Chapter 22

The "valley of vision" is the concrete canyons of Salt Lake City, Utah: the "Arena of Spectacles" (GIL.). Salt Lake City, home of the global spectacle of the 2002 Olympics, is the city of the spectacle, yet there are global spectacles coming which she had never considered.
Arenas of spectacle and the politics of persecution will forever link Hitler's 1936 summer and winter Olympics with the Utah/LDS winter Olympics of 2002.

"11. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days." (Daniel 12:11,12)

From the advent of Christ (the daily sacrifice) to the establishment of a desolating abomination, would be 1,290 days, at a year and a half for a day, or 1935 A.D. Hitler's Nuremberg Laws of 1935 revoked German citizenship and imposed other restrictions and penalties on Jews, culminating in the "holocaust" and the immolation of many European Jews. 1935 also saw H.B. 224 in Utah, making patriarchal marriage a felony. The pre-2002 Olympic prosecutions of Tom Green, Easterday and Bronson for 'polygamy' by Utah were intended to send a message to the world that LDS Utah has bowed to the "golden image," forbidding the religious and human right of living 'polygamy'.. The Olympic world (including Utah) may celebrate or accommodate sodomy and whoredom, there will, however, be no toleration of Abrahamic marriage.
The year commencing 2002.5 (1335 days) culminated around June 30, 2003 and saw the blessing of those few who yet remained faithful (Dan. 11:12). It also saw the U.S. Supreme Court issue Lawrence v. Texas, legalizing homosexual sodomy. This decision has motivated Utah to put a referendum before its citizens to outlaw not only sodomite "marriage", but Abrahamic marriage as well. November 2004 will give Utah 'saints' perhaps their last chance to at least make a statement in favor of religious freedom. They will fail.
Like Hitler, Shebna the treasurer had a world to mesmerize through spectacle and an unpopular religious minority to sweep under the carpet.
Isaiah uses Jerusalem as a type for Salt Lake City. He first shows Salt Lake's destruction and then, coming back in time, rebukes her rulers for failing to watch and warn of these events. Isaiah focuses his rebuke on "Shebna the treasurer" who is a type for the "son of perdition" or "man of sin" who "sitteth in the temple of God" (2 Thes. 2). This "false prophet" or "image" (Rev. 13) is a president of the LDS Church and thus sits in God's temple. Like Cain and Judas, the latter-day "anti-Christ" or false Christ must have priesthood in God's Church. He usurps veneration owed to God by making himself infallible and thus "showing himself, that he is God."
The global spectacle foretold here by Isaiah is the "revealing" of the "man of sin" and also the revealing of "the arm of the Lord", the "one mighty and strong" (the Davidic King), via a satellite "up-link" to the entire world. Talk about "ratings"! The 2002 Winter Olympics will be as nothing in comparison. The Davidic King is called "Eliakim the son of Hilkiah" by Isaiah for reasons which we shall see.

"1. The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?" (Isa. 22:1, KJV)

It was a Near-Eastern practice to go up to the flat-roofed house-tops to mourn. The close proximity of the dwellings also made it a type of second-story gathering place; hence 'shouting from the house tops' was also a kind of mass communication.

"2. Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle." (Isa. 22:2, KJV)

The "dead" in the city did not die in battle, as with the sword, but were "executed" (J.P.S. notes) as captives. The events of Isaiah 22 are portrayed by Ezekiel in his 9th and 21st chapters. The "slayer" or man "clothed with linen" of Ezekiel is the very same "Eliakim" of Isaiah 22, and the day of his arrival commences the "day" of the Lord's vengeance.

"3. All thy rulers are fled together, they are bound by the archers: all that are found in thee are bound together, which have fled from far.
4. Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.
5. For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord God of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains.
6. And Elam bare the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.
7. And it shall come to pass, that thy choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.
8. And he discovered the covering of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest." (Isa. 22:3-8, KJV)

