Thus says the Lord to Shebna, the palace steward: I will thrust you from your pedestal, and from your station you will be brought down. In that day I will call my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah. 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…
Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
ISAIAH 22:19-23
Thus says the Lord to Shebna, the palace steward:
I will thrust you from your pedestal, and from your station you will be brought down. In that day I will call my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah. 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. 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. I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of glory to his father’s house.
This is an oracle of Isaiah included in several others of threats against various peoples.
In the time of the Assyrian Sennacherib, who threatens to destroy the nation, the prophet laments the people’s blindness, foresees their disastrous fate, and leaves open a door to the hope of a future salvation.
From chapter 22, the oracles turn against Jerusalem, and here specifically against the royal steward. The character who is going to replace him has been understood as another figure of the Messiah – of the many that appear in Isaiah – and his power is symbolized in several images, the robe, the sash, the keys, external signs of his rank.
ROMANS 11:33-35
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
This is a doxology, or a short hymn, prompted by the preceding verses of the text, which deal with the salvation of the Gentiles and that of the Jews.
Paul sees that the Jews have rejected Jesus, and this has been an occasion for the announcement of the Good News to the Gentiles. When these accept the Good News, Israel will also believe.
This “divine economy” is what makes Paul intone this hymn.
José Enrique Galarreta, S.J.