For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Isa 22:1-5

 1 A prophecy against the Valley of Vision:

What troubles you now,
    that you have all gone up on the roofs,
2 you town so full of commotion,
    you city of tumult and revelry?
Your slain were not killed by the sword,
    nor did they die in battle.
3 All your leaders have fled together;
    they have been captured without using the bow.
All you who were caught were taken prisoner together,
    having fled while the enemy was still far away.
4 Therefore I said, ‘Turn away from me;
    let me weep bitterly.
Do not try to console me
    over the destruction of my people.’ 5 The Lord, the Lord Almighty, has a day
    of tumult and trampling and terror
    in the Valley of Vision,
a day of battering down walls
    and of crying out to the mountains.

A. Find Out

1. How is this described? v.1a
2. What does he ask them? v.1b
3. How does he describe the city? v.2a
4. What is puzzling? v.2b,3
5. How did he feel? v.4
6. What is coming? v.5

B. Think:

1. What are signs of upset here?
2. What strange things have happened?
3. What do you think this suggests to you?

C. Comment:

There is no date indication with this serious message to be brought (for that is what oracle means) and later verses indicate that the Valley of Vision (v.1) is simply Jerusalem, a place often of darkness (valley) but often of vision (from the prophets).

It is a town of mixed upheaval tumult (chaotic uncertainty) one minute, revelry (rejoicing) the next (v.2). But there appears fear and uncertainty at the moment, for the people are troubled and flee upstairs to their roof areas, places of security or of rejoicing (v.1b). But there is a question mark in the mind of the prophet for there is death in the city (v.2b), but they did not die in battle by the sword, which suggests they died by plague or famine, both features of siege times.

Yet there is also shame in the city for it would appear that the leaders of the city fled at the rumour that an enemy was coming, yet they appear to have walked right into the enemy and were captured without a fight (v.3). This state of affairs leaves the prophet in anguish for the city and its people (v.4). He summarises what is coming. So far this is all prophetic vision but there is coming a siege against Jerusalem, a time of tumult and terror when all this will be fulfilled (v.5). An oracle was a serious message of warning brought by a messenger. The writing is on the wall, as we say! The warning is clear.

D. Application:

1. Times of peace may not last, enjoy them while you can.
2. Upsets come because of the sin and folly of man. Pray against them.

Passage: Isa 22:6-13

6 Elam takes up the quiver,
    with her charioteers and horses;
    Kir uncovers the shield.
7 Your choicest valleys are full of chariots,
    and horsemen are posted at the city gates.

8 The Lord stripped away the defences of Judah,
    and you looked in that day
    to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest.
9 You saw that the walls of the City of David
    were broken through in many places;
you stored up water
    in the Lower Pool.
10 You counted the buildings in Jerusalem
    and tore down houses to strengthen the wall.
11 You built a reservoir between the two walls
    for the water of the Old Pool,
but you did not look to the One who made it,
    or have regard for the One who planned it long ago.

12 The Lord, the Lord Almighty,
    called you on that day
to weep and to wail,
    to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.
13 But see, there is joy and revelry,
    slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,
    eating of meat and drinking of wine!
‘Let us eat and drink,’ you say,
    ‘for tomorrow we die!’

A. Find Out

1. What is happening at Elam and Kir? v.6
2. What is happening in the land? v.7
3. With what result? v.8
4. Yet how had Jerusalem prepared? v.9-11a
5. Yet how had they failed? v.11b
6. What had the Lord said, but what had they done? v.12,13

B. Think:

1. What do verses 6 to 8 describe?
2. How had the Lord called them to respond?
3. But how had they reacted?

C. Comment:

Elam is to the east of Babylon and suggests that the people of that region was arming themselves to come against Jerusalem (v.6) so that soon across the valleys of the land, there are chariots and horses (v.7) that eventually appear at Jerusalem’s gates and Jerusalem’s defences are swept away (v.8a).

Jerusalem had heard of what was coming and so had shored up the city walls (v.9,10) and made sure they had plenty of water to see them through any siege (v.9,11a), yet in all this they had not turned to the Lord to seek for His help (v.11b). When that day approaches the Lord counsels them (presumably through His prophet) to take it seriously (v.12) and call a time of prayer and fasting (implied). But instead when it came to it, the people were blasé and instead held a time of partying (v.13) almost as a means of blotting out what was coming; either that or as a denial of what would happen. There is a refusal to face the awfulness of what is happening.

If this was a distant prophecy looking forward to the years of attack by Babylon eventually culminating in the Exile, then it was perfectly fulfilled as Jeremiah at the time warned and warned and warned, and yet the leaders and the people simply refused to take him and his message seriously.

D. Application:

1. Sin so often refuses to take God’s warnings seriously.
2. The devil whispers again, “Surely not…”

Passage: Isa 22:14-25

14 The Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: ‘Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for,’ says the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

15 This is what the Lord, the Lord Almighty, says:

‘Go, say to this steward,
    to Shebna the palace administrator:
16 what are you doing here and who gave you permission
    to cut out a grave for yourself here,
hewing your grave on the height
    and chiselling your resting-place in the rock?

17 ‘Beware, the Lord is about to take firm hold of you
    and hurl you away, you mighty man.
18 He will roll you up tightly like a ball
    and throw you into a large country.
There you will die
    and there the chariots you were so proud of
    will become a disgrace to your master’s house.
19 I will depose you from your office,
    and you will be ousted from your position.

20 ‘In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. 21 I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. 22 I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 23 I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will become a seat of honour for the house of his father. 24 All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots – all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.

25 ‘In that day,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘the peg driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down.’ The Lord has spoken.

A. Find Out

1. What does God say about this sin? v.14
2. What was Isaiah to say to whom? v.15,16
3. What will the Lord do with him? v.17-19
4. Who will the Lord replace him with? v.20-22
5. What will he be like? v.23,24
6. Yet what will happen? v.25

B. Think:

1. What sin was it that was not able to be atoned for?
2. What was Shebna assuming, but what was the reality?
3. What was the reality about his replacement?

C. Comment:

We start with this strange reference to a sin that cannot be atoned (v.14). The sin referred to earlier (v.11b) was of not relying on the Lord and that was not going to be atoned for in Isaiah’s lifetime (’til your dying day), meaning that Israel would not repent in his lifetime.

But then the focus turns on Shebna the most senior palace official (v.15) who saw his future as eventually ending in Jerusalem as he planned his grave there (v.16), but the Lord warns him that he will be taken from Jerusalem and taken into exile; his time in this fine position is strictly limited (v.17-19)

Shebna is going to be replaced by Eliakim who will receive his position and authority (v.20,21) and he will become one who Jerusalem look to as a father figure. He will receive the authority of kingship (v.22) and he will appear like a peg driven into firm ground – fixed and stable (v.23) and he will receive glory and honour in this position and that glory will be shared with his family (v.24) inferring that his position will continue on for a while yet but, the Lord warns, there will come a time when this ‘peg’ will give way and be broken out of his place (v.25) and those who rely on him will be cast adrift.

D. Application:

1. Don’t assume that just because there is peace at the moment it will always be like that. God does deal with sin in the long term.
2. If there is ongoing sin God WILL deal with it, even if He takes His time over it.