Like Ezekiel, Isaiah ties the advent of the "slayer" (the day of the executions of "the ancient men which were before the house") with the destruction of metaphorical Jerusalem (Salt Lake City) by the Assyrian king (Russia), yet these events are actually separated in time. The advent of the "Mighty and Strong" (Davidic King) is the first sign that the "day of vengeance" has arrived. The 'saints' of "Jerusalem" (SLC and Utah) will not be slaughtered en masse by the "Assyrians" until after the majority of the LDS Church rejects the Davidic King. This rejection culminates in the participation by the LDS Church ("Beast") in the beheading of the Davidic King in Old World Jerusalem "where also our Lord was crucified."
The Lord's "vengeance" upon the LDS capitol is the subject of Isaiah 22. This vengeance is meted out first by the Davidic King and then by the Assyrian king, first upon the Lord's house, and then upon the city, and, although it takes 3½ years, yet it is within "the day" of the Lord's "vengeance".
The "armour of the house of the forest" (v.8) is, perhaps, the remote desert refuge where those in the kingdom of God will establish Zion. These "holy places" are where true believers will "stand" when they see the "desolation of abomination", the desolation which God brings upon the abomination, which the LDS Church has become, the abomination prophesied by Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and others.

"1 Then He called loudly in my hearing, saying, 'Approach, you men in charge of the city, each bearing his weapons of destruction!' 2 And six men entered by way of the upper gate that faces north, each with his club in his hand; and among them was another, clothed in linen, with a writing case at his waist. They came forward and stopped at the bronze altar. 3 Now the Presence of the God of Israel had moved from the cherub on which it had rested to the platform of the House. He called to the man clothed in linen with the writing case at his waist; 4 and the Lord said to him, 'Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who moan and groan because of all the abominations that are committed in it.' 5 To the others He said in my hearing, 'follow him through the city and strike; show no pity or compassion. 6 Kill off graybeard, youth and maiden, women and children; but do not touch any person who bears the mark. Begin here at My Sanctuary.' So they began with the elders who were in front of the House. 7 And He said to them, 'Defile the House and fill the courts with the slain. Then go forth.' So they went forth and began to kill in the city. 8 When they were out killing, and I remained alone, I flung myself on my face and cried out, 'Ah, Lord GOD! Are you going to annihilate all that is left of Israel, pouring out Your fury upon Jerusalem?' 9 He answered me, 'The iniquity of the Houses of Judah and Israel is very very great, the land is full of crime and the city is full of corruption. For they say, 'The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see.' 10 I, in turn, will show no pity or compassion; I will give them their deserts.' 11 And then the man clothed in linen with the writing case at his waist brought back word, saying, 'I have done as You commanded me.' (Ezek. 9:1-11, J.P.S.)

"Slaughter weapon" in the KJV reading is "club" in the J.P.S. and what is a "club" in the hand of a king if not a scepter?

"9. Ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool.
10. And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall.
11. Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago.
12. And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth." (Isa. 22:9-12, KJV)

In times past Jerusalem prepared itself against a siege by tearing down houses to fortify the walls of the city and by diverting springs and constructing cisterns to provide water while surrounded. Conversely, the LDS have torn down their walls to build houses and monuments to themselves to make for themselves a name in the world. They have surrendered to the world and look to the world for protection against the God of their fathers.
The Lord called the 'Saints' to repent, to return to Him and to prepare, instead they have besodden themselves with the wine of pride. The word "behold" in verse 13 confuses the segue in the KJV and reads "instead" in both the J.P.S. and Gileadi translations. "Instead" of preparing for destruction, the 'Saints' are reveling in the acceptance and adulation of the world by discarding everything which made them "peculiar", by tearing down their walls to build monuments and houses.

"13. And behold ["instead" - J.P.S.] joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.
14. And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord God of hosts." (Isa. 22:13, 14, KJV)

And die they will; the days of being taken captive are over. Isaiah has crammed chapter 22 so full of types, shadows and implied themes, that a book could be written and not exhaust all the information. As usual, Isaiah uses the past, current events in his lifetime and future events to prophesy a more distant future, at the end of the world.
Under the Mosaic law, if a man took another's life by accident, he could flee to a designated refuge city and the law would allow him to be spared from capital punishment. The offender could also go to the tabernacle or temple, as the case may be, and grab hold of the horns of the Altar and receive a pardon, unless he had murdered deliberately, in which case he was "cut off from mine altar" or killed on the spot, at the altar (1 Samuel 2:33, also Exodus 21:14).
Two conspirators against king David and his son Solomon sought sanctuary at the horns of the altar at the beginning of Solomon's reign: David's general, Joab, and David's son Adonijah. Abiathar, David's priest,was a descendent of Eli, and had survived the slaughter of the priest ordered by King Saul (priests who had helped David escape). Abiathar conspired with King David's son, Adonijah, to anoint Adonijah king, before David died and against David's wishes. The unauthorized anointing of Adonijah was accompanied by guests and a celebration.

