Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 3:16

And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

16 21. More precise definition of the prophet’s appointment: he is set to be a watchman

So soon as the prophet is face to face with the exiles, and is able to see the sphere and materials of his work, he receives a more precise account of his position he is appointed a watchman or sentinel. The watchman stands on his watch-tower to observe, and his office therefore is to warn, should danger be seen approaching. Isa 21:6, “Thus saith the Lord, Go set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.” Jer 6:17, “Also I set watchmen over you and said, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet, but they said, We will not hearken;” Hab 2:1; comp. 2Ki 9:17-20. The appointment of Ezekiel as watchman was not a change upon his original appointment as “prophet” (ch. Eze 2:5), it is only a more precise definition of it. The term, which had already been used by Jer. (Jer 6:17), expresses the duties and part of a prophet of this age. Ezekiel entered on his prophetic career with his ideas as to the course of events to come fixed and matured. The fall of Jerusalem was a certainty. And his true place was in the midst of a people whom this great calamity had overtaken. The destruction of the state was not the end of Israel or of the kingdom of God. Israel would be gathered again, and the kingdom of God reconstituted. But it would be on new principles. God would no more deal with men in the lump and as a state, he would deal separately with each individual soul (ch. 18). The destruction of the former state, however, was not the final judgment. Before the new kingdom of God arose men would have to pass through a new crisis, and to pass through it as individual persons, and the issue of this crisis would be “life” or “death” to them. It is in this full sense that Ezekiel speaks of the wicked dying and the righteous living. To “live” is to be preserved and enter the new kingdom of God, to “die” is to perish in the crisis and be excluded from it. The idea of a “watchman” implies danger imminent (ch. Eze 33:1-6), and the coming crisis is the ideal danger before the prophet’s mind. Hence the part of the watchman is to warn men in regard to this coming sifting of individual souls, and to prepare them for it. The idea is part of the prophet’s individualism, his teaching regarding the freedom and responsibility to God of the individual mind (ch. 18, 33). Hence the watchman warns all classes of men, the wicked that he may turn from his evil lest he “die,” and the righteous that he may be confirmed in his righteousness and “live.” The watchman’s place is behind the destruction of the old state and in front of the new and final kingdom of God, for the reconstruction of which he labours. This place is given him in ch. 33.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The Lord guards both Ezekiel and his countrymen from dwelling exclusively on the national character of his mission. In the midst of the general visitations, each individual was to stand as it were alone before Him to render account of his doings, and to be judged according to his works.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Eze 3:16-17

I have made thee a watchman.

The Christian watchman

I. The office of the christian watchman is to warn his people of the danger to which, according to the word of God, all men are naturally exposed. From the specular mount on which the Lord hath placed him, he looks abroad upon the mighty plain where the busy generations of the world are engaged in a thousand different forms of labour, and pursuing a thousand different objects of delight, all alike undisturbed by the thought of the invasion of wrath which, ere long, is to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners out of it. Yet he can discern what they do not,–the ministers of vengeance ambushed in the very midst of them, and ready at a word to spring on their defenceless victims. And, perceiving all this, shall he keep silence? I am aware that the principle of ministerial duty which I have now stated has been objected to on various grounds. We are often told, for example, that to dwell much on such frightful and uncomfortable topics is in bad taste. But this is no question of taste; it is a matter of life or death,–of life or death eternal. Away, then, with such puerilities. Again, we are told that such a mode of dealing with sinners is ineffective,–that the true way in which men are generally brought to Christianity is through its soft and winning attractions, and that few comparatively are frightened into it by the force of threatenings and terror. But this maxim, we apprehend, is contradicted by experience. Conviction ordinarily precedes conversion. But it is a case that need not be thus argued to and fro; for hear what Jehovah hath denounced against those who, speaking in His name, keep back the message of His wrath against the sinner:–Mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, etc.

II. The christian ministers object should be not merely to awaken sinners to a sense of peril, but to excite them to flee for refuge from that peril. Now, this defenced and consecrated city–the New Jerusalem, the Church of the Living God, has been erected as a city of refuge to the guilty. To it, therefore, the watchman of souls must point the sinner whom he has awakened with the alarm of danger, and, while he shouts, Flee from the wrath to come, must add, Turn ye to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. He must hold it forth as the all-sufficient refuge founded upon a rock, so that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The great object, then, of the faithful minister in pointing out to men the way of salvation, is, first, To exhibit Christ as the source and foundation of the sinners hope, and then, secondly, To do what he may to lead men into this faith and this reliance, by displaying Gods testimony in the Gospel as it is in truth,–a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. (J. B. Patterson, M. A.)

The watchman

I. His requisite character and qualifications.

1. He must be a man of good repute. A man of loose habits, a disorderly, quarrelsome, dissolute, idle, dishonest man, is the most unlikely person in the world to be a watchman: hence wise men always appoint to that office persons of steady, honest, and industrious habits. And such must be the Lords watchman.

2. He must produce proofs of his past fidelity and good management.

3. He should have discernment, ingenuity, and courage.

4. A watchman should be healthy and strong, able to bear exposure and fatigue; a soft and delicate person is a most unlikely subject to be a watchman.

5. He must be properly appointed.

6. He must have a proper dress and light. And by these marks ought the Lords watchman to be identified: he should be clothed with humility as with a garment, and adorned with the graces of the Holy Spirit. He should also have much Divine light. He must walk and commune with, and imitate Christ.

II. The watchmans office.

1. One part of his duty is to tell the hour. Time flies! your life is a shadow! you spend your years as a tale that is told! your days are swifter than a weavers shuttle! your life is a dream! your time as a stream glides swiftly away! every beating pulse you tell leaves but the number less! your life is vanity! you are but dust–what is your life? it is but a vapour.

2. Another part of the duty of a watchman is to protect the persons and property of the inhabitants from villains, accidents, and offences. In like manner ought the Church to be protected by the Lords watchmen. All that are sick, poor, destitute, or afflicted, and those who are but young disciples and weak in their faith, they ought to make the objects of their peculiar attention.

3. It is another part of a watchmans duty to give an alarm when any doors are left open, or places unprotected, or when any danger is near. The spiritual watchman must do likewise.

4. The watchman has to give an account to the governors or magistrates of anything important that has occurred, and of the present state of the city. And the Lords watchman has to lay before Him any conversions, improvements, declensions, goods or evils, that have transpired in the Church, and to present them before the Throne of Grace. (B. Bailey.)

The office and duty of a conscientious pastor

I. God, in unsearchable wisdom, and grace Divine, as well for our necessity as His own glory, appointed Two distinct orders of men, who might continually attend upon sacred things: under the Mosaic law, these were the Priest and the Prophet. The former was necessary on account of His ineffable greatness, for the honour of His majesty, and our deep misery. With regard to the other, that of the prophetic office, not only did our guilt require the atoning priest, but our natural darkness, our native ignorance of God and Divine mysteries, called aloud for a teacher sent from God. There appears to be this difference between the priest and the prophet under the Mosaic law: the former was a minister of state, admitted to the presence of the King; one who ministered continually before Him at His holy altar; the other, as an extraordinary ambassador, who not only represented the Divine person of Messiah the Prince, but was charged with special embassies to Israel, and the neighbouring kingdoms. This is most obviously illustrated in Moses, Ezekiel, Daniel, and all the eminent prophets. The office of the prophet, therefore, was to reveal future and interesting events to mankind; to bless and pray for the people. These two characters of such dignity and respectability are united in Jesus, who is a Priest upon His throne, and that Prophet before whom all the prophets are but as twilight stars to the meridian sun. From the triumphant death and glorious resurrection of our Divine Redeemer, we are to look for a new order of men, and a new mode of instruction.

