Covering removed

Isaiah says that Judah’s “covering” will be removed (22:8). Elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible, the word “covering” is used almost exclusively for the tabernacle coverings (22 of the 25 uses of the word occur in Exodus and Numbers). The covering that will be removed in Isaiah’s time might thus be the “covering” of the sanctuary. The enemy is coming to remove that covering.

In Psalm 105:39, though, the same word refers to the Lord’s glory-cloud covering and protecting Israel, the covering of which the tabernacle curtains were an artistic image. If this is part of what Isaiah refers to, He is not talking about the invading forces removing the covering but of Yahweh Himself removing His covering of protection. Probably both are in view: Yahweh removes His cloud-cover and that leaves the sanctuary vulnerable to spoiling.

Once the Lord’s covering is uncovered, once Judah’s nakedness is exposed, then they look not to Yahweh for covering and protection, but to the shields of the house of the forest. This alludes to the golden shields of the house of the forest of Lebanon, ceremonial shields that replicated the glory cloud around Solomon as he traveled through the city. Those shields will provide no covering; they were turned to bronze already in Rehoboam’s day, and without Yahweh’s covering no number of royal shields is going to protect the city.