Isaiah 22

Isaiah 22 is the twenty-second chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. This chapter contains a prophecy against "untimely rejoicing in Jerusalem" and "a threefold prediction of Shebna's fall and of Eliakim's elevation".

Text

This text was originally written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 25 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis, the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets, Aleppo Codex, Codex Leningradensis.
Fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls :

1QIsa^a: complete
1QIsa^b: extant: verses 9, 11‑18, 20, 24‑25
4QIsa^a : extant: verses 13‑25
4QIsa^b : extant: verses 24‑25
4QIsa^c : extant: verses 10‑14
4QIsa^f : extant: verses 15‑22, 25

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BC. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Marchalianus.

Parashot

The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex. Isaiah 22 is a part of the Prophecies about the Nations . : open parashah; : closed parashah.

Structure

John Skinner, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, refers to verses 1-14 as "the inexpiable sin of Jerusalem". Isaiah alleges that they have sinned "beyond the possibility of pardon".

Proclamation against Jerusalem (verses 1–14)

Verse 1

The "Valley of Vision" is also referred to as the Valley of Hinnom, from which the name Gehenna is derived.
"Burden" : "oracle, prophecy"; is a keyword in the superscriptions for a total of nine similar oracles, the others being Isaiah 13:1, 15:1, 17:1, 19:1, 21:1, 11, 13, and 23:1, similarly in Zechariah 12:1 and 14:1, and Malachi 1.

Verse 8

"The House of the Forest": or "The House of the Forest of Lebanon", was the name for one of the prestigious buildings established by King Solomon in Jerusalem, within his palace complex, which used a great amount of cedar wood from Lebanon for the "pillars, beams, and roofing material", thus looking like a "forest".

Judgments against Shebna (verses 15–25)

This expression points contemptuously to the position of the minister of the court. The Jerusalem Bible distinguishes two separate oracles against Shebna: verses 15-18 and, later, verses 19–23.

Verse 22

This verse is cited in Revelation 3:7. "The key" may refer to a literal insignia worn by the chief administrator or symbolize the administrator's authority to grant or exclude access to the king. Eliakim is, "to a certain extent, a type of Christ; perhaps also of his faithful ministers".

Verse 25

"The peg that is fastened in the secure place", or "the peg driven into a firm place", refers to Eliakim, who will also be removed from office in due course.