isaiah 21 and 22

Read Isaiah 21 and 22 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions

Isa 21:1-5 {s} The storm of Elam (Persia) and Media is coming
Isa 21:6-10 {p} The watchman sees the fall of Babylon with her carved images + idols
Isa 21:11-12 {p} Out of Seir he inquires of the watchman: the morning comes, and the night
Isa 21:13-15 {s} The Dedanites (Ishmaelites) will flee to Tema in Arabia from the ravages of war
Isa 21:16-17 {s} Within a year the glory + mighty men of Kedar (Ishmaelites) will be diminished
Isa 22:1-14 {p} The vision Isaiah saw of the plundering of Jerusalem at the hands of a great army
Isa 22:15-25 {p} Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the steward of the house of David

The strong themes

Isa 21:1-10 {s+p} The storm of Elam (Persia) + Media is coming: Babylon’s fall with her carved images + idols
Isa 21:11-12 {p} Out of Seir he inquires of the watchman: the morning comes, and the night
Isa 21:13-22:14 {s+s+p} The Ishmaelites + Jerusalem reduced by war
Isa 22:15-25 {p} Isaiah’s prophecy re: the unrighteous steward of the house of David replaced

There are several amazing chiastic structures in this section. But the thing that leaped out at me this morning, was the final paragraph about the unrighteous steward of the house of David:

Thus says the Lord God of hosts: “Go, proceed to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the house, and say: ‘What have you here, and whom have you here, that you have hewn a sepulcher here, as he who hews himself a sepulcher on high, who carves a tomb for himself in a rock?’ Indeed, the Lord will throw you away violently, O mighty man, and will surely seize you. He will surely turn violently and toss you like a ball into a large country; there you shall die, and there your glorious chariots shall be the shame of your master’s house. So I will drive you out of your office, and from your position he will pull you down.

“Then it shall be in that day, that I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah; I will clothe him with your robe and strengthen him with your belt; I will commit your responsibility into his hand. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; so he shall open, and no one shall shut; and he shall shut, and no one shall open. I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place, and he will become a glorious throne to his father’s house. They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity, from the cups to all the pitchers. In that day,” says the Lord of hosts, “the peg that is fastened in the secure place will be removed and be cut down and fall, and the burden that was on it will be cut off; for the Lord has spoken.” Isa 22:15-25.

Eliakim means, “Who God Sets Up.” Isn’t that interesting? The prophecy concerning Eliakim makes a mini chiasitic structure:

1a) Isa 22:20-23a Eliakim called/ YHVH will fasten him as a peg in a secure place;

central axis) Isa 22:23b-24, He will become a glorious throne to his father’s house;

2a) Isa 22:25 {p} The peg that is fastened securely will be cut down/ its burden cut off.

To make sense of this, we have a clue given us in verse 22:

The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; so he shall open, and no one shall shut; and he shall shut, and no one shall open. Isa 22:22

This exact language is repeated describing Messiah Yeshua:

These things says He who is holy, He who is true, He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens:  Rev 3:7

Eliakim in serving as a prophetic type for Messiah Yeshua. The unrighteous steward over the house of David, and all Jerusalem and Judah, will be cast down and removed from his place, and the righteous steward over the house of David, He who God sets up, Messiah Yeshua, shall take up his office. He will become a glorious throne to His Father’s house, Amen? But first He will be cut down – killed, crucified; and the burden that was upon Him cut off – for the sin of the whole world was laid on Him, and upon His death it was cut off. Hallelujah! ♥