II. The connection between the Jewish prophet and the Gospel minister.

1. The principal and most essential qualification of a prophet was, undisguised holiness, and sublime piety. There cannot be a greater solecism in the moral world than an immoral teacher: one whose office it is to investigate the concerns of eternity, to show the importance of regeneration, to press upon others the necessity of a new birth, while he himself is a stranger to the work of the Spirit upon his own heart. Piety in a mans own breast makes him faithful; he bids fairest for success whose heart is holy; he watches as one that must give an account.

2. The mind of the prophet must be in a proper disposition and frame to receive the Divine afflatus or prophetic spirit; that is, say the Jewish doctors, it must not be oppressed with grief, or clouded with passions of any kind. This is a most necessary quality in a Gospel minister. His mind should be free from the thorny cares of time, and undisturbed with swelling passions. A dogmatical spirit, and magisterial airs, in befit a disciple, a minister of the meek and lowly Redeemer.

3. A true prophet was made and called to his office by God Himself.

III. What the true prophet, the servant of jesus christ, hath to watch over.

1. The doctrines of the Gospel. These are sometimes expressed by the truth (3Jn 1:8); sometimes by the faith (Jud 1:3).

2. Our interest is in the universal Church of Christ: but, in a peculiar manner, we must watch over that flock with which we stand connected in a pastoral relation (Act 20:28).

3. We ought to keep a jealous eye over our own hearts. Ministers of the Gospel must not forget that they are deeply engaged in the Christian warfare; and that Satan will employ every engine to storm them. Ministers have their peculiar infirmities, as well as private Christians. Tis hard to keep the helm up against so many cross winds as we meet with on this sea of fire and glass.

Lessons–

1. The importance of a Gospel ministry, and the charge of souls.

2. What an honourable post Gospel ministers fill. They approach the presence of the Almighty King, and receive from the Lord what they deliver unto His people.

3. From the subject, learn the infinite love of God to mankind. (J. Johnston.)

The sentinel

When a sentinel is set upon the watch, he must not come off without the commanders leave, and till he is discharged by authority. God hath set us in a watch, and we must not leave our ground till we have done all that is enjoined upon us, and receive a fair discharge. The instance of the sentinel in Pompeii, whose skeleton was found erect at the city gate, when all but he had fled, need not be repeated in words; but it should be copied by each one of us in his life. If the earth should reel, it is ours to keep our place. If set to preach the Gospel, let us maintain the truth, though philosophy should thin the number of our comrades till we remain alone. Imagine what the universe would be if the stars forsook their marches, and the sun forbore to shine; yet this would only be among inanimate objects an imitation of the conduct of men who quit their posts, and leave their work undone. This is the spirit out of which fiends are made: first neglect, then omission, then treachery and rebellion. A sentinel must not leave his post even to gather pearls or diamonds; nor must we forsake our duty in order to acquire the highest honours. It matters nothing how well we have done other things if we neglect the thing. God bids us do this, and if we fail it will be no excuse to be able to say–we have done that. If the watcher forsakes his post it will not avail that he climbed a mountain, or swam a river: he was not where he was ordered to be. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The watchmans duties

Often on the ocean I have gone to the prow of the vessel and looked out into the darkness of the night. I have found the watchman not one moment from his post, his eye gazing far over the sea, where he might discern at the greatest distance and at the earliest moment any cause of possible danger. The lives of the crew and passengers were in his hands. The mist might come down heavily, the wind might blow furiously, the storm rage incessantly; but still on and ever the watchman looks out in the one direction. The whales may sport in multitudes around the vessel, the whole sea behind him be in a phosphorescent glow. His own great object is not to care for these things, but to look ahead! So you are watchmen. You are on the ship. The vessel may be running towards shore; there may be breakers ahead. You are to sound the alarm. (Bishop Simpson.)

Hear the word at My mouth.

The message from the Lords mouth

Christs battles are not such as require strength of muscle and bone, nor do they need great mental capacity. Even the appointed watchman is set only to warn the people: he has not to charm them with eloquence, nor to electrify them with novelties of oratory: he is simply to warn them, and the plainest language may suffice for that.

I. If we would be found really useful and serviceable for our Lord and Master, the ear is to be disciplined. Hear the word at My mouth. What does this mean?

1. I take it, first, that if we wish to be useful our ear must be disciplined to hear only Gods word. Believe Him, for He cannot lie. We come to tell you of what we ourselves have received upon Divine authority, and we claim that you do receive our testimony, not because it is ours, but because it is supported by Divine authority, and is in fact the echo of the Divine word. Only by this mode of utterance can we hope to succeed. On any other footing we court failure and deserve it.

2. Secondly, if we would have our ear educated, it must be not only to receive the word as of Divine authority, but to know what Gods word is. Let us study the Bible with diligence. Go to that fountain of truth, I pray you, and never be satisfied with a second-hand version of it. Go you to the fountain head and drink there or ever the streams have been mudded by human blundering.

3. The great thing, I believe, with a successful winner of souls is to hear Gods truth from Gods own mouth. Do you want to know Christs way of making men useful? Turn to Mar 3:13-15. Do you see the order? He calls them to Him,–you must not dream of winning souls till you first come to Christ yourself. Next we read, That they might be with Him,–you cannot go and teach Christ, or bring others to Him, unless you have first been with Him. Communion with Jesus is training for service. After the fellowship comes the work–That He might send them forth to preach, and to have power.

4. To have our ear well tutored we must feel the force of the truth that we deliver. Sin,–are you going to talk about the evil of it? Do you know the evil of it for yourself? Get back to the place of repentance where you once wet the earth with your tears, and talk to children or grown-up people about sin in that spirit. Pardon,–are you going to speak about that? Do you know the sweetness of it? Go to the place where first you saw the flowing of the ever-precious blood, and feel again your load of guilt removed, and you will speak of it most sweetly. The power of the Holy Spirit,–are you going to speak about that? Have you felt His quickening, enlightening, comforting, and sanctifying influence?

II. The tongue is to be educated. That is indeed the aim of the discipline of the ear. And to what end is the tongue educated?

1. To be able to deliver an unpleasant message. You and I cannot be useful if we want to be sweet as honey in the mouths of men. God will never bless us if we wish to please men, that they may think well of us. Are you willing to tell them what will break your own heart in the telling and break theirs in the hearing? If not, you are not fit to serve the Lord.

