i8 1 perhaps, itnplied thBt Shebna had 'not OERNING ELYAKIM. This verse has been conducted himself as a "father." tmly called "an enigma" (Kay). It is im- Ver, 22.-The key of the house of David possible to nnderstand it of Shebna. "The will I le.y upon his shoulder. A key would eeem to hove beeh the specie.I badge of the nail that wns fastened in o sure place" con prefeot's office, whioh included the control only refer to the nail said to have been so of the stores (ver. 15), and the general fastened in Vffr. 23. Are we, then, to under• management of tho household. It was, per- stand that Eliakim t.oo will experience a re- haps; ,a part of the form of investiture, that verae of fortune? But then all the force of the key,should be first 19.id on the prefect's shoulder and then clelivcred into his hand. the contrast between him and Shebna.would Among the Greeks the priests of Ceres are be gone. Is it not possible that the prophet, said to have borne a key on their shoulder, seeing in Eliakim a type_ of the Messiah, permanently, os o badge of office (Callimach., and becoming more and more Messianic in • Hymn. ad Cererem,' 1. 45). The reference his utterances, has ended by forgetting the to this passage in Rev. iii. 7 is sufficient to show that Eliakim, the" servant of Jehovah" type altogether, and being absorbed in the (ver. 20), is, to a certain extent, a type of thought of the nntitype? He, the nail, so Christ; perhaps also of his faithful ministers surely fixed in his eternal place, would (Matt. xvi. 19: John xx. 23). nevertheless be " removed " for a time, and Ver. 23.-I will fasten him as a nail in then "be cnt down and fall" (comp. eh. Iii. a, sure plaoe ( comp. Ezra ix. 8 ; Zech. x. 4). The idea inttnded to be expressed is 14; liii. 8). At the same time would be firinness and fixity of tenure. He shall be "cut o:ff" the burden which Messiah bore for a glorio'llB throne to his father's house ( eh. liii. 12, " He bare the sin of many"). (co1Qpare the next verse). All Ids relations, Ver. 25.-ln that day. Not the day of even· the most remote, shall derive honour Bhebna's fall, certainly (ver. 20), hnt some from him, and bask in the sunshine of his other, Is not the day that of Christ's earthly prosperity. So shall all members of the mission, when it seemed as if his people were family of God, made sons of God by a,lop- about to acknowledge him (Matt. xxi. 1-11: tion in Christ, pnrticipato in the final glory Mark xi. 1-10; Luke xix. 29-40), and his of Christ in his eternal kingdom. ' throne to be established, but suddenly l\les- Ver. 24.-All the glory. According to siah was "cut off" (Dan. ix. 26)-stricken scriptural notions, the " glory" ,of a family for the, transgression of his people ( eh. liii. cc:,psists yery much in its size (Gen, xv. 5; 8)? The burden that was upon it shall be Ps.' ci!:xviL 5, etc.). And Christ's glory cut off. The great burden upon the Messiah in his final kingdom will con,sist greatly in was tho load of human sin which he had to the' number of the saved (Rev. vii. 4-9). bear. "He himself bare onr sins in his own The o:ffspring and the issue ; i.e. the flourish- body on the tree" (1 Pet. ii. 24), By his ing soions, and the despised seedlings nlike. death this burden was " cnt off" (1 John ii. The.word translated "issue" is a,term·af 2; 2 Cor. v. 19: Eph. ii. 16; Col. ii. 14). contempt, (see Ezek. iv. 15). From the ves- For the Lord hath spoken it. The double sels of oups; rather, of bowl.a (comp. Exod. attestation, at the beginning and nt the end ii;~i y. 6). To all the vessels of flagons j of- the verse, is a mo.rk of the vnst importance rather, of pitchers. "A numerous, umlis- of the anno,unoement contained iu it, wl,ich tinguished, family co;nneotion" seems to be is, in fact, the germ of the great doctrine of intended (Delitzsch ). the atonement. Ver. 25.-SE;QUEL OIi' THE PBOFBECY OON·
HOJ,fILETICS. Vers. 4-8.-Isaiah weeping/or the daughte:r of his p€ople a type of (Jhrist lamenting over Jerz1salem. Isaiah was in many respects a _type of Christ. His name, which signi- fies" Salvation of Jehovah," is a near equivalent of ",Jesus,'' which means" Jehovah is Saviour." Tradition says that he was of royal lineage, like Jesus. The S1,Jhere of his teaching was in the main Jerusalem, where our Lord's principal discourses were delivered. He reproved sin, yet· pitied the sinni,r, like Jesus (see Homiletics on eh. xv. 5). He was, like Je~us, m~rt?'red at Jerusalem_. We may, theret'ore, without impropriety, regard the "bitter wcepmg" of ver. 4 as _ID some respect the counterpart of our Lord's lament on the day of his triumphal entry into the city, when he beheld it from the brow of Olivct. 'l'hcy were alike in several respects. I. DOTH WERE CAUSED DY Pl\OPHETIC VISION OF TllE HORRORS OF A SIEGE, In Isaiah'• 356 THE IlOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH, [ oa. xxIL 1-26,