Isaiah 22:16 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Bible Comments

What hast thou here? or, What dost thou here ? what right hast thou to this place and office? Whom; either,

1. What friends, in whom thou canst confide? Thou hast so ill managed thyself and thy affairs, that thou art universally hated. Or,

2. What kindred or relations? For the Jews say he was a stranger by birth; which is the more probable, because his pedigree is not mentioned in any of those places of Scripture where he is named. Hewed thee out a sepulchre, as great and ambitious men used to do. Here; not in thine own country, the proper place for such a monument; but in Jerusalem, which should not be defiled nor disparaged with it. On high; in a high and eminent place, as Isaiah 57:7. An habitation; either,

1. A sepulchre, which is called a man's house, Job 30:23; or,

2. A dwelling-house. He erected, or is compared to one that doth erect, a stately house to live in, and a stately sepulchre to receive him when he dies. And these two are fitly joined together, because their sepulchres were commonly built in or near their houses. See Isaiah 14:18 1 Thessalonians 19:41. In a rock; a fit place both for strength and state. Thus we read of a sepulchre hewed out of a rock, Matthew 27:60.

Isaiah 22:16

16 What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock?