Eliakim and Shebna

In Isaiah 22, Yahweh threatens the house steward (the word is based on sakan , to dwell with or befriend) Shebna, warning him that he will be removed from his place, rolled like a ball, and thrown out into the countryside. He is replaced by Eliakim ben Hilkiah, who is given a tunic and key as a sign of his authority in the house of David.

The same two names appear in Isaiah 36:3: The very same Eliakim ben Hilkiah is sent out as part of a delegation to the Rabshakeh of Assyria, and along with him is one “Shebna the scribe.” This might be the same Shebna, demoted from house steward to scribe; or it might be another. Regardless, the presence of the same two names in the two passages hints at a connection between them.

The first passage, Isaiah 22, describes a demotion and promotion, and ends with the promise that the one with the key of David will open and shut at will (v. 22). Eliakim’s reappearance in chapter 36 is promising: He opens so that no one can shut, and he shuts a no one can open – a good skill set to have when the Assyrians are banging at the gates of your city. Eliakim’s presence suggests that, no matter how powerful Sennacherib’s army may be, he will not be able to get through a gate that Eliakim has locked. As the steward of the royal house, further, Eliakim is a peg in a firm place, a peg on which the Lord will hang the glory of David’s house (vv. 23-24). Again, his presence in the delegation is a reassurance: So long as Eliakim is the house steward, the glory of David’s house will be intact, since Eliakim will be “a throne of glory in his father’s house” (v. 23). Someday, the peg will give way (v. 25) but not yet.