Sobna (Shebna) the High Priest – was he Isaiah’s sheared off peg?
by Damien F. Mackey What was Sobna’s former office, to which Eliakim had now succeeded? It is usually given as Major-domo or its equivalent; but the Douay Isaiah 22:15 translates it in terms that could only be referring to the high priesthood. Thus Isaiah is commanded: ‘Go … to him that dwelleth in the tabernacle, to Sobna [Shebna] who is over the Temple ...’. Was Eliakim the High Priest? There may be far more to King Hezekiah of Judah’s chief official, “Eliakim son of Hilkiah” ( cf. 2 Kings 18:18; Isaiah 22:20, 36:3), than at first meets the eye. Isaiah’s Oracle re Eliakim We encounter Eliakim son of Hilkiah in, for example, Isaiah 22, in what is regarded as the prophet’s ‘second oracle’ against the official, Sobna (or Shebna ). Isaiah predicted that Sobna would be replaced by Eliakim. T his must have taken effect at the time of King Sennacherib of Assyria’s Third Campaign invasion of...