Isaiah gives a series of prophecies in chapters 21 to 23. There were three prophecies in chapter 21 (against Babylon, Edom and Arabia); here Isaiah focuses on Jerusalem.
Isaiah 22:1-3, Valley of Vision
A prophecy against the Valley of Vision:What troubles you now,
that you have all gone up on the roofs,
you town so full of commotion,
you city of tumult and revelry?
Your slain were not killed by the sword,
nor did they die in battle.
All your leaders have fled together;
they have been captured without using the bow.
All you who were caught were taken prisoner together,
having fled while the enemy was still far away.
In the Valley of Vision, the leaders all flee. The Valley of Vision likely describes Jerusalem.
The prophets identified a number of events as occurring in a valley. In Joel 3:1-2, the nations are judged in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. In Jeremiah 7:30-34 the Valley of Ben Hinnom becomes the Valley of Slaughter and in Ezekiel 39:11 a horde of invaders (from Gog) is buried in the Valley of Hamon Gog. In Zechariah 14:1-5,a valley is created by God splitting the Mount of Olives.
Note the ANE cultural expectation of people meeting, for celebration or lamentation, on the rooftops of their homes.
Isaiah 22:4-5, Let me weep
Therefore I said, “Turn away from me;
let me weep bitterly.
Do not try to console me
over the destruction of my people.”
The Lord, the LORD Almighty, has a day
of tumult and trampling and terror
in the Valley of Vision,
a day of battering down walls
and of crying out to the mountains.
Isaiah weeps as he sees the tumult, trampling, terror coming into the Valley of Vision.
Isaiah 22:6-9, Valleys full of chariots
Elam takes up the quiver,
with her charioteers and horses;
Kir uncovers the shield.
Your choicest valleys are full of chariots,
and horsemen are posted at the city gates.
The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah,
and you looked in that day to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest.
You saw that the walls of the City of David were broken through in many places;
you stored up water in the Lower Pool.
The City of David is broken through, its defenses stripped, its valleys full of chariots and horses. The Palace of the Forest was created by Solomon (I Kings 7:1-5) and included an armory (1 Kings 10:16-17.)
Motyer suggests that the "defenses of Judah" (or "protective cover") in verse 8 was a covenant with Egypt that was smashed by Sennacherib around 701 BC prior to Sennacherib advancing on Hezekiah's Jerusalem. (See also Isaiah 28:14-15.)
Isaiah 22:10-11, Reconstruction
You counted the buildings in Jerusalem
and tore down houses to strengthen the wall.
You built a reservoir between the two walls
for the water of the Old Pool,
but you did not look to the One who made it,
or have regard for the One who planned it long ago.
The people of Jerusalem count on fortifying the walls and building up the water system, all concrete physical acts, without turning to God for help. The end of verse 11 has the main theme -- "you did not look to the One who made it!"
Isaiah 22:12-13, Let us eat and drink
The Lord, the LORD Almighty,
called you on that day
to weep and to wail,
to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.
But see, there is joy and revelry,
slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,
eating of meat and drinking of wine!
“Let us eat and drink,” you say,
“for tomorrow we die!”
Instead of turning to YHWH in their distress, the people party. The last two lines probably quote an ancient proverb, more ancient than this prophecy; it is repeated in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 15:32.
Isaiah 22:14, Not forgiven
The LORD Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for,” says the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
A stark frightening statement!
Note the recurrence of the identification: the Lord, YHWH Almighty.
Isaiah 22: 15-19, Cutting out a grave
This is what the Lord, the LORD Almighty, says:
“Go, say to this steward,
to Shebna the palace administrator:
What are you doing here and who gave you permission
to cut out a grave for yourself here,
hewing your grave on the height
and chiseling your resting place in the rock?
“Beware, the LORD is about to take firm hold of you
and hurl you away, you mighty man.
He will roll you up tightly like a ball
and throw you into a large country.
There you will die
and there the chariots you were so proud of
will become a disgrace to your master’s house.
I will depose you from your office,
and you will be ousted from your position.
The palace administrator, who believes he will die in Jerusalem, will be thrown into another country. 9Motyer says that the Hebrew word cakan, translated "steward" here, is used of the woman lying with David to keep him warm in 1 Kings 1:1-4, and that the term communicates a "fawning attitude." Motyer translates that word as "lackey." Grogan agrees that the expression carries contempt for Shebna. Shebna, like Haman in the book of Esther, is interested in power and prestige and this prophecy promises that the end result will not be good.
“In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat of honor for the house of his father. All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots—all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.
Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, will be exalted and given "the key to the house of David." (Jesus is described this way in Revelation 3:7.)
When Sennacherib besieges Jerusalem, Eliakim plays a significant role; see Isaiah 36:3 and 37:2. (The siege is also described in 2 Kings 18-19.) Chapters 36 and 37 of Isaiah are probably relevant here.
The Hebrew word kabowd, translated "glory" has a meaning of "weighty." The seat of honor in verse 24 may be too heavy in verse 25....
Isaiah 22:25, Peg breaking
“In that day,” declares the LORD Almighty, “the peg driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.” The LORD has spoken.
And yet a certain peg will break and the load hanging on it will all fall down.
The next chapter has a prophecy against Tyre, rounding out the five prophecies of Isaiah 21-23.
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