Isaia 22:5 Commento

We have now come nearer home, for this chapter is "the burden of the valley of vision," Jerusalem; other places had their burden for the sake of their being concerned in some way or other with Jerusalem, and were reckoned with either as spiteful enemies or deceitful friends to the people of God; but now let Jerusalem hear her own doom. This chapter concerns, I. The city of Jerusalem itself and the neighbourhood depending upon it. Here is, 1. A prophecy of the grievous distress they should shortly be brought into by Sennacherib's invasion of the country and laying siege to the city (Isa 22:1-7). 2. A reproof given them for their misconduct in that distress, in two things: - (1.) Not having an eye to God in the use of the means of their preservation (Isa 22:8-11). (2.) Not humbling themselves under his mighty hand (Isa 22:12-14). II. The court of Hezekiah, and the officers of that court. 1. The displacing of Shebna, a bad man, and turning him out of the treasury (Isa 22:15-19, Isa 22:25). 2. The preferring of Eliakim, who should do his country better service, to his place (Isa 22:20-24).

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 22 This chapter contains two prophecies, one concerning the invasion of Judah and Jerusalem, not by the Medes and Persians, but by the Assyrian army, under which they served; and the other of the removal of Shebna, an officer in Hezekiah's court, and of the placing of Eliakim in his stead. After the title of the former of these prophecies, the distress of the people, through the invasion, is described, by their getting up to the housetops, Isa 22:1 by the stillness of the city, having left both trade and mirth; by the slain in it, not by the sword, but through fear or famine, Isa 22:2 by the flight of the rulers, and by the lamentation of the prophet, Isa 22:3 the instruments of which distress were the Persians and Medes serving under Sennacherib, who are described by their quivers and shields, their chariots and horsemen, Isa 22:6 the methods the Jews took to defend themselves, and their vain confidence, are exposed; for which, with their disrespect to the Lord, and his admonitions, their carnal security and luxury, they are threatened with death, Isa 22:8 then follows the prophecy of the deposition of Shebna, who is described by his name and office, Isa 22:15 whose pride is exposed as the cause of his fall, Isa 22:16 and he is threatened not only to be driven from his station, but to be carried captive into another country, suddenly and violently, and with great shame and disgrace, Isa 22:17 and another put in his place, who is mentioned by name, Isa 22:20 and who should be invested with his office and power, and have all the ensigns of it, Isa 22:21 and should continue long in it, to great honour and usefulness to his family, Isa 22:23 yet not always, Isa 22:25.

For it is a day of trouble,.... To Hezekiah, and also Jerusalem, and all the inhabitants of the land: and of treading down; the people of it by Sennacherib's army, like mire in the streets, when their cities were taken by him: and of perplexity by the Lord of hosts in the valley of vision; in Jerusalem, besieged, and threatened with desolation; which threw the king and his nobles, and all the inhabitants, into the utmost perplexity, confusion, and distress; and all this was not merely from men, nor was it by chance, but by the permission and appointment of God, to humble his people for their sins, and bring them to a sense and acknowledgment of them: breaking down the walls: of the fenced cities, with their battering rams, at the time they besieged and took them, Kg2 18:13, and of crying to the mountains: looking and running to them for help and succour, for shelter and protection; and crying so loud, by reason of their distress, as that it reached the distant mountains, and made them echo with it.

(Verse 5.) For it is a day of slaughter, and of trampling, and of weeping to the Lord God of hosts in the Valley of Vision. He reveals the reasons according to triple understanding why he said: Depart from me, I will weep bitterly; because Zion is trodden down, once a mountain of visions, and now a valley of weeping.

(Verse 5.) For it is a day of slaughter and treading down, and of weeping from the Lord God of hosts in the valley of vision, searching the wall, and magnifying upon the mountain. LXX: For it is a day of tumult, and of destruction, and of treading down, and of error from the Lord God of hosts in the valley of Zion; they wander about from the least to the greatest: they are wandering upon the mountains. For the Day of Judgment and slaughter and trampling shall never come to Jerusalem, which is interpreted as the vision of peace; but to the ancient name Jebus, which is interpreted as trampling. And also tears or errors, as the Seventy have translated from the Lord of hosts, not that tears and errors are from the Lord; but by the occasion of the holy Scriptures, which the Lord has given to be read, occasions of error are born to those who can say: Why have you made us to err from your ways? (Isa. LXIII, 27). And in another place: The Lord mixed for them the spirit of error (Ibid. XXIX, 10): so that they would not stand on the mountain of Vision, but in the valley of Zion. But this very day, which rises in the valley of Vision from the Lord of hosts, examines the wall of the heretics, which they have constructed against the Church as the strongest defense; and also the magnificent and glorious, that is, their teachers, who boast of standing on the mountain of Christ. We read elsewhere: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will instruct us in his ways (Isaiah 2:3). Moreover, what the Seventy translated, they err from the minimum to the maximum, they err over the mountains. We should understand that they are in a greater sin, who are greater, and yet all err from the minimum to the maximum, and err over the mountains: Moses, Jeremiah, and the other prophets, the evangelists and apostles. And when they are in the valley, they wander astonishingly in the mountains.

Third, he sets out the manner and order of punishment: a day of slaughter, and concerning this, he sets out three things. First, the indignation of God: a day of slaughter is imminent; searching, making it to be searched by the enemy; magnificent, making the enemy magnificent: for they trusted in mountains and walls: at that time, I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and will visit upon the men that are settled on their lees (Zeph 1:12).

This section of prophecy, extending to the end of the eighth verse of the next chapter, is addressed to the king of Judah and his people. It enjoins on them the practice of justice and equity, as they would hope to prosper, Jer 22:14; but threatens them, in case of disobedience, with utter destruction, Jer 22:5-9. The captivity of Shallum, the son of Josiah, is declared to be irreversible, Jer 22:10-12; and the miserable and unlamented end of Jeconiah, contemptuously called Coniah, is foretold, Jer 22:13-19. His family is threatened with the like captivity, and his seed declared to be for ever excluded from the throne, Jer 22:20-30.

PROPHECY AS TO AN ATTACK ON JERUSALEM. (Isa 22:1-14) of . . . valley of vision--rather, "respecting the valley of visions"; namely, Jerusalem, the seat of divine revelations and visions, "the nursery of prophets" [JEROME], (Isa 2:3; Isa 29:1; Eze 23:4, Margin; Luk 13:33). It lay in a "valley" surrounded by hills higher than Zion and Moriah (Psa 125:2; Jer 21:13). thee--the people of Jerusalem personified. housetops--Panic-struck, they went up on the flat balustraded roofs to look forth and see whether the enemy was near, and partly to defend themselves from the roofs (Jdg 9:51, &c.).

trouble . . . by the Lord--that is, sent by or from the Lord (see on Isa 19:15; Luk 21:22-24). valley of vision--(See on Isa 22:1). Some think a valley near Ophel is meant as about to be the scene of devastation (compare see on Isa 32:13-14). breaking . . . walls--that is, "a day of breaking the walls" of the city. crying to the mountains--the mournful cry of the townsmen "reaches" to (MAURER translates, towards) the mountains, and is echoed back by them. JOSEPHUS describes in the very same language the scene at the assault of Jerusalem under Titus. To this the prophecy, probably, refers ultimately. If, as some think, the "cry" is that of those escaping to the mountains, compare Mat 13:14; Mat 24:16, with this.