מַפְתֵּ֥חַ בֵּית־דָּוִ֖ד
A Tale of Two Stewards
Charles Clermont-Ganneau was an accomplished French archaeologist. Having confirmed the location of the Biblical city of Gezer[1] in the early 1870s, he was commissioned by the British Government to survey various archeological sites around the Old City of Jerusalem. One day, while excavating the ancient, rock-hewn tombs along the slopes of the Mount of Olives (near Biblical Siloam, the modern Palestinian suburb of Silwan), he discovered a Hebrew inscription which read:
This is [the grave of]…yahu, who is over the house. There is no silver or gold here, only … [his bones] … and the bones of his maidservant with him. Cursed be the man who opens this.[2]
Unfortunately, the tomb’s inscription was damaged at the precise location of its deceased occupant’s name, leaving only the theophoric suffix of “-yahu.”[3] The identity of the entombed was a mystery for 80 years, until Nahman Avigad published a persuasive journal article in 1953 arguing that the only Hebrew name which would fit the missing portion of the inscription was “Shebna.”[4] His research sent shock waves throughout the archaeological community, as it verified the existence of a certain Biblical character mentioned in the Scroll of Isaiah,
Thus says the Lord God of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the house, and say to him: What have you to do here, and whom have you here, that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock?”[5]
The lintel inscription discovered over the purported burial tomb of Shebna, steward “over the house” of King Hezekiah of Jerusalem. (The British Museum, London).
Not much else is known about the man Shebna, besides the fact that he was “over the house” of King Hezekiah during the era of Assyria’s expansion into the Levant. To be “over the house” of the king was to be the steward of the palace, a position imbued with great authority. The king’s steward was authorized to act on behalf of his master among his subjects, a kind of intermediary between commoners and the royal presence. Not only would Shebna have spoken to the people of Judah on behalf of Hezekiah, but he would have also been the arbiter of access to the king himself. The one placed “over the house” of the king was the one who granted an audience with the king. This meant that the palace steward’s position was of great consequence, and it appears that the Lord did not regard it lightly.
We don’t know the exact nature of Shebna’s self-exaltation. Jewish tradition holds that he favored a failed alliance with Egypt against the Assyrian invaders, in direct contravention to the Lord’s command to trust in Him alone for protection. Others suggest that he may have been in secret negotiations with Assyria for a prominent position within a Judean vassal state. Whatever his means and motivation, Shebna had exceeded his office in an act of arrogance by having an elaborate tomb carved for himself amongst the notables of Judea. The Lord took offense to the steward’s hubris, asking him in effect, “Who do you think you are?” Not only did He foretell Sheba’s downfall, but also the rise of the one who would replace him “over the house” of Hezekiah,
Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious chariots, you shame of your master's house. I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.[6]
Shebna would be “thrown like a ball” from both his position and the territory of the Kingdom itself, and would die in a “wide land.” In his place, Eliakim son of Hilkiah would be installed “over the house” of the King of Judah. We don’t know exactly how this prophecy was fulfilled in history. According to the Book of Kings, Shebna appears to have been demoted to the lower position of secretary[7], at least temporarily, although Isaiah’s prophecy suggests he was eventually banished from the Land altogether. In the end, Shebna’s bones were apparently entombed without the gold and silver trappings of his previous position. He would lie in obscurity for over 2,000 years, until a French adventurer found him, adding one more discovery to a growing multitude which confirm the reliability of the Hebrew Scriptures.
