Thursday, January
12, 2017
This is what
the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, said to me: “Confront Shebna, the palace administrator,
and give him this message:
“Who do you
think you are, and what are you doing here, building a beautiful tomb for yourself—a
monument high up in the rock? For
the Lord is about to hurl you away, mighty man. He is going to grab you, crumple
you into a ball, and toss you away into a distant, barren land. There you will die, and your glorious
chariots will be broken and useless. You
are a disgrace to your master! “Yes, I
will drive you out of office,” says the Lord. “I will pull you down from your high position.
And then I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah to replace you. I
will dress him in your royal robes and will give him your title and your
authority. And he will be a father to
the people of Jerusalem and Judah. I will give him the key to the house
of David—the highest position in the royal court. When he opens doors, no one will be able to
close them; when he closes doors, no one will be able to open them. He
will bring honor to his family name, for I will drive him firmly in place like
a nail in the wall. They will give him great responsibility, and he will
bring honor to even the lowliest members of his family.” But the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
also says: “The time will come when I
will pull out the nail that seemed so firm. It will come out and fall to the ground. Everything it supports will fall with it. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
Isaiah 22:15-25(NLT)
Over the last number of
months we’ve heard much about the outgoing U.S. President’s desire to protect
his legacy. By that we understand he wants to make
certain his programs, legislations and rulings are not undone by the following administration.
Well…legacy is something you
leave behind, and when you’re gone the legacy you were shooting-for is largely
going to be either accepted or changed or trashed by what people perceive you
did while you were trying to create a monument to yourself.
All that can be said about
that process is: Good luck with that!
Just ask Shebna or Eliakim!
Shebna was probably the
prefect in Jerusalem, second in power only to the king, something like
Secretary of State. History calls him an
unprincipled ruler.[ii]
Isaiah was pushed by God to
deliver a message to this powerful official who was digging his own grave by
using his office to create a monument to his pride. That message was his legacy would consist of being
disgraced and replaced. God would pull
him out of his power and put Eliakim in his stead, nailed down like a board
with a 9” spike. But…God knew Eliakim’s
faithfulness would waver, and God would eventually remove Shebna’s replacement
too. Being the person in charge is about
as secure as Jell-o nailed to a wall!
This time in which we find
ourselves, inbetween President Obama’s last address to the nation as our
highest official, and the inauguration of President-elect Trump to that
chair…well, it’s either the calm before the storm, or the storm before the
calm. In short, it’s just plain
unsettling. The outgoing leader is
nailing down planks on his legacy to preserve what’s named after him. The incoming leader is threatening to undo
most all of it and create something “great” again that can put his own name on
more buildings.
A word of caution to both, as
well as a word of comfort to those biting their nails:
Whatever has been nailed-down
can be pulled-up! Just ask Shebna or
Eliakim!
For You Today
Whichever
side you brought to the table in our political fracas of the past year, this
would be a good time to take a deep breath and remember Who is really in charge.
NOTES
[ii]
Barnes’ Notes on the Old Testament,
Electronic Edition STEP Files Copyright © 1999, Parsons Technology, Inc
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