"24. And Nathan said, My lord, O king, hast thou said, Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne?
25. For he is gone down this day, and hath slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the king's sons, and the captains of the host, and Abiathar the priest; and, behold, they eat and drink before him, and say, God save king Adonijah." (1 Kings 1:24, 25, KJV)

The conspirators were eating and drinking, "slaying oxen, and killing sheep," like Shebna the treasurer, yet their celebration was short-lived, as David authorized Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet to anoint Solomon, of Bathsheba, king of Israel. Though Solomon was eventually to fall, he was a wise and righteous man who was to behold God and who was the rightful heir to the throne. When Solomon became king, old scores were to be settled and wrongs made right.

"49. And all the guests that were with Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and went every man his way.
51. And it was told Solomon, saying, Behold, Adonijah feareth king Solomon: for, lo, he hath caught hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let king Solomon swear unto me to day that he will not slay his servant with the sword.
52. And Solomon said, If he will shew himself a worthy man, there shall not an hair of him fall to the earth: but if wickedness shall be found in him, he shall die.
53. So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and bowed himself to king Solomon: and Solomon said unto him, Go to thine house." (1 Kings 1:49, 51-53, KJV)

Not content to merely survive, the usurper Adonijah wanted Solomon to give the young, widowed and still virgin former wife of David, Abishag, to him for a wife. More than just a marriage, this would have suggested that Adonijah was an heir to David's house or even to kingship.

"22. And king Solomon answered and said unto his mother, And why dost thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? ask for him the kingdom also; for he is mine elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Seruiah.
23. Then king Solomon sware by the Lord, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah have not spoken this word against his own life.
24. Now therefore, as the Lord liveth, which hath established me, and set me on the throne of David my father, and who hath made me an house, as he promised, Adonijah shall be put to death this day.
25. And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell upon him that he died." (1 Kings 2:22-25, KJV)

The High Priest, Abiathar, the survivor of Eli's line, next came into Solomon's sights in fulfillment of earlier prophecy. Eli, the High Priest before the reign of Saul, was a descendant of Ithamar, Aaron's youngest son. The line of High Priests "rightly belong[ed]" (D&C 113:6) with Aaron's son Eleazar through Eleazar's son Phinehas (not to be confused with Eli's son, also named Phinehas) contingent upon worthiness. This situation was corrected when Solomon threw the conspirator Abiathar out of his office and appointed Zadok (of the true line of priests from Eleazar and his son Phinehas) to the office of High Priest.

"26. And unto Abiathar the priest said the king, Get thee to Anathoth, unto thine own fields; for thou art worthy of death: but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou barest the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted.
27. So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the Lord; that he might fulfil the word of the Lord, which he spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh." (1 Kings 2:26-27, KJV)

Isaiah is going to tell us the hard way (without really telling us) that, although the prophecy against Eli's house was fulfilled by Solomon's actions against Abiathar, it would not really be fulfilled until the end of the world. Eli, tutor of Samuel, try as he will, was not a righteous man because he did not restrain his sons from their whoredoms nor their thefts of the Lord's portion of sacrificial animal flesh. Hophni and Phinehas (having the same name as the son of Eleazar) and their father Eli and his house were all to suffer a just punishment.

"27. And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in Pharoah's house?
28. And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? And did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel?
29. Wherefore kick yet at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?
30. Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
31. Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house.
32. And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever.
33. And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart: and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age.
34. And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them.
35. And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.
36. And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat a piece of bread." (1 Samuel 2:27-36, KJV)

The answer to the question: 'who is the "man of thine", is he Abiathar or the anti-Christ?' is 'yes'. The answer to the question: 'who, then, is the "faithful priest," is he Samuel or the Davidic King?' is 'yes'.

"11. And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.
12. In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end.
13. For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.
14. And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever." (1 Samuel 3:11-14, KJV)

The English word "tingle" appears only three times in the King James Bible. In all three cases it is what happens to the ears of those who hear a pronouncement of destruction upon God's people, by God Himself, through his prophets.