2. Next, you want your tongue tutored to speak the truth as having yourself heard it. The man should be full of emotion, not moved by anger, but by a sacred passion which arouses him and makes the people feel that he is in awful earnest, carried out of himself, not delivering set phrases and words from his mouth outwards, but speaking from his inmost heart. Now, if we were to meet with our Lord Jesus Himself, and were then to speak of Him in the state of mind in which His presence left us, what a style of speech that would be.

3. The tongue needs to be trained in the case of each one of us to deliver the message as from God. You may not all be called to the work of prophesying as ministers are, but you are all called by some means to warn men of the wrath to come and lead them to Christ, and I want you to feel that God is at the back of you when you warn sinners. God will own His truth, therefore never be ashamed of it.

III. I finish by endeavouring to practise the lesson of the text. I desire to speak to those who are unconverted, and to speak as if I had just come from an interview with my Lord and Master, as I trust I have. I have to say to you now present, that whatever may be your natural excellence of character, and whatever the religiousness of your training, yet you must all of you be born again. The Master would lay a strong tender emphasis upon the must. Ye must be born again. Jesus would not demand of us more than is absolutely necessary, nor say a syllable that would tend to shut a soul out of heaven. If He says, Ye must, why then we must. I want you to own that necessity. Next I desire to introduce you to Jesus sitting at the well with the woman of Samaria. You can see the smile upon His countenance as He instructs her. I want you now to hear Him say these words: God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. You must have a spiritual mind and a spiritual nature through being born again: and then you must worship God in a spiritual way, for mere outward religion is nothing in His sight. Oh, ask that the Spirit of God would teach you how to worship in spirit and in truth. Now listen to my Master again. Ye search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life. Do you think you will get salvation by Bible reading? Alas, you are in error. You must go further than that; you must go to Christ Jesus Himself. Listen to my Master once again: If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins. I know you will say that I speak hard things. Perhaps I do, but not with a hard heart. Now, my Lord is always tender, never man spake like this man, and never man wept as He did when He had a hard thing to say; hear ye then His declaration, Except ye believe that I am He, ye shall die in your sins. The last thing that was ever seen of my Lord and Master upon earth was this. Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. They stood with their ears and eves open to know how He would have them put the Gospel, and He said, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 16. I came to them of the captivity] Because the hand of the Lord was strong upon him and supported him, he soon reached the place.

Tel-abib] “a heap of corn.” So the Vulgate: acervum novarum frugum, “a heap of new fruits.” [Syriac] letola chib, “to the hill Chib,” or the hill of grief. – Syriac.

Seven days.] Perhaps God kept him all this time without an immediate revelation, that the bitterness and heat of spirit of which he speaks above might be subdued, and that he might speak God’s words in God’s own Spirit. Had he gone in a better spirit he had probably been employed in his work as soon as he had gained the place of labour.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

This verse gives us sufficient account why the prophet staid these seven days; it was because the particular word he was to speak to them was not yet declared to him. He had a call and commission to be a prophet, and comes in this character to these Jews, but till seven days are ended he receives no particular word, when by his carriage among the Jews it appeared he was more than a common man, that he was full of matter more than ordinary; then came the word of the Lord, saying,

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And it came to pass at the end of seven days,…. Some think it was on the sabbath day he had the following declaration made to him, and instructions given him; but this is not certain; nor does it follow, or to be concluded, from such a way of speaking:

that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying; the Targum is,

“the word of prophecy from before the Lord.”

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Watchman’s Office.

B. C. 595.

      16 And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,   17 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.   18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.   19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.   20 Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.   21 Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.

      These further instructions God gave to the prophet at the end of seven days, that is, on the seventh day after the vision he had; and it is very probably that both that and this were on the sabbath day, which the house of Israel, even in their captivity, observed as well as they could in those circumstances. We do not find that their conquerors and oppressors tied them to any constant service, as their Egyptian task-masters had formerly done, but that they might observe the sabbath-rest for a sign to distinguish between them and their neighbours; but for the sabbath-work they had not the convenience of temple or synagogue, only it should seem they had a place by the river side where prayer was wont to be made (as Acts xvi. 13); there they met on the sabbath day; there their enemies upbraided them with the songs of Zion (Psa 137:1; Psa 137:3); there Ezekiel met them, and the word of the Lord then and there came to him. He that had been musing and meditating on the things of God all the week was fit to speak to the people in God’s name on the sabbath day, and disposed to hear God speak to him. This sabbath day Ezekiel was not so honoured with visions of the glory of God as he had been the sabbath before; but he is plainly, and by a very common similitude, told his duty, which he is to communicate to the people. Note, Raptures and transports of joy are not the daily bread of God’s children, however they may upon special occasions be feasted with them. We must not deny but that we have truly communion with God (1 John i. 3) though we have it not always so sensibly as at some times. And, though the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven may sometimes be looked into, yet ordinarily it is plain preaching that is most for edification. God here tells the prophet what his office was, and what the duty of that office; and this (we may suppose) he was to tell the people, that they might attend to what he said and improve it accordingly. Note, It is good for people to know and consider what a charge their ministers have of them and what an account they must shortly give of that charge. Observe,

      I. What the office is to which the prophet is called: Son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel, v. 17. The vision he saw astonished him: he knew not what to make of that, and therefore God used this plain comparison, which served better to lead him to the understanding of his work and so to reconcile him to it. He sat among the captives, and said little, but God comes to him, and tells him that will not do; he is a watchman, and has something to say to them; he is appointed to be as a watchman in the city, to guard against fire, robbers, and disturbers of the peace, as a watchman over the flock, to guard against thieves and beasts of prey, but especially as a watchman in the camp, in an invaded country or a besieged town, that is to watch the motions of the enemy, and to sound an alarm upon the approach, nay, upon the first appearance, of danger. This supposes the house of Israel to be in a military state, and exposed to enemies, who are subtle and restless in their attempts upon it; yea, and each of the particular members of that house to be in danger and concerned to stand upon their guard. Note, Ministers are watchmen on the church’s walls (Isa. lxii. 6), watchmen that go about the city, Cant. iii. 3. It is a toilsome office. Watchmen must keep awake, be they ever so sleepy, and keep abroad, be it ever so cold; they must stand all weathers upon the watch-tower,Isa 21:8; Gen 31:40. It is a dangerous office. Sometimes they cannot keep their post, but are in peril of death from the enemy, who gain their point if they kill the sentinel; and yet they dare not quit their post upon pain of death from their general. Such a dilemma are the church’s watchmen in; men will curse them if they be faithful, and God will curse them if they be false. But it is a needful office; the house of Israel cannot be safe without watchmen, and yet, except the Lord keep it, the watchman waketh but in vain,Psa 127:1; Psa 127:2.

      II. What is the duty of this office. The work of a watchman is to take notice and to give notice.

      1. The prophet, as a watchman, must take notice of what God said concerning this people, not only concerning the body of the people, to which the prophecies of Jeremiah and other prophets had most commonly reference, but concerning particular persons, according as their character was. He must not, as other watchmen, look round to spy danger and gain intelligence, but he must look up to God, and further he need not look: Hear the word at my mouth, v. 17. Note, Those that are to preach must first hear; for how can those teach others who have not first learned themselves?

