7 And thou, son of man, A watchman I gave thee to the house of Israel, And thou hast heard from My mouth a word, And thou hast warned them from Me.
`Thus said Jehovah, Stand thou in the court of the house of Jehovah, and thou hast spoken unto all `those of' the cities of Judah who are coming in to bow themselves in the house of Jehovah, all the words that I have commanded thee to speak unto them, thou dost not diminish a word.
`Go on, and standing, speak in the temple to the people all the sayings of this life;'
that there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, `Son of man, a watchman I have given thee to the house of Israel, and thou hast heard from My mouth a word, and hast warned them from Me. In My saying to the wicked: Thou dost surely die; and thou hast not warned him, nor hast spoken to warn the wicked from his wicked way, so that he doth live; he -- the wicked -- in his iniquity dieth, and his blood from thy hand I require. And thou, because thou hast warned the wicked, and he hath not turned back from his wickedness, and from his wicked way, he in his iniquity dieth, and thou thy soul hast delivered. `And in the turning back of the righteous from his righteousness, and he hath done perversity, and I have put a stumbling-block before him, he dieth; because thou hast not warned him, in his sin he dieth, and not remembered is his righteousness that he hath done, and his blood from thy hand I require. And thou, because thou hast warned him -- the righteous -- that the righteous sin not, and he hath not sinned, he surely liveth, because he hath been warned; and thou thy soul hast delivered.'
And thou hast spoken My words unto them, whether they hear or whether they forbear, for they `are' rebellious. `And thou, son of man, hear that which I am speaking unto thee: Thou art not rebellious like the rebellious house, open thy mouth, and eat that which I am giving unto thee.'
`And thou, thou dost gird up thy loins, and hast arisen, and spoken unto them all that I command thee: be not affrighted because of them, lest I affright thee before them.
For I -- I received from the Lord that which also I did deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was delivered up, took bread,
Be obedient to those leading you, and be subject, for these do watch for your souls, as about to give account, that with joy they may do this, and not sighing, for this `is' unprofitable to you.
As to the rest, then, brethren, we request you, and call upon you in the Lord Jesus, as ye did receive from us how it behoveth you to walk and to please God, that ye may abound the more, for ye have known what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus,
whom we proclaim, warning every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, for which also I labour, striving according to his working that is working in me in power.
and He gave some `as' apostles, and some `as' prophets, and some `as' proclaimers of good news, and some `as' shepherds and teachers,
And Micaiah saith, `Jehovah liveth; surely that which Jehovah saith unto me -- it I speak.'
wherefore I take you to witness this day, that I `am' clear from the blood of all, for I did not keep back from declaring to you all the counsel of God.
Their best one `is' as a brier, The upright one -- than a thorn-hedge, The day of thy watchmen -- Thy visitation -- hath come. Now is their perplexity.
For there is a day, Cried have watchmen on mount Ephraim, `Rise, and we go up to Zion, unto Jehovah our God;
A watch-tower I have given thee, Among My people a fortress, And thou knowest, and hast tried their way.
The watchmen who go round about the city, Found me, smote me, wounded me, Keepers of the walls lifted up my veil from off me.
and any strife that cometh in unto you of your brethren who are dwelling in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and command, statutes, and judgments, then ye have warned them and they become not guilty before Jehovah, and wrath hath not been on you and on your brethren; thus do ye do, and ye are not guilty.
And the king saith unto him, `How many times am I adjuring thee that thou speak nothing unto me but truth in the name of Jehovah?' And he saith, `I have seen all Israel scattered on the hills as sheep that have no shepherd, and Jehovah saith, These have no master; they turn back each to his house in peace.' And the king of Israel saith unto Jehoshaphat, `Have I not said unto thee, He doth not prophesy of me good, but evil?' And he saith, `Therefore, hear a word of Jehovah; I have seen Jehovah sitting on His throne, and all the host of the heavens standing by Him, on His right and on His left; and Jehovah saith, Who doth entice Ahab, and he doth go up and fall in Ramoth-Gilead? and this one saith thus, and that one is saying thus. `And the spirit goeth out, and standeth before Jehovah, and saith, I -- I do entice him; and Jehovah saith unto him, By what? and he saith, I go out, and have been a spirit of falsehood in the mouth of all his prophets; and He saith, Thou dost entice, and also thou art able; go out and do so. And now, lo, Jehovah hath put a spirit of falsehood in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and Jehovah hath spoken concerning thee -- evil.' And Zedekiah son of Chenaanah draweth nigh, and smiteth Micaiah on the cheek, and saith, `Where `is' this -- he hath passed over -- the Spirit of Jehovah -- from me to speak with thee?' And Micaiah saith, `Lo, thou art seeing on that day, when thou goest in to the innermost chamber to be hidden.' And the king of Israel saith, `Take Micaiah, and turn him back unto Amon head of the city, and unto Joash son of the king, and thou hast said, Thus said the king, Place ye this one in the house of restraint, and cause him to eat bread of oppression, and water of oppression, till my coming in peace.' And Micaiah saith, `If thou at all return in peace -- Jehovah hath not spoken by me;' and he saith, `Hear, O peoples, all of them.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Ezekiel 33
Commentary on Ezekiel 33 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 33
Eze 33:1-33. Renewal of Ezekiel's Commission, Now that He Is Again to Address His Countrymen, and in a New Tone.
