ELIACIM. — Son of Helcia, chosen by God in place of the wicked and proud Sohna, according to Is. 22:20-25. A faithful servant of Jahweh, he is worthy to serve as steward or prime minister in the house of David under King Hezekiah. Whereas Sohna had been harsh, E. was kind in exercising his lofty dignity over the royal household and the nation. With an image consonant with Oriental customs, God says of him: “I will fasten him like a peg in a sure place, and he shall be a throne of glory to his father’s house” (Is. 22:23).
2 Kings 18:18 presents him as prime minister to King Hezekiah.
These were most sorrowful days (ca. 700 B.C.) when the territory of Judah was largely conquered by Sennacherib and Jerusalem, besieged and reduced to desperate straits. E. appears when the demand for surrender is made (2 Kings 18:17-37): with Sohna the scribe and the Lion son of Asaph, the archivist, he was sent under the city walls to hear Sennacherib’s proposals. Despite the threats of the rabshakeh (the high-ranking officer seated), the people were unmoved, and E. returned to report the blasphemous demand to the king. Isaiah (22:25) concludes: “In that day… the peg that was fastened in a sure place shall be removed.” Perhaps E. lost his position through weakness toward his own. But it is better to refer these words to Sohna, mentioned in V. 19 (with J. Knabenbauer), or rather to Jerusalem, against which Isaiah prophesies in chapter 22. A. Condamin and S. Minocchi believe this to be a later addition.