This chapter is made up of "two" prophecies, one comprising the first fourteen verses, and addressed to the city of Jerusalem; and the other Isaiah 22:15-25 relating to the fall of Shebna, the prefect of the palace, and to the promotion of Eliakim in his place. They may have been delivered nearly at the same time, but the subjects are distinct.
The first Isaiah 22:1-14 relates to Jerusalem. It has reference to some period when the city was besieged, and when universal consternation spread among the people. The prophet represents himself as in the city, and as a witness of the alarm.
1. He describes Isaiah 22:1-3 the consternation that prevailed in the city at the approach of the enemy. The inhabitants flee to the tops of the houses, either to observe the enemy or to make a defense, and the city is filled with distress, mingled with the tumultuous mirth of a portion who regard defense as hopeless, and who give themselves up to revelry and gluttony, because they apprehended that they must at all events soon die.
2. The prophet then describes Isaiah 22:4-8 his own grief at the impending calamity, and especially at the state of things within the city. He portrays the distress; describes those who cause it, and the people engaged in it; and says that the valleys around the city are filled with chariots, and that the horsemen of the enemy have come to the very gate.
3. He then describes the preparations which are made in the city for defense Isaiah 22:9-11. The inhabitants of the city had endeavored to repair the breaches of the walls; had even torn down their houses to furnish materials, and had endeavored to secure the "water" with which the city was supplied from the enemy; but they had not looked to God as they should have done for protection. The scope of the prophecy, therefore, is, to reprove them for not looking to God, and also for their revelry in the very midst of their calamities.
4. The prophet then describes the state of "morals" within the city Isaiah 22:12-14. It was a time when they should have humbled themselves, and looked to God. He called them to fasting and to grief; but they supposed that the city "must" be taken, and that they must die, and a large portion of the inhabitants, despairing of being able to make a successful defense, gave themselves up to riot and drunkenness. To reprove this, was one design of the prophet; and perhaps, also, to teach the general lesson that men, in view of the certainty of death, should not madly and foolishly give themselves to sensual indulgence.
There has been a difference of opinion in regard to the event to which this prophecy refers. Most have supposed that it relates to the invasion by Sennacherib; others have supposed that it relates to the destruction of the city by Nebuchadnezzar. Vitringa and Lowth suppose that the prophet had "both" events in view; the former in Isaiah 22:1-5, and the latter in the remainder of the prophecy. But it is not probable that it has a twofold reference. It has the appearance of referring to a "single" calamity; and this mode of interpretation should not be departed from without manifest necessity. The general aspect of the prophecy has reference, I think, to the invasion by Sennacherib. He came near the city; the city was filled with alarm; and Hezekiah prepared himself to make as firm a stand against him as possible, and put the city in the best possible state of defense. The description in Isaiah 22:9-11 agrees exactly with the account given of the defense winch Hezekiah made against Sennacherib in 2-Chronicles 32:2, following; and particularly in regard to the effort made to secure the fountains in the neighborhood for the use of the city, and to prevent the Assyrians from obtaining it. In 2-Chronicles 32:2 ff, we are told that Hezekiah took measures to stop all the fountains of water without the city, and the brook 'that ran through the midst of the land,' in order that the Assyrians under Sennacherib should not find water; and that he repaired the walls, and built new towers of defense in the city, and placed guards upon them. These circumstances of "coincidence" between the history and the prophecy, show conclusively that the reference is entirely to the invasion under Sennacherib. This occurred 710 b.c.

Prophecy concerning Jerusalem, Isaiah 22:1-14. Sentence against Shebna, who was over the household, Isaiah 22:15-19. Prophecy concerning Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, Isaiah 22:20, Isaiah 22:21. From Eliakim, Isaiah, (agreeably to the mode universally adopted in the prophetical writings, of making the things then present, or which were shortly to be accomplished, types or representations of things to be fulfilled upon a larger scale in distant futurity), makes a transition to the Messiah, of whom Eliakim was a type, to whom the words will best apply, and to whom some passages in the prophecy must be solely restrained, Isaiah 22:20-24. The sentence against Shebna again confirmed, Isaiah 22:25.
This prophecy, ending with the fourteenth verse of this chapter, is entitled, "The oracle concerning the valley of vision," by which is meant Jerusalem, because, says Sal. ben Melech, it was the place of prophecy. Jerusalem, according to Josephus, was built upon two opposite hills Sion and Acra, separated by a valley in the midst. He speaks of another broad valley between Acra and Moriah, Bell. Jude. 5:13; 6:6. It was the seat of Divine revelation; the place where chiefly prophetic vision was given, and where God manifested himself visibly in the holy place. The prophecy foretells the invasion of Jerusalem by the Assyrians under Sennacherib; or by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar. Vitringa is of opinion that the prophet has both in view: that of the Chaldeans in the first part, Isaiah 22:1-5, which he thinks relates to the flight of Zedekiah, 2-Kings 25:4, 2-Kings 25:5; and that of the Assyrians in the latter part, which agrees with the circumstances of that time, and particularly describes the preparations made by Hezekiah for the defense of the city, Isaiah 22:8-11. Compare 2-Chronicles 32:2-5. - L.