      2. He must give notice of what he heard. As a watchman must have eyes in his head, so he must have a tongue in his head; if he be dumb, it is as bad as if he were blind, Isa. lvi. 10. Thou shalt give them warning from me, sound an alarm in the holy mountain; not in his own name, or as from himself, but in God’s name, and from him. Ministers are God’s mouth to the children of men. The scriptures are written for our admonition. By them is thy servant warned, Ps. xix. 11. But, because that which is delivered viv voce–by the living voice, commonly makes the deepest impression, God is pleased, by men like ourselves, who are equally concerned, to enforce upon us the warnings of the written word. Now the prophet, in his preaching, must distinguish between the wicked and the righteous, the precious and the vile, and in his applications must suit his alarms to each, giving every one his portion; and, if he did this, he should have the comfort of it, whatever the success was, but, if not, he was accountable.

      (1.) Some of those he had to do with were wicked, and he must warn them not to go on in their wickedness, but to turn from it, Eze 3:18; Eze 3:19. We may observe here, [1.] That the God of heaven has said, and does say, to every wicked man, that if he go on still in his trespasses he shall surely die. His iniquity shall undoubtedly be his ruin; it tends to ruin and will end in ruin. Dying thou shalt die, thou shalt die so great a death, shalt die eternally, be ever dying, but never dead. The wicked man shall die in his iniquity, shall fie under the guilt of it, die under the dominion of it. [2.] That if a wicked man turn from his wickedness, and from his wicked way, he shall live, and the ruin he is threatened with shall be prevented; and, that he may do so, he is warned of the danger he is in. The wicked man shall die if he go on, but shall live if he repent. Observe, he is to turn from his wickedness and from his wicked way. It is not enough for a man to turn from his wicked way by an outward reformation, which may be the effect of his sins leaving him rather than of his leaving his sins, but he must turn from his wickedness, from the love of it and the inclination to it, by an inward regeneration; if he do not so much as turn from his wicked way, there is little hope that he will turn from his wickedness. [3.] That it is the duty of ministers both to warn sinners of the danger of sin and to assure them of the benefit of repentance, to set before them how miserable they are if they go on in sin, and how happy they may be if they will but repent and reform. Note, The ministry of the word is concerning matters of life and death, for those are the things it sets before us, the blessing and the curse, that we may escape the curse and inherit the blessing. [4.] That, though ministers do not warn wicked people as they ought of their misery and danger, yet that shall not be admitted as an excuse for those that go on still in their trespasses; for, though the watchman did not give them warning, yet they shall die in their iniquity, for they had sufficient warning given them by the providence of God and their own consciences; and, if they would have taken it, they might have saved their lives. [5.] That if ministers be not faithful to their trust, if they do not warn sinners of the fatal consequences of sin, but suffer them to go on unreproved, the blood of those that perish through their carelessness will be required at their hand. It shall be charged upon them in the day of account that it was owing to their unfaithfulness that such and such precious souls perished in sin; for who knows but if they had had fair warning given them they might have fled in time from the wrath to come? And, if it contract so heinous a guilt as it does to be accessory to the murder of a dying body, what is it to be accessory to the ruin of an immortal soul? [6.] That if ministers do their duty in giving warning to sinners, though the warning be not taken, yet they may have this satisfaction, that they are jclear from their blood, and have delivered their own souls, though they cannot prevail to deliver theirs. Those that are faithful shall have their reward, though they be not successful.

      (2.) Some of those he had to deal with were righteous, at least he had reason to think, in a judgment of charity, that they were so; and he must warn them not to apostatize and turn away from their righteousness,Eze 3:20; Eze 3:21. We may observe here, [1.] That the best men in the world have need to be warned against apostasy, and to be told of the danger they are in of it and the danger they are in by it. God’s servants must be warned (Ps. xix. 11) that they do not neglect his work and quit his service. One good means to keep us from falling is to keep up a holy fear of falling, Heb. iv. 1. Let us therefore fear; and (Rom. xi. 20) even those that stand by faith must not be high-minded, but fear, and must therefore be warned. [2.] There is a righteousness which a man may turn from, a seeming righteousness, and, if men turn from this, it thereby appears that it was never sincere, how passable, nay, how plausible soever it was; for, if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, 1 John ii. 19. There are many that begin in the spirit, but end in the flesh, that set their faces heavenward, but look back; that had a first love, but have lost it, and turned from the holy commandment. [3.] When men turn from their righteousness they soon learn to commit iniquity. When they grow careless and remiss in the duties of God’s worship, neglect them, or a re negligent in them, they become an easy prey to the tempter. Omissions make way for commissions. [4.] When men turn from their righteousness, and commit iniquity, it is just with God to lay stumbling-blocks before them, that they may grow worse and worse, till they are ripened for destruction. When Pharaoh hardened his heart God hardened it. When sinners turn their back upon God, desert his service, and so cast a reproach upon it, he does, in a way of righteous judgment, not only withdraw his restraining grace and give them up to their own hearts’ lusts, but order them by his providence into such circumstances as occasion their sin and hasten their ruin. There are those to whom Christ himself is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, 1 Pet. ii. 8. [5.] The righteousness which men relinquish shall never be remembered to their honour or comfort; it will stand them in no stead in this world or the other. Apostates lose all that they have wrought; their services and sufferings are all in vain, and shall never be brought to an account, because not continued in. It is a rule in the law, Factum non dicitur, quod non perseverat–We are said to do only that which we do perseveringly,Gal 3:3; Gal 3:4. [6.] If ministers do no give fair warning, as they ought, of the weakness of the best, their aptness to stumble and fall, the particular temptations they are in and the fatal consequences of apostasy, the ruin of those that do apostatize will be laid at their door, and they shall answer for it. Not but that there are those who are warned against it, and yet turn from their righteousness; but that case is not put here, as was concerning the wicked man, but, on the contrary, that a righteous man, being warned, takes the warning and does not sin (v. 21); for, if you give instruction to a wise man, he will be yet wiser. We must not only not flatter the wicked, but not flatter even the righteous as if they were perfectly safe any where on this side heaven. [7.] If ministers give warning, and people take it, it is well for both. Nothing is more beautiful than a wise reprover upon an obedient ear; the one shall live because he is warned and the other has delivered his soul. What can a good minister desire more than to save himself and those that hear him? 1 Tim. iv. 16.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Now the Prophet shows more clearly why he continued in silence for seven days, because, indeed, he had been appointed a teacher, but the time had not fully arrived in which he was to utter the commands of God. He waited, therefore until he should receive a distinct message. Hence he says, at the end of seven days I received a word from the Lord Whence we gather, that he had been chosen before, and that the burden of an embassy was imposed upon him: meanwhile he stood, as it were, in suspense, because he did not distinctly understand what he was to say, and where he ought to begin. Hence it appears, that God acts by degrees towards his servants, so that he claims them for his own, then he shows them generally what duties and labors they have to discharge, and at length he sends them forth to the performance of their work, and the execution of their office. This we see was done in the case of our Prophet. For first he learned that he was chosen by God, afterwards he was admonished generally to behave himself courageously, and not to yield to any threats or terrors: at length God explained to him what commands he wished him to bear to the people. As yet God seems to speak but generally, but it is as if he announced that the time had come when the Prophet must gird himself to his work: hence he says, Son of man I have appointed thee a watchman of the house of Israel

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

II.THE ENTRANCE BY EZEKIEL ON THE EXECUTION OF HIS COMMISSION. CHAPS. Eze. 3:16-17

Ezekiel had been fully accredited, but did not begin his work as a messenger of the Lord when he was sent among the people. He remained in their midst, silent and astoniedstunnedfor a season. Then came instructions, conveying distinct intimation of the responsibilities of his position, of the thraldom in which he would be held, and thereto the first communications for the people followed.

