John Gill Commentary Isaiah 22:16

"What doest thou here? and whom has thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out here a sepulchre? hewing him out a sepulchre on high, graving a habitation for himself in the rock!" — Isaiah 22:16 (ASV)

What do you have here ?
&c.] In the king's house, or in Jerusalem; what business do you have here? you are unworthy of such an office, nor shall you long continue in it; what inheritance do you have here? you are an alien from the commonwealth of Israel and have no estate or possession in the land:

and whom do you have here ?
of your family and kindred; what ancestors do you have? where did they live or die, and were buried? what children do you have to succeed you in honour and estate? or what relations to be interred, when deceased, in your grave, that you have made such a provision as follows? and it may be observed, that wherever he is spoke of, the name of his father is never mentioned. Aben Ezra's gloss is, who do you have here of your family that can help you? his fall and ruin being at hand:

that you have hewed you out a sepulchre here ;
in the city of Jerusalem, or near it; the Jews say ^F24 , among the sepulchres of the kings of the house of David; as if he thought to live and die here, and so had provided a sepulchre for himself and family, to lie in great pomp and splendour, like the kings and princes of the earth:

[as] he that hews him out a sepulchre on high, [and] that graves
an habitation for himself in a rock ;
where sepulchres, as well as palaces, used to be built; see (Matthew 27:60) and great men, especially the Egyptians, used to build sepulchres like to palaces; though it may be observed, that the word "as" is not in the text; and the words may be understood of Shebna's hewing out a sepulchre in some high place near Jerusalem, and building a fine house upon a rock there; and which may design either one and the same thing, a grave or sepulchre being called a house, (Job 30:23Job 30:24) or two different things, a sepulchre to be buried in when dead, and a palace to dwell in while living; and so the words may be rendered thus ^F25 , "O he that hews himself"; "O he that graves an habitation"; so the Syriac version, "O you that hew your sepulchre on high"

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FOOTNOTES:

• F24: T. Bab. Sanhedrin fol. 26. 2.
• F25: "O caedens O statuens", &c. Junius & Tremellius.