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 22
This chapter contains two prophecies, one concerning the invasion of Judah and Jerusalem, not by the Medes and Persians, but by the Assyrian army, under which they served; and the other of the removal of Shebna, an officer in Hezekiah's court, and of the placing of Eliakim in his stead. After the title of the former of these prophecies, the distress of the people, through the invasion, is described, by their getting up to the housetops, Isaiah 22:1 by the stillness of the city, having left both trade and mirth; by the slain in it, not by the sword, but through fear or famine, Isaiah 22:2 by the flight of the rulers, and by the lamentation of the prophet, Isaiah 22:3 the instruments of which distress were the Persians and Medes serving under Sennacherib, who are described by their quivers and shields, their chariots and horsemen, Isaiah 22:6 the methods the Jews took to defend themselves, and their vain confidence, are exposed; for which, with their disrespect to the Lord, and his admonitions, their carnal security and luxury, they are threatened with death, Isaiah 22:8 then follows the prophecy of the deposition of Shebna, who is described by his name and office, Isaiah 22:15 whose pride is exposed as the cause of his fall, Isaiah 22:16 and he is threatened not only to be driven from his station, but to be carried captive into another country, suddenly and violently, and with great shame and disgrace, Isaiah 22:17 and another put in his place, who is mentioned by name, Isaiah 22:20 and who should be invested with his office and power, and have all the ensigns of it, Isaiah 22:21 and should continue long in it, to great honour and usefulness to his family, Isaiah 22:23 yet not always, Isaiah 22:25.

(Isaiah 22:1-7) The siege and taking of Jerusalem.
(Isaiah 22:8-14) The wicked conduct of its inhabitants.
(Isaiah 22:15-25) The displacing of Shebna, and the promotion of Eliakim, applied to the Messiah.

The Oracle Concerning the Valley of Vision (Jerusalem) - Isaiah 22:1-14
The châzūth concerning Babylon, and the no less visionary prophecies concerning Edom and Arabia, are now followed by a massâ, the object of which is "the valley of vision" (gē' chizzâyōn) itself. Of course these four prophecies were not composed in the tetralogical form in which they are grouped together here, but were joined together at a later period in a group of this kind on account of their close affinity. The internal arrangement of the group was suggested, not by the date of their composition (they stand rather in the opposite relation to one another), but by the idea of a storm coming from a distance, and bursting at last over Jerusalem; for there can be no doubt that the "valley of vision" is a general name for Jerusalem as a whole, and not the name given to one particular valley of Jerusalem. It is true that the epithet applied to the position of Jerusalem does not seem to be in harmony with this; for, according to Josephus, "the city was built upon two hills, which are opposite to one another and have a valley to divide them asunder, at which valley the corresponding rows of houses on both hills end" (Wars of the Jews, v. 4, 1; Whiston). But the epithet is so far allowable, that there are mountains round Jerusalem (Psalm 125:2); and the same city which is on an eminence in relation to the land generally, appears to stand on low ground when contrasted with the mountains in the immediate neighbourhood (πρὸς δὲ τὰ ἐχόμενα ταύθς γηόλοφα χθαμαλίζεται, as Phocas says). According to this twofold aspect, Jerusalem is called the "inhabitant of the valley" in Jeremiah 21:13, and directly afterwards the "rock of the plain;" just as in Jeremiah 17:3 it is called the mountain in the fields, whereas Zephaniah (Zephaniah 1:11) applies the epithet mactēsh (the mortar or cauldron) not to all Jerusalem, but to one portion of it (probably the ravine of the Tyropaeum). And if we add to this the fact that Isaiah's house was situated in the lower town - and therefore the standpoint of the epithet is really there - it is appropriate in other respects still; for the prophet had there the temple-hill and the Mount of Olives, which is three hundred feet higher, on the east, and Mount Zion before him towards the south; so that Jerusalem appeared like a city in a valley in relation to the mountains inside, quite as much as to those outside. But the epithet is intended to be something more than geographical. A valley is a deep, still, solitary place, but off and shut in by mountains. And thus Jerusalem was an enclosed place, hidden and shut off from the world, which Jehovah had chosen as the place in which to show to His prophets the mysteries of His government of the world. And upon this sacred prophets' city the judgment of Jehovah was about to fall; and the announcement of the judgment upon it is placed among the oracles concerning the nations of the world! We may see from this, that at the time when this prophecy was uttered, the attitude of Jerusalem was so worldly and heathenish, that it called forth this dark, nocturnal threat, which is penetrated by not a single glimmer of promise. But neither the prophecies of the time of Ahaz relating to the Assyrian age of judgment, nor those which were uttered in the midst of the Assyrian calamities, are so destitute of promise and so peremptory as this. The massa therefore falls in the intermediate time, probably the time when the people were seized with the mania for liberty, and the way was prepared for their breaking away from Assyria by their hope of an alliance with Egypt (vid., Delitzsch-Caspari, Studien, ii. 173-4).