And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkijah;
Isaiah 22 has just announced the fall of Shebna, a man who held high office in Hezekiah's court and failed in it. Verse 20 is the turn. God calls a replacement, and He names him.
The office is not seized, inherited, or won. God takes the initiative, and the title He gives Eliakim — "my servant" — is the exact opposite of what Shebna had made of the same job. A summary of the man's place brings this out:
Son of Hilkiah, and chief of the household of Hezekiah. Eliakim must have held a high office; he is named before the scribe and the recorder. In Isaiah 22 God calls him His servant: God would set Shebna aside, and clothe Eliakim and raise him up as governor. He was to have the key of David, and be able to open and shut effectively. He is here a type of Christ when He comes to take His place over Israel.
Shebna and Eliakim held the same rank. The difference between ruin and blessing lay somewhere else:
It was not the position, but the person that made the difference. Shebna had just the same place, but he utterly failed and caused ruin. Not so Eliakim who followed. Revelation 3:7 makes it right to apply this to Christ.
This was not only a picture of the future. The change of staff can be traced in the later chapters of Isaiah, where the two men have swapped places:
It is worth noticing that Isaiah 22:15 speaks of Shebna as being "over the house." But in Isaiah 36:3, 22, and Isaiah 37:2, Eliakim holds the place "over the house," and Shebna comes after him as "the scribe." So during the reign of Hezekiah, Eliakim was exalted, and Shebna was falling from his very high position.
Eliakim's own name points past the man who carried it:
Eliakim carries the key of the house of David here. His name means "whom God will raise up." He plainly points on to our Lord Jesus Christ, whom God has raised up to secure all "the sure mercies of David" — the promises connected with David's Seed. God robes him, strengthens him, and puts the government into his hand, and he becomes a father to the people.
"In that day" reaches further than Hezekiah's court. One man is pushed out and God's chosen man takes his place. That pattern comes round again:
Shebna then was rejected and Eliakim, whose name appears to mean "God is setting up," was to take his place. This transfer actually took place during the reign of Hezekiah, just as the prophet had said. But we also see in it a picture of what will take place at the end of the age. Then the self-exalting "man of sin" will be violently turned and tossed to destruction, and the once rejected Christ will be exalted and established. Of Him Eliakim, in this incident, was a faint type.
The New Testament shows who this points to, and how far it reaches:
Eliakim the son of Hilkiah is a type of the coming Christ. Of Him it is said prophetically, "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." Revelation 3:7 clearly shows that this Scripture brings Christ before us. And it is not for Israel only, but also for the saints of this day.
- Called — the office is given, not grabbed: God says "I will call my servant," and names the man Himself.
- Cleared — Shebna is set aside first. God raises up His servant in the place another man had ruined.
- Character — Shebna held the identical post and wrecked it. The person, not the position, made the difference.
- Christ — Eliakim's name and his key point on to the One God raised up, of whom Eliakim was only a faint type.
- Coming — the change in Hezekiah's court previews the end of the age. The man of sin goes; the rejected Christ is exalted. Revelation 3:7 shows that His authority covers believers today.
and I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.
Isaiah 22 ends with a change of office. God takes the post from one man and hands the robe, the sash and the authority to another. Commentators read the scene on two levels: a real change in Hezekiah's court, and a picture of a far greater Servant taking up rule.
The promise makes sense only when you know the man it replaces.
Shebna appears here to show the character of leaders in Israel who care only for themselves, with no thought of God. Shebna was one of King Hezekiah's chief ministers. But his conduct was offensive to God. It stood in sharp contrast to what a servant of the Lord should be. Instead of caring for the Lord's interests among His people, he had the glory of his own name before him.
The contrast is the point. Shebna wanted his own name to shine. God removes him and hands the office to a servant of His own choosing.
This was not only a promise about the distant future. Isaiah's own book shows the change taking place.
God's judgment on Shebna's pride and arrogance made way for a true servant of the Lord. Notice the change. Isaiah 22:15 speaks of Shebna as "over the house." But in Isaiah 36:3, 22 and Isaiah 37:2 Eliakim holds that place, and Shebna comes after him as "the scribe." So during Hezekiah's reign Eliakim rose, and Shebna was falling from his very high position.
One writer weighs what the name Eliakim means, and asks who the robing and strengthening point to.
Eliakim carries the key of the house of David here. His name means "whom God will raise up." He points clearly to our Lord Jesus Christ, whom God has raised up to secure all "the sure mercies of David" — the promises connected with David's Seed. He is robed and strengthened, and the government committed into his hand, and he becomes a father to the people (v. 21).
The verse calls him a father to the people. One writer looks at how Scripture uses that word elsewhere.
In Genesis 45:8 Joseph is described as a father to Pharaoh. This suggests that he cared for the king's interests. He would advise him and manage his affairs. Is it unreasonable to believe that the Seed of David will fulfil a similar role for Israel and the nations? In Job 29:16 Job described himself as a father to the needy. The Lord Jesus will help the poor and helpless in the kingdom to come. Here in Isaiah 22:21 Eliakim, a picture of the Lord Jesus, is promised to be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Being a father here would involve protection, provision, love and care. It also includes fatherly discipline when needed.