"12. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle.
13. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down.
14. And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies;
15. Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day.
16. Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord." (2 Kings 21:12-16, KJV)

"1. Thus saith the Lord, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests;
2. And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee.
3. And say, Hear ye the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the god of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.
4. Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents.
5. They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:
6. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.
7. And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
8. And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.
9. And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.
10. Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee.
11. And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury." (Jeremiah 19:1-11, KJV)

Let it ring in your ears, the Lord will wipe the land clean of his people because they filled the land with innocent blood. He will turn them upside-down and shatter them until there is not time enough to bury the carcasses. Isaiah wants us to understand that the slaughter of the priests and the pulling down of the High Priest from his station and the revolution in the priesthood and the restoration of the kingdom to the rightful heir has, all of it (and yet none of it) transpired.
"Tingle"; word #6750 in the Gesenius Hebrew Lexicon, is the sum of its parts, and more. This three letter word spelled with a Tzadhe (90), Lamed (30) and Lamed (30) adds up to 150. Eliminating the zero (which has no Hebrew alphabetical equivalent) from 150, we have 15 (which is also arrived at by adding Yod (10) and Hei (5), a man and his wife, God and His bride, His people. God has often lost His whorish wife, as a man whose wife forsakes him because of his faith in the covenant, and who shall receive an "hundred-fold of wives" (numerically 1500).
Joe Sampson sees the Tzadhe as, not only a righteous person (the ideogram representing a kneeling priest with arms upraised), but as Zion, the church, the bride. The Lamed is the whip of justice; hence "Tingle" is double punishment upon Zion with both gematria and notaricon in agreement.
What evidence is there that the Lord is whispering all of this in our ears by what Isaiah says and doesn't say? Before we summarize or proceed, let us finish with the fate of the last conspirator who attempted to steal the kingdom from Solomon (the rightful heir).

"28. Then tidings came to Joab: for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom. And Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.
31. And the king said unto him, Do as he hath said, and fall upon him, and bury him; that thou mayest take away the innocent blood, which Joab shed, from me, and from the house of my father.
34. So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell upon him, and slew him: and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.
35. And the king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his room over the host: and Zadok the priest did the king put in the room of Abiathar." (1 Kings 2:28, 31, 34, 35, KJV)

Joab, the supreme general, was literally "cut off from mine altar" (killed at the altar) unlike Abiathar, the high priest, who was allowed to live. Though not executed, Abiathar, like Shebna (Isa. 22:15, 19), was driven "from thy station." There is no evidence that Abiathar literally took hold of the Horns of the Altar as specified in 1 Samuel 2:33, yet he was allowed to survive (unlike Joab and Adonijah the would-be king who initially was not "cut off" at the altar, yet was later executed for his audacity). Ironically, the two conspirators who sought sanctuary at the altar were killed, and the one who apparently did not, was allowed to live.
Consider the following evidence, then, that Isaiah is calling upon the prophecy against Eli's house and the events surrounding Solomon's ascension to the throne of David, to show the dramatic events at "the end of the world" which will result in a sudden restoration of priesthood presidency to its rightful lineage and rightful priest; a restoration of the throne of the house of David to its rightful heir; the execution or eviction of all in God's kingdom who have perpetrated evil and usurped even God's place; and finally, by implication, the slaughter of the priests who usurped the priesthood from the rightful lineage.
1. Isaiah borrowed his phraseology in verse 13 from 1 Kings 1:24-25, thereby directing our attention to the usurpation of the Davidic throne from both David and Solomon by a pretender. Shebna the treasurer, as anti-Christ, will usurp the throne from both Christ and the Davidic King and celebrate his audacity by metaphorically slaying oxen, killing sheep and drinking wine. Proud of his whoredoms, thefts and insults to God (like Eli's sons who put themselves before God and ran amok, unchecked), Shebna makes himself infallible, making himself God. Like Hophni and Phinehas, the anti-Christ marches out into the world with the Ark of the Covenant to impress the hosts of Israel, oblivious to what a miserable wretch he actually is and the fate which awaits him.
2. The phrase "tomorrow we shall die" shows the recklessness of Shebna and his conspirators. While Adonijah and Joab may not have literally died the day after their celebration and pretension to the throne ("tomorrow we shall die"), they died very soon thereafter. Only Shebna, like Abiathar, survived the slaughter of the priests.
3. Isaiah uses the phrase "revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts." God is the Lord of hosts, not Hophni, Phinehas, Joab or Shebna. Isaiah uses God's title as commander of armies (hosts), heavenly and earthly, and his use here is not accidental. When Eli's sons marched out with Israel's hosts against the Philistines with the Ark of the Covenant, Israel was defeated, Eli's sons both died on the same day, and the Philistines seized the Ark (much to their later regret). The report of the death of his sons and the loss of the Ark caused Eli to fall backward, break his neck and die - best to let the Lord command His own hosts.
4. Continuing with verse 14: the phrase "revealed in mine ears" could have been rendered "in mine hearing", or "in mine ear", or "to my understanding" or in any number of ways, yet Isaiah recorded that the word of the Lord was "revealed in mine ears," using the word ears in the plural. Isaiah did not specifically use the word "tingle," yet when one "heareth" the word of the Lord in "both" "ears" that destruction is coming in consequence of the shedding of "innocent blood," it causes one's ears to "tingle." Isaiah, without specific reference, has taken us back to Samuel's revelation concerning Eli's house (1 Samuel 3:11) and the thing the Lord will do in Israel which will make their "ears" "tingle".
If we take the pronouncement against Eli's house by Samuel merely on its surface, and compare it to the other two instances where the Lord's warning of desolation causes both of the hearers' ears to "tingle," we are left to wonder what was the beginning and ending of this prophecy in the days of Abiathar of Eli's house? Where was the universal destruction upon Jerusalem? The answer is the same answer which Isaiah gives, the prophecy against Eli has a dual meaning and is not completely fulfilled until the desolation of the abomination at the end of days, when the Lord makes short work of the wicked, beginning and ending.

