Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 22:18

Charles Ellicott Commentary

Isaiah 22:18

1819–1905
Anglican
Charles Ellicott
Charles Ellicott

Charles Ellicott Commentary

Isaiah 22:18

1819–1905
Anglican
SCRIPTURE

"He will surely wind thee round and round, [and toss thee] like a ball into a large country; there shalt thou die, and there shall be the chariots of thy glory, thou shame of thy lord`s house." — Isaiah 22:18 (ASV)

Like a ball into a large country. —The picture is that of a ball flung violently onto a smooth, even plain where it bounds on and on with nothing to stop its progress. The “large country” is probably the plain of Mesopotamia, where Shebna is to end his days in exile.

There the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord’s house. —Better, There shall go the chariots of your glory, the shame of your lord’s house. The words point to another form of Shebna’s ostentatious pride. Not content with riding on an ass or mule, as even judges and counselors rode (Judges 5:10; Judges 10:4; Judges 12:14; 2 Samuel 17:23), he had appeared in public in stately chariots, such as were used by kings (Song of Solomon 1:9; Song of Solomon 3:9).

These were to accompany him in his exile, but it would be as the spoil of the conqueror. There are no records of the fulfillment of the prediction, and the judgment may have been averted by repentance; but when we next meet with Shebna (Isaiah 36:22), he is in the inferior position of a scribe, and Eliakim occupies his place as being “over the household.”