Verse 24
(24) And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house . . .—The metaphor of the nail is resumed. Not without a touch of irony, as the sequel shows, the prophet paints the extent to which those who belong to Eliakim will hang upon his support. There will be the “glory” or the “weight” (the Hebrew word has both meanings) of his next-of-kin. Besides these there will be the remoter off-shoots and side-shoots of his family. But the number will increase, and upon that single nail, or peg, would hang the “vessels of small quantity,” cups such as were used by the priests for the blood of the victims in sacrificing (Exodus 24:6), or for wine in common use (Song Song of Solomon 7:2), flagons, or earthen pitchers, as in Isaiah 30:14; Lamentations 4:2, i.e., the whole crowd of the retainers of a great official. The prophet obviously paints the picture as a warning. There was the danger even for Eliakim, upright and religious as he was, as there has been for others like him, of giving way to nepotism, and the fault would not remain unpunished.
Be the first to react on this!