Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 22:23

"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 22:23 (ASV)

And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place - The word ‘nail’ here (יתד yâtēd) properly means a peg, pin, or spike; and is often applied to the pins or large spikes that were used to drive into the ground to fasten the cords of tents. It is also applied to the nails or spikes that are driven into walls, and on which the garments or utensils of a family are suspended. In ancient times, every house was furnished with a large number of these pegs or nails. They were not “driven” into the walls after the house was made, but they were “worked in” while the walls were going up.

The houses were usually made of stone; and strong iron hooks or spikes were worked into the mortar while soft, and they answered the double purpose of nails to hang things on, and of cramp-irons, as they were so bent as to hold the walls together. These spikes are described by Sir John Chardin (Harmer’s “Observations,” vol. i. p. 191) as ‘large nails with square heads like dice, well made, the ends being so bent as to make them cramp-irons.’

‘They commonly,’ he says, ‘place them at the windows and doors, to hang veils and curtains on them when they like.’ It was also customary to suspend in houses, and especially temples, suits of armor, shields, helmets, swords, and similar items that had been taken in war as spoils of victory or that had been used by illustrious ancestors; and these spikes were used for that purpose also. The word is here applied to a leader or officer, and it means that he would be fixed and permanent in his plans and office. And, just as a pin in the wall “safely” sustained the ornaments of the house, so all the glory of the house of David, all that was dear and valuable to the nation, might be reposed on him (Isaiah 22:24).

And he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house - A glorious seat; that is, his entire family and kindred would be sustained and honored by him; or their honor and reputation might rest securely on him, and his deeds would diffuse a luster and a glory over them all. Every virtuous, patriotic, benevolent, and pious son diffuses a luster on all his kindred; and this is one of the incitements to virtuous and elevated deeds that God has presented in the government of the world.