Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Here the destruction of Jerusalem is joined to the destructions of other nations, so that the nation which imitated their guilt may share also their punishment: for the Lord did not choose the nation for the sake of the place, but the place for the sake of the nation. Secondly, verse 15, He threatens Shebna, the unworthy and proud overseer of the temple, with deposition and captivity; and He predicts that the pious and gentle Eliakim will be substituted in his place, to whom He promises a stable and glorious pontificate.
Vulgate Text: Isaiah 22:1-25
1. The burden of the valley of Vision. What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops? 2. Full of clamor, a populous city, an exulting city: your slain are not slain by the sword, nor dead in battle. 3. All your princes have fled together, and are bound hard: all that were found are bound together, they have fled far away. 4. Therefore I said: Depart from me, I will weep bitterly: do not seek to comfort me over the devastation of the daughter of my people. 5. For it is a day of slaughter, and of trampling, and of weeping, from the Lord God of hosts in the valley of vision, searching the wall, and magnificent upon the mountain. 6. And Elam took up the quiver, the chariot of the horseman, and the shield laid bare the wall. 7. And your choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set their positions at the gate. 8. And the covering of Judah shall be revealed, and you shall see on that day the armory of the house of the forest. 9. And you shall see the breaches of the city of David, for they are multiplied: and you gathered the waters of the lower pool, 10. and you numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and you demolished houses to fortify the wall. 11. And you made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool: and you did not look up to Him who made it, and you did not regard its maker from afar. 12. And the Lord God of hosts shall call on that day to weeping and to mourning, to baldness and to the girding of sackcloth: 13. and behold joy and gladness, killing calves and slaughtering rams, eating flesh and drinking wine: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. 14. And the voice of the Lord of hosts was revealed in my ears: Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you until you die, says the Lord God of hosts. 15. Thus says the Lord God of hosts: Go, enter to him who dwells in the tabernacle, to Shebna the overseer of the temple, and you shall say to him: 16. What are you doing here, or as who are you here? because you have hewn out a sepulcher here for yourself, you have carefully hewn out a memorial on high, a tabernacle for yourself in the rock. 17. Behold, the Lord will cause you to be carried away, as a rooster is carried away, and He will lift you up as a garment. 18. Crowning He will crown you with tribulation, He will cast you like a ball into a wide and spacious land: there you shall die, and there shall be the chariot of your glory, the shame of the house of your Lord. 19. And I will drive you from your station, and I will depose you from your ministry. 20. And it shall be on that day: I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, 21. and I will clothe him with your tunic, and I will strengthen him with your girdle, and I will give your authority into his hand: and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22. And I will place the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut, and none shall open. 23. And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place, and he shall be a throne of glory to the house of his father. 24. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of the house of his father, diverse kinds of vessels, every small vessel, from the vessels of cups even to every vessel of music. 25. In that day, says the Lord of hosts: The peg that had been fastened in the sure place shall be removed: and it shall be broken and fall, and that which hung upon it shall perish, because the Lord has spoken.
Verse 1: The Burden of the Valley of Vision
1. THE BURDEN OF THE VALLEY OF VISION — that is the burden of Jerusalem. So St. Jerome, the Septuagint, and others, as is clear from verse 4. Jerusalem is called a valley, first, because it was situated below Mount Zion; second, because just as a valley receives rain from heaven, so Jerusalem drew prophets and visions, that is oracles, from God; third, because the city, once famous for piety and wisdom, as well as for wealth and glory, so that it could be called the loftiest mountain, and was on Zion; now because of its crimes, as well as its calamities, namely because of this burden of destruction, it has been made most humble and abject, so that having been destroyed by the Chaldeans, and afterwards by the Romans, it could be called a valley and an abyss. So St. Jerome, Procopius, and others. Whence the Septuagint translate: the word of the valley of Zion, as if to say: O Zion, which once were a mountain renowned for temple, citadel, and glory! now you are depressed into the lowness and depth of a valley of dishonor. Such we now see Jerusalem, because of Christ slain by it, to such an extent that scarcely any house of any importance is in it; but the inhabitants, who are few there, seem to dwell in huts and caves rather than houses, as eyewitnesses report.
OF VISION — that is of prophecy, because Jerusalem was the parent or nurse of almost all the Prophets. It alludes to Mount Moriah, that is of Vision, says Forerius, where Abraham wishing to sacrifice his son saw God, that is the Angel of God as His vicar, Genesis 22:2. For Moriah was in Jerusalem, and it was Zion, on which the temple was built, as is clear from 2 Chronicles 3:1, as if to say: O Zion! you were Moriah, now you are Marah; you were the mountain of vision, now you are the valley of tears and darkness; you were the temple of God, now you are a den of thieves.
