Chapter Eighteen

Lessons About Unfaithfulness

Isaiah 22:1-25

1. What might it have been like to be inside an ancient city under siege?

IMAGINE what it was like to be in an ancient city under siege. Outside the walls is the enemy​—strong and ruthless. You know that other cities have already fallen to him. Now he is determined to conquer and plunder your city and rape and kill its inhabitants. The enemy armies are far too powerful to confront directly in combat; you can only hope that the walls of the city will keep them out. As you look out over the walls, you can see siege towers brought by the enemy. They also have siege engines capable of hurling boulders to smash your defenses. You see their battering rams and scaling ladders, their archers and chariots, their hordes of soldiers. What a terrifying sight!

2. When does the siege described in Isaiah chapter 22 happen?

² In Isaiah chapter 22, we read about such a siege​—a siege against Jerusalem. When does it happen? It is difficult to pinpoint any one siege in which all the features described are fulfilled. Evidently, the prophecy is best understood as a generic description of the various sieges that will befall Jerusalem, a general warning of what lies ahead.

3. How are Jerusalem’s inhabitants reacting to the siege that Isaiah describes?

³ In the face of the siege that Isaiah describes, what are the inhabitants of Jerusalem doing? As God’s covenant people, are they crying out to Jehovah to save them? No, they are showing a very unwise attitude, one like that  found today among many who claim to worship God.

A City Under Siege

4. (a) What is “the valley of the vision,” and why does it have this name? (b) What is the spiritual condition of the inhabitants of Jerusalem?

⁴ In chapter 21 of Isaiah, each of the three judgment messages was introduced with the expression “The pronouncement.” (Isaiah 21:1, 11, 13) Isa Chapter 22 opens the same way: “The pronouncement of the valley of the vision: What is the matter with you, then, that you have gone up in your entirety to the roofs?” (Isaiah 22:1) “The valley of the vision” refers to Jerusalem. The city is called the valley because even though elevated, it is surrounded by higher mountains. It is associated with “the vision” because many divine visions and revelations are given there. For this reason, the city’s inhabitants should pay heed to Jehovah’s words. Instead, they have ignored him and have strayed into false worship. The enemy besieging the city is an instrument of God’s judgment against his wayward people.​—Deuteronomy 28:45, 49, 50, 52.

5. Likely, why do the people go up to their roofs?

 ⁵ Notice that the inhabitants of Jerusalem have ‘gone up in their entirety to the roofs’ of their houses. In ancient times, the roofs of Israelite homes were flat and families often congregated there. Isaiah does not tell why they do so on this occasion, but his words indicate disapproval. Likely, then, they have gone to the roofs to appeal to their false gods. This is their custom in the years leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E.​—Jeremiah 19:13; Zephaniah 1:5.

6. (a) What conditions prevail inside Jerusalem? (b) Why do some exult, but what lies ahead?

⁶ Isaiah continues: “With turmoil you were full, a boisterous city, an exultant town. Your slain ones are not those slain with the sword, nor those dead in battle.” (Isaiah 22:2)  Multitudes have flocked to the city, and it is in turmoil. People in the streets are noisy and fearful. Some, though, are exulting, perhaps because they feel secure or they believe that the danger is passing. * To exult at this time, however, is foolish. Many in the city are going to die a death far more cruel than by the edge of the sword. A city under siege is cut off from outside sources of food. Stockpiles within the city dwindle. Starving people and crowded conditions lead to epidemics. Many in Jerusalem will thus die by famine and pestilence. This happens both in 607 B.C.E. and in 70 C.E.​—2 Kings 25:3; Lamentations 4:9, 10. *

7. What do Jerusalem’s rulers do during the siege, and what happens to them?

 ⁷ In this crisis, what lead do Jerusalem’s rulers give? Isaiah answers: “All your dictators themselves have fled at one time. Without need of a bow they have been taken prisoner. All those of you who have been found have been taken prisoner together. Far off they had run away.” (Isaiah 22:3) The rulers and the mighty men run away and are then caught! Without even a bow bending against them, they are captured and led off as prisoners. This happens in 607 B.C.E. After Jerusalem’s wall is breached, King Zedekiah flees by night with his mighty men. The enemy learns of this, pursues them, and catches up with them on the plains of Jericho. The mighty men scatter. Zedekiah is seized, blinded, bound in copper fetters, and dragged off to Babylon. (2 Kings 25:2-7) What a tragic consequence of his unfaithfulness!

