What Does Isaiah 22:21 Mean?
I will clothe him with your tunic, and strengthen him with your girdle, and I will place your rule in his hand, and he will be a father to those who settle in Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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.THE KEY
The robe, girdle, and hand reveal authority as something embodied, strengthened, and entrusted.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you with authority as something worn, strengthened, and placed in a hand. It takes shape as fatherhood toward the inhabitants and the house entrusted to its care.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that authority exists for the one who holds it; here its purpose is bound to the people for whom he becomes a father.
THE ROOT
מֶמְשָׁלְתְּךָ
memshalt’kha
GROWS FROM
משׁל
To rule or exercise dominion.
The word for government belongs to the same root family as words for a ruler and dominion. The authority placed in his hand is not an abstraction: it is a charge to exercise rule among the people named in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
moshel: ruler
מֹשֵׁל
The ruler is the person in whom the government is exercised.
mimshal: dominion, rule
מִמְשָׁל
This branch names the reach or exercise of the authority entrusted to him.
אֲחַזְּקֶנּוּ
achazqennu
GROWS FROM
חזק
To be strong, strengthen, or hold fast.
“strengthen” in this verse is achazqennu. The root carries both strength and holding fast. With a girdle in the same phrase, the verse pictures him being strengthened for a role that must be held firmly.
ALSO GROWS
chazaq: be strong, prevail
חָזַק
This form shows strength as something a person comes to possess or exercise.
hechezik: take hold, hold fast
הֶחֱזִיק
This branch brings the root’s strength close to the girdle’s fastening and the charge he is given to carry.
וְהִלְבַּשְׁתִּיו
vehilbashtiv
GROWS FROM
לבשׁ
To put on, wear, or clothe.
“clothe” in this verse is vehilbashtiv. The root names both the act of putting on clothing and the clothing itself. Here the robe is put on him as a visible sign of the responsibility that the rest of the verse places in his hand.
ALSO GROWS
levush: garment, clothing
לְבוּשׁ
This noun names what is placed upon him in the verse.
malbush: clothing, garment
מַלְבּוּשׁ
This related form keeps the verse’s focus on a role made visible through what a person wears.
THE PATTERN
Authority becomes concrete when it is entrusted to a person for the people and work under their care.
And the Great House took the ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph's hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen, and put a chain of gold about his neck.Now, brothers, look out among you seven men of good witness, full of the Set-Apart Breath and wisdom, whom we may set over this need.THE THREAD
I will set the key of the house of David upon his shoulder, and he will open, and none will shut. He will shut, and none will open.The next verse makes the entrusted government tangible as a key laid on the shoulder, with power to open and shut. What is placed on him becomes authority exercised on behalf of the house.
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