Mystically, St. Bernard, in the treatise On the Eleven Burdens of Isaiah, sermon 9, says thus: "There follows the burden of the valley of Vision: vision refers to contemplation, valley to humility or dejection. For the contemplation of some is humble, of others debased. Humble is that of the saints, debased that of sinners. But the saints, the more they advance, the greater are wearied by the burden of vanity; and they raise themselves to higher things in such a way that sometimes they are unwillingly dragged to lower things: for if virtue advances, humility is preserved; if burdens, there is vanity. You know, brothers, what kind of struggle the mind of one advancing must endure, lest human favor creep in, lest flattery dissolve it, lest the heart swell with ambition. But those to whom the known things of God are known, who perceive the invisible things of God through the things that are made, have become vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened, and from the mountain of contemplation they fell into the valley of error. Therefore they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of the image of corruptible man, and of birds, four-footed beasts and serpents. And if you wish to know what burden they deserve, hear what follows: Wherefore God delivered them up to the desires of their heart, and to shameful passions: and God delivered them up to a reprobate mind." He then applies this burden to others, saying: "But also those who by knowledge of the Scriptures, or by heavenly teaching, are turned aside with a wrong intention, namely toward the praises of men, or toward temporal gain, are known to belong to the valley of vision, so that knowledge signifies vision, and valley signifies intention. What weight of punishment awaits all these, the prophetic word declares."
WHAT AILS YOU NOW (O Jerusalem!), THAT YOU HAVE ALL GONE UP (all your citizens, sons and daughters) TO THE HOUSETOPS? — so that there you might watch, and with common wailing lament the common conflagration of the city and the destruction of the nation: for the rooftops in Judea were flat like platforms, so that people could walk on them and observe the streets and the city.
Thus Virgil says of the destruction of Troy:
Not the hateful face of the Spartan daughter of Tyndareus,
Nor the blamed Paris, but the harshness of the Gods
Overthrew these riches.
Thus the Emperor Titus, to whom Eusebius refers these words literally, and from him Leo Castro, entering the captured Jerusalem and admiring its fortifications and towers, said: "God drew the Jews away from these fortifications; for what hands of men, or what machines, would have availed against them?" Josephus is a witness, book 7 of the War, chapter 16.
I would prefer, however, with St. Jerome and others to take these words literally as referring to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, and verse 15 and following sufficiently indicates this; typologically, as referring to the destruction of the same by Titus and the Romans.
For that some refer these words to the devastation by Sennacherib, St. Jerome plainly rejects, nor does it have probability, as is clear to one weighing the words of the Prophet.
Verse 5: A Day of Slaughter from the Lord
5. FOR IT IS A DAY OF SLAUGHTER. — Vatablus translates: a day of disturbance, or of crushing, of trampling and of perplexity, from the Lord, as if to say: The day is at hand when God will disturb, crush, and trample all things, both sacred and profane, in Jerusalem and will also make all who are in it perplexed, so that they know not where to turn.
SEARCHING THE WALL, AND MAGNIFICENT UPON THE MOUNTAIN. — Supply 'who,' namely God the avenger and leader of the Chaldean war, searches the wall of Jerusalem, to see at what point He may conveniently overthrow and demolish it. For 'searching' the Hebrew is מקרקר mekarker, which can be translated with Vatablus: the Lord de-walled, or undermined and tore down, the wall; for He Himself is magnificent upon the mountain, as if to say: He it is who has Mount Zion and its glory subject beneath His feet, to cast it down and depress it into the lowest depth, as it were a valley.
Verse 6: Elam Took Up the Quiver
6. AND ELAM. — This Elam was a city of the Assyrians, says St. Jerome.
Secondly, Forerius: Elam, he says, is taken here metaphorically for any most skilled archer: for such were the Elamites or Persians, just as 'Arab' is taken for any robber.
Thirdly and properly, Elam is a city of Persia, from which horsemen were then sent to aid the Babylonians, who were still monarchs, against Jerusalem. So Cyril.
TOOK UP THE QUIVER. — By a beautiful vivid description the army of the Chaldeans is described here, composed of Persians and other nations, equipped with quivers and shields; so that the wall where shields are hung is now bare: the army, I say, entering Jerusalem, occupying Mount Zion, and proudly proceeding with chariots through the streets, valleys, and gates, says St. Jerome.
Verse 8: The Covering of Judah Shall Be Revealed
8. AND THE COVERING OF JUDAH SHALL BE REVEALED — as if to say: The Chaldeans shall open the veil that is before the Holy of Holies, and shall enter and profane it. Whence in Lamentations 1:10 it is said: "She saw the nations enter her sanctuary," etc. So St. Jerome.
Secondly, Forerius explains it thus, as if to say: The besieged Jews, in order to provide for their own and the city's necessity, and to pay their soldiers, shall reveal their hidden and concealed treasures: for these were the covering of Judah.
Thirdly, others understand by 'covering' the outer wall and other fortifications of the city, as if to say: These shall be revealed and captured by the Chaldeans. Whence the Septuagint translate for 'covering': gates. This sense is clearer and more fitting than the others.
Fourthly, Vatablus explains it thus, as if to say: Judah seemed before to hope in God, and to be under His protection, for whom God served as a covering: but then the enemy shall manifest that Judah is destitute of God's help, because it sinned and did not repent.
AND YOU SHALL SEE ON THAT DAY THE ARMORY OF THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST. — In Hebrew it is: you shall look toward the armory of the house of the forest. So Vatablus, Forerius, and others, as if to say: To resist the Chaldeans, you will not have recourse to God, as is said in verse 11, but to the weapons that Solomon stored in the palace, which he called the house of the forest of Lebanon, because with its multitude of columns, trees, and gardens it resembled a forest or wood of Lebanon, 3 Kings 7:2. So Procopius and others.
Otherwise St. Jerome: as if to say: You shall see, O Jews, the armory scattered by the enemy, and with the walls broken and scattered, the enemies entering the city. Whence the Septuagint refer these words to the Chaldeans, who shall see and occupy this armory, as well as the breaches of the walls of the city.