But even more striking than the discovery of Shebna’s inscription are the implications which it holds for the stewards “over the house” of the heir of David. The Spirit continues His commendation of Eliakim, son of Hilkiah,
And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father's house.[8]
As king of Judah, Hezekiah was the heir of the house of David; and as steward of the king, Eliakim would carry the “key of the house of David” on his shoulders. With that key, Eliakim had the power to open doors, or to lock them; he could grant access to the king, or deny it, and no one but the king could override his authority. Whereas Shebna had exceeded his mandate as steward, undermining his master in self-exaltation, the Lord called Eliakim “my servant,” whose exaltation would come from God, who made him “a throne of honor to his father’s house.” Whereas Shebna was “whirled” and “thrown” like a ball, Eliakim would be “fastened…like a peg in a secure place.” The contrast between Shebna and Eliakim are a historical metaphor for the axiom of a future Son of David: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”[9]
The Cornerstone and the Tent Peg
The Prophet Isaiah describes Eliakim as a “peg” who would be fastened in a “secure place.” As a people with a forty-year history of nomadic wandering, the Israelites appreciated the value of a peg to secure their tents in the blustering winds of the Transjordan wilderness. Not only were pegs used to vertically stake the tent into the ground, but also to horizontally secure the outer goat-hair covering to the wooden support beams. Israelite families would hang their most valuable possessions on the cords which ran from the outer coverings to the inner beams. Therefore, the security of the most precious things depended upon the strength of the peg on which they hung. As a “tent peg fastened in a secure place,” the Lord saw fit to hang on Eliakim “the whole honor of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons.”[10]
The Prophet Isaiah, by Raphael Sanzio da Urbino (Church of Sant’Agostino, Rome)
The motif of a tent peg is a common thread throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. It was the weapon of choice for the Kenite woman Jael, who used a hammer to drive a tent peg through the skull of Sisera, the wicked Canaanite general, foreshadowing the one who would “crush the head” of the serpent.[11] After a remnant of Israelites returned from exile in Babylon, Ezra the Priest lifted up a prayer of repentance, acknowledging that, “for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold [literally a secure peg] within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes…”[12] And Isaiah portends a future age of eternal security and prosperity for Israel,
Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts!
Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent,
whose stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken…
Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;
do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.
For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations
and will people the desolate cities.[13]
The Prophet Zechariah connects the tent peg to another Messianic motif:
My anger is hot against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders;
for the Lord of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah,
and will make them like his majestic steed in battle.
From him shall come the cornerstone, from him the tent peg,
from him the battle bow, from him every ruler—all of them together.[14]
From the House of Judah (i.e. the House of David), the Lord of Hosts would bring forth One who is called the Cornerstone and the Tent Peg. He would be driven deep into a secure place, with all the treasures of God suspended on Him. He would replace the “shepherds” who had earned the “hot anger” of the Lord by leading His beloved “flock of Judah” astray, and establish a “throne of honor to his Father's house.” As the Heir of David, the keys of David’s House were His to entrust to whomever He pleased.
Key of David, son of David
Jesus stood with the Twelve on a small hill near Caesarea Philippi. He had just finished excoriating the Pharisees and Sadducees on the other side of the Sea of Galilee because they could not “interpret the signs of the times.”[15] He had warned the Twelve to “watch and beware” the teachings of these faithless “shepherds,” who were leading His “flock, the house of Judah” astray with their teaching, leaving them to become the “lost sheep of the house of Israel.”[17] Like Shebna, they held the “keys to the House of David” on their shoulders while they “sat on the Seat of Moses.”[18] As the wicked steward had hewn an elaborate tomb for himself in the Olivet slopes, so Israel’s leaders had become “whitewashed tombs” full of death, abusing their authority as stewards of the King’s house to “shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces.” Like the delinquent shepherds of Zechariah, God’s “hot anger” burned against them, and like Shebna, soon He would “hurl [them] away violently” and “throw [them] like a ball into a wide [foreign] land.” Knowing all of these things, the Son of David stood before those whom He had called,
Saint Peter, depicting the apostle holding the Keys of Heaven and a book representing the gospel (Marco Zoppo, c. 1468).
“‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter replied, '‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”[19]
The Kingdom was being taken from the wicked tenants who would soon kill the Master’s Son, and it was being given to those who would produce its fruits, upon their profession of faith in the Son.[20] The keys were “laid on the shoulders” of new servants, and no more would the King’s doors be “shut in people’s faces” by those who refused to enter the Kingdom themselves. Access to the Royal Presence would no longer be denied. Just as the keys of David’s house gave Eliakim the authority to “open and shut” doors, so the keys of the Kingdom gave the Apostolic stewards authority to “bind and loose” on Earth and in heaven. Receiving the Spirit, they received authority to “forgive the sins of any [and] withhold forgiveness.”[21] The ones who possessed the keys held great authority because the Good News of the Kingdom they stewarded has the power to save or to leave in condemnation. By Spirit-filled words and miraculous deeds, the key-holders can open the door to the King’s inner chamber for Israel and the nations to enter.