So the office means care for others, not just power held.
One writer reads the name Eliakim a little differently, and sees the whole exchange as a preview of the end of the age.
Shebna was rejected, and Eliakim — whose name appears to mean "God is setting up" — was to take his place. This transfer took place during the reign of Hezekiah, just as the prophet had said. But we see in it a parable of what will happen at the end of the age. Then the self-exalting "man of sin" will be violently turned and tossed to destruction, and the once rejected Christ will be exalted and established. Of Him Eliakim, in this incident, was a faint type.
The words here and in the next verse are too large for any court official. Christ claims one of them for Himself.
This is evident when we read Revelation 3:7, and note how our Lord claims for Himself the very things that are said of Eliakim in verse 22 of our chapter. He is the One worthy to have the government laid on His shoulder — not only of Jerusalem and Israel but of the whole universe... Eliakim doubtless had a place of much authority under Hezekiah, but the graphic and conclusive figures we find here go far beyond him.
- Cause — Shebna lost the office because he used a high place for his own name instead of God's interests.
- Call — God chooses the replacement Himself, and the name Eliakim is read as "whom God will raise up."
- Clothing — God hands over the robe, the sash and the authority, and He did it in Hezekiah's own reign.
- Care — "father" says how he uses the office: he manages affairs for others and helps the poor and helpless.
- Christ — the language reaches past Eliakim to the One who claims it in Revelation 3:7: once rejected, now exalted.
And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; and he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
God strips Shebna of his post as palace steward and gives Eliakim a key that carries the whole government of the royal house. The picture is far bigger than one official in Jerusalem, because the risen Christ takes these words as His own title in Revelation 3:7.
The image was plain to anyone who had ever locked a door: whoever holds the key runs the household. One writer sets the scene from the history:
Shebna, who came from David's line, was over Hezekiah's household. But because the LORD was displeased with him, his office was to be given to another — to Eliakim the son of Hilkiah. With the key of David on his shoulder, the government of the royal house was placed in Eliakim's hand. He was to serve in his high position, as one called by God, for the good of "the inhabitants of Jerusalem and … the house of Judah".
Hamilton Smith sets the key beside the other symbol of rule, and dates each one:
The two great symbols of government in Scripture are the sword and the key. The sword stands for government that judges evil. The key stands for government that holds evil back, or that opens a door for blessing. The day is coming when the Lord will use the sword in overwhelming judgment. Today He uses the key for His people, to make a way for what is of Himself and to hold back what opposes Him.
Eliakim's name is not incidental. H. J. Vine reads it as a signpost:
Eliakim carries the key of the house of David here. His name means "whom God will raise up." He points on to our Lord Jesus Christ, whom God has raised up to secure all "the sure mercies of David" — the promises connected with David's Seed. Eliakim is robed and strengthened, the government is placed in his hand, and he becomes a father to the people (v. 21).
William Kelly explains why the passage cannot stop at Hezekiah's court:
These past events are put together without regard to their dates, as we have seen. The people brought in did not hold the highest offices, yet they are described in words that open out to a rule and power beyond the highest. All this prepares us for the great events of the last days in the Holy Land, which are the only complete fulfilment of the scripture before us.
In the same passage Kelly sees Shebna's fall and Eliakim's rise as a picture of Christ displacing the Antichrist: the false ruler put out, the true one installed.
What He opens stays open. J. N. Darby applies that to believers who feel weak:
He has here, not the display of power, but the key of power. This is what the LORD said of Eliakim to Shebna in Isaiah 22:22… where there is this weakness, He encourages the church to look to Himself as the holy and the true One, and to trust Him… Let all the power of man or Satan do their worst. If I am resting in Christ, who is completely true, and He has opened a door, neither man nor devil can shut it.
Jesus gave keys to Peter too, and this verse is often used to turn that into a claim of church office. Darby answers it:
Peter received the administration of the kingdom, not the administration of the church… "I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David" (Isaiah 22:22) has the same meaning. It is the charge of administering the kingdom of heaven down here.
Eliakim's own office did not last. W. Trotter points to how the chapter ends:
At the end of Isaiah 22 the peg fastened in a firm place — Eliakim — was to be removed, cut down, and to fall, and the burden hanging on it cut off with it. "The key of David" is in the hand of His risen Son. But it is still "the key of David," and that is how it is seen in the hands of Jesus in Revelation 3:7-12.
- Key. A key is authority over a house: whoever holds it opens and shuts, and the whole household answers to him.
- Shoulder. God lays the key on Eliakim; he does not seize it. The office comes from God, taken from a man God was displeased with.
- Sword or key. Government has two symbols. The sword judges evil; this verse hands over the key, which holds evil back and opens a door for blessing.
- Irreversible. What He opens no one shuts — so weak believers rest on His strength, not their own, to keep the door open.
- Kingdom. The key governs the kingdom, not the church. Peter held that charge over the kingdom on earth; the key of David itself stays in the risen Christ's hand.