5. "…Surely the iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die…" (Isaiah 22:14)

"…the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever." (1 Samuel 3:14)

It is only a matter of irony or consternation that Eli's descendants continued in the office of high priest for three more generations after this prophecy against his house, if one does not understand the deeper level of meaning. The prophecy against Eli's house would not be fulfilled until the death of the false prophet or anti-Christ, Shebna the treasurer, at the end of days when this "iniquity" is "purged". This is why Isaiah appears to have borrowed the pronouncement against Eli and applied it to Shebna. The deepest and truest understanding of this pronouncement by Samuel was actually against the "son of perdition" who "sitteth in the temple of God" who is "Shebna the treasurer."
6. Concerning the revelation against Eli's house from the unnamed "man of God" in chapter 2 of 1 Samuel we could ask: Was every male descendant of Eli killed, to a man? Was Abiathar the only man of Eli's house to survive? Did Abiathar have no male issue?

"32. And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever.
33. And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart: and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age." (1 Samuel 2:32-33, KJV)

Who was the enemy in God's house ( "habitation" ) pertaining to all of Israel's wealth? Did David allow Abiathar to own every possession of God's kingdom as sole "trustee in trust"? Would David allow Abiathar to steal all of God's property and wealth? This "enemy" of God seems far more consequential than Abiathar. There is no indication that Abiathar actually took hold of the horns of the altar; how can it then be said that he "shall not be cut off from mine altar"? Figuratively, Abiathar fulfills this prophecy and was allowed to live and was expelled from his office at Jerusalem. How could Abiathar "consume" the eyes and "grieve" the heart of Eli when he was years or decades from even being born and Eli was soon to die. Which would be a greater grief to Eli in hell, to be forever associated with Abiathar or to be prophetically linked (if not through actual lineage) with the son of perdition, the son of Lucifer. Abiathar apparently had been faithful to God and David his whole life, being "afflicted" with David's afflictions (1 Kings 2:26). Abiathar's only apparent crime was that he was involved in a dynastic plot against the Lord's anointed king, making decisions for a feeble king, an office which the Lord had counseled Israel not to create. God should have been King enough for Israel. As for Lucifer's son, Shebna, all his "house" (convened quorums) will die, and there will not be an old man in his house (church) forever. Not only will Shebna "not [be] cut off from mine altar" (he will not be executed in the house of God), but he will not even be taken from his own altar; meaning that he will retain his office in his church until he and his church (which was once the Lord's church) is destroyed, as explained later by Isaiah.
Abiathar's sins seem to have been far less egregious than either David's or Solomon's sins, yet Eli's "man of thine" would be a grief to him in no place except hell, because neither Abiathar nor latter-day Shebna lived in Eli's day. Eli's own sins and those of his sons should have given him sufficient grief so that Abiathar's sins pale in comparison. Shebna the treasurer is the "enemy in the habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel."
7. Shebna's archetype Abiathar of Eli alone survived the conspiracy to commandeer the kingdom, and so it is with Shebna. As already explained by Isaiah and confirmed by Ezekiel, Shebna's priests and false prophets are "cut off" in God's house "head and tail, branch and rush, in one day" (Isa. 9:14-16).
These pages which you have read since Isaiah 22:13 and 14 were last quoted, have been dedicated to touching upon the implied themes of just these two verses. Perhaps we can now see how truly "great" Isaiah's writings are (even expansive) and how truly difficult it is to plumb all their depths and unfold all their mysteries. Those of us who must rely upon others to translate Hebrew, can only muse at all that is being missed. Press on we must, because there is a great amount to be plucked which is merely within arm's reach.

