22:1 The burden of the a valley of vision. What b aileth
thee now, that thou hast wholly gone up to the housetops?
(a) Meaning, Judea, which was compassed about with
mountains, and was called the valley of visions,
because of the prophets, who were always there, whom
they named Seers.
(b) He speaks to Jerusalem, whose inhabitants fled up to
the housetops for fear of their enemies.
22:2 Thou that art full of c shoutings, a tumultuous city, a
joyous city: thy slain [men are] not slain d with the
sword, nor dead in battle.
(c) Which was wont to be full of people and joy.
(d) But for hunger.
22:3 All thy rulers have fled together, they are e bound by
the archers: all that are found in thee are bound together,
[who] have fled from f far.
(e) And led into captivity.
(f) Who have fled from other places to Jerusalem for
comfort.
22:4 Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep g
bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the
plundering of the daughter of my people.
(g) He shows what is the duty of the godly, when God's
plagues hang over the Church, and especially of the
ministers, (Jer 9:1).
22:5 For [it is] a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of
perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of
vision, breaking down the walls, and of h crying to the
mountains.
(h) That is, the shout of the enemies whom God had
appointed to destroy the city.
22:6 And Elam i bore the quiver with chariots of men [and]
horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.
(i) He reminds them how God delivered them once from
Sennacherib, who brought the Persians and Syrians with
him, that they might by returning to God avoid that
great plague which they would suffer by Nebuchadnezzar.
22:8 And he uncovered the k coverings of Judah, and thou didst
look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest.
(k) The secret place where the armour was: that is, in the
house of the forest, (1Ki 7:2).
22:9 Ye have seen also l the breaches of the city of David,
that they are many: and ye gathered together the waters of
the lower pool.
(l) You forfeited the ruinous places which were neglected
in times of peace: meaning, the whole City, and the
City of David, which was within the compass of the
other.
22:10 And ye have numbered the houses m of Jerusalem, and the
houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall.
(m) Either to pull down such as might hurt, or else to
know what men they were able to make.
22:11 Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the n
water of the old pool: but ye have not looked to o its
maker, neither had respect to him that fashioned it long
ago.
(n) To provide if need should be of water.
(o) To God who made Jerusalem: that is, they trusted more
in these worldly means than in God.
22:13 And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing
sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us p eat and
drink; for to morrow we shall die.
(p) Instead of repentance you were joyful and made great
cheer, contemning the admonitions of the prophets
saying Let us eat and drink for our prophets say that
we will die tomorrow.
22:15 Thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, Go, repair to this q
treasurer, [even] to Shebna, who [is] over the house, [and
say],
(q) Because the Hebrew word also signifies one who
nourishes and cherishes, there are those of the
scholars who think that this wicked man nourished a
secret friendship with the Assyrians and Egyptians to
betray the Church and to provide for himself against
all dangers: in the mean season he packed craftily,
and got of the best offices into his hand under
Hezekiah, ever aspiring to the highest.
22:16 What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou
hast hewed thee out a sepulchre r here, [as] he that
heweth him out a sepulchre on high, [and] that cut out an
habitation s for himself in a rock?
(r) Meaning, that he was a stranger, and came up of
nothing.
(s) While he thought to make his name immortal by his
famous sepulchre, he died most miserably among the
Assyrians.
22:18 With violence he will surely turn and toss thee [like] a
ball into a wide country: there shalt thou die, and there
the chariots of thy glory [shall be] the t shame of thy
lord's house.
(t) Signifying that whatever dignity the wicked attain to,
at length it will turn to the shame of those princes
by whom they are preferred.
22:20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will u
call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:
(u) To be steward again, out of which office he had been
put, by the craft of Shebna.
22:22 And the x key of the house of David will I lay upon his
shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he
shall shut, and none shall open.
(x) I will commit to him the full charge and government of
the king's house.
22:23 And I will fasten him [as] a y nail in a sure place; and
he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.
(y) I will establish him, and confirm him in his office,
of this phrase read (Ezr 9:9).
22:24 And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's
house, the offspring and the issue, z all vessels of
small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the
vessels of flagons.
(z) Meaning that both small and great who will come from
Eliakim, will have praise and glory by his faithful
officer.
22:25 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the a nail
that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut
down, and fall; and the burden that [was] upon it shall be
cut off: for the LORD hath spoken [it].
(a) He means Shebna, who in man's judgment should never
have fallen.
