THE SPIRIT OF SHEBNA
THE SPIRIT OF SHEBNA
(Isaiah 22: 15-25)
Preached by: Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Sunday Evening Service
Sunday, February 7, 2011
11: 15; 17-20: “Thus says the Lord God of hosts,’ Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is in charge of the royal household. What right do you have here? And whom do you have here?...(Vs.17) Behold, the Lord is about to hurl you headlong, O man, and He is about to grasp you firmly, And roll you tightly like a ball, to be cast into a vast country; There you will die, and there your splendid chariots will be, You shame of your master’s house. And I will depose you from your office, and I will pull you down from your station.”(N.M.S)
Shebna is a type of a leader guilty of bringing the full weight of the enemy down upon their country. The oracle indicts him as part of the conspiracy of those leaders who did not seek guidance and help from God. God is described in verse 11 as “He” who had planned all that had happened, namely the day of tumult which had afflicted Jerusalem in 701 B.C. (22:5) “For the Lord God of hosts has a day of panic, subjugation, and confusion.”
22:11: “And you made a reservoir (Siloam tunnel) between the two walls for the waters of the old pool. But you did not depend on Him who made it. Nor did you take into consideration Him who planned it long ago.
As we all watch the present visitation of the Lord, “riding on a swift cloud” upon Egypt, unless the Lord speaks to us, we are all like the “fools of Zoan, and the advice of the wisest advisers have become stupid.” (Isa. 19:11)
I pray the United States is not part of the conspiracy to overthrow Mubarak. However, something just doesn’t feel good. Do we have a Shebna in our government who would conspire to overthrow Egypt to create financial havoc in the world monetary systems? Do we have a Shebna in our government who would make traitorous covenants with the enemies of Israel and enemies of the U.S.A.? Doesn’t it seem strange to someone that our intelligence community had no prior knowledge of the Egyptian resistance? Doesn’t it seem strange to someone that our State Department reluctantly has called for Mubarak to resign? I used the word “reluctantly” tongue- in- cheek because it seemed to me they were pretty quick to start giving their advice; seeing as how they had no prior knowledge of the political unrest.
Therefore, I am resting upon the written Word of God as the only sure word. I do not pretend to know any more than seeing through a glass darkly. But this I do know, in our Lord “there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning (James 1:17). “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Heb 13:8)
So, His dealing with wickedness is the same today as it was in the days of Shebna. Isaiah’s oracles over the sins of the nations are the same today as it was then. The leaders who in their arrogance are not seeking guidance and help from the Lord will be removed from their office “in that day”.
Shebna, a great officer at court is the proud materialist usurper and a type of the spirit of antichrist. He was thrust out of office (like Judas) and was replaced by the faithful Eliakim, a type of Christ, both head and body.
Eliakim’s replacement of Shebna is a story told often throughout the Holy Bible: Ishmael and Isaac, Saul and David, Esther and Vashti, Samuel and Eli, Melchisedec and Levi, Paul and Saul.
Shebna is called “this treasurer” (KJV) being entrusted with the management of the revenue; and he is likewise said to be over the house. The Jews say, “He kept up a traitorous correspondence with the king of Assyria, and was in treaty with him to deliver the city into his hands.” (Verse 16) “What right do you have here and who do you have here?” What a mighty noise and tumult you make! Are you not mean and obscure that comes we know not from where? What is the meaning of this that you have built yourself a fine house? (Vs. 16) “You have hewn out a tomb for yourself here. You who hewn a tomb on the height. You who carve a habitation for yourself in a rock.” “I will drive you from your station.” High places are slippery places and those are justly deprived of their honor that are puffed up with it. The nail that is now fastened in a sure place (that is Shebna, who thinks himself immovably fixed in his office) shall be removed, and cut down, and fall.” He will not only be driven from his office, but driven from the country. “The Lord will carry him away with the captivity of a mighty man.” (M.H.)
