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.
In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in a sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off for Jehovah hath spoken.
One verse turns the picture of security upside down. God had fixed a peg in a secure place. Now He says it will give way, fall, and take the whole load down with it. Who is this peg, and why does the God who fastened it announce its fall?
Older translations call this peg a nail, and the writers quoted here use that word. In ordinary houses in the East, a nail in the wall held the family's valuables. Scripture borrows that everyday object to say something about safety.
In houses in the East, people hang many things on nails to keep them safe. So "a nail in a sure place" means security. It pictures the safety of anything that depends on God.
The promises hung on this nail in the earlier verses are far too big for any man to carry. The size of the language is itself the clue.
Second, "the nail in a sure place." What place on earth is sure? Where has such a nail been found? This nail must also be "a glorious throne to his father's house." It must carry "all the glory of his father's house." These are great statements! They only find their proper fulfilment in our Lord Jesus Christ. On Him hangs not only the glory of the house of David, but also the glory of God that is found in redemption.
Shebna held this office first, and Eliakim came after him. Same place, two men — and opposite results.
It was not the position, but the person that made the difference. Shebna had exactly the same place, but he utterly failed and brought ruin. Not so Eliakim who followed, as we have seen in the verses just before us. Revelation 3:7 warrants the application to Christ.
Commentators differ over who the falling nail is. One reading sees the whole passage as the Messiah taking the place of the Antichrist. Verse 25 then records the fall of the false claimant, timed by God's word.
From verse 15 to the end I have no doubt what we should see. Shebna stands for the Antichrist, set aside for the Messiah, who is pictured by Eliakim (that is, the God of resurrection). All the glory, great or small, attaches to Jesus on the throne of David; and all the power of Antichrist shall be cut off. Until Jehovah speaks, Antichrist looks strong and sure, and he counts on the future — but from the moment God speaks, he falls (v. 25).
The other reading keeps the nail as a picture of Christ all the way through. The sudden reversal is the prophet turning from glory to suffering.
In vision, the prophet now turns to the rejection and death of Him who is the Nail in the sure place. He makes the same sudden turn from the glory to the sufferings, and from the sufferings to the glory, in Isaiah 52:13-15 and Isaiah 53:10. Christ was "removed" from the place that was truly His. He was "cut down," yes, "cut off" in the middle of His days. All Israel's glory left with Him, and it will not be seen again until His return.
On that reading, the verse says something surprising. Christ's coming into the world as man, by itself, did not settle the matter.
Here comes a most solemn turn in the chapter. It shows that the Incarnation of the Son of God, however great, is not enough for the divine glory in a world of sin and death… So we read in another place that He was cut off out of the land of the living (see Isaiah 53:8; Daniel 9:26).
The verse ends with the load cut off: everything hanging on the nail goes down with it. That fall is not the last word.
The Lord said in John 6:39, "And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day." All that fell with the nail in the sure place will indeed be raised up again. He will raise it up when He comes out in triumph and glory. Nothing will be lost of all that the Father has given Him, whether heavenly or earthly.
- Nail — a peg in a wall held the household's treasures. A nail in a sure place means safety that rests on God.
- Person — Shebna and Eliakim held the same office with opposite results. Security lies in who holds the place, not in the place.
- Fall — commentators differ. Some read the cut-down nail as the Antichrist, who falls the moment God speaks. Others read it as Christ, removed and cut off in death.
- Cross — on the second reading, His coming as man was not enough for God's glory in a world of sin and death. The nail had to fall.
- Raised — He raises everything that fell with Him, and He loses nothing the Father gave Him.