Dismay at the Calamity

8. (a) How does Isaiah react to the prophecy foretelling calamity upon Jerusalem? (b) What will be the scene in Jerusalem?

⁸ This prophecy moves Isaiah deeply. He says: “Turn your gaze away from me. I will show bitterness in weeping. Do not you people insist on comforting me over the despoiling of the daughter of my people.” (Isaiah 22:4) Isaiah grieved over the prophesied fate of Moab and Babylon. (Isaiah 16:11; 21:3) Now his dismay and lamentation are even more intense as he contemplates the disaster coming upon his own people. He is inconsolable. Why? “For it is the day of confusion and of downtreading and of confounding that the Sovereign Lord, Jehovah of armies, has in the valley of the vision. There is the demolisher of the wall, and the cry to the mountain.” (Isaiah 22:5) Jerusalem will be filled with wild confusion. People will wander about panic-stricken, without purpose. As the enemy begins to  break through the city walls, there will be a “cry to the mountain.” Does this mean that the city’s inhabitants will cry out to God in his holy temple on Mount Moriah? Perhaps. In view of their unfaithfulness, however, it probably means no more than that their cries of terror will echo in the surrounding mountains.

9. Describe the army threatening Jerusalem.

⁹ What sort of enemy is threatening Jerusalem? Isaiah tells us: “Elam itself has taken up the quiver, in the war chariot of earthling man, with steeds; and Kir itself has uncovered the shield.” (Isaiah 22:6) The foes are fully armed. They have archers whose quivers are filled with arrows. Warriors are readying their shields for battle. There are chariots and battle-trained horses. The army includes soldiers from Elam, located north of what is now the Persian Gulf, and from Kir, probably located close to Elam. Mention of those lands indicates the great distance from which the invaders come. It also indicates that Elamite archers may have been in the army threatening Jerusalem in Hezekiah’s day.

Attempts at Defense

10. What development bodes ill for the city?

¹⁰ Isaiah describes the developing situation: “It will occur that the choicest of your low plains must become full of war chariots, and the very steeds must without fail set themselves in position at the gate, and one will remove the screen of Judah.” (Isaiah 22:7, 8a) Chariots and horses crowd the plains outside the city of Jerusalem and position themselves to attack the gates of the city. What is “the screen of Judah” that is removed? Likely, it is a gate of the city, the capture of which bodes ill for the defenders. *  When this defensive screen is removed, the city is open to its attackers.

11, 12. What defensive measures do the inhabitants of Jerusalem take?

¹¹ Isaiah now focuses on the attempts by the people to defend themselves. Their first thought​—weapons! “You will look in that day toward the armory of the house of the forest, and you people will certainly see the very breaches of the City of David, for they will actually be many. And you will collect the waters of the lower pool.” (Isaiah 22:8b, 9) Weapons are stored in the armory of the house of the forest. This armory was built by Solomon. Since it was constructed of cedars from Lebanon, it became known as “the House of the Forest of Lebanon.” (1 Kings 7:2-5) Breaches in the wall are examined. Water is collected​—an important measure of defense. The people need water to live. Without it, a city cannot stand. Notice, though, that nothing is said of their looking to Jehovah for deliverance. Rather, they rely on their own resources. May we never make that mistake!​—Psalm 127:1.

¹² What can be done about those breaches in the city wall? “The houses of Jerusalem you will actually count. You will also pull down the houses to make the wall unattainable.” (Isaiah 22:10) Houses are evaluated to see which ones might be demolished to provide materials for repairing the breaches. This is an effort to prevent the enemy from gaining complete control of the wall.

A Faithless People

13. How do the people try to ensure a supply of water, but whom do they forget?

¹³ “There will be a collecting basin that you must make between the two walls for the waters of the old pool. And you will certainly not look at the grand maker of it,  and the one forming it long ago you will certainly not see.” (Isaiah 22:11) The efforts to collect water, described both here and in Isa 22 verse 9, remind us of the action King Hezekiah took to protect the city against the invading Assyrians. (2 Chronicles 32:2-5) However, the people of the city in this prophecy of Isaiah are absolutely faithless. As they work on the defense of the city, they give no thought to the Creator, unlike Hezekiah.