I do not know who the Lord’s man is in Egypt. I do feel strongly that there is great darkness of conspiracy behind which is the spirit of anti-christ. It is the spirit of Islam (the Assyrian) to conquer Israel. 19:13b: “The princes of Memphis are deluded. Those who are the cornerstone of her tribes have led Egypt astray. The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of distortion; they have led Egypt astray in all that it does.”
(Vs.17) “The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt; everyone to whom it is mentioned will be in dread of it because of the purpose of the Lord of hosts which He is purposing against them.”
If and I say “if”, it is the destiny of Egypt, for a wicked king to take over, the same prophecy says that Israel will become a terror to Egypt, not the other way around. On that same day (or time), there will be a wholesale turning of Egypt to the Lord Jesus Christ. Soooo, we can say that the spirit of Shebna will be “rolled tightly like a ball and booted out of all nations whose leaders do not inquire of the Lord and pray for His guidance. This will be done by the Lord of Hosts, Jesus Christ is His Name.
In the midst of the prophecies concerning the judgment of the nations, this is the 9th of Isaiah’s 10 burdens. These nations today are Turkey, Iran, Jordan, Syria, Ethiopia, Cush, Sudan, Egypt, Iraq, Dumah (Edom), i.e. Jordan, The Valley of Vision—Jerusalem, and Arabia. In chapter 22, Isaiah speaks correction to Jerusalem for their indifference to the prophet’s messages. He first describes the joyous people as they stand in contrast to him, with his sorrow and his broken heart. He asks “what ails them?” He then declares it to be a day of discomfiture, and speaks of the gathering armies and their siege of the city. It was a day in which Jehovah had called to mourning, and they filled it with merriment.
We see this when storms come in. People will have hurricane parties instead of prayer meetings. (1 Co. 15:32) Paul referred to this. “Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.” This is the attitude of the ungodly who have no hope of a life to come.
22:20: “Then it will come about in that day, that I will summon my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah and I will clothe him with your tunic, and tie your sash securely about him. I will entrust him with your authority. He will become a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Then I will set the key of the house of David on his shoulder. When he opens no one will shut. When he shuts no one will open. And I will drive him like a peg in a firm place, and he will become a throne of glory to his father’s house.”
“Eliakim” means “God will raise up; God sets up; whom God has established; God of raising, in judgment; raised of God.”
We have been studying the “key of David” as part of our study on the Ministry of Kings. David had the “key to the throne”. Eliakim is the only other person mentioned in scripture with this blessing on his life except the disciples were given the Keys to the Kingdom. Here Eliakim is a type of the Lord Jesus and the Overcomer. Rev. 3:7: “And to the angel of the Church in Philadelphia write: These things says he that is holy, he that is true, he that has the key of David, he that opens and no man closes, and closes and no man opens.”
This is the Church he has crowned with His Love. This is a description of those who will be His Bride. He has nothing against this group and everything for them. He declares this Church as His and gives them His power (verse 9). He promises them that they will be at His side and will keep them from the hour of temptation. He promise them a new nature (HIS) and an everlasting citizenship in the New Jerusalem…the Wife of the Lamb.
10-fold Exaltation of Eliakim:
- I will call him
- I will clothe him.
- I will strengthen him.
- I will commit the government o him.
- He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
- I will give him the key of David.
- He shall have authority to open and shut and none shall hinder him.
- I will make him permanent.
- He shall be exalted to his father’s house.
- He shall have all the glory of his father’s house.
22: 24-25: “So they will hang on him (Jesus Christ) all the glory of his father’s house, offspring and issue, all the least of vessels, from bowls to all the jars. In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, the peg driven in a firm place be removed; it will even break off and fall, and the load hanging on it(spirit of Shebna) will be cut off for the Lord has spoken.”
Preached by: Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Scripture from K.J.V. and New American Standard; Bibliography; Matthew Henry Bible Commentary; F.F. Bruce Bible Commentary; David F. Payne; Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of those from whom I have gleaned.