Isaiah 22:15 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Thus saith the Lord God of Hosts— The other part of this discourse, which contains the judgment upon Shebna, the overseer of the palace, is so connected with the former, as plainly to shew that this man was the chief and most eminent among the profane nobles of that time, against whom the prophet declaims in the preceding period; who, having the first place in the state and palace after the king, had corrupted many, himself the head and chief of the profane and irreligious. This period contains, first, a command given to the prophet, concerning a judgment to be denounced on Shebna, in the name of the Lord, Isaiah 22:15. Secondly, the sum of that judicial denunciation, which is two-fold; convictive, and penal. Convictive, wherein the security and confidence conceived in his mind, concerning the liability of his fortune and estate, is very sharply rebuked, Isaiah 22:16. Penal, which sets forth the sentence passed against him, or the punishments determined by the divine judgment, and the confirmation of this sentence added as a clause to this penal denunciation. The punishments are, his being carried away from the land of Canaan into a distant country, and as is probable into Assyria, Isaiah 22:17-18. A deprivation from his high state and dignity, Isaiah 22:19 and the substitution of Eliakim, his rival, in his place, with the high authority and prosperity of his house, Isaiah 22:20-24. Then follows in the 25th verse the confirmation, and, as it were, recapitulation of the whole sentence. We know nothing certain concerning this Shebna; it is hardly probable that he was the same person with that mentioned, 2 Kings 18:18. And it has been thought by some, that he was not a native Jew, but a foreigner, and a man of low birth; which they would collect from the pride of his desire to ennoble himself by a splendid sepulchre, Isaiah 22:16.