1. RESPONSIBILITIES ILLUSTRATED (Chap. Eze. 3:16-21)

EXEGETICAL NOTES. Eze. 3:16. At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came. The power to prophesy is not inherent in man. It is not produced by his agency. It comes and goes according to occult influences which do not obliterate the mental condition of the recipient. Rather they enter into such correlation with him as to enhance his susceptibility for what is divine, and are always in a certain correspondence with constitutional ability, circumstances, acquirements of the person on whom they operate.

Eze. 3:17. I have madegiventhee a watchman. This shows to Ezekiel how he is to think of himself in the work appointed. He is, as it were, to cover with his eyes the objects placed under his view, and to take action in correspondence with their appearances. He is to look, search, announce or denounce. The watchman is thus closely allied to the seeronly this is the passive state of which the former is the active. Unto the house of Israel. Not as an organic unity, but as made up of individuals, part of whom are wicked and part righteous, and the prophet is to inspect carefully the marks which are traceable on each so as to impart appropriate warnings. Hear the word at my mouth. He is not to produce his own opinions, or to state that which may agree with the opinions of the people; he is to stand in the light of pure truth and goodness and tell its manifestations. Give them warning. Be not a lecturer on history or business; do not sit as a professor to set forth the doctrines that are to be accepted as credible; spend not your time in making up complaints for the people about their distresses as captives in a foreign land. Show that the real evil is in themselves, not in their environment; rouse up a conviction of danger to them so long as they cherish any delusion as to external relationship to the Lord God, if they are disregarding His laws. The future is ominous with storms, and they will be struck down if they follow the ways of their own heart. From me. It is I who warn. I speak to thee and use thy capabilities. Take a fearless message, for I am with thee. Do not travesty the sketch I intrust thee with by inserting colours which I warn thee not to put there.

Eze. 3:18. When I say unto the wicked. God comes into personal communication with transgressors when His servant delivers His message faithfully. Thou shalt surely die. The identical threat against the first sinner (Gen. 2:17) is valid throughout all generations. In every world sin is death as contrasted with life. Nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way. Once to give warning is not to fulfil the charge devolving on the prophet. There are to be repetitions and perhaps private appeals. The representations are to be made, moreover, against both the man and his doings; for there are sin and sinsan evil disposition and exhibitions thereof. To save his life. The purpose of the Lord in speaking to the wicked man is to bestow life upon himnot merely to put a stop to iniquity. He hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked. If life is not secured he shall die in his iniquity, in the sins he has committed; so he will bring the penalty upon himself; but his blood will I require at thine hand. His blood is typical of his life, and He, whose are all souls, will take a reckoning for that life towards the loss of which a guilty negligence has contributed.

Eze. 3:19. Yet if he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way; if he do not repentchange his mind and conduct; thou hast delivered thy soul: thou wilt stand clear of any accusations of having dealt unfaithfully in thy office. In later times Paul was able to say, I am pure from the blood of all men.

Eze. 3:20. A parallel case to that of the wicked is now illustrated, but having reference to a righteous man. It is supposed that a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness. He does not show a simple weakness in obeying, but a disposition to evil. He yields his members to commit iniquity, and I laygivea stumblingblock before him. God tempteth not any man, but He arranges the circumstances of men so that an evil heart finds occasion to assert its power, and to draw from the paths of righteousness into the ways of sin. Thus gold and silver (chap. Eze. 7:19), and a regard for sensuous worship (chap. Eze. 14:4; Eze. 14:7), affected the Israelites so that they stumbled. Pharaoh is an illustration of an individual, under providential events, becoming hardened against the good and holy will of the Lord (Exo. 7:3; Exo. 7:22; Exo. 8:15). Because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin. The watchman will be counted guilty of negligence, but his neglect will not excuse the sin of the wanderer from righteousness. That will bring death. And his righteousness, his external habits and actions, which, touching the righteousness which is in the law, were blameless, shall not be remembered, they shall be regarded as if they had never been.

Eze. 3:21. On the other hand, if thou warn the righteous man that the righteous sin not; or, if thou warn the righteous not to sin as a righteous man, i.e., as professing to have a character which is unspotted by iniquity, and he is confirmed in his right standing by your words, thou hast delivered thy soul.

Thus Ezekiel learns the principles by which he is to be moved in carrying on the office of a watchman. Incidentally the procedure of the divine government, in respect to moral character, is indicated, but that is a subject deferred to chaps. 18 and 33 more especially.

HOMILETICS

Gods call to service is a trust (Eze. 3:16-17)

Such a call may be special and capable of being distinctly realised, as by Ezekiel; or it may be general and only its principles appreciated, as by those on whom wishes to do good, vague aspirations, dreams, impressive events have been operating; but whatever be the method in which the call is made, its character as a trust is never altered.

I. Its features as relating to God show this.

1. The call is conveyed by God. He can act on the human will through any one of the faculties which affect it. Prepared eyes can see visions of God, as did Ezekiel, Paul and others; sensitive ears can perceive the sounds of His voice, as did Isaiah, John, and others. He uses the means for producing clear views of duty, more or less definite desires and purposes, firm resolves; and whether these tend towards prophesying, preaching, teaching in families or schools, directing the sickly or dying, they who experience them should receive them as coming from the Father of Lights, the Ruler of all events. They may be recognised, so far as they issue from Him, as sent by Him, though the recipients should not have heard His voice at any time or seen His shape. The labourers go to work in His vineyard at the hour in which He finds them idle. The child of a godly mother responds to His impulse with, O Lord, truly I am thy servant. An apostle affirms, A dispensation of the gospel is committed to me.

2. It is concerned with the truth of God. His truth contains knowledge for the wayfaring man, guidance for the lost, bread for the hungry, healing for the wounded, life for the dead in sinswho will dare to smother its virtue? Let the methods of the call be what they may, the work is to be begun and continued in simple acquiescence to that which He reveals. He will not allow another standard. No herald, soldier, minister should think of modifying the terms in which a government made a declaration of war or a proffer of peace to another government. Less reasonable is it to affect to modify the terms which the mighty God may instruct His servants to bear. The foolishness of God is wiser than men. His words are perfectly and always true. One mans mind may apprehend them somewhat differently from that of another man, one speaker proclaim them less vigorously than another; but, in any case, the truth in Jesus must not be departed from, must not be tampered with; it must be set forth as His.

3. Its contents are meant for all hearers. Ezekiel is appointed watchman, not for some individuals or for some sections of his people, but for the whole house of Israel. The Lord of the spirits of all flesh has teachings for the young and adult, for poor and rich, for wicked and righteous, and it is not for those whom He calls to be His messengers to alter or prescribe limitations to the reach of His words. He may endow one with a gift suited for children, and another with that adapted to the rough or the cultured, and a third with that fitted for the unconverted or believers; each is to use his gift in the distinct understanding that the truth of God is applied to specific conditions. Underlying this conviction of the adaptation of Gods word to each person should be the strong living thought that the whole world lies within the scope of the divine holiness and love. In our own houses, or outside of them, there are those for whom His food is prepared, and are we not to distribute it? I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise.

II. Its features in those who are called show this.

1. In reference to the messages they receive, there is to be:

(1.) A consistent impressibleness to their power. His servants must stand in living and persistent regard to God. Creeds, catechisms, systems, churches, and ecclesiastical assemblies of all kinds, are as likely to interfere now between Him and the single-mindedness of those whom He sends forth, as was manifested by the old priesthood, of whom it was said, Ye have caused many to stumble at the law. We need to abide with the Holy Spirit, so that the truths already learned of Christ should retain as fresh a divine power over us as truths which may have been newly given to us; we should seek for the ability to link on the one to the other, so as to be perfect and complete in all the will of God whensoever we speak for Him.

(2.) A readiness to accept more. Ezekiel had seen the glory of the Lord and been lifted up by the Spirit, but he is to expect further revelations. None have such abundance of light and impulse for service that they need no more. They have not yet attained. The glory and grace of the Only-begotten cannot be comprehended in a lifetime. Our minds must receive the mould which is suited to our Lords own promise, To him that hath shall be given.

2. In reference to the responsibility imposed on the messengers. They are required:

(1.) To look at things in the light of God. It is sometimes an object of desire to see the truth of things just as God sees them. Such desire is worse than foolish, whether it relate to our sins or duties. But to ask that we may rightly perceive how either sin or duty stands in view of the Holy One is wise, and fitted to move us toward conformity to the mind of Christ. Many a sailor can satisfactorily tell what he must do with his vessel in a storm, and yet is unable to measure the pressure or the velocity of the wind. And the simplest servants of the Lord may so learn His thoughts and ways as that they shall be practically agreed with God, and yet be still far from complete knowledge of Him. Nevertheless, practical walking in the light of His countenance is to be maintained continually.

(2.) To tell others what is shown of God. The spiritual eye and the heart sensitive to His presentations respecting mans procedure and what man should do are not to be unused. They are to be made means of convincing all and judging of all ungodly deeds and righteous efforts. Plainness and faithfulness must be brought to the front. Evasion or compromises are out of place in the service of Him who seeth not as man seeth. The message is from Him, and will be associated with His gracious power working in us to will and do. If a watchman want eyes and knowledge, how can he discern danger, instruct the ignorant, heal the wounded, reduce the straying, lift up the fallen, feed the hungry, comfort the feeble, resolve conscience, and compare things past with things present and future?Greenhill.

Postulates for an effective watchman (Eze. 3:18-21).

1. Discrimination in addressing the people. He has to act for all, but the wicked are to be spoken to as wicked and the righteous as righteous. Human intelligence may not be capable of distinguishing the inward moral character of persons; that inability must not lead to the confounding of wickedness with righteousness. The warning has to be uttered with all plainness, in reference to disposition or action. The application must be somewhat personallike that of Nathan to David, Thou art the man! The forms of application may be indefinitely varied, but the gist of it will ever define the separation which discriminates the precious from the vile. The fear or the gentleness which prevents a follower of Christ from making it clear that sin is deathno matter whether the sinning one be poor or rich, a so-called worldly man or a so-called Christianmust be counteracted by the remembrance that God cannot be mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. Preachers and teachers of the gospel may be deficient in some valuable qualifications; they must not be deficient in determination to avoid whatever will lead into a mistake as to moral conduct. They have nothing to learn from the maxim, Live and let live. They have to hold forth the word of life to those who may be dead in sins, and to those who may have been freed from sin but been tempted to go back to their former master, so that they may know they have not life.

2. Singleness of aim. The purpose of God, in calling men to receive and promulgate His messages, is to save from death. He does not want the soul to revise its past records but to make new records. He does not care so much to avert punishment as to repress the tendencies to punishable conductto turn from wickedness and wicked ways to righteousness and righteous ways, from death to life. There may be many pleasant results following our religious efforts, yet the labourer must not aim at less than saving the souls alive of those for whom he acts. He is intrusted with that on which depends, not the mere pleasure or comfort or happiness of men, but their lives, and no consideration should be allowed to divert the directness of the aim he is appointed to take.

3. Certainty of influence. He who brings the word of the Lord does not work in vain. It may be that he does see results such as he wishes to see, or results such as he most earnestly deprecates should not occur; but the Master sees that he sheds a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death. Still it can never be matter of indifference to learn what is the influence which is exerted. When Jesus beheld the city He wept over it. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. What is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? How needful to abide under the seriousness of the conviction that we are affecting, for weal or for woe, those with whom, as Christs servants, we have intercourse, and seek by all means to save some. Let us throw the net oft, we may catch fish in a dead sea.

4. Subordination to God. He retains in His own power all decisions as to death and life, and His messengers are but instruments for declaring the principles on which He grounds His procedure. He calls them to be not weary in well-doingto be instant in season, out of season; but to not one of them does He give a title to pronounce, over the wicked or righteous man, the sentence, I condemn thee to die. I absolve thee from thy sins. Who art thou that judgest another? It is arrogancy and boldness to step into Christs place, and impose any laws, decrees, or inventions of men upon the consciences of others, or to judge the conditions of men, without warrant from Christ and His Word. Prophets may not do it, much less others. That power is not transferred; the power which He does confer is to declare that God Himself denounces death on the impenitent, that He gives life to those who turn to His ways. He who teaches otherwise does not stand to his appointment as a watchman and travesties the authority which he might rightly wield.

5. Award according to faithfulness. Office in the kingdom of God does not screen its holder from the righteous judgment of God if he is negligent in duties. He will reckon with them, both for what has been let alone or unfaithfully carried out, and for what has been attended to and faithfully fulfilled. The day will come when He will announce the reward or woe. Omission of duty may be as fatal as commission of evilthe negligence which does not extinguish a spark may occasion a conflagration as destructive as that which intentional malice may cause. How earnestly is the question to be pondered: Do we watch for souls as they that must give account, that we may do it with joy and not with grief?

Laws for judging moral conduct (Eze. 3:18-21)

1. Impartiality will be dealt out. There is no respect of persons with God. The righteous man, if he turn to evil, is condemned equally with the wicked man, and a wicked man, if he turn to righteousness, is saved equally with a righteous man. They who have served the Lord cannot expect that He will wink at, or take no account of their transgressions of His law, on the ground that they have been serving Him, just as they whose hearts have been stout against Him are not to suppose that He will be indifferent to the repentings which are kindled in them. They who have begun wrong may turn to righteousness and will be treated as righteous doers, while they who have done right may turn into a wrong way and will be treated as wrong. This rule for moral life has to be looked at without blinkingI am to have sentence passed upon me by the holy God not for what I profess to be, but for what I do.

2. Judgments proceed according to the direction of conduct. One step aside does not of itself proclaim that a man has left the way in which he has been walking. His fixed departure is known by the steps which succeed to the first. Those successive steps will result from the disposition of the traveller, and God alone can judge of that. We can see, however, that a first stumble out of the way of righteousness may be the commencement of a new course, which, if followed on, will bring to the way of wickedness. The man, as he verges away, may still wear some of the habits he has used hitherto, and may speak in an idiom often different from that of the country whose frontiers he has crossed over; but he has changed his directionthe light falls upon his back, and his face is becoming more suffused with the darkness towards which he is tending. His case calls for the warning that he has left the right way, and that the end of his movement is deathno matter if he does retain some resemblance of his former gait. A wicked man abides in death not because of one sin, or one class of sins, so much as because he goeth on still in his trespassesbecause he hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

3. Guiltiness is not transferable. Ones wicked or righteous doing is from himself. No scheme is possible to be devised by which we can transfer our moral conduct so that it shall be no longer ours. There is no escape from the righteous judgment of God. Circumstances, tempters, preachers can never bear the blame of that which has been perpetrated by our own hearts. We may not have been advised or warned by those whose duty it was to advise or warn us; their failure does not, in any degree, alter the character of the direction we have taken. Every man must bear his own burden. Ignorance may be a ground for inflicting few stripes upon a disobedient servant, but cannot destroy his obligation to the master. I never was told will never be a lever by which we can lift off from ourselves the unrighteousness and the death which is by sin.

ILLUSTRATIONS

Readiness to serve.It is infinitely sweet and lovely to be the organ and spokesman of the Most High. The most painful divine truths have for the spiritual man a gladdening and quickening side.H.

To my Master I stand or I fall; what to me is the worlds acclaim?
I hear not its loud applause, I heed not its bitter blame.
I am not bound by the laws of Herods judgment-hall,
When it praiseth me, it hath cause;
Yet what it seeth for flaws
It seeth, nor seeth it all.Greenwell.

He shall die.Christ died to save the world from the curse of death under which it is; not a future death of misery, but an actual death of worse than misery, a death which involves our liking that which is evil. It does not occur to us that to like to be wicked is to be damned. We say that mere wickedness, mere self-indulgence, merely being alienated from God, is not worthy to be called death unless there be misery conjoined with itthat suffering is more to be feared than sinning. In that speaks the death of man. That is death which fears suffering more than sinning. A sinful state is the chief of evils; sinning is damnation: self-indulgence is to be cast into hell; the worm that dieth not and the fire that is not quenched are unbridled passions. To be damned is not to be miserable but to be bad, and Christ is spoken of as saving us from sin, from corruption, from vain conversation, from this evil world, never from pain. It is hard to believe that damnation can be a thing that men like. Corruption is corruption in mans view, though worms like it. Is damnation less damnation in Gods view, though men like it? To be loved by a man whom we treat as an enemy is to have coals of fire heaped upon our head. To be loved as God loves us, we being such as we are, is to be cast into a lake of fire. The love of Christ, the sight of God as He truly is, must have power to save men from sin. They learn that sin is damnation and understand their Maker.Hinton.

A wrong direction fatal.

The painful warrior, famoused for fight,
After a thousand victories once foiled,
Is from the books of honour razed quite,
And all the rest forgot for which he toiled.Shakespeare.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

III. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF SERVICE 3:1621

TRANSLATION

(16) And it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (17) Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel. Hear the word from My mouth and give them warning from Me. (18) When I say to the wicked, You shall surely die, and you do not warn him nor speak to preserve his life, he is the wicked one who shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will seek from your hand. (19) But as for you, when you warn a wicked one and he does not turn from his wickedness and from his wicked way, he in his iniquity shall die, but as for you, your life you have delivered. (20) And when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I place a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not warn him in his sin he shall die, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will seek from your hand. (21) But as for you, if you warn a righteous man that a righteous man does not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he has been warned and as for you, you have delivered your life.

COMMENTS

Beginning in Eze. 3:16 the focus shifts from the national to the individual aspects of Ezekiels mission. In the midst of the general visitation which would fall upon the nation as a whole, each individual was to stand before the Lord to have his faith and works rewarded or punished. This passage underscores the basic moral principle that each man is individually responsible for his own conduct. Another principle enunciated here is that Gods messengers must face up to the responsibility to warn all men of the consequences of their ways.

At the end of the seven days of silence, the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel, i.e., he had another revelation from God (Eze. 3:16). He learned in this revelation that God had appointed him to be a watchman for the house of Israel.[127] Watchman was not a new name for the prophet of God, but it was not common. Yet it is used at the beginning of Ezekiels commissioning and is repeated and amplified at his recommissioning in Eze. 33:1-9. Evidently the term brings out a prominent feature of Ezekiels ministry. Ellison puts his finger on this feature when he notes that Ezekiel was not merely to be Gods messenger to the people in general; he was to be Gods messenger to the individual in particular.[128] He was to be a personal evangelist as well as a public orator. While it is true that only the facts of his public ministry have been preserved, this in no wise nullifies the conclusion here reached. Ezekiel was to engage in a pastoral ministry such as priests in Old Testament times were supposed to perform.[129] The chief contribution of Ezekiel to Old Testament theology is his emphasis on individual responsibility.

[127] Earlier usage of the Watchman concept Isa. 21:6; Isa. 52:8; Isa. 62:6; Hab. 2:1; Jer. 6:17, A fuller description of the watchman phase of Ezekiels ministry M found in chapter 33,

[128] Ellison, EMM p. 28.

[129] See Lev. 10:14, Deu. 24:8 Mal. 2:7; 2Ch. 17:7 ff

In his capacity as Watchman Ezekiel was to wait and watch for the word from the mouth of God and warn the people of impending calamity (Eze. 3:17). The life and safety of a community was in the hand of a city watchman. So also the life and safety of the people of God was in the hands of Ezekiel. Four different cases are discussed so that Ezekiel might clearly assess his responsibility as Israels Watchman.

1. Case One Watchman failing to warn the wicked. In his Watchmans role Ezekiel would encounter two types of individuals. First, he would encounter the wicked, those destined to die for the sin they had committed. Ezekiels job was to warn him . of his wicked way, i.e., of the consequences of continuing his wicked course of conduct. The wicked would be those who do not serve God, but on the contrary, live in open defiance of Him.

Ezekiel is told that the penalty for the wicked is death. He shall die in his iniquity (Eze. 3:18). Most commentators see nothing more involved here than the end of physical life. It should be noted that it is not Ezekiel who here speaks; it is the Lord. The question is not, then, what was the level of understanding of the doctrine of retribution or the doctrine of the afterlife in the sixth century. Still less is the full meaning of the utterance to be determined by ascertaining how Ezekiel or his contemporaries may have interpreted the word die. The teaching of the Bible is that those who die unforgiven die for all eternity in a conscious existence elsewhere known as the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15). That a premature death may also be involved cannot be denied. But to contend that premature death exhausts the meaning of the statement is to disregard the total Biblical teaching that eternal retribution follows the physical death of the wicked.