Many Stewards of the House, One Master
For the next fifty years, the Apostles would faithfully carry the keys of the Kingdom on their shoulders as “good and faithful servants,” until martyrdom or old age freed them to “enter the joy of [their] Master.”[22] The tenure of the stewards of the King’s house is short in this age. Eventually, every “peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken.”[23] The apostolic generation would gradually yield to those whom they had discipled, and so forth, for 100 generations, until the present time. Today, the keys of the Kingdom still rest on the shoulders of those who are called to “build His church” and storm the gates of hell. And although the keys may change hands from one generation of stewards to the next, the Master of the House of David remains “by the power of an indestructible life.”[24]
After the first witnesses had passed away, the last-surviving Beloved Apostle encountered the Risen and Glorified One on the Isle of Patmos. With His face shining like the sun, and a voice like rushing waters, John heard words that must have struck both awe and comfort in his old bones:
The words of the Holy One, the True One, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.[25]
The One who owns the keys of the House of David has left the door open.
And so we sing together with the 8th Century hymnist:
O Clavis David et sceptrum domus Israël, qui aperis, et nemo claudit; claudis, et nemo aperit; veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris, et umbra mortis.
O Key of David, and scepter of the house of Israel! who openest, and no man shutteth: who shuttest, and no man openeth; come, and lead the captive from prison, sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death.
Maranatha.
Gabe Caligiuri is a regular contributor to the FAI Wire publication and podcast, as well as an occasional contributor to other FAI digital content on the subjects of history and geopolitics as they relate to the Great Commission. Gabe and his family live in California.
[1] The Canaanite king of Gezer is mentioned in Joshua 10:33. The city was later granted to the Levites (Joshua 21:21) and its Canaanite inhabitants were eventually eradicated by the Egyptian Pharaoh as a dowry to Solomon for his daughter (1 Kings 9:15).
[2] “Has The Tomb of Shebna Been Discovered?” Bible Reading Archeology, 12 Sept. 2018, biblereadingarcheology.com/2016/12/26/has-the-tomb-of-shebna-been-discovered/.
[3] A theophoric (Greek for “god-fused”) name is the familiar or proper name of a person which is fused together with the name of a deity. It was common in ancient Hebrew culture, especially for dignitaries, to combine “yah” (a portion of the proper Name of God) with one’s name.
[4] “Has The Tomb of Shebna Been Discovered?” Bible Reading Archeology, 12 Sept. 2018, biblereadingarcheology.com/2016/12/26/has-the-tomb-of-shebna-been-discovered/.
[5] Isaiah 22:15-16
[6] Isaiah 22:17-21
[7] 2 Kings 18:21
[8] Isaiah 22:22-23
[9] Isaiah 23:12
[10] Isaiah 22:24
[11] Judges 5:26
[12] Ezra 9:8
[13] Isaiah 33:20, 54:2
[14] Zechariah 10:3-4
[15] Matthew 16:3
[17] Matthew 15:24, 16:11
[18] Matthew 23:2
[19] Matthew 16:15-19
[20] Matthew 21:33-46. It should be emphasized that this parable references the stripping of Kingdom authority from the ruling Jewish council of 70 (the Sanhedrin). The narrative clearly states that the chief priests (who were Sadducees) and the Pharisees understood that they were the wicked tenants, and not the nation as a whole. This parable was fulfilled 40 years later when the Roman legions took Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple, dismantling the locus of wealth and power for the Sanhedrin. However, the men who received the keys from Jesus were themselves Israelites, although “ordinary and unschooled,” in alignment with the Kingdom Beatitudes for the poor and mournful who “thirst for righteousness.” Therefore, the keys of the Kingdom, and the stewardship of the King’s house, passed from 70 Jewish men to 12 Jewish men, but ultimately remains in the House of Israel. Not long after Jesus bequeathed the keys to the Twelve, He would assure them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matthew 19:28).
[21] John 20:23
[22] Matthew 25:23
[23] Isaiah 22:25
[24] Hebrews 7:16
[25] Revelation 3:7-8