Isaiah 22:16

Isaiah’s question is almost identical to the one in Isaiah 22:1, tying Shebna’s error to that of the people of Jerusalem. He had no personal right, or a right by reason of his position, to prepare a permanent and prominent tomb for himself. A person’s tomb made a statement about his importance, and Shebna wanted to guarantee his future recognition by building himself a respectable monument in Jerusalem (cf. Haman; Esther 3:1-2). Archaeologists have found the remains of a grave hewn by one Shebna on the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem. [Note: Dyer, in The Old . . ., p. 544.]

"In this episode (a scene which deserves to be remembered beside ’Nero fiddled while Rome burned’) the prime minister chooses the moment when Jerusalem’s citizens are frantically arming for a last-ditch stand against the invaders to visit the elaborate mausoleum he was preparing for himself in the royal cemetery. . . .

"Why should he be preoccupied with dignity in death, while most people in Jerusalem were still hoping to live?" [Note: Watts, p. 291.]