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Isaiah 22 · a question people ask

In 22:25, "the nail that was fastened in a sure place will give way". Does that mean Eliakim?

In the text

The verse doesn't say. Two verses before, the LORD says of Eliakim, "I will fasten him like a nail in a sure place. He will be for a throne of glory to his father’s house" (22:23), and "They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, every small vessel" (22:24). Then 22:25 says, "the nail that was fastened in a sure place will give way. It will be cut down and fall. The burden that was on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken it" (22:25). In Hebrew 22:25's nail, fastened, place and sure are 22:23's words (tap nail), and burden is massa' as a load, not the massa' of the chapter's heading (tap burden). The verse names no one, and the chapter doesn't say when, or whether it means Eliakim or someone else. These notes set the verses side by side and don't say whom 22:25 means.

The verses

“I will fasten him like a nail in a sure place. He will be for a throne of glory to his father’s house. They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, every small vessel, from the cups even to all the pitchers. “In that day,” says the LORD of Armies, “the nail that was fastened in a sure place will give way. It will be cut down and fall. The burden that was on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken it.””
Isaiah 22:23-25 · World English Bible
“The burden of the valley of vision. What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?”
Isaiah 22:1 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Isaiah 22

Isaiah 22: The valley of vision

The chapter opens and closes with burden, one Hebrew spelling with two meanings: an oracle (22:1) and a load (22:25). The city looked to the armor (22:8) but didn't look to "him who had done this" (22:11): one Hebrew verb. And Eliakim's key (22:22) is a word the Hebrew Bible has only twice.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions