SHEBNA WAS FIRED!

Who is Shebna and who fired him?

Shebna was the caretaker of the royal palace in Jerusalem around 710 B.C.  God fired him!

"Isaiah prophesied from 739–681 BC to a nation that had turned a deaf ear to the Lord. Instead of serving Him with humility and offering love to their neighbors, the nation of Judah offered meaningless sacrifices in God’s temple at Jerusalem and committed injustices throughout the nation. The people of Judah turned their backs on God and alienated themselves from Him, which created the need for Isaiah’s pronouncements of judgment—declarations made in the hope that God’s chosen people would return to Him."  [Insight for Living Ministries - https://insight.org/resources/bible/the-major-prophets/isaiah]

In this chapter, God is trying to save the Judeans from destruction by getting them to trust Him again for deliverance.  

Knowing that God had promised King David that his dynasty would continue, the people thought that they were invincible and forever safe!  

"So when the enemy threat materializes on their border and moves right into bowshot, they do what most people do; they make reasonable, defensive preparations.  But what they forgot to do is key; they forgot to turn to God.  They put their trust in their weapons and their engineering skills.  They ignore the One who established the city and made them a nation in the first place...God is about to make a change."   [The Voice Bible, 2012, editorial comment, p.816]

 God appoints Eliakim the son of Hilkiah - who God refers to as "My faithful servant" [22:20] - to replace Shebna!  God promises to bless the work of this new leader and invest great authority in his leadership.

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This theme is repeated over and over again throughout the Old Testament.  The people turn to other resources for salvation and help, rather than turning to God Almighty!  

It reminds me of a line from a song recorded by the Kingston Trio [and Peter, Paul and Mary]:  "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?"

"...when will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?"

 Do we do the same?

Absolutely!

We pride ourselves on our self-dependence!  We store up, shore up, garner resources as though we can manage whatever comes.  

How many times does God bring calamity toward us in hopes that we will turn to Him?  

Even in the perilous days we currently are experiencing with hints at 'WWIII', 'nuclear war' and 'anarchy' being echoed by our various news sources - do we see a consequent turning to God?

Rather, there is a complacent trust that the weapons and arsenal of the United States will be sufficient to resist even the combined forces of our two greatest threats: a coalition of Russia and China.  

Our pompous and blind trust in an increasingly 'woke' military seems limitless.  

The Church has lost its voice.  It's adherents dissipate.  Morality evaporates.  Distrust in governmental leadership escalates!  

So many live in blind trust that nothing really bad can happen to us in the United States!  We feel safe even while millions of illegal immigrants have been allowed to move in among us without being vetted or tracked.  

And the lines of communication to God have fallen into disuse.  

And God sees it all - and is about to fire Shebna again!