element who favored reliance upon their own devices rather than relying upon God's blessing and protection.[15] The fact of the fall of Eliakim being mentioned a little later is in harmony with this view, because even the righteous remnant were yet destined to go into captivity.

"Wind thee round and round ..." Many have commented that the passage is obscure; but Maurer (as quoted by Jamieson) believed that it meant, "I will whirl thee round and round, and then cast thee away, as a stone is first whirled round and round in a sling and then released."[16]