But the former sense is more conformable to the Hebrew and to what follows.
Verse 9: The Breaches of the City of David
9. AND YOU SHALL SEE THE BREACHES OF THE CITY OF DAVID. — First, Adam explains it thus, as if to say: The citadel of Zion, which seemed to be impregnable, shall be broken by the Chaldeans and overthrown.
Secondly, the Septuagint translate for 'breaches' κρυπτά, that is caves, as if to say: When the enemy enters, you shall look toward the caves and hiding places in which to conceal yourselves; for that they did this during the siege of the Chaldeans is clear from chapter 2, verse 10; during that of the Romans, from Josephus, book 3 of the War, chapter 14.
Thirdly, and more fittingly for what follows, as if to say: You shall inspect the breaches of the walls of Zion, in order to restore and repair them.
AND YOU GATHERED THE WATERS OF THE LOWER POOL — namely to temper and dilute the earth with which you might repair the broken and ruptured walls, says Vatablus, or rather to relieve the thirst of the citizens during the siege: for Jerusalem suffered from a scarcity of water; whence Hezekiah, 4 Kings 20:20, made a pool of water, and from it brought water into the city through channels. The besieged Jews therefore made wells and cisterns in the city, as is clear from verse 11, and into them diverted waters from Siloam and its pool, so that they might have water to drink and use for cooking food, washing, etc.
Verse 10: You Numbered the Houses of Jerusalem
10. AND YOU NUMBERED THE HOUSES OF JERUSALEM — either for keeping watch in turns, or for measuring out water and provisions.
Verse 11: The Water of the Old Pool
11. FOR THE WATER OF THE OLD POOL — namely to be received in these cisterns, from the old pool.
AND YOU DID NOT LOOK UP TO HIM WHO MADE IT — namely the pool, as if to say: You were wholly intent on seeking human defenses, whence you chiefly neglected this: for you did not look up to God, who bestowed the pool, water, and other supports of life upon you through the pious kings David and Hezekiah, and without whom those things are fleeting. Thus worldly men, like moles of the earth, gape at the obvious comforts of life, and do not look up to divine and heavenly things, which are more important; and therefore their plans and efforts are fleeting and fruitless.
Verse 12: The Lord Calls to Weeping and Mourning
12. AND HE SHALL CALL — as if to say: God, when the Chaldean threatens, through Jeremiah and other Prophets, shall stir them to lamentation and to doing penance in sackcloth and ashes; but they, not so much despairing of liberation as unbelieving in their oracles, shall despise them, and give themselves over to gluttony and luxury, killing and eating calves, and drinking wine, saying: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die."
Similar is the madness of voluptuaries and Epicureans, who think the soul perishes with the body, whence they seize only present pleasures, which the Wise Man graphically describes in chapter 2, verse 6, namely:
Thus men live as though no death were to follow,
And as if hell were an empty fable.
The Apostle cites this passage, 1 Corinthians 15:32, and from it proves the resurrection of the dead, as I said there. See here where gluttony leads a man: for in order to freely indulge in pleasures and remove the fear of future vengeance and hell, it persuades him that he has a mortal soul, like a brute beast and a pig. Then it persuades him that God does not care for man, or at least no more than for a pig, and will no more punish the glutton than the pig. It therefore removes from man the awareness of the divine and fear of it; it removes God's providence, judgment, and vengeance; it finally removes God and divinity from the world. For, as Cicero says, if you remove from the world the divine power and providence, you remove God also. For what God is to be feared or worshipped by man, who does not care for his affairs, who has no providence for him? Thus gluttony leads to atheism and to all crimes.
The same was the sentiment, the same the cry of Sardanapalus, who dying composed this epitaph: "Eat, drink, play: after death there is no pleasure." About whom Cicero, Tusculan Disputations V: "How," he says, "can a life be pleasant from which prudence is absent, from which moderation is absent? From which is recognized the error of Sardanapalus, the most opulent king of Syria, who ordered to be inscribed on his tomb: 'These things I have, which I ate, and which sated lust consumed: but those many and splendid things lie abandoned.'"
"What else," says Aristotle, "would you inscribe on the tomb of an ox, not of a king? He says the dead man has those things which he did not possess even when alive longer than he enjoyed them."
See here how God hates and punishes Epicureans, those given to gluttony and wine. Thus the feasting Philistines, rejoicing over the captured Samson, were buried by the collapse of the house when he broke the pillars, Judges 16.
Thus Benhadad, king of Syria, though surrounded by a great army while drunk, was defeated by the young men of the princes, 3 Kings 20.
Thus Holofernes, drunk, was beheaded by Judith, Judith 13.
Thus to the rich man feasting in flames and thirsting, He did not grant even a drop of water, Luke 16.
