18 He will surely wind you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a large country. There you will die, and there the chariots of your glory will be, you shame of your lord's house.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Turning he will turn thee. [1] Isaiah continues the same discourse, in which he ridiculed the pride of Shebna, who had bestowed so much cost on building a sepulcher. This statement is connected with the first clause of the former verse; for, as he formerly said "He will remove thee by an extraordinary removal," so he now says, "He will toss thee as a ball into an open plain." By this comparison he means that nothing will prevent the Lord from casting him out into a distant country, though he thinks that his power is firmly established; and since he had been so careful about his sepulcher, and had given orders about it, as if he had been certain as to his death, Isaiah declares that he will not die in Jerusalem, but in a foreign country, to which he shall be banished. The chariot of thy glory. Under the word chariot he includes all the fame and rank of Shebna; as if he had said that disgrace would be his reputation among foreigners. Thus, the Lord ridicules the mad ambition of those who look at nothing but the world, and who judge of their happiness by the glory of fading and transitory objects. The shame of thy lord's house. He calls it "the shame of" the royal "house," either because he had polluted that holy place which might be regarded as the sanctuary of the Lord, or because Hezekiah had judged ill in elevating him to that station. That the mask of his high rank might not screen him from this prediction, the Prophet expressly states, that the office which he holds aggravates his guilt and renders him more detestable. Let princes, therefore, if they do not wish to expose themselves and their houses to reproaches, learn to act with judgment in appointing men to hold office.
1 - "He will surely violently turn." -- Eng. Ver.
He will surely violently turn - Lowth has well expressed the sense of this:
He will whirl thee round and round, and cast thee away.
Thus it refers to the action of throwing a stone with a "sling," when the sling is whirled round and round several times before the string is let go, in order to increase the velocity of the stone. The idea is here, that God designed to cast him into a distant land, and that he would give such an "impulse" to him that he would be sent afar, so far that he would not be able to return again.
Like a ball - A stone, ball, or other projectile that is cast from a sling.
Into a large country - Probably Assyria. When this was done we have no means of determining.
And there the chariots of glory shall be the shame of thy lord's house - Lowth renders this,
- And there shall thy glorious chariots
Become the shame of the house of thy lord.
Noyes renders it,
There shall thy splendid chariots perish,
Thou disgrace of the house of thy lord.
The Chaldee renders it, 'And there the chariots of thy glory shall be converted into ignominy, because thou didst not preserve the glory of the house of thy lord.' Probably the correct interpretation is that which regards the latter part of the verse, 'the shame of thy lord's house,' as an address to him as the shame or disgrace of Ahaz, who had appointed him to that office, and of Hezekiah, who had continued him in it. The phrase 'the chariots of thy glory,' means splendid or magnificent chariots; and refers doubtless to the fact that in Jerusalem he had affected great pride and display, and had, like many weak minds, sought distinction by the splendor of his equipage. The idea here is, that the 'chariot of his glory,' that is, the vehicle in which he would ride, would be in a distant land, not meaning that in that land he would ride in chariots as magnificent as those which he had in Jerusalem, but that he would be conveyed there, and probably be borne in an ignominous manner, instead of the splendid mode in which he was carried in Jerusalem. The Jews say that when he left Jerusalem to deliver it into the hands of the enemy, they asked him where his army was; and when he said that they had turned back, they said, 'thou hast mocked us;' and that there-upon they bored his heels, and tied him to the tails of horses, and that thus he died.
With violence he will surely turn and toss thee [like] a ball into a wide country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory [shall be] the (t) shame of thy lord's house.
(t) Signifying that whatever dignity the wicked attain to, at length it will turn to the shame of those princes by whom they are preferred.
He will surely violently turn and toss thee,.... Or, "wrapping he will wrap thee with a wrapping"; as anything is wrapped up close and round, either to be more commodiously carried, or more easily tossed: or, "rolling he will roll thee with a rolling" (d); that is, roll thee over and over again, till brought to a place appointed:
like a ball into a large country; where there is nothing to stop it; and being cast with a strong hand, runs a great way, and with prodigious swiftness; and signifies, that Shebna's captivity was inevitable, which he could not escape; that he was no more in the hands of the Lord than a ball in the hands of a strong man; and could as easily, and would be, hurled out of his place, into a distant country, as a ball, well wrapped, could be thrown at a great distance by a strong arm; and that this his captivity would be swift and sudden; and that he should be carried into a large country, and at a distance. Jarchi says Casiphia (e), a place mentioned in Ezra 8:17. Aben Ezra interprets it of Babylon, which seems likely.
There shalt thou die: in that large and distant country; and not at Jerusalem, where he had built a magnificent sepulchre for himself and family:
and there the chariots of thy glory; shall cease and be no more; he should not have them along with him to ride in pomp and state, and to show his glory and grandeur, as he had done in Jerusalem. We connect this with the following clause, and supply it thus,
shall be the shame of thy lord's house; as if the chariots and coaches of state he had rode in were to the reproach of the king his master; who had made such an ill choice of a steward of his house, or prime minister of state, and had advanced such a worthless creature to such a dignity; but it may be better supplied thus, without being so strictly connected with the other clause, and which is more agreeable to the accents, "O thou, the shame of thy lord's house" (f); a disgrace and dishonour to Ahaz, who perhaps put him in his office; and to Hezekiah, that continued him in it. The Jews say he was brought to a very shameful end; they say (g), that when he went out of the city of Jerusalem, in order to deliver Hezekiah's forces into the hands of the enemy, Gabriel shut the gate before his army; to whom the enemy said, where's thy army? he replied, they are turned back; say they, thou hast mocked us: upon which they bored his heels, and fastened him to the tails of horses, and drew him upon thorns and briers. So says Kimchi, instead of chariots of glory, he thought they would give him, they put him to shame, binding him to the tails of horses.
(d) "cidarizando cidarizabit te cidari", Forerius; as the priest's linen mitre, Leviticus. xvi. 4. which was wrapped about his head, so Ben Melech; or any turban, such as were used in the eastern countries; signifying, that he should be rolled up like this, or any such like round thing, and carried away. (e) So in Vajikra, sect. 5. fol. 150. 3. (f) "tu, O dedecus domus domini tui", Tigurine version; "O ignominia", &c. Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. (g) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol 26. 1, 2.
violently turn and toss--literally, "whirling He will whirl thee," that is, He will, without intermission, whirl thee [MAURER]. "He will whirl thee round and round, and (then) cast thee away," as a stone in a sling is first whirled round repeatedly, before the string is let go [LOWTH].
large country--perhaps Assyria.
chariots . . . shall be the shame of thy lord's house--rather, "thy splendid chariots shall be there, O thou disgrace of thy lord's house" [NOYES]; "chariots of thy glory" mean "thy magnificent chariots." It is not meant that he would have these in a distant land, as he had in Jerusalem, but that he would be borne thither in ignominy instead of in his magnificent chariots. The Jews say that he was tied to the tails of horses by the enemy, to whom he had designed to betray Jerusalem, as they thought he was mocking them; and so he died.
Thy chariots - Thy glorious chariots where thou didst ride in great state at Jerusalem, shall be turned into shame to thyself, and to thy master.
*More commentary available at chapter level.