Scripture Daily

Context No. 1271 of 4322 · Isaiah

Context · Reflection

Isaiah 22:20-25: in context

20It will happen in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, 21and I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your belt. I will commit your government into his hand; and he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. 22I will lay the key of David’s house on his shoulder. He will open, and no one will shut. He will shut, and no one will open. 23I will fasten him like a nail in a sure place. He will be for a throne of glory to his father’s house. 24They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, every small vessel, from the cups even to all the pitchers. 25“In that day,” says the LORD of Armies, “the nail that was fastened in a sure place will give way. It will be cut down and fall. The burden that was on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken it.”

Isaiah announces that God will replace a corrupt official, Shebna, with a faithful servant, Eliakim. God will clothe him with authority, commit the government into his hand, and make him a father to the people. I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David, God says; he shall open, and none shall shut; he shall shut, and none shall open. He will be like a peg fastened in a sure place, a throne of honor to his family. But then a warning: in the end even that sure peg will give way, break off, and fall, and the burden hung on it will be cut down.

Two things stand out. First, the key of David and the sure peg. Eliakim is given a trustworthy authority, the key that opens and shuts, and is fastened like a peg in a firm place, a picture of reliable, God-given leadership on which others can hang their trust. There is a real good in such a person, a faithful servant who can be relied upon, who bears the burden and holds the authority well. But second, and this is the sober turn, even the sure peg eventually gives way. Isaiah warns that in time the fastened peg will break and fall, and everything hung on it will come down. However faithful and reliable a human leader is, they are still a peg that will one day give way; to hang the whole weight of your trust and your family's hopes on any human being, even a good one, is finally to hang it on something that will fail. And that is exactly why the New Testament takes the very words spoken of Eliakim, the key of David, he opens and none shuts, and applies them to Christ. Eliakim was a peg that would give way; Christ is the peg that never does, the one who holds the true key of David, whose authority does not break off and fall. Trust reliable people, but hang the full weight only on the one whose key and throne are eternal.

Am I hanging the full weight of my trust on human pegs that will eventually give way, or have I placed it finally on Christ, who holds the true key of David and never breaks off and falls?

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