19, 20. (a) How will Eliakim prove to be a blessing to his people? (b) What will happen to those who continue to look to Shebna?

¹⁹ Finally, Jehovah uses symbolic language to describe the transfer of power from Shebna to Eliakim. He states: “‘I will drive him [Eliakim] in as a peg in a lasting place, and he must become as a throne of glory to the house of his father. And they must hang upon him all the glory of the house of his father, the descendants and the offshoots, all the vessels of the small sort, the vessels of the bowl sort as well as all the vessels of the large jars. In that day,’ is the utterance of Jehovah of armies, ‘the peg [Shebna] that is driven in a lasting place will be removed, and it must be hewn down and fall, and the load that is upon it must be cut off, for Jehovah himself has spoken it.’”​—Isaiah 22:23-25.

²⁰ In these verses the first peg is Eliakim. He will become “a throne of glory” to the house of his father, Hilkiah. Unlike Shebna, he will not disgrace his father’s house or reputation. Eliakim will be a lasting support to household vessels, that is, to others in the king’s service. (2 Timothy 2:20, 21) In contrast, the second peg refers to Shebna. Though he may seem secure, he will be removed. Any who continue to look to him will fall.

[Picture on page 239]

Eliakim is made “a peg in a lasting place” by Hezekiah