Heretofore his functions had been chiefly threatening; from this point, after the evil had got to its worst in the overthrow of Jerusalem, the consolatory element preponderates.
2. to the children of thy people—whom he had been forbidden to address from Eze 24:26, 27, till Jerusalem was overthrown, and the "escaped" came with tidings of the judgment being completed. So now, in Eze 33:21, the tidings of the fact having arrived, he opens his heretofore closed lips to the Jews. In the interval he had prophesied as to foreign nations. The former part of the chapter, at Eze 33:2-20, seems to have been imparted to Ezekiel on the evening previous (Eze 33:22), being a preparation for the latter part (Eze 33:23-33) imparted after the tidings had come. This accounts for the first part standing without intimation of the date, which was properly reserved for the latter part, to which the former was the anticipatory introduction [Fairbairn].
watchman—Eze 33:1-9 exhibit Ezekiel's office as a spiritual watchman; so in Eze 3:16-21; only here the duties of the earthly watchman (compare 2Sa 18:24, 25; 2Ki 9:17) are detailed first, and then the application is made to the spiritual watchman's duty (compare Isa 21:6-10; Ho 9:8; Hab 2:1). "A man of their coasts" is a man specially chosen for the office out of their whole number. So Jud 18:2, "five men from their coasts"; also the Hebrew of Ge 47:2; implying the care needed in the choice of the watchman, the spiritual as well as the temporal (Ac 1:21, 22, 24-26; 1Ti 5:22).
3. the sword—invaders. An appropriate illustration at the time of the invasion of Judea by Nebuchadnezzar.
4. blood … upon his own head—metaphor from sacrificial victims, on the heads of which they used to lay their hands, praying that their guilt should be upon the victims.
6. his iniquity—his negligence in not maintaining constant watchfulness, as they who are in warfare ought to do. The thing signified here appears from under the image.
7. I have set thee a watchman—application of the image. Ezekiel's appointment to be a watchman spiritually is far more solemn, as it is derived from God, not from the people.
8. thou shalt surely die—by a violent death, the earnest of everlasting death; the qualification being supposed, "if thou dost not repent."
9. Blood had by this time been shed (Eze 33:21), but Ezekiel was clear.
10. be upon us—that is, their guilt remain on us.
pine away in them—if we suffer the penalty threatened for them in Eze 24:23, according to the law (Le 26:39).
how should we … live?—as Thou dost promise in Eze 33:5 (compare Eze 37:11; Isa 49:14).
11. To meet the Jews' cry of despair in Eze 33:10, Ezekiel here cheers them by the assurance that God has no pleasure in their death, but that they should repent and live (2Pe 3:9). A yearning tenderness manifests itself here, notwithstanding all their past sins; yet with it a holiness that abates nothing of its demands for the honor of God's authority. God's righteousness is vindicated as in Eze 3:18-21 and Eze 18:1-32, by the statement that each should be treated with the closest adaptation of God's justice to his particular case.
12. not fall … in the day that he turneth—(2Ch 7:14; see Eze 3:20; 18:24).
15. give again that he had robbed—(Lu 19:8).
statutes of life—in the obeying of which life is promised (Le 18:5). If the law has failed to give life to man, it has not been the fault of the law, but of man's sinful inability to keep it (Ro 7:10, 12; Ga 3:21). It becomes life-giving through Christ's righteous obedience to it (2Co 3:6).
