Isaiah 22:24
24 And they shall hang [talah] upon him all the glory [kabowd] of his father's ['ab] house
[bayith], the offspring [tse'etsa'] and the issue [tsaphi`ah],
all vessels [kaliy] of small [qatan] quantity, from the vessels [kaliy] of cups ['aggan], even to
all the vessels [kaliy] of flagons [nebel].KJV-Interlinear
24 And they will hang on him the whole
honor of his father’s house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from
the cups to all the flagons. ESV
Hanging honor on
someone is tantamount to presenting them with honors, awards, prestige,
authority, position, recognition, and so forth.
And even though
the subject here is Eliakim, we have already seen that he is but the example,
and that the Lord is the real person being honored.
All the glory of
His fathers house is a reference to God the Father. We do not know much of anything about Eliakims
parents.
The issues and
the offspring, are the determining terms referring to all who have preceded him
and all who will follow him, within his family group. This eliminates Eliakim, as any of his
ancestors are dead, and any of his future children and their generations are
unknown as to their spiritual status.
But in Christ,
all who have believed in Him, are alive in Him and will be alive again.
The dead cannot
receive honors, but the living can.
And all who are
of the lower stature within the family and all who are of a higher stature,
will be recipients of honor in conjunction with Christ.
Every small
vessel to every flagon, refers to the least to the wealthiest.
The small
vessels, are those who have little value and are the least among the family
members.
The flagons, are
vessels for wine. Wine is typical in the
wealthier homes, and flagons, plural, definitely separates the poorer from the
wealthier.
Now, throughout
this chapter, we have seen that anyone who disregards God, Christ, doctrine,
their spiritual life and so forth, are going to have a very difficult life and
failure will be the result of their life.
Here, we have
the continuation of the recognition of the Lord, through the example of Eliakm,
using the meaning of his name and that of his fathers name, to point to the
real honor that will be bestowed upon Christ.
But note one more
thing. In the family of God, there will be
those who are wealthy and those who are not.
And this does not
refer to life in this world, but to life in the next life. Honors are bestowed upon all believers, from
Adam to the last believer in history.
All will have to be resurrected in order to receive those honors.
But the honors
are of the family name and the many rights that attach thereto.
There will be in
heaven those who have not advanced to spiritual maturity, and thus will have
little or nothing in the form of reward, but they will still have eternal life,
resurrection bodies and whatever more God grants to them.
But there will also
be those who will advance in their spiritual life and to those who have much
from the rewards and so forth, the same honors and family rights apply. They too, will have eternal life,
resurrection bodies, and honors, but they will also have many more things that
those who did not advance in their spiritual life, will not have.
So, advancement should
be a priority.
But the whole
point here is that the spiritual life should be your highest priority in
life. Not only does it guarantee success
in this life, spiritual success, but it also guarantees great reward in the
next life.
To disregard
Christ is to fail, and have nothing better than failure. The only good thing for a person who has
believed in Christ but does not pursue their spiritual life, is that they will have
some semblance of honor in the eternal future.
That is eternal security, regardless of how bad your life is now, or how
negative you are now.
The alternative
is far better, but you have to really want it, and then stick with it.