"15. Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say,
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 a rock? (Isa. 22:15-16, KJV)

There are two sets of Shebnas and two sets of Eliakims in Isaiah. One set were actually historic figures mentioned in 2 Kings, chapters 18 and 19 as well as Isaiah chapters 36 and 37. The historic Shebna and Eliakim were always mentioned in connection with each other, and with Joah; where one was, there were the others. The historical set were diplomatic envoys of King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah to the Assyrian generals who came to destroy Jerusalem and whom God destroyed. The historical Shebna was the royal secretary to Hezekiah, more than a scribe or recorder. Eliakim the son of Hilkiah was prefect of King Hezekiah's palace, a steward or overseer in charge of the King's palace and affairs of state. Eliakim, Shebna and Joah, the son of Asaph, are always mentioned in the same order, which is no doubt the order of their authority, with Joah being least as recorder or scribe.
The Eliakim and Shebna of Isaiah chapter 22 are employed by him as types for two latter-day figures. These are not merely allegorical, story-book inventions, these are two very real people and they are both envoys to the nations, one for ill and one for good. Shebna, as noted, is the son of perdition and Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, is the Davidic King. Isaiah has reversed the roles of the former and latter-day Shebna and Eliakim, making Shebna prefect of the king's palace while not specifying the role of Eliakim. Isaiah has put latter-day Shebna in ancient Eliakim's place, reversing their roles, so that the Lord can set things right by elevating Eliakin to his rightful place. While the KJV calls Shebna a "treasurer", the terms "overseer" and "steward" are used by Gileadi and the J.P.S., and "prefect of the palace" by the Hebrew lexicon. The term "house" in the KJV could confuse the temple with the king's palace, implying that the treasurer is a priest. A "prefect of the palace" would certainly deal with servants, material goods and treasure, therefore, calling him a "treasurer" is really not far off the mark. If we examine the symbolism of Shebna as "prefect of the king's palace" we realize that he is treasurer, judge, prophet and priest all in one man. The king in this 'type' is God, and his "prefect" or "steward" in the last days is president of the priesthood and president of the LDS Church. Isaiah has explained, through his employment of 'types', that Shebna is keeper of God's kingdom, including its priesthood and all of its wealth.
The problem with our prefect, Shebna, is that the King (the Lord) has been gone a great while, and Shebna believes that the Lord has "forsaken the earth" and Shebna believes himself to be king. This usurper of the priesthood and the kingdom and its wealth is so giddy and drunk on pride that he does not comprehend that, like Abiathar, he does not reign by right of lineage; nor, like Hophni, Phinehas or Eli, does he rule by merit.
The King sent Isaiah to Shebna across these many years and lands and seas, from hand to quill to parchment, from ink to eye and mouth to ear, yet Shebna is so blind and deaf in his besotted drunken stupor, that he neither sees nor hears, nor is he fit to receive this envoy: Isaiah.

"5 And he said to me, 'O mortal, turn your eyes northward.' I turned my eyes northward, and there, north of the gate of the altar, was that infuriating image on the approach. 6 And He said to me, 'Mortal, do you see what they are doing, the terrible abominations that the House of Israel is practicing here, to drive Me far [at a distance - J.P.S. notes] from My Sanctuary? You shall yet see even greater abominations!'" (Ezekiel 8:5-6, J.P.S.)