17. The way of the Lord—The Lord's way of dealing in His moral government.
21. twelfth year … tenth month—a year and a half after the capture of the city (Jer 39:2; 52:5, 6), in the eleventh year and fourth month. The one who escaped (as foretold, Eze 24:26) may have been so long on the road through fear of entering the enemy's country [Henderson]; or, the singular is used for the plural in a collective sense, "the escaped remnant." Compare similar phrases, "the escaped of Moab," Isa 15:9; "He that escapeth of them," Am 9:1. Naturally the reopening of the prophet's mouth for consolation would be deferred till the number of the escaped remnant was complete: the removal of such a large number would easily have occupied seventeen or eighteen months.
22. in the evening—(see on Eze 33:2). Thus the capture of Jerusalem was known to Ezekiel by revelation before the messenger came.
my mouth … no more dumb—that is, to my countrymen; as foretold (Eze 24:27), He spake (Eze 33:2-20) in the evening before the tidings came.
24. they that inhabit … wastes of … Israel—marking the blindness of the fraction of Jews under Gedaliah who, though dwelling amidst regions laid waste by the foe, still cherished hopes of deliverance, and this without repentance.
Abraham was one … but we are many—If God gave the land for an inheritance to Abraham, who was but one (Isa 51:2), much more it is given to us, who, though reduced, are still many. If he, with 318 servants, was able to defend himself amid so many foes, much more shall we, so much more numerous, retain our own. The grant of the land was not for his sole use, but for his numerous posterity.
inherited the land—not actually possessed it (Ac 7:5), but had the right of dwelling and pasturing his flocks in it [Grotius]. The Jews boasted similarly of their Abrahamic descent in Mt 3:9 and Joh 8:39.
25. eat with the blood—in opposition to the law (Le 19:26; compare Ge 9:4). They did so as an idolatrous rite.
26. Ye stand upon your sword—Your dependence is, not on right and equity, but on force and arms.
every one—Scarcely anyone refrains from adultery.
27. shall fall by the sword—The very object of their confidence would be the instrument of their destruction. Thinking to "stand" by it, by it they shall "fall." Just retribution! Some fell by the sword of Ishmael; others by the Chaldeans in revenge for the murder of Gedaliah (Jer 40:1-44:30).
caves—(Jud 6:2; 1Sa 13:6). In the hilly parts of Judea there were caves almost inaccessible, as having only crooked and extremely narrow paths of ascent, with rock in front stretching down into the valleys beneath perpendicularly [Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 1.16.4].
28. most desolate—(Jer 4:27; 12:11).
none … pass through—from fear of wild beasts and pestilence [Grotius].
30. Not only the remnant in Judea, but those at the Chebar, though less flagrantly, betrayed the same unbelieving spirit.
talking against thee—Though going to the prophet to hear the word of the Lord, they criticised, in an unfriendly spirit, his peculiarities of manner and his enigmatical style (Eze 20:49); making these the excuse for their impenitence. Their talking was not directly "against" Ezekiel, for they professed to like his ministrations; but God's word speaks of things as they really are, not as they appear.
by the walls—in the public haunts. In the East groups assemble under the walls of their houses in winter for conversation.
in the doors—privately.
what is the word—Their motive was curiosity, seeking pastime and gratification of the ear (2Ti 4:3); not reformation of the heart. Compare Johanan's consultation of Jeremiah, to hear the word of the Lord without desiring to do it (Jer 42:1-43:13).
31. as the people cometh—that is, in crowds, as disciples flock to their teacher.
sit before thee—on lower seats at thy feet, according to the Jewish custom of pupils (De 33:3; 2Ki 4:38; Lu 10:39; Ac 22:3).
as my people—though they are not.
hear … not do—(Mt 13:20, 21; Jas 1:23, 24).
they show much love—literally, "make love," that is, act the part of lovers. Profess love to the Lord (Mt 7:21). Gesenius translates, according to Arabic idiom, "They do the delights of God," that is, all that is agreeable to God. Vulgate translates, "They turn thy words into a song of their mouths."
heart goeth after … covetousness—the grand rival to the love of God; therefore called "idolatry," and therefore associated with impure carnal love, as both alike transfer the heart's affection from the Creator to the creature (Mt 13:22; Eph 5:5; 1Ti 6:10).
32. very lovely song—literally, a "song of loves": a lover's song. They praise thy eloquence, but care not for the subject of it as a real and personal thing; just as many do in the modern church [Jerome].
play well on an instrument—Hebrew singers accompanied the "voice" with the harp.
33. when this cometh to pass—when My predictions are verified.
lo, it will come—rather, "lo it is come" (see Eze 33:22).
know—experimentally, and to their cost.