The Pride of Life

Who You Rest On (Part 1)

Isaiah 22:15-23; 2 Kings 18-19

In this portion of Isaiah, the prophet speaks about two men, both of whom were placed in a position of authority, Shebna and Eliakim. Shebna and Eliakim served Hezekiah, King of Judah. In the 2 Kings passage, Shebna is called the “secretary” and Eliakim is said to be “over the household.” From Isaiah 22 we can gather that Isaiah is suggesting that Shebna had a higher authority than Eliakim, but Eliakim was going to succeed and replace him. Both men’s approach to their role is instructive and both, in their own way, point to the danger of putting our faith in men. This morning we will consider Shebna. Tomorrow morning, we will look at Eliakim and then the following devotional will point us to Jesus.

Shebna was placed over the king’s household. He was something like a Chief of Staff. Some suggest that he may have been in charge of the military of Judah. We don’t know for certain what his role was, nor the extent of his responsibilities, but we can ascertain that he was one of the chief officers in Hezekiah’s kingdom.

There is only one oracle of Isaiah that is directed at an individual and it is the one we read in Isaiah 22:15-19. For Isaiah to diverge from his normal pattern and single our Shebna and Eliakim indicates the weightiness of the issues at stake. Why does the Lord speak these words against Shebna through Isaiah? He lists two primary offenses. First, Shebna had made for himself a tomb on a high place. This was typically an honor reserved for great men. Shebna had concluded that he was great. In his sense of self-importance, he prepared his burial place on a high spot. He planned his place in history. He intended to be remembered because, well… he thought he was worth remembering. But Shebna wasn’t waiting until he died to display his importance. He had “glorious chariots” to ride in. He made sure everyone saw what an important person he was. He made sure when he passed by people they noticed.  

These two specific actions, preparing a tomb and having glorious chariots, were merely symptoms of the underlying problem. Shebna thought too highly of himself. “Pride comes before a fall.” That was true of Shebna. He was exalting himself. Isaiah’s message to Shebna was, “God is going to bring you down.”

Pride and faith are opposed to each other. When we are proud, we are self-sufficient. We believe we are enough in and of ourselves. “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.” God holds the proud man at arm’s length. The proud man is cut off from what he needs most – the grace of God.

Pride, though, is rarely a private problem that only disturbs the individual’s spiritual life. It usually affects the community. The circle of influence of the proud man gets sucked into his vortex whether they want that or not. Because he believes he is enough, he directs those on whom he has an influence, not to Christ, but to himself. He trusts in himself and expects others to do so as well. This is why Shebna’s sin was so serious. In his position of power and influence, he was turning hearts towards himself when he should have been pointing away from himself toward the Lord. And those resistant to his pull were likely to become victims of his power.  

The humble man points away from himself toward Christ. The proud man distracts people. He directs attention to himself as the one with the answers. In his mind, he has the wisdom, the power, and the resources and those whom he leads should look unto him.

And that is serious sinning. The kind of sinning that leads to a fall because they will blindly walk over a cliff or God will toss them over. And that is exactly what Isaiah says would happen to Shebna. God would roll him up like a ball of clay and toss him out of the Land and into a foreign place where he would die. His chariots would be given to another and he would never be buried in his fancy tomb on the hill.