What is the abominable image or object of worship set up north of the north gate of the temple court? It is Shebna's monument to himself which he has hewn in temple stone as though he were the king, forgetting that he is merely prefect of the palace. This allusion to the Conference Center as a "sepulchre" (Isa. 22:16) is metaphorical. Anciently, a person of renown or wealth would be entombed in a sepulchre that also served as a monument, hence Shebna's monument to himself is called his "sepulchre". This "habitation" for Shebna is said to be hewn in a "cliff" in the J.P.S. reading, and that is precisely the image which the architecture of the Conference Center invokes, dug deep into the earth it does not rise terribly high and has a flat roof with gardens and fountains. The Conference Center (the abomination to the north of the north gate) is very much a man-made hill or stone escarpment with a stone "cliff" face and waterfall, and is crowned with vegetation and pools of water. The huge internal expanse of this cavernous "great and spacious building" leaves not one stalactite column to obstruct the view of the human idol, Shebna, for his devoted worshippers, as he stands at a walnut pulpit (altar) constructed from a tree of his own planting. On Shebna's 90th birthday, 2000 AD, he threw a global celebration, broadcast from his new temple (the Conference Center) via satellite to the world, as though it were Christmas and he were Christ. While Christ may not have yet come to the new "Millennium," the 'saints' at least have their beloved Shebna to worship; he has washed away the shame of their past obedience to the God of Abraham, washed away the shame of their past peculiarity.

"17. Behold, the Lord will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee.
18. He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord's house.
19. And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down." (Isa. 22:17-19, KJV)

"17. The Lord will hurl you away
as an athlete hurls a missile;
he will make you soar like a dart.
18. He will bind you tightly about
and send you spinning like a top
into an open country,
There shall you die,
and your inglorious conveyance there
Shall be a disgrace to your master's house.
19. I will thrust you out of office;
you will be expelled from your post." (Isa. 22:17-19, GIL.)

The "slayer" of Ezekiel, Eliakim, presides over the global spectacle of the slaughter of the priests ("defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain", "begin at my sanctuary", Ezek. 9:6-7, KJV). Like Abiathar, Shebna is not "cut off from mine altar" and, like Abiathar, Shebna is the only priest to survive the slaughter. He suffers the shame of having his sins "shouted upon the housetops" and the shame of banishment to a distant land. Shebna is, himself, a kind of "flying creature"; he is a flying monkey.

"20. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:
21. And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah." (Isa. 22:20,21, KJV)

While we should not draw too close a comparison, this divestment ceremony is reminiscent, in its dramatic effect, of the divestment of Aaron of his priestly habiliments when Moses, Aaron and Eleazar went up the mountainside in Israel's sight, and Aaron delivered the priestly attire over to Eleazar to put on, and then Aaron keeled over dead on cue. Even the most intellectually-challenged Israelite could now comprehend that Eleazar was their new high priest. Although not a pretty picture, the 'saints' will have such a picture painted for them by the Lord of Hosts, and yet the majority will not understand. The majority of the Latter-day Saints will, no doubt, believe that God intervened to spare the life of their beloved flying monkey, which is true, yet Shebna is not spared, to the glory of the 'saints', but to their condemnation, even their damnation.

"22. And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open." (Isa. 22:22, KJV)

Eliakim is now not only prefect of David's palace, he is keeper of the earthly kingdom of God and the kingdom of His Son as well. The keys of the kingdom and the keys of the priesthood are laid upon Eliakim's shoulder, where they belong by right, by lineage and by merit. The King returns; there will be no more monuments or global birthday celebrations for a mere prefect of the palace. The King has now appointed a steward whom he can entrust with his keys.

"23. And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.
24. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons." (Isa. 22:23-24, KJV)

The phrase "nail in the sure place" familiar to devout Mormons and Masons reads "peg in a firm place" in the J.P.S. reading. The Davidic King is a peg upon which priestly implements and vessels can be securely hung. The priesthood will be securely supported by Eliakim, and will not fail.