14. Despite Jehovah’s warning message, what unwise attitude do the people have?

¹⁴ Isaiah continues: “The Sovereign Lord, Jehovah of armies, will call in that day for weeping and for mourning and for baldness and for girding on sackcloth. But, look! exultation and rejoicing, the killing of cattle and the slaughtering of sheep, the eating of flesh and the drinking of wine, ‘Let there be eating and drinking, for tomorrow we shall die.’” (Isaiah 22:12, 13) The inhabitants of Jerusalem show no remorse for their rebellion against Jehovah. They do not weep, cut their hair, or wear sackcloth as a sign of repentance. If they were doing so, likely Jehovah would spare them the coming horrors. Instead, they abandon themselves to sensual enjoyment. The same attitude exists today among many who do not put faith in God. Because they have no hope​—either of a resurrection from the dead or of life in the future Paradise earth—​they pursue lives of self-indulgence, saying: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we are to die.” (1 Corinthians 15:32) How shortsighted! If only they would put their trust in Jehovah, they would have a lasting hope!​—Psalm 4:6-8; Proverbs 1:33.

15. (a) What is Jehovah’s judgment message against Jerusalem, and who carries out his judgment? (b) Why will Christendom suffer a fate similar to that of Jerusalem?

¹⁵ The besieged inhabitants of Jerusalem will not know  security. Isaiah says: “In my ears Jehovah of armies has revealed himself: ‘“This error will not be atoned for in your behalf until you people die,” the Sovereign Lord, Jehovah of armies, has said.’” (Isaiah 22:14) Because of the hardheartedness of the people, there will be no pardon. Without fail, death will come. This is a certainty. The Sovereign Lord, Jehovah of armies, has said it. In fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophetic words, calamity comes twice upon unfaithful Jerusalem. It is destroyed by the armies of Babylon and later by those of Rome. So, too, calamity will come upon unfaithful Christendom, whose members claim to worship God but actually disown him by their works. (Titus 1:16) The sins of Christendom, along with those of the world’s other religions that flout God’s righteous ways, have “massed together clear up to heaven.” Like the error of apostate Jerusalem, their error is too great to be atoned for.​—Revelation 18:5, 8, 21.

A Selfish Steward

16, 17. (a) Who now receives a warning message from Jehovah, and why? (b) Because of his lofty aspirations, what will happen to Shebna?

¹⁶ The prophet now turns his attention from an unfaithful people to an unfaithful individual. Isaiah writes: “This is what the Sovereign Lord, Jehovah of armies, has said: ‘Go, enter in to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the house, “What is there of interest to you here, and who is there of interest to you here, that you have hewed out for yourself here a burial place?” On a height he is hewing out his burial place; in a crag he is cutting out a residence for himself.’”​—Isaiah 22:15, 16.

¹⁷ Shebna is ‘steward over the house,’ probably the house of King Hezekiah. As such, he has an influential position, second only to the king. Much is expected of him. (1 Corinthians  4:2) Yet, when he should be giving first attention to the affairs of the nation, Shebna is pursuing glory for himself. He is having a luxurious tomb​—comparable to that of a king—​carved for himself high on a crag. Jehovah, observing this, inspires Isaiah to warn the unfaithful steward: “Look! Jehovah is hurling you down with violent hurling, O able-bodied man, and grasping you forcibly. Without fail he will wrap you up tightly, like a ball for a wide land. There you will die, and there the chariots of your glory will be the dishonor of the house of your master. And I will push you away from your position; and from your official standing one will tear you down.” (Isaiah 22:17-19) Because of his self-centeredness, Shebna will not have even an ordinary tomb in Jerusalem. Instead, he will be hurled like a ball, to die in a distant land. In this there is a warning to all of those entrusted with authority among God’s people. Abuse of power will lead to the loss of that authority and possibly to banishment.

18. Who will replace Shebna, and what does it mean that this one will receive Shebna’s official garments and the key of the house of David?

¹⁸ How, though, will Shebna be removed from his  position? Through Isaiah, Jehovah explains: “It must occur in that day that I will call my servant, namely, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah.  And I will clothe him with your robe, and your sash I shall firmly bind about him, and your dominion I shall give into his hand; and he must become a father to the inhabitant of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And I will put the key of the house of David upon his shoulder, and he must open without anyone’s shutting, and he must shut without anyone’s opening.” (Isaiah 22:20-22) Replacing Shebna, Eliakim will be given the steward’s official garments along with the key of the house of David. The Bible uses the term “key” to symbolize authority, government, or power. (Compare Matthew 16:19.) In ancient times, a king’s adviser, entrusted with the keys, might have general supervision of the royal chambers, even deciding on candidates for the king’s service. (Compare Revelation 3:7, 8.) Thus, the office of steward is important, and much is expected of whoever serves in it. (Luke 12:48) Shebna may be capable, but because he is unfaithful, Jehovah will replace him.