When Michael III, Emperor, had accustomed himself to gorging on wine, during the time he was drunk he used to order many absurd things to be done; for he commanded that some have their ears cut off, others their noses, others their heads, which Basil would forbid, fearing not so much for others as for himself. When therefore Michael saw that Basil was obstructing him, he plotted such traps against him: he ordered a certain man to throw a spear ostensibly at a wild beast, but really at Basil, and this was indeed done: for the man who had been ordered to do it confessed the matter on his deathbed. So this man threw the spear, but missed, and Basil was saved: who, having shared the plan to kill Michael with others, when again Michael lay stupefied by wine consumed at supper, and having been led by the hand into the bedchamber of the palace which is at St. Mamas, lay there pressed by the deepest sleep; he first went out and broke the bolts of the imperial bedchamber, so that the doors could not be closed by the chamberlains, then came with the conspirators. When those who were keeping watch before the bedchamber (who were few) tried to prevent the assassins from entering, a tumult arose and the Emperor awoke; a certain man with drawn sword cut off both his hands, and having done this returned to the others. But Michael, staggering from wine and unable to flee because of drunkenness, lay there miserably wailing: upon whom another of Basil's men, seeing that he was still alive, leapt and drove his sword into his chest, so that with his belly also pierced, his intestines spilled out. So Curopalates and Zonaras, and Baronius volume 10, year 867.
Zeno, Emperor of the East, given to gluttony and drunkenness, was accustomed to be so affected by mental confusion that when he collapsed he was no different from a dead man. When indeed he was hated by his wife Ariadne, being thus inebriated, he was cast by her as a dead man into the Imperial tomb with a huge stone placed as a cover: and having become sober amid lamentations and wailing, he was extinguished there by a wretched and horrible death, since Ariadne forbade anyone to open the monument or to extract him. So Zonaras, volume 3 of the Annals.
When the Emperor Phocas, on the day when equestrian games were being held, had exceeded moderation in eating and drinking, he was noted by the populace with this insulting remark: "Again you drank from the caneus (a kind of cup, named from the sound it makes as wine and air flow out together), again you lost your mind." On account of this insult he punished many with death. And so when the nobles and magistrates of the state saw a great multitude of people being afflicted with many evils, their goods being confiscated, their heads being cut off, they sent letters to the praetor of Africa, Heraclius: who, moved by their prayers, immediately prepared a fleet and set out against Phocas, bringing with him that image of Christ which was not made by hands. When Phocas was thus overcome, a certain Photinus, one of the number of the nobles, whose wife's chastity Phocas had formerly plotted against, suddenly burst into the palace and led Phocas the Emperor, wearing no garment, forthwith to Heraclius, who addressed Phocas with these words: "Is this how, wretch, you have governed the state?" Phocas replied: "It is up to you, through me, to govern it more rightly." Then his right hand and feet were amputated, the skin was stripped from his back, his genitals were cut off and fixed to a spear, and finally his head was cut off with a sword: the remaining trunk of his body was dragged here and there in disgrace through the forum called the cattle market, and was finally given to the fire. So Michael Glycas, part 4 of the Byzantine Annals.
In the year of the Lord 912, the Emperor Alexander died on the 6th day of the month of June by a shameful end; for thus writes John Curopalates about him: Alexander on the sixth of the month, having bathed, and having dined and being drunk with wine, went down after midday to play ball, and when a certain trouble arose in his intestines, on account of the food with which he had gorged himself and the drunkenness, having returned to the palace, with much blood flowing from his nostrils and genitals, he died the next day. So Baronius, volume 10, year 912.
Hear another memorable account narrated by St. Jerome, letter 3 to Vitalis: "A certain lowly woman," he says, "when she was nursing an exposed infant and administering food to it, and performing the office of a nurse, and the little one was sleeping with her, who had now reached his tenth year; it happened that, more than modesty would allow, she gorged herself with wine, and inflamed with lust, she led the infant. The first drunkenness of the next night and the subsequent ones established a habit. Not yet had two months passed, and behold the woman's belly swelled. What more? By the dispensation of God it came about that she who was abusing the simplicity of the child against nature in contempt of God, was betrayed by the Lord of nature, in fulfillment of the saying: Nothing is hidden that shall not be revealed."
Do you want recent examples from our own age? It is horrible what our Delrio reports, volume 2 of the Disquisitions on Magic, book 3, part 1, Question 7, about a certain monk in Flanders given to gluttony, who when at the end of a banquet the others wished to give thanks to God, saying that thanks should rather be given to the devil, was seized by a demon, roasted alive, and reduced to ashes.
Similar is what Gabriel Prateolus reports in his Chronicle for the year of the Lord 1580, about a certain drunkard in Nerkerkov in Germany, who murmuring against God and toasting Him, saying: "To you, God, if you had made better wine this year, you would have drunk better," became rigid and remained immobile: nor could he be pulled out or moved from the spot by ropes or horses brought by the magistrate.
A third case is recorded by Michael ab Isselt for the year of the Lord 1595, which happened in Bacharach, between Koblenz and Mainz. A certain drunkard cursed a demon into the belly of his pregnant wife: she immediately gave birth to a monster. The drunkard returned home: soon the monster, like a falcon, leaping upon him and hissing, entangled the man in its tail and stung him with venomous blows, and killed him.
Verse 14: The Voice of the Lord Revealed
14. AND THE VOICE OF THE LORD WAS REVEALED IN MY EARS. — The Chaldean, Haymo, and Forerius think the ears are the Prophet's; the voice, the Lord's: and our Version requires this. The Septuagint, however, Hugo, Vatablus, and Sanchez think the ears are God's, the voice that of the sinning people, as if to say: The voice of the Jews, full of impudence, has reached My ears, who am the Lord of hosts.
