Isaiah 22

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TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

Judgment on The City of Jerusalem

BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. The Lord pronounced judgment against Jerusalem.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  1. Where are you putting your trust?

QUESTIONS

  1. How does chapter 22 fit into the plot of the book of Isaiah?

  2. When was the prophecy of this judgment fulfilled?

  3. What was the basic sin of the people in Jerusalem?

  4. Who is Shebna (verses 15-19)?

  5. What god-fearing man replaced Shebna (verses 20-24)?

ANSWERS

  1. Isaiah 22 is like a parenthesis in Isaiah 13-23, in which judgment are pronounced on the foreign nations surrounding the kingdom of Judah. Here, in this chapter, the judgment is pronounced upon Jerusalem, the capital city of Judah.

  2. Some aspects of this prophecy sound like the Assyrian attack on Jerusalem in 701 BC, while other parts resemble the Babylonian siege and defeat more than 100 years later. Likely, the prophecy covers both attacks. Remember the concept of mountain peaks in prophecy; Isaiah saw the mountain peaks of these future events as fused.

  3. They were depending on the city’s defensive measures for their security, rather than looking to the Lord.

  4. Shebna was probably a leader in the party of those in Judah who were looking to Egypt for deliverance from the Assyrian threat. Instead of directing the people to turn to the Lord at this critical time, Shebna was thinking only of himself and preparing an elaborate tomb for himself.

  5. Eliakim was a godly official, and like a father he was truly concerned about the needs of the people. It looks like King Hezekiah entrusted all the affairs of state to Eliakim.

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. Shebna and Eliakim are contrasted as men in leadership in a time of crisis. Discuss their distinguishing characteristics (you can read more about Eliakim in Isaiah 36-37). What lessons can you take from their lives for your spheres of leadership? Will you be a Shebna or an Eliakim?

  2. Discuss the ways in which Eliakim is a type (spiritual picture) of Christ. Note the difference in the end that Eliakim could not save the day, but Christ never fails.

CHALLENGE

  1. We saw in this chapter that if you look to anything or anyone other than the Lord Himself for security, you will be disappointed because everything fails except the Lord Himself. Where are you putting your trust?

KEY VERSES

  • “He removed the protection of Judah. You looked in that day to the armor of the House of the Forest.” Isaiah 22:8

  • “And in that day the Lord GOD of hosts called for weeping and for mourning, for baldness and for girding with sackcloth. But instead, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!’” Isaiah 22:12-13

Isaiah, Old Testament, TalksDeb HarmsIsaiah 22