22:1  An oracle concerning the Arena of Spectacles: Whatever is the matter with you, causing you all at once to climb onto the housetops?

That’s where people would go for a big show. Spectacles, anciently, were actually the sacrificing of children, to the God, Moloch. People use to go there and watch that. Of course Arena of Spectacles could have other connotations. Today, it could be like people watching a soccer game, or being at a stadium, watching various sports. And some of the sports, today, are very violent, like wrestling or boxing. Even at soccer games people are trampled underfoot like this scenario here. In a modern, or end time context, there’ ll be some modern equivalent of these shows, things that were put on for the entertainment of people, to entertain the masses.

“Whatever is the matter with you, causing you all at once to climb onto the housetops?” It’s like people do when they see a spectacle; they want to get the highest place. Sometimes they climb up on their cars, or the roof of a house in the area.

22:2  You resounded with loud cheers—a tumultuous town, a city of revelry! But your slain were not killed by the sword; they did not die in battle!

Just like you see in a modern stadium. “But your slain were not killed by the sword, nor did they die in battle.” It said, anciently, they sacrificed little children by throwing them into the fiery furnace, to the god Moloch, and this is an allusion to that. [transcriber’s comment: today there are people who are metaphorically” killed” at these events. People are even heard to yell, “kill, kill, kill” to the team they are trying to beat. The losers, in a sense are “killed,” as they are thrown into the fiery furnace of opposition.]

22:3  Your chiefs, altogether in flight, are captured without using the bow; all of you left behind are caught easily before you can get away.

These people are under a curse. People were really murdered. They murdered these infants, and so God’s vengeance is coming upon them. And when the enemy is upon them, they, themselves, are slain, even their leaders.

22:4  Because of this I said, Turn your attention from me, though I weep bitterly; hasten not to comfort me at the ruin of the Daughter of my People.

Isaiah, again, even though he recognizes the wickedness that brought this plight upon these people, he has complete empathy for them at the same time. He sees that his people, generally, are ruined. There is no comfort when an entire people turns away from God and are slain, or destroyed.

22:5  For my Lord, the Lord of Hosts, has in store a day of commotion and trampling and riot in the Arena of Spectacles, a day of battering down walls, and of crying in distress, To the mountains!

There it is, again, “a day in store,” which is a link to chapter two, verse twelve: “The Lord has a day in store for all who are exalted, that they may be brought low.” We see that expression all the way through the book of Isaiah, which refers to the day of judgment. In this case, the day of commotion and trampling and riot in the Arena of Spectacles, such as there was during the time of entertainment when people were watching this spectacle, this show, this display of whatever it was. They caused trampling and commotion and riot, much as today that is seen at some sports arenas. People get really excited and some get trodden underfoot and actually get killed in the melee. “A day of battering down walls, and of crying in distress--” The enemies batter down the walls of the defenses of the people and come in an invade the land, and the people cry in distress, “To the mountains!” as a place of refuge.

22:6  When Elam takes up the quiver, and horses are harnessed to the chariots of Aram, and Kir uncovers the armor,

22:7  then shall your choice valleys fill with chariots, and cavalry take up positions at your gateways.

So here the various allies of the Assyrians are coming in, each one with its specialty, invading the Promised Land, the land where God’s people dwell. [transcriber’s note: aren’t the gateways to the Promised Land, the ports of entry where the enemies from foreign lands would enter?]

22:8  And in the day Judea’s defensive screen is removed, you will look to the forest home as protection.

So Judea’s defenses come down, as we saw in chapter five, in the allegory of the vineyard where enemy breaks down the walls and comes in and tramples all over the vineyard. People look to the “forest home” as protection. Maybe they’ll think to go to their mountain cabins where they go in the summertime, or some alternative situation. The point being that they are removed from the land where they normally live. Now, also, Judea’s defensive screen, as I pointed out earlier, as if Russia invaded Europe, we would know we would be next. If Europe fell, we would lose half of our ability to defend ourselves, because they are part of the Western Alliance of Nations.
[transcriber’s note: not only that but if our missile system, the anti-ballistic missiles were knocked out, we would lose that means of defense, or if our military might were destroyed first off.]

22:9  When you saw the city of David increasingly breached, you conserved water in the Lower Reservoir.

22:10  You took a census of the buildings in Jerusalem, tearing down buildings to fortify your wall.

22:11  You built cisterns between the walls for the water from the Old Reservoir, but you did not look to its Maker, nor have regard for the One who designed it long ago.

