ELIACIM. - Son of Helcia, chosen by God in place of the wicked and proud Sobna, according to Is. 22:20-25. A faithful servant of Jahweh, he was worthy to serve as steward or prime minister in the house of David, under King Ezechia. As harsh as Sobna had been, so kind was E. in the exercise of his most exalted office over the royal house and the nation. With an image corresponding to Eastern customs, God says of him: “I will fasten him like a peg in a firm place, that he may be a throne of glory to his father’s house” (Is. 22:23). II Kings 18:18 presents him as prime minister to King Ezechia.
These were the most sorrowful days (c. 700 B.C.), when the territory of Judah was for the most part conquered by Sennacherib and Jerusalem, tightly encircled by siege, was reduced to desperate conditions. E. appears when surrender is demanded (II Kings 18:17-37): together with Sobna the scribe, “Ioshe son of Asaph, the recorder, was sent beneath the walls of the city to hear Sennacherib’s proposals. Despite the threats of the rabshakeh (Assyrian high official), the people were not moved, and E. returned to the king with his garments torn as a sign of horror at the blasphemous language he had heard. Isaiah (22:25) concludes: “On that day . . . the peg fixed in a firm place shall be removed.” Perhaps E., through weakness toward his own people, lost his office. But it is better to refer these words to Sobna mentioned in V. 10 (with J. Knabenbauer), or rather to Jerusalem, against which Isaiah prophesies in chapter 22. A. Condemin and S. Minocchi believe that this is a later addition.
Vincenzo M. Iacono