Introduction: This is the rest of Isa 22, a chapter in which the prophecy turns to God’s judgement of His own people. After hearing clearly what God was going to do to them they did not listen. I ended the last devotion by saying, ‘They had not returned to nor sought God who had long ago planned that unfaithfulness to Him had dire consequences!’
In that day the Lord GOD of hosts
called for weeping and mourning,
for baldness and wearing sackcloth; – God calls for repentance, the outward signs for which, in those days, are listed here.
and behold, joy and gladness,
killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,
eating flesh and drinking wine.
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.” – But the reaction of the people was to ignore God’s call. They said, ‘if we’re going to die, then let’s live it up’!
The LORD of hosts has revealed himself in my ears:
“Surely this iniquity will not be atoned for you until you die,”
says the Lord GOD of hosts. – atonement equals at-one-ment! That is forgiveness and restitution. Their stupid attitude made atonement impossible!
Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: What have you to do here, and whom have you here, that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock? – Shebna was the Prefect of the Palace, an adviser to the King. He lived in the temple but Isaiah accosts him when he is trying to carve out a tomb (presumably for his own use considerably later), in a high and important place so that he wouldn’t be soon forgotten! He was obviously one who was called to repent of his attitude to God, but refused! Behold, the LORD will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious chariots, you shame of your master’s house. I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. – He was high up geographically claiming his honoured burial spot when Isaiah says to him, ‘You’re in a perfect spot for God to hurl you like a ‘play ball’ into a far land. That’s your future! In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father’s house. And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father’s house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken.” – Eliakim was to replace Shebna, who was later taken away to Babylon as a prisoner. Eliakim remained and guided God’s people in Jerusalem, the few who had escaped deportation! Eliakim was to be greatly honoured whereas Shebna’s past honours would fall broken and into the dirt!
Luke 14: 8- Jesus said “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.’
Prayer: Teach me that repentance and confession is not a once only event, please Father God. But thank You that Your forgiveness is real!
As I read it! 