Isa 22:15-19 | KingComments | STEP | Amidst the many prophecies about peoples and cities, Isaiah, in this and the next section, prophesies exceptionally about some persons. Why is that? One of the main reasons why God uses the king of the North to discipline Israel is to remove the antichrist, the false king of Israel, from the throne. That’s why the prophecies about Shebna and Eliakim belong to the burden of the valley of the vision, which is about… Jerusalem! First Isaiah writes about Shebna ( ). The frivolity of Jerusalem, described in the previous verses, includes a figure like Shebna ( ). With an undertone of contempt the LORD speaks of him as “this steward”. He is in charge of the royal household. That is an important job, to which a lot of power is attached. But Isaiah is not impressed by it and goes to him at the command of the LORD. Although only the command is mentioned and not its execution, it is clear that the prophet also fulfills the command in obedience (cf. ). Shebna lives according to his standards. He lives for “here”, a word that appears three times in . By using it three times and in an interrogative sense, the LORD emphasizes the folly of Shebna to connect everything only with the earth and the here and now. In his pride he even took care of a rock tomb. It is a mausoleum, carved between the graves of the kings (cf. ). Also at his death he wants to be treated with honor. However, nothing of his plans will come to pass (cf. ) because the LORD will throw him away like a ball of rope ( ; cf. ). He will not be placed in the tomb he carved out. He will come to his end in a foreign country. In that country nothing of his arrogance will remain. His splendid chariots will be a disgrace to the house of his master, that is Hezekiah. In the LORD says that He will forcibly remove Shebna – who, like Ahaz in Isaiah 7, is a foreshadow of the antichrist – from his function. Shebna will be deposed from his high post. In the same way the LORD will make short work of the antichrist by the king of the North and expel him from his high post as king of Israel. Shebna will leave life the way he lived it: without God and without hope. Thus it will happen to anyone who has had a high place in the world, but did not take God into account and died without faith in Christ. He will be cast like a ball into a vast country. The same will be done with the antichrist.

‏ Isaiah 22:15-19

Prophecy About Shebna

Amidst the many prophecies about peoples and cities, Isaiah, in this and the next section, prophesies exceptionally about some persons. Why is that? One of the main reasons why God uses the king of the North to discipline Israel is to remove the antichrist, the false king of Israel, from the throne. That’s why the prophecies about Shebna and Eliakim belong to the burden of the valley of the vision, which is about… Jerusalem!

First Isaiah writes about Shebna (Isa 22:15-19). The frivolity of Jerusalem, described in the previous verses, includes a figure like Shebna (Isa 22:15). With an undertone of contempt the LORD speaks of him as “this steward”. He is in charge of the royal household. That is an important job, to which a lot of power is attached. But Isaiah is not impressed by it and goes to him at the command of the LORD. Although only the command is mentioned and not its execution, it is clear that the prophet also fulfills the command in obedience (cf. Isa 7:3 ; Isa 8:1).

Shebna lives according to his standards. He lives for “here”, a word that appears three times in Isa 22:16. By using it three times and in an interrogative sense, the LORD emphasizes the folly of Shebna to connect everything only with the earth and the here and now. In his pride he even took care of a rock tomb. It is a mausoleum, carved between the graves of the kings (cf. 2Chr 32:33). Also at his death he wants to be treated with honor.

However, nothing of his plans will come to pass (cf. Lk 12:20-21) because the LORD will throw him away like a ball of rope (Isa 22:17-18; cf. 2Sam 18:17-18). He will not be placed in the tomb he carved out. He will come to his end in a foreign country. In that country nothing of his arrogance will remain. His splendid chariots will be a disgrace to the house of his master, that is Hezekiah.

In Isa 22:19 the LORD says that He will forcibly remove Shebna – who, like Ahaz in Isaiah 7, is a foreshadow of the antichrist – from his function. Shebna will be deposed from his high post. In the same way the LORD will make short work of the antichrist by the king of the North and expel him from his high post as king of Israel.

Shebna will leave life the way he lived it: without God and without hope. Thus it will happen to anyone who has had a high place in the world, but did not take God into account and died without faith in Christ. He will be cast like a ball into a vast country. The same will be done with the antichrist.