Key

The key in the biblical world was both a practical instrument for opening doors and locks and a powerful symbol of authority, access, and delegated power. Ancient keys in Palestine were typically made of wood, with pegs corresponding to bolt holes, and could be quite large—so large that they were carried on the shoulder, which gives force to Isaiah 22:22's promise to Eliakim: I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. This passage became paradigmatic for the biblical theology of the key as symbol of royal stewardship.

Jesus's promise to Peter in Matthew 16:19—I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven—draws on this Isaianic background, granting Peter representative authority in the church's governance. Revelation 1:18 presents the risen Christ holding the keys of death and of Hades, symbolizing his resurrection power over the ultimate boundaries. In Revelation 3:7 Christ is described as the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens—a direct echo of Isaiah 22:22, completing the typological arc from Eliakim as royal steward to Christ as the ultimate key-holder of God's household.