"25. 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." (Isa. 22:25, KJV)

"25. In that day-declares the Lord of Hosts-the peg fixed in a firm place shall give way: it shall be cut down and shall fall, and the weight it supports shall be destroyed. For it is the Lord who has spoken." (Isa. 22:25, J.P.S.)

"25. In that day, says the Lord of Hosts, the nail that was fastened in a sure place shall be removed. It shall be dislodged and fall, and the burden hanging on it cut off. The Lord has spoken it." (Isa. 22:25, GIL.)

It has been concluded by some that this verse contrasts Shebna, whose priesthood fails, with Eliakim, the firmly placed peg. This "burden" "held by a nail in a sure place" which is "cut off" (executed) has been understood by some to be Jesus Christ. Although His church was persecuted and driven into the wilderness and His priesthood driven and executed, yet He saves, gathers and secures a heavenly church and priesthood and fastens all that He saves, like a nail in a sure place. He suffered shame, banishment and death for us. Christ is the peg in the sure place which supports the Millennial peace, the peg which secures salvation and eternal life.
Those who believe that the Davidic King is an angel, like John the Beloved, ignore all of Isaiah's laboriously constructed types and shadows, the rejected scribe of low station called from obscurity like David the shepherd, the son of Jesse. These theorists ask the Lord to give them new things "under the sun", signs from heaven. Send us an angel and we shall believe.
Ofttimes the Lord has changed a person's name or called him by another name as the person's status changes, as when blessed by God, or occasionally an evil person's name could be changed to an epithet. Certainly Hezekiah's prefect, secretary and recorder were employed as envoys to the Assyrian general, as recorded later in Isaiah, as well as in 2 Kings. Whether Isaiah called these three envoys by names other than their actual given names to create a parallel or implied theme, we cannot say, yet we can look at their names to see if something can be gleaned.
The historic Shebna was actually Hezekiah's secretary, and his father's name is never mentioned. Was the pedigree of end-time Shebna not important, or worse, not honorable? Shebna means "tender youth" or "youth". Our latter-day Shebna is certainly 'no spring chicken', being one of the "ancient men", yet maybe this name portrays the reckless folly of youth. Shebna's name is used in no other places in scripture.
The historic recorder, Joah, whose name means "whose brother (helper) is Jehovah?", was the son of Asath. The name Joah was also the name of the recorder Joah in the days of King Josiah who was involved in the discovery of the book of the law of God.
Eliakim (who is always named by Isaiah in connection with his father Hilkiah) means "whom God has set". The Oxford King James defines Eliakim as "God raiseth up". Eliakim was also the given name of the Hebrew King whom Pharaoh Necho appointed and renamed Jehoiakim ("whom Jehovah has set"). Jehoiakim, however, became an evil king.
Hilkiah means "The portion [peculiarly appointed to God] of Jehovah." Hilkiah also appears in scripture as the name of the high priest in the days of King Josiah who discovered the book of the laws of God (Deuteronomy?) in the house of God.
Isaiah has named the Davidic King with the name of a king, and has named his father with the name of a high priest. Eliakim, in this sense, is a Melchizedek or King-Priest. Isaiah's latter-day Eliakim has a pedigree and a name and yet no office in God's "kingdom", while Shebna has no pedigree or meritorious name yet has the highest office in the king's (God's) court. This "turning of things upside down" was made right in Isaiah chapter 22 as we have seen. The King, in His absence, has allowed the wheat and the tares to grow together as they will.
Chapter 22 is a good example as to why Christ commanded the Nephites and the gentiles to study Isaiah. The gentile church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) was named the way it was for good reason, it is Christ's Church, yet it is also "The Church of the Latter-day Saints" which, for a time, was actually the official name of the church. If the church uses its 'free agency' and "common consent" to disobey Christ, then, it truly is the LDS Church and not Christ's Church. One might wish to blame Christ the King for appointing this prefect of the palace, Shebna, yet it was none of His doing, He merely allowed it. Christ warned, even commanded the church to be on-guard against Shebna the treasurer, lest he take control of the kingdom and implicate the saints in the shedding of innocent blood. The 'Saints', however, have all gone astray and asleep and have not watched for Shebna's advent so that they might "drive" him from their church. Even after the 'Saints' witness Shebna being driven from his station and flying to a far country, they are free to retain him in his church office. They will lose the kingdom in so doing, and their lives and souls as well.