Two Symbolic Pegs

19, 20. (a) How will Eliakim prove to be a blessing to his people? (b) What will happen to those who continue to look to Shebna?

¹⁹ Finally, Jehovah uses symbolic language to describe the transfer of power from Shebna to Eliakim. He states: “‘I will drive him [Eliakim] in as a peg in a lasting place, and he must become as a throne of glory to the house of his father. And they must hang upon him all the glory of the house of his father, the descendants and the offshoots, all the vessels of the small sort, the vessels of the bowl sort as well as all the vessels of the large jars. In that day,’ is the utterance of Jehovah of armies, ‘the peg [Shebna]  that is driven in a lasting place will be removed, and it must be hewn down and fall, and the load that is upon it must be cut off, for Jehovah himself has spoken it.’”​—Isaiah 22:23-25.

²⁰ In these verses the first peg is Eliakim. He will become “a throne of glory” to the house of his father, Hilkiah. Unlike Shebna, he will not disgrace his father’s house or reputation. Eliakim will be a lasting support to household vessels, that is, to others in the king’s service. (2 Timothy 2:20, 21) In contrast, the second peg refers to Shebna. Though he may seem secure, he will be removed. Any who continue to look to him will fall.

21. In modern times, who, like Shebna, was replaced, why, and by whom?

²¹ Shebna’s experience reminds us that among those who claim to worship God, those who accept privileges of service should use them to serve others and to  bring praise to Jehovah. They should not abuse their position in order to enrich themselves or gain personal prominence. For example, Christendom has long promoted herself as an appointed steward, the earthly representative of Jesus Christ. However, just as Shebna brought dishonor on his father by seeking his own glory, Christendom’s leaders have brought dishonor on the Creator by amassing riches and power for themselves. Hence, when the time of judgment “to start with the house of God” came in 1918, Jehovah removed Christendom. Another steward was identified​—“the faithful steward, the discreet one”—​and appointed over Jesus’ earthly household. (1 Peter 4:17; Luke 12:42-44) This composite class has shown itself worthy of shouldering the royal “key” of the house of David. Like a trustworthy “peg,” it has proved to be a reliable support for all the different “vessels,” anointed Christians with different responsibilities who look to it for spiritual sustenance. The “other sheep” too, like ‘the alien resident within the gates’ of ancient Jerusalem, depend on this “peg,” the modern-day Eliakim.​—John 10:16; Deuteronomy 5:14.

22. (a) Why was the replacing of Shebna as steward timely? (b) In modern times, why was the appointing of “the faithful steward, the discreet one,” timely?

 ²² Eliakim replaced Shebna when Sennacherib and his hordes were threatening Jerusalem. Similarly, “the faithful steward, the discreet one,” has been appointed to serve during the time of the end, which will come to a conclusion when Satan and his forces move for a final attack on “the Israel of God” and their other sheep companions. (Galatians 6:16) As in Hezekiah’s day, that attack will end in destruction for the enemies of righteousness. Those who support themselves on the “peg in a lasting place,” the faithful steward, will survive, just as faithful inhabitants of Jerusalem survived the Assyrian invasion of Judah. How wise, then, not to cling to the discredited “peg” of Christendom!

23. What eventually happens to Shebna, and what can we learn from this?

²³ What happens to Shebna? We have no record of how the prophecy about him, recorded at Isaiah 22:18, was fulfilled. When he exalts himself and is then disgraced, he resembles Christendom, but he may have learned from the discipline. In this, he is very different from Christendom. When the Assyrian Rabshakeh demands Jerusalem’s surrender, Hezekiah’s new steward, Eliakim, leads the delegation that goes out to meet him. However, Shebna is at his side as secretary to the king. Evidently, Shebna is still in the king’s service. (Isaiah 36:2, 22) What a fine lesson for those who lose positions of service in God’s organization! Rather than being bitter and resentful, they are wise to continue serving Jehovah in whatever capacity he allows. (Hebrews 12:6) By so doing, they will avoid the disaster that will befall Christendom. They will enjoy God’s favor and blessing throughout eternity.

[Footnotes]

[Study Questions]

[Picture on page 231]

When Zedekiah flees, he is captured and blinded

[Picture on page 232, 233]

Prospects are grim for Jews trapped in Jerusalem

[Picture on page 239]

Eliakim is made “a peg in a lasting place” by Hezekiah

[Picture on page 241]

Like Shebna, many of Christendom’s leaders have brought dishonor on the Creator by amassing riches

[Pictures on page 242]

In modern times a faithful steward class has been appointed over Jesus’ household