The people have taken all kinds of precautions. The City of David is where the descendants of David ruled. I’ve often thought that Judea referred to Europe , and the City of David could refer to Britain where it the British Royal family, or the descendants of David still rule. But that’s just my own, potential scenario. The conservation of water, and taking precautions and making all of these contingency plans are being done in the hope of surviving the siege, or the attack, but not realizing, or not wanting to recognize, that protection or deliverance comes from God. He’s the one who provides the water. He’s the one who brought forth the spring out of the earth to begin with. The Old Reservoir was the Gihon spring, anciently. The Lower Reservoir was the pool of Siloam, where the water ran down into.

22:12  In such a day my Lord, the Lord of Hosts, calls for weeping and lamentation, for austerity and wearing sackcloth.

The people are not in a repentant mode. They still think they can do it themselves, that they can rely upon themselves.

22:13  Instead, there is mirth and merrymaking, the killing of cattle and slaughter of sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: Let us dine and drink, for tomorrow we die!

Their behavior is the very opposite of what it ought to be. If they want protection, or deliverance, they should turn back to God, and repent and be healed. Instead, they’re just kind of blatantly pursuing their own, hedonistic pursuit of pleasure.

22:14  The Lord of Hosts revealed this to my ears: Such wickedness cannot be forgiven you till you die, says my Lord, the Lord of Hosts.

So that kind of wickedness is so bad that you have to be wiped out. Just like if a man commits murder, his own blood should be shed. That’s the law. And so it is here; their wickedness is such that they deserve to die. They brought it upon themselves. And their wickedness cannot be removed until they pay for it with their death. Their guilt cannot be taken away, until they die.

22:15  Thus said my Lord, the Lord of Hosts: Go and see that steward, Shebna, overseer of the palace.

22:16  Say to him, What are you up to? Who do you think you are, that you have hewn yourself a tomb here, like those who hew their sepulchres up high, carving out graves for themselves in the rock?

This person, Shebna, is mentioned, later on in the book of Isaiah, too, but mentioned in a more favorable tone, there. And so we get the impression, here, that this name, Shebna, is more like a code name of somebody else. In a latter-day context there’ll be somebody like Isaiah characterized, as Shebna, here, who will do this kind of thing, at that time, possibly in our own day. A lot of prophecies in these chapters are very difficult to pin down, because they’re so historical. They also so biographical. And some of them are a little bit of a mystery as to where they fit in. But, as a type for our day, they the most sense. All of these nations who were nations who hung together, who relied on the arm of flesh, and who didn’t turn to God, for the most part, except for a few exceptions—most did not turn to God. The same here, with Shebna; he thinks of himself as somebody. He’s very interested in himself, rather than letting others determine what kind of burial he’ll have. He’s making plans to give himself a glorious burial, and kind of honor himself even after he’s gone. The scenario in this chapter, where Eliakim, a king replaces him—that is part of the reversal of circumstances between the righteous and the wicked, that whose who are now exalted will be humiliated. And those who are humiliated, and because of their righteousness, the Lord will exalt. That’s part of what’s going on, here. He’s part of the ones who exalt themselves. There are individuals who do that, and there are nations who do that. What does the Lord say to him?

22:17  The Lord will hurl you away as an athlete hurls a missile; he will make you soar like a dart.

22:18  He will bind you tightly about and send you spinning like a top into an open country. There shall you die, and your inglorious conveyance there shall be a disgrace to your master’s house.

22:19  I will thrust you out of office; you will be expelled from your post.

Now, in the book of Isaiah you have a political and a religious situation, Ahaz being replaced by Hezekiah. You have an apostate descendant of king David who will be replaced by a righteous descendant of king David. And Ahaz and Hezekiah are types for a scenario of that kind, in the last days, in the end time. And so it is, here. This is more of a spiritual version of that replacement, where the one claimant, or the one steward of the Lord’s house, as a spiritual connotation in an end time scenario, will be replaced by another steward whom the Lord appoints. He’ll replace him. He’ll thrust him out of office and replace him with another one.
Now, as for the “missile” to which he’s bound and hurled away, one can only speculate as to what that means. At any rate, the one will be humiliated, and the other one will be exalted.

22:20  In that day I will commission my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:

And he calls him, “my servant.” That implies a covenant relationship with Eliakim. Whereas, in verse fifteen he says to the prophet, “Go and see that steward, Shebna, overseer of the palace.” He doesn’t even call him by his full name, like he does Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which shows respect. He just says “that steward, Shebna,” which implies dishonor. The man has brought dishonor upon himself. “In that day I will commission my servant, Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah.” “That day,” of course, is the day of judgment, too, or a portion of the day of judgment. Rhetorically, it connects to that, in the book of Isaiah.

