In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken it.
Nail that is fastened - Shebna, who was supposed to be firmly fixed in his post.
And the burden that was upon it shall be cut off - all that were dependent on Shebna, all his emoluments and rank, will fail, as when a peg is suddenly "cut" down, the ornaments on it fall with it. Sin reaches in its effects even to the family of the guilty (Exodus 20:5).
Remarks: The joy and the recklessness of the people of the world form a sad contrast to the terrible doom which awaits them. But this ill-seasoned mirth and the love of pleasure and excitement are still more sad to witness when they are seen in the professing people of God. How bitterly the prophet in this chapter weeps not only "because of the spoiling of His people," but especially because of the sin which incurred that divine judgment. Jerusalem has been given up to the "treading down" of the Gentiles for ages, and will be so "until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Isaiah 22:5). Her "choicest valleys" have been long desecrated by the Mohammedan. The veil of the daughter of Zion has been rudely torn off, and her shame has been "discovered." What a warning is her case to the professing people of God, that spiritual privileges, so far from securing impunity in sin, will only aggravate the condemnation of those who "hold the truth in unrighteousness."