SURELY IT SHALL NOT BE FORGIVEN. — That is, I swear that this iniquity shall not be forgiven you; for, as St. Jerome says, "Nothing so offends God as a stiff neck after sin, and contempt born of despair."
Verse 15: Go to Shebna, Overseer of the Temple
15. ENTER TO HIM WHO DWELLS IN THE TABERNACLE. — In Hebrew it is: enter to סכן sochen, which some translate as storekeeper; others as treasurer. Our translator most aptly renders it: "The one dwelling in the tabernacle;" for from this the cities מסכנות miskenoth are called cities of tabernacles, Exodus 1:11; and the Septuagint translate: go to the pastophorium, that is to the chamber or room near the temple in which the priests lived, who from this were called pastophori: for πάστος signifies either a bridal chamber or a priestly vestment, as I said from St. Jerome and others on 3 Kings 6, at the end; for this Shebna was the overseer of the temple; therefore he dwelt in the tabernacle, that is in the pastophorium of the temple.
Therefore Adam here, as elsewhere, too freely and boldly censures our translator St. Jerome, saying: "St. Jerome did not consult the letter, but introduced the sense he had presumed." For St. Jerome expressly says in his Commentary: "Sochen they interpret either as tabernacle or as pastophorion, that is the chamber in which the overseer of the temple dwells." He himself, just like the Septuagint, was most expert in the Hebrew language.
TO SHEBNA. — The Hebrews report, says St. Jerome, that this Shebna was a Pontiff who betrayed Jerusalem to the Assyrians and Sennacherib. But because this is a Jewish tradition, and Scripture does not mention it, indeed rather suggests the contrary, since it says that Sennacherib so far did not yield, so that he did not even send an arrow into it, chapter 37, verse 33; hence it seems rather that here Shebna sinned by arrogance, and was a proud and puffed-up man, looking after his own interests and trampling the people, as is clear from the magnificent tomb he had built for himself, which Isaiah here reproaches him with. Whence he opposes him and designates as his successor the gentle and people-loving Eliakim, who, he says, shall be as a father to the people. So St. Jerome.
THE OVERSEER OF THE TEMPLE. — In Hebrew, the overseer of the house, that is of the temple; for this is called 'house' by antonomasia, because it is the house of God. So Forerius and others; whence he also dwelt next to the temple in the pastophorium. Therefore R. Abraham and Vatablus are not correct in translating 'overseer of the temple' as overseer of the royal house, or the court of Hezekiah.
That this Shebna was a Pontiff is clear from this passage, and from verse 18 and following, or at least a high one, as St. Jerome and Sanchez would have it, in whose favor is verse 21, where it is said: "I will clothe him with your tunic, etc., and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem," or certainly one of the more important priests, to whom the care of the temple and the sacred treasury was entrusted. Whence the Septuagint and St. Cyril call this Shebna a quaestor, and others a treasurer; for that he was not the high priest seems to be suggested by the fact that he is called not Pontiff but overseer of the temple, and because Josephus, Antiquities 10, chapter 11, where he lists the catalogue of high priests, does not name this Shebna. Again, that under this time there was another Pontiff, namely Azariah, as is clear from 2 Chronicles 31:13. Add that the pontificate from the time of Aaron and Zadok was not transferred to another family, up to the times of the Maccabees. Here, however, the office of Shebna is said to be transferred to Eliakim.
Whether this Shebna is the same as Shebna the scribe, who was prefect of the court and steward of King Hezekiah, of whom 4 Kings chapter 18, verse 18, so that he was both prefect of the temple and of the court, is uncertain. Arias Montanus affirms it; for Eliakim here seems to be the same as there; for in both places he is called the son of Hilkiah. Others deny it from the fact that it would have been unfitting as well as difficult for one and the same man to preside over both the temple and the court: unless you say with Sanchez that this Shebna, when Hezekiah heard this oracle of God, was deprived of the oversight of the temple, which had been given to him by the impious Ahaz. And that Hezekiah, lest he seem to reject him entirely, transferred him from the temple to the court and made him his scribe. Moreover Josephus, book 10 of the Antiquities, chapter 1, Abulensis on the book of 4 Kings, chapter 18, Question 33, and from them Torniellus at the year of the world 3322, consider that both Eliakim and Shebna of Isaiah are different from the Eliakim and Shebna of whom 4 Kings 18:18 and 19:1 speak, because, they say, the ones in Isaiah were priests; those in the books of Kings, laymen. For Shebna was a scribe; Eliakim was overseer of the house, namely the royal house, that is the royal procurator, as Josephus says.
Verse 16: What Are You Doing Here?
16. WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? — what are you doing in the temple of God? O Shebna, O profane man! As if to say: You are unfit and unworthy of this place.
OR AS WHO ARE YOU HERE? — as if to say: He who thinks himself to be someone great, when he is nothing, thinks himself to be a shepherd and overseer, and therefore has hewn for himself a magnificent tomb as an eternal monument of himself, when he is only a mask and shadow of a shepherd, according to Zechariah 11:17: "O shepherd and idol!" where there is a hendiadys, as if to say: O shepherd! not a shepherd, but an idol and image of a shepherd, you are a false and painted shepherd!
