Shebna and Eliakim
In what Elder Jeffrey
R. Holland called a “moving Messianic tribute” (Jeffrey R. Holland, Witness
for His Names [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2019], 113), the prophet Isaiah
foreshadowed the Crucifixion through an obscure story about Shebna and Eliakim.
Shebna, who held a high position as an official in King Hezekiah’s court,
apparently abused his power, perhaps siphoning off royal funds for his own
purposes (see Isa. 22:15).
Isaiah said a man
named Eliakim would replace Shebna in the king’s court. Eliakim would be given
many responsibilities, including receiving “the key of the house of David,”
which would give Eliakim authority, for “he shall open, and none shall shut;
and he shall shut, and none shall open” (Isa. 22:22). Eliakim is a type of the
Savior, who identified himself as having “the key of David” and being the
person “that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth”
(Rev. 3:7) (Isaiah 22:22 and Revelation 3:7 are the only two instances in
scripture that speak of the key of David). The similarity between these phrases
connects Eliakim and the Savior. Eliakim had the power to open and close palace
doors, and Christ can unlock the gate to immortality and eternal life.
Speaking of Eliakim,
the Lord said, “I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be
for the glorious throne to his father’s house. And they shall hang upon him all
the glory of his father’s house . . . In that day, saith the Lord of hosts,
shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down,
and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off” (Isa. 22:23-25).
Elder Holland commented on these verses as follows:
When the Roman soldiers
drove their four-and-one-half-inch crucifixion spikes into their victim’s
flesh, they did so first in the open palm. But because the weight of the body
might tear that flesh and not sustain the burden to be carried, they also drove
nails into the wrist, down the nexus of bones and sinews that would not tear no
matter what the weight. Thus, the nail in the wrist was the “nail in a sure
place.”
Once it was removed
and the Savior was “cut down,” the burden of the crucified body (more
literally, the burden of the Atonement) was brought to an end. In terms of our salvation,
Christ is the Nail in a Sure Place—never failing, never faltering. (Holland, Witness
for His names, 113. The Hebrew word for “nail” in this passage can also
refer to a sturdy peg that one can hang items on for storage. In this reading,
Isaiah could be saying that all different types of vessels will hang on a peg,
symbolic of Eliakim’s great importance in Hezekiah’s palace [see Isa 22:24]. If
the phrase “fasten him as a nail in a sure place” refers to a sturdy object of
support, Eliakim is still a type of Christ. Just as Eliakim was the strongest
steward in Hezekiah’s palace, with all things resting on him, so can all our
sins, sorrows, and struggles be supported by the Savior, because of his atoning
sacrifice)
Although faithful
Eliakim was granted temporary authority, Jesus has “all power . . . given unto
[him] in heaven and in earth” (Matt. 28:18). (John Hilton III, Considering
the Cross: How Calvary Connects Us with Christ [Salt Lake City: Deseret
Book, 2021], 54-55)
