In Is. 22:15-25, Isaiah prophesies about the contrasting future careers of two men who were stewards at the time of King Hezekiah, Eliakim and Shebna. The passage describes Shebna’s demotion and Eliakim’s promotion.

A particular difficulty in the interpretation of the passage concerns the last verse, v. 25, which describes, in figurative language, a peg or nail which will not hold in place and will fall down along with the “burden” hanging on to it. The reference here, (as everyone agrees!) is to one or other of these two stewards. Almost all modern Evangelical commentators, including both J. Alec Motyer and John Oswalt, understand the reference to be to Eliakim. Older commentators are more divided, and perhaps even a majority, (including J. Calvin), support the “Shebna” interpretation.

In this article, I put forwards a tentative structural analysis of the passage which works with the older “Shebna” view, and which attempts to lend plausibility to that view. This is very bold on my part given, in particular, J. Alec Motyer’s attention to structure in his superb Isaiah commentary and his support for the alternative viewpoint!

Besides being an interesting and important topic in its own right, the discussion is important also because Eliakim is presented in Scripture in typological/Christological terms – for example, in Rev. 3:7, the risen and ascended Christ has the key of David, which corresponds to the Eliakim prophecy in Is. 22:22.

I hope you will find the article interesting and helpful, and I welcome all comments and corrections. The article is in pdf format and can be accessed below.

Categories: Chiastic and Other Structures, Isaiah, Old Testament Exegesis, Revelation, Typology

Tags: Chiasm, chiastic, Christ, Eliakim, Hezekiah, Is. 22:15-25, Is. 22:25, Isaiah, Jesus, Key of David, Old Testament, Revelation, Shebna, Structure