Verse 17: The Lord Will Cause You to Be Carried Away
17. BEHOLD THE LORD WILL CAUSE YOU TO BE CARRIED AWAY. — The Hebrews report that Shebna, when he saw Sennacherib, having conquered Judea, threatening Jerusalem, deserted to him with other Jews; but that Sennacherib, having received the blow from the Angel, in his anger raged against the Jews, and especially against their chief Shebna, and that he was then carried away to Nineveh, and suffered what Isaiah here predicts. So they say.
AS A ROOSTER IS CARRIED AWAY — Especially a castrated one, that is a capon, with wings and feet bound, to be sold in the market; for this well represents the miserable lot of Shebna and the captives who were to be led away into Assyria. In Hebrew it is גבר gaber, that is man; Vatablus translates hero, as if the vainglorious Shebna were so called, who equated himself in the magnificence of his tomb and other things to heroes and princes. But metaphorically gaber, that is man, is called a rooster, because such he is among the hens. Thus it is said "the he-goat is the man of the flock," especially because a rooster is combative, vigilant, fierce, and imperious like a man. See Viegas on Apocalypse 2, Commentary 1, section 9, and Delrio, adage 750, who against Forerius prove this very point exactly.
Aptly he compares the proud Shebna to a rooster, who on his own dunghill among the hens struts and raises his crest; but when defeated and captured lets his crest and wings droop, especially when he is bound and led to market to be sold. For such was Shebna; perhaps it also notes the luxury of Shebna, that he lived among concubines like a rooster among hens.
AND AS A GARMENT SO HE WILL LIFT YOU UP. — Amictus, first, can be taken adjectivally, as meaning the same as clothed, covered, veiled, as if to say: And, with veiled head, He will lift you from your land and lead you away, just as those who are condemned to death are led away with their face and eyes veiled: for thus the faces of captives were also veiled, as is clear regarding Zedekiah, Ezekiel chapter 12, verses 6 and 12.
Secondly, amictus can be taken as a noun, meaning the same as a garment or cloak. Whence St. Jerome, Haymo, Adam, Lyranus, and others explain it thus, as if to say: As easily, O Shebna, God will expel and carry you from your homeland, as easily as someone lifts up and carries away a folded cloak from the ground.
Thirdly, Sanchez translates: wandering He will cause you to wander; fourthly, the Syriac translates: forgetting He will forget you; and the Arabic: by destroying shall your name be destroyed, and your memory, which you wished to make eternal.
Verse 18: Crowning He Will Crown You with Tribulation
18. CROWNING HE WILL CROWN YOU WITH TRIBULATION. — The Chaldean: He will remove the tiara from you, and your enemies will surround you like a wall; the Septuagint: He will remove your robe and your glorious crown, as if to say: Instead of the pontifical crown and tiara, He will crown, that is surround you on all sides, with tribulation and ignominy.
Secondly, Vatablus and Forerius translate: binding He will bind you with a band, like a top He will cast you into a spacious land, as if to say: O Shebna! you who were clothed with a diadem, that is a linen band, now He will spin you like a band, so that like a ball or sphere you may easily be spun by the Assyrians, and be turned and rotated to any side or region, and you shall settle in no fixed and certain place; whence it follows:
HE WILL CAST YOU LIKE A BALL INTO A WIDE LAND — as if to say: He will give you the shape of a ball, which is easily rolled across a wide field and thrown far; for like a ball I will cast you into distant Assyria in exile. For 'ball,' Vatablus translates 'top'; others, 'globe.' For the Hebrew דור dur signifies everything round and capable of rolling.
Lyranus notes that a ball is thrown by players from hand to hand; others note that it is customarily thrown very far and very easily. Arias adds that a ball is not held but struck back, and that players strive most of all to prevent it from resting anywhere: thus is indicated Shebna's great wandering, easy expulsion, distant exile, constant roaming, and a certain perpetual instability and vexation.
Morally, the ball signifies the life of men, changeable and subject to constant mutations. Again, that man is tossed here and there by God like a ball. Truly the Satirist says: "For the gods treat us like balls," indeed the whole world is like a ball in the hand of God, with which "divine power plays in human affairs." Does He not play ball when He casts crowns, scepters, tiaras, empires now to this side, now to that? When He hurls the most powerful tyrants from their thrones, and raising grooms and swineherds from the dust elevates them to monarchies? Why do I say ball? God makes kingdoms pass "like foam upon the face of the earth," Hosea chapter 10:7; and, as Philo says, in the book On the Unchangeableness of God, human affairs, and therefore the most flourishing empires, are only a shadow and the lightest breeze, and pass back and forth like the tides of the sea. Thus the Emperor Zeno, cast down from power, said: "Man is the plaything of God." See Delrio, adage 732.
THERE (in a wide land, namely in Assyria, not in your tomb which you handsomely hewn for yourself) YOU SHALL DIE, AND THERE SHALL BE THE CHARIOT OF YOUR GLORY, THE SHAME OF THE HOUSE OF YOUR LORD — supply: shall be there, and shall be evident to all; or repeat: shall die, as if to say: The shame of the temple, brought upon it by you, shall die with your removal, and its former glory shall revive. For good Pontiffs are the ornament, wicked ones the disgrace of the temple. Therefore let a Bishop consider as addressed to himself those words of Pius, the Pontiff who suffered martyrdom in the year of Christ 167, in his letter to Justus, Bishop of Vienne: "Let all your people be protected by your holiness." Vatablus and others translate: there shall be the chariot of your glory, O (Shebna, who are) the shame, disgrace, and reproach of the house of your Lord.
