Sharper Iron — The Fifth Evangelist - Isaiah 22:1-25: The Key of David

In the midst of His Word to other nations, the LORD has not forgotten His own people. In this chapter, Isaiah addresses the people of Jerusalem by speaking to “the valley of vision.” Such a title is ironic because the people of Jerusalem do not have the eyes to see the LORD and His work. The judgment that the LORD will bring upon Jerusalem is enacted during Isaiah’s day when the LORD removes Shebna as household steward for the king and installs instead Eliakim. The giving of the key of the house of David to Eliakim foreshadows the work of Jesus, who has opened heaven to all who believe.

Rev. Robert Moeller, Jr., pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Britton, SD and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Ferry, SD, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Isaiah 22:1-25.

“The Fifth Evangelist” is a series on Sharper Iron that goes through Isaiah 1-39. The prophet proclaims to the people of his day and throughout history that the Holy One of Israel alone is exalted. Those who put their trust in the strength of man will be brought low, but those who trust in the LORD will see that He is their Immanuel. Jesus is God with us who reigns over the kingdom of God forever and ever!

Sharper Iron, hosted by Rev. Timothy Appel, looks at the text of Holy Scripture both in its broad context and its narrow detail, all for the sake of proclaiming Christ crucified and risen for sinners. Two pastors engage with God’s Word to sharpen not only their own faith and knowledge, but the faith and knowledge of all who listen. Submit comments or questions to: listener@kfuo.org

Sharper Iron is underwritten by Lutheran Church Extension Fund, where your investments help support the work of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit lcef.org.

Isaiah 22:1-25

An Oracle Concerning Jerusalem

22 The oracle concerning the valley of vision.

What do you mean that you have gone up,
    all of you, to the housetops,
²you who are full of shoutings,
    tumultuous city, exultant town?
Your slain are not slain with the sword
    or dead in battle.
³All your leaders have fled together;
    without the bow they were captured.
All of you who were found were captured,
    though they had fled far away.
⁴Therefore I said:
“Look away from me;
    let me weep bitter tears;
do not labor to comfort me
    concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

⁵For the Lord God of hosts has a day
    of tumult and trampling and confusion
    in the valley of vision,
a battering down of walls
    and a shouting to the mountains.
⁶And Elam bore the quiver
    with chariots and horsemen,
    and Kir uncovered the shield.
⁷Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
    and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.
⁸He has taken away the covering of Judah.

In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest, ⁹and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool, ¹⁰and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. ¹¹You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.

¹²In that day the Lord God of hosts
    called for weeping and mourning,
    for baldness and wearing sackcloth;
¹³and behold, joy and gladness,
    killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,
    eating flesh and drinking wine.
“Let us eat and drink,
    for tomorrow we die.”
¹⁴The Lord of hosts has revealed himself in my ears:
“Surely this iniquity will not be atoned for you until you die,”
    says the Lord God of hosts.

¹⁵Thus says the Lord God of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: ¹⁶What have you to do here, and whom have you here, that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock? ¹⁷Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you ¹⁸and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious chariots, you shame of your master’s house. ¹⁹I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. ²⁰In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, ²¹and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. ²²And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. ²³And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father’s house. ²⁴And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father’s house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. ²⁵In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken.”

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Rev. Timothy Appel

Although a mathematics degree may not be incredibly helpful to (proudly born-and-raised Texan) Rev. Timothy Appel while hosting Sharper Iron, his love of CFW Walther and the season of Easter will come in handy. His Call is shepherding the flock at Faith Lutheran Church in Godfrey, Illinois, and he’s also husband to wife Kristin and dad to their growing basketball team of children. When he’s not carrying out pastoral duties, you may find him reading “The Lord of the Rings,” snacking on Reese’s peanut butter cups, playing dominoes with his boys, or studying up on Texas history (including Sam Houston, of course).