22:21  I will clothe him with your robe and bind your girdle on him; I will appoint him your jurisdiction. And he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

And the binding of the robe and girdle, in the book of Isaiah, tie, rhetorically, to the Lord’s servants, later on, being clothed in the priestly robes, with priestly garments, a priestly girdle. “I will appoint him your jurisdiction.” This alludes to a spiritual role, even though it has political connotations. “I will appoint him your jurisdiction.” That’s another word link: appoint-- because in the book of Isaiah the Lord “appoints” his Servant. So this ties rhetorically to the Lord’s Servant whom the Lord calls to prepare the way before his coming. The Servant’s mission is to all nations, who renews the covenant of the Lord with all peoples throughout the world, and delivers them from exile and from captivity, and brings them back on a new exodus to the Promised Land, to Zion where there is protection for them. There’s a clear link here, between the Lord’s Servant, and the steward who replaces the false steward, Shebna. “And he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.” “Father,” again, is a technical term implying a proxy deliverer, or savior. That’s like Joseph was to Pharaoh. Joseph in Egypt was a “father” to Pharaoh. A father figure is one who has stewardship over his sons. And his sons may be literal sons, or also adopted sons and daughters.

22:22  I will invest him with the keys of the house of David: when he opens none shall shut, when he shuts none shall open.

So he has the sealing power. And it’s called: “to seal on earth as it is sealed in heaven, “ as is recorded in the New Testament.

22: 23  I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place, and he will be a throne of glory to the house of his father.

22:24. Upon him shall be hung all the glory of his father’s house: his descendants and posterity, including all the lesser vessels, from ordinary bowls to the most common containers.

The “nail” is also a metaphor. It is temple imagery alluding to this person’s proxy role on behalf of others. “Upon him shall be hung all the glory of his father’s house: his descendants and posterity, including all the lesser vessels, from ordinary bowls to the most common containers.”
Those who hang upon him, who rely upon him to deliver them, or rely upon him as their father, or as steward over them, include his descendants, or the descendants of the House of David—his posterity and all the lesser “vessels.” Vessels, meaning people, descendants, or offspring. So, vessels are people. In that sense, vessels is a metaphor describing posterity of the house of David, “from ordinary bowls to the most common containers.” We also see the word, vessels, as metaphor in chapter sixty-six, verse twenty, where it says: “They shall bring back all your brethren from throughout the nations, to Jerusalem, my holy mountain, as offerings to the Lord. Just as the Israelites brought offerings, pure vessels, to the House of the Lord.”
So, like trees, and other metaphors, you know that “vessels” are people, here, people who rely upon the Servant and his stewardship with God. He’s a nail in a sure place. He has risen, in the book of Isaiah, to the level of a savior figure.

22:25  In that day, says the Lord of Hosts, the nail that was fastened in a sure place shall be removed. It shall be dislodged and fall, and the burden hanging on it cut off. The Lord has spoken it.

That’s the other nail who was suppose to be a savior figure, or a savior over those whom he had stewardship, but who was merely interested in himself. So the “fall” is the same as the fall of Babylon or anyone else who is cut off and cut down, in that day of judgment. So those who looked to the former Steward, to the false Steward, will fall with him. He’s there, in a sense, to lead them to destruction if they rely upon him. But if they’re alert, and wise, and cognizant of what the Lord is doing, they will not be removed. They will not fall, or be cut off, with him. So, some, then, attach themselves to one individual, and fall with him, and others attach themselves to another individual who’s the Lord’s Servant who’s a Savior figure whom the Lord appoints who is clothed with the robes of the priesthood, and so forth, and he becomes their savior. And that is the situation with the Lord’s Servant, in the book of Isaiah, on the one hand-- with some kind of false steward, or prophet, or servant of God, on the other hand. And that’s very similar to what Jesus predicts in the New Testament where he talks about the one steward who would be looking forth to the signs of his coming, and there talks about an unfaithful steward who eats and drinks with the drunken, and says, “My Lord is long in coming.: And he begins to smite his fellow servants. This is the steward that the Lord cuts off. So this scenario, here, kind of ties in with the prophecy of Christ, in Matthew twenty-four, about the two, different, stewards. The righteous steward replaces the wicked steward.