Verse 20: I Will Call My Servant Eliakim
20. AND IT SHALL BE ON THAT DAY: I WILL CALL MY SERVANT ELIAKIM — as if to say: In the oversight of the temple I will substitute the humble and pious Eliakim for the arrogant Shebna.
When this happened is uncertain. It is probable, as Sanchez says, that this was done before the arrival of Sennacherib; for when he arrived, Hezekiah sent to him Eliakim the overseer of the house (temple) and Shebna the scribe. Therefore Eliakim was already at that time the overseer of the temple in place of Shebna. Probably also Bellarmine, book 1 of On the Word of God, chapter 12, considers this Eliakim to be the one who in the time of Judith went through Judea and stirred all to fight against Holofernes; for he was revered by all, even by King Manasseh now returned from captivity and therefore penitent and pious, as a father. The chronology supports this; for Manasseh succeeded his father Hezekiah in the kingdom, under whom the events Isaiah here records about Eliakim took place. Whence it follows that the victory of Judith over Holofernes occurred under Manasseh, after his captivity and repentance. So also Serarius on Judith, chapter 4, Question 1. Hence again some think that in this chapter the disaster and captivity of Judea in the time of Manasseh is treated, when he himself with others was led bound to Babylon. For at the same time Shebna the pontiff was carried off with him, and Eliakim was substituted for him.
Allegorically, when the old priesthood and pontificate was failing, a new one succeeded through Christ, who is Eliakim, that is God rising again. So St. Jerome and St. Cyril.
Verse 22: The Key of the House of David
22. AND I WILL PLACE THE KEY OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID UPON HIS SHOULDER. — First, Arias and Prado on Ezekiel 17:23 explain it thus, as if to say: I will set him over the royal house. But the house of David as well as of Solomon is called the temple, because it was built at the expense prepared by David on Zion, which was the city and house of David. Again, it may be that Hezekiah the pious king, seeing the holiness of Eliakim the pontiff, revered him as a father and placed him equally over the royal house. The sense is therefore, as if to say: I will give Eliakim the pontificate and supreme authority in the temple. For the symbol of this is the key; for he who has the key of a house can open and close it at will, go out and enter, admit and exclude whom he wishes. Hence when kings take possession of cities, the keys of those cities are given to them, and by this symbol they become their lords. So St. Jerome. Again, the key denotes industry, skill, and wisdom in governing, which ought to be in a Pontiff and a Prince; for a key must be deftly placed in the lock, fitted, and turned in order for the door to be opened. Thus the art of arts is the governance of souls, says St. Gregory.
Allegorically, Eliakim is Christ, to whom Cyril and Theodoret consider both the pontifical and royal dignity to be given by the Father through these words of Isaiah. Indeed Castro says these are to be taken literally of Christ, but not correctly. Wherefore, alluding allegorically to this, St. John, Apocalypse 3:7, says of Christ: "He who has the key of David... opens, and no one shuts." Christ promised to resign these pontifical keys to Peter, Matthew 16:19: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven." Therefore the origin of the keys of the Church, of Christ the Lord and of St. Peter is in these keys of the Synagogue and of Eliakim: thus throughout, other things of the New Testament allude to and are drawn from the Old.
UPON HIS SHOULDER. — He passes, as is the custom of Scripture, from the metaphor of a key to the metaphor of a scepter or rod; for a key is carried not on the shoulders but in the hand; a scepter, however, on the shoulders, as if to say: I will give Eliakim a scepter and rod or pastoral staff, which a shepherd carries on his shoulder when he leads his flock to pasture. So some say. But the preceding and following words resist this interpretation. For thus it is said: "I will place the key (not the scepter) of the house of David upon his shoulder; and he shall open, and none shall shut," etc.
Secondly, therefore, more fittingly, Forerius: Large keys, he says, such as those of cities, the key-bearers are accustomed to carry on the shoulder, just as lictors carry their rods on the shoulder before judges, and scepters before kings.
Allegorically, Procopius: This key, he says, is the cross of Christ, which He Himself bore on His shoulder. Whence it was said of Him, chapter 9, verse 6: "And the government was placed upon His shoulder." For Christ by His cross and passion merited that this universal power of the government of the Church be given to Him; whence the cross was for Him like a key, by which He opened heaven, and like the instrument of Christ's omnipotence, which is His royal key, by which all things can be closed and opened by Him: in which matter there is an allusion to the excellent iron keys, which are seen wrought in the shape of the cross, says Alcazar on Apocalypse 3:7.
AND HE SHALL OPEN — as if to say: Whatever Eliakim shall do, establish, and decree, and allegorically Christ; this shall be ratified, and no one shall be able to annul it. He notes that this key, that is the supreme power, is one; for where there are several, it ceases to be a key; since one who has shut the door is not certain that no one will soon reopen it: therefore in order to be certain and secure about this, one person alone must have the key. Here therefore is the origin of the pontificate and of the ecclesiastical monarchy.
Verse 23: A Peg in a Sure Place
23. AND I WILL FASTEN HIM AS A PEG IN A SURE PLACE. — He signified the pontifical power by keys; now he signifies it by a peg, in Hebrew יתד jathed, that is a nail, whether of iron or wood, from which bowls and all kinds of vessels, musical and kitchen instruments, and all furniture are hung, Ezekiel 15:3, as if to say: Thus I will bring it about that from Eliakim shall depend the highest, the middle, and the lowest ranks, and especially the singers and musicians of the temple, and the whole Church and State.
