And I will fasten him [as] a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a throne of glory to his father's house
Isaiah turns here from Shebna, an official who failed, to Eliakim. God will clothe this man with authority and fasten him in place. The promise sounds small: a peg in a wall, and a seat of honour for his family. Commentators say the words are far too large for any court official, and read them as pointing beyond Eliakim to Christ.
God gave Eliakim charge of the royal household. His name carries the weight of the whole picture.
Eliakim carries the key of the house of David here. His name means "whom God will raise up." He points straight 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. He is robed and strengthened, the government is put into his hand, and he becomes a father to the people (v. 21).
Shebna, the man Eliakim replaced, had held the very same office.
It was not the position, but the person that made the difference. Shebna had exactly the same place, but he failed completely and brought ruin. Eliakim, who came after him, was not like that… Revelation 3:7 warrants applying this to Christ.
The picture comes from everyday household life. Older translations say "a nail in a sure place"; the ESV renders it "a peg in a secure place."
In eastern houses many things are hung on nails for safety. So "a nail in a sure place" means security. It is a picture of the safety of anything that depends on God.
One writer tests the wording against the real world.
Second, "the nail in a sure place." What place on earth is sure? Where has such a nail been found? The nail is also to be "for a glorious throne to his father's house," and to have "all the glory of his father's house" hung on him. What huge statements these are! They find their proper fulfilment only in our Lord Jesus Christ. On Him hangs not only the glory of the house of David, but also the glory of God found in redemption.
A peg is only as safe as the wall it is driven into.
The nail might be all that it should be. But it must also be fixed in a firm spot, or whatever is entrusted to it will not be safe. This golden nail before us is also "a glorious throne to His Father's house" (v. 23)… He is truly set in "a sure place," in the very glory of God, His Father's house… everything hangs safely on this golden nail of God's own providing. Nothing here can give way or break down, though all else is shaken.
The second half of the verse turns from safety to rule.
In the day of His glory, "He shall be for a glorious throne to His father's house." All the glory of the house of David will then be His. Everyone who is blessed will be blessed in relation to Him (verses 22–24). Christ is seen here as "a glorious throne," because all authority will belong to Him, and He will reign in righteousness.
Two verses later that same secure peg comes down (v. 25). The promise of permanence seems to collapse.
But now, third, comes the paradox. The nail fastened in the sure place is to "be removed, and be cut down and fall." Here we surely have one of those half-hidden references to the rejection and death of the Messiah that the Old Testament gives us.
The public display of this rule is still future, yet the security is available today.
He has complete sovereignty and the undisputed right to enter and use all the authority that is needed. He is not yet using this power in world government. But God has exalted Him in the heavens as Lord and Christ (Acts 2:33-36), and He now uses His lordship for weak believers who trust in Him, clearing obstacles out of their way. He is indeed "as a nail in a sure place." We can rely on Him completely and hang all our confidence on Him.
- Person, not post. Shebna held the same office and ruined it. The promise rests on the man God chooses, and Eliakim's name means "whom God will raise up."
- Peg. In eastern houses things were hung on a nail for safety. The image stands for the security of whatever depends on God.
- Place. A peg is only as strong as the wall it is driven into. No spot on earth is sure, so writers put the sure place in the glory of God Himself.
- Paradox. The same peg is cut down two verses later, read as a veiled reference to the rejection and death of the Messiah.
- Purpose. All the glory of the father's house hangs on one peg. That glory is still future, but weak believers can hang their confidence on Him today.
and they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all the small vessels, as well the vessels of cups as all the vessels of flagons.
Isaiah 22 closes its picture of Eliakim with a striking image: everything in his father's house hangs on one man, down to the smallest cup. Commentators read the peg in the wall as a picture of Christ, and the hanging vessels as all who will one day rest their whole weight on Him.
The picture comes from ordinary household life. A dictionary of Bible terms explains what such a peg meant in an eastern house:
In houses in the East many things hang on nails for safety. So "a nail in a sure place" means security. It pictures the safety of anything that depends on God.
The verse also names "flagons." The word behind it is nebel, a bottle of any size, which other passages translate as "bottle" (Morrish Bible Dictionary).
Two men stand in this passage, Shebna and Eliakim. One writer reads the pair as a picture of something far larger:
The key of David points back to Isaiah 22:20–24. There the picture of Shebna and Eliakim sets out God's rejection of man after the flesh. It shows Him causing all the glory of the Father's house to hang upon Christ.
One commentator weighs what that peg has to carry:
This is another name for the Messiah. He is as "a peg in a secure place." "The nail" is a hanger for clothes or other articles. He will bear up all the glory that no one else can bear, a weight of glory far beyond mere human strength.
The verse does not stop at the honor itself. It keeps listing, from the cups to the flagons, and the list carries the point. One writer finds that whole list acted out in a single scene:
Look at the King and His close companions on the holy mountain, and there you see the Nail and all the vessels hanging on it. All the vessels — not only the outstanding ones, but the hidden and obscure, who lived their lives in relation to God. For all the vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups to the vessels of flagons, were there.
A short couplet printed alongside this verse in one magazine puts the same thought in two lines:
To great and small things love alike can reach, And cares for each as all, and all as each.
The verse looks ahead to a day. One writer names when this hanging happens:
Christ will be a glorious throne to Israel as the One risen from the dead, returned from His Father's throne to this world. And it will be in that day that "they will hang on him the whole honor of his father's house." All the earthly glory that belonged to Jesus as Son of David was refused Him when He came the first time. In the day of His glory it will gladly be given to Him.
One writer describes that day from the side of the vessels:
All the glory will be seen hanging on Him, and everyone, from the least to the greatest, will rely on Him who once was rejected and crucified.
Commentators differ on how far the verse stretches. Some keep it tied to Israel:
Although the Lord will rule over all as Son of Man in the day of His glory, Eliakim pictures only that part of the Lord's rule connected with Israel. All the glory of Israel will hang upon Him, the Nail in the sure place. He was removed and cut down. Yet in resurrection He fulfils all that the Old Testament Scriptures foreshadowed and prophesied about Him.
Others read the hanging vessels as a picture of every believer's dependence on the love of Christ:
Vessels of every description hang upon that Nail. Every believer knows the love of Christ, for the Cross is its eternal monument. We love Him in the assurance of His love.
- Sure — a peg in a wall pictures security: the safety of whatever depends on God.
- Set — in the picture of Shebna and Eliakim, God sets man after the flesh aside, so the glory of the Father's house hangs on Christ.
- Strong — what hangs there is a weight of glory no merely human strength could carry.
- Small — the list runs down to cups, so the hidden and obscure hang there beside the outstanding, and every kind of vessel knows His love.
- Soon — the honor men refused Him at His first coming comes back to Him in the day of His glory. Then least and greatest alike will rely on the One once rejected.