Therefore some are not correct in thinking that the Pontiff is here compared to a peg, that is a tall and strong piece of wood, which sustains the entire weight of a tent through its curtains and ropes, like a pillar and support.
IN A SURE PLACE — that is in a strong and firm wall, from which it cannot fall out or be pulled. For the Hebrew נאמן neeman signifies faithful, stable, firm. He notes that Eliakim shall not be cut off from the pontificate as Shebna was cut off, but that his lot and rank shall be stable.
AND HE SHALL BE A THRONE OF GLORY TO THE HOUSE OF HIS FATHER. — as if to say: Eliakim shall render his father's family most noble and most splendid by his throne and pontifical dignity.
Verse 24: Diverse Kinds of Vessels
24. DIVERSE KINDS OF VESSELS. — He continues the interpretation in the metaphor of the peg: in Hebrew it is צאצאים tseetsaim, which Symmachus, says St. Jerome, translates as grandchildren; Vatablus as offspring and descendants, or sons and daughters; others as progeny and offshoots. For the root יצא iatsa signifies to go out and to propagate from someone. Whence Vatablus translates this verse thus: and from him (Eliakim) shall hang all the glory of his father, his offspring and descendants.
Mystically, Jerome Prado on Ezekiel, p. 227: From the peg, he says, that is from Eliakim, that is from God sustaining, hang all the vessels of music, that is all the just, who by their continual praises are a consolation to God Himself: and the bowls, that is those who are employed in temporal ministries and cares. Or the musical vessels are the Angels, whose proper office is to sing praises to God; the bowls are holy men, who unwillingly serve the necessities of the body.
Verse 25: The Peg Shall Be Removed
25. THE PEG SHALL BE REMOVED (Shebna), WHICH HAD BEEN FIXED IN A SURE PLACE — namely in a place which seemed faithful and firm to Shebna, but in reality was unfaithful and unstable; for he fell from it. So Vatablus. Whence, when he fell, the vessels also fell, that is his sons, friends, and all who depended on him.
Otherwise St. Jerome, St. Thomas, and Haymo: The peg shall be removed, he says, that is the pontificate of the Jews during the Babylonian captivity. But the text here throughout calls the peg not the pontificate but Shebna, who fell from it; or Eliakim, who was not taken to Babylon but died before that calamity; whence he was a firm pontiff until death.
Morally, let Pontiffs learn here by the example of God substituting the worthy Eliakim for the unworthy Shebna, to substitute pious and upright men for scandalous clerics and pastors, who may edify the people by word and example.
Thus did St. Dunstan: hear the author of his Life: In the time of the Emperor Otto, the second of that name, about the eighth year of his reign, around the year of the Redeemer 970, the clerical order was very much corrupted and given more than fairly to fleshly pleasures. Wishing to correct this evil, St. Dunstan, Bishop of Canterbury, obtained from the king by the authority of John, Bishop of the Apostolic See, that canons who were unwilling to live chastely should be expelled from the churches they held; and monks should be introduced in their place. When indeed the clerics protested against St. Dunstan, a solemn Synod was convened: where, when in the upper room, the king being absent on account of his tender age, and the senators of the whole kingdom's senators sitting together, the matter was being debated with a great conflict of those arguing on both sides, and they were hurling the darts of many insults at Dunstan as though at a wall of the Church, but could not overcome him; suddenly the upper floor on which they were sitting broke apart with its boards and beams, and while all the rest were violently struck down, Dunstan alone, standing upon one beam that survived, escaped without injury. Moreover, all those of the opposing party were either killed or afflicted with perpetual illness. This miracle brought peace to blessed Dunstan and to the monks from the attacks of the clerics and others, by divine grace working these and similar things. Thus the Life of St. Dunstan has it.
At the same time, Ethelwold presided over the Church of Winchester, a man of exceptional holiness and distinguished by the training of Father Dunstan. He, having learned about the canons of his church, that they were excessively worldly, by the will of Dunstan admonished them once and repeatedly to change their behavior and actions, to seize upon the paths of a more correct life, abandoning their women. They themselves, denying that this was possible for them at the present time, with a crow-like voice always promised to reform themselves on the morrow. He, knowing this, did not long endure it. Having therefore prepared a great number of monastic cowls, on the day when the Communion antiphon "Serve the Lord in fear" was being sung, he entered the choir, having the garments he had prepared brought with him; and casting them into the midst, he said to the canons: "Have you noticed what you just sang?" We have noticed, they said. "Well then," he said, "if you wish to serve the Lord in fear and to rejoice before Him with trembling, seize upon discipline, namely the monastic garment, lest you perish (as you sang) from the just way." At which they, astonished, after their usual custom sought a delay, promising to do it in the future. Then he said: "Believe me, I will no longer believe this crow-like response of yours; but either you will seize discipline at present, or having been expelled from the benefits and fellowship of this place, you shall depart forthwith." And so some of them, immediately casting off the clerical habit, became monks, while the rest were expelled from the church by the word of the Pontiff. Furthermore, because those who were newly converted could not observe the rule of regular discipline without the teaching guidance of others, men were summoned from Abingdon and brought there by the same Pontiff, to teach the path of monastic life there.