If the prophet fails to faithfully and forthrightly sound the alarm he will be held accountable for the death of that sinner his blood I will seek from your hand (Eze. 3:18). Note the change in Eze. 3:18 from them to him the individual. The teaching here harks back to the principle expressed in Gen. 9:5 f. Just as the blood of a murdered man demanded retribution by the nearest kinsman on the murderer, so a man dying unwarned would be regarded virtually as the victim of murder committed by the unfaithful Watchman. Though this utterance is metaphorical, it nonetheless emphasizes the enormous responsibility which was Ezekiels. Is the Christian responsibility to warn the lost of this generation any less?

2. Case Two Non-repentant wicked. Nothing but good can result from the discharge of responsibility to warn the wicked. If he heeds the warning and alters his course of conduct he will live, i.e., save his soul. If he refuses, he will suffer the con sequences of death. But the messenger thereby has done his duty and thus delivered his own life of blood-guiltiness (Eze. 3:19). An important principle of Old Testament jurisprudence is illustrated in this passage: The failure to save life corresponds to murder.

3. Case Three The straying righteous man. On occasion Ezekiel would encounter a man whose basic orientation was righteous but who momentarily had strayed from the path of fidelity. Sometimes God permits a stumblingblock to be placed before such a one some trial, some difficulty, some opportunity for sin. For an example of such a stumblingblock see Eze. 7:19 and Eze. 44:12. It is true that God tempts no man in order to bring about his destruction. But through His providence and permissive will He allows men to be tried that their faith may be found true. Stumbling was not inevitable. A moral choice was always involved, Furthermore, God provided the Watchman to warn where the stumblingblocks were located,

In such difficulties those who were superficially pious might succumb and depart from the path of righteousness. In such an event the past righteous acts[130] of the man would not be remembered. To neglect to warn such a one would result in his death and the Watchmans guilt (Eze. 3:20).

[130] The verb is plural. I n the marginal notes of the Hebrew Bible the Masoretic scribes suggest that the noun should also b e read a s a plural.

4. Case Four: The righteous man who heeds. If a righteous man who had stumbled into sin repented he would thereby save his soul. In any case the Watchman is free from any responsibility so long as he sounded the alarm (Eze. 3:21).

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(16) At the end of seven days.A fresh Divine communication comes to the prophet, designed especially to impress upon him the responsibility of his office (Eze. 3:16-21). In Eze. 33:1-20 the same charge is repeated with some amplification, and there Eze. 3:2-6 are taken up with describing the duties of the military sentinel, upon which both these figurative addresses are founded. The language is there arranged in the parallelism of Hebrew poetry, to which there is indeed an approach here, but too imperfect to be easily represented in English. What is said there, moreover, is expressly required to be spoken to the people (Eze. 3:1), while this seems to have been immediately for the prophets own ear.

The substance of the communication in either place is this: man must in all cases live or die according to his own personal righteousness or sinfulness; but such a responsibility rests upon the watchman, that if he die unwarned his blood will be required at the watchmans hand. The responsibility extends only, however, to the giving of the warning, not to its results: when the warning is given the watchman has delivered his soul, whether it is heeded or not. The word soul in Eze. 3:19; Eze. 3:21, as also in Eze. 33:5; Eze. 33:9, is not to be understood distinctively of the immortal part of man, but is equivalent to life, and forms here, as often in Hebrew, little more than a form of the reflective, thy soul = thyself.

In this charge the individual and personal relation in which every Israelite stood to God is strongly emphasised, that they may neither feel themselves lost because their nation is undergoing punishment, nor, on the other hand, think that no repentance is required of them individually because they had Abraham to their father. The gradual bringing out more and more fully the individual relation of man to God, at the expense of the comparative sinking of the federal relation, is one of the most strongly marked features of the progress of revelation, and at no other time was this progress so great as under the stern discipline of the captivity. In Ezekiels office of watchman, there is even an approach to the pastoral cure of souls under the Christian dispensation. Such an office had almost no place under the Old Testament, and. Ezekiel is the only one of the prophets who is charged to exercise this office distinctly towards individuals. Habakkuk, indeed, speaks of standing upon his watch on the tower (Hab. 2:1); Jeremiah, of the watchmen whom the people would not hear (Jer. 6:17); and Isaiah, of the blind watchmen (Isa. 56:10); but the duty of all these was far more collective and national.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

JEHOVAH AGAIN LAYS HIS HAND UPON THE PROPHET AND RECOMMISSIONS HIM WITH INCREASED SOLEMNITY, Eze 3:16-21.

16. At the end of seven days God was tender with the disobedient prophet; for the task was far harder than Jonah’s or Moses’, in that it was not the heathen, but his own friends whom he must condemn and from whom he must receive scorn. What he was to say would seem to them both treason and blasphemy; for he was commanded to utter words against Israel and the holy city and the holy temple as terrible as former prophets had been commanded to speak against Egypt or Philistia or Babylon. No wonder the tongue of the prophet was paralyzed even as he attempted to obey. For an entire week Jehovah watched the inward struggle, and then again spoke to him of the heinousness of his rebellion, explaining to him that silence on his part would not cause the escape of his guilty countrymen and would bring bloodguiltiness upon his own soul.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Ezekiel Is Appointed As A Watchman ( Eze 3:16-21 ).

‘And it happened that at the end of seven days the word of Yahweh came to me saying.’

The ‘seven days’ having passed God again came to Ezekiel with His solemn word, to remind him that he had been made a watchman to Israel (compare Hab 2:1. See also Isa 56:10; Jer 6:17; Hos 9:8). The task of the watchman was to keep awake and give warning of approaching danger, and to act for the preservation of those over whom he watched.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Ezekiel’s Charge as a Watchman Over Israel In Eze 3:16-21 we have the Lord’s charge to Ezekiel as a watchman over His people Israel. His duty was to tell the people what he saw and heard from the Lord. Immediately after this charge God is going to give Ezekiel prophecies of the impending judgment upon Judah (Eze 3:22 to Eze 24:27) as well as seven nations (Eze 25:1 to Eze 32:32). These are the words of warning that Ezekiel is to deliver to Israel. And at the end of these prophecies, the Lord restates His divine charge to Ezekiel as a watchman over Israel (Eze 33:7).

Eze 33:7, “So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Eze 3:16 And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Ver. 16. And it came to pass at the end of seven days. ] Probably on the Sabbath day, that day of grace, and opportunity of holiness. God glorifieth his free grace in coming to his offending prophet, as the physician doth to his sick patient, and by setting him to work again, sealing up his love to him: like as he also did to the eleven apostles, by sending them abroad to preach the gospel, after that they had so basely deserted him at his apprehension, and death upon the cross.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze 3:16-21

16At the end of seven days the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 17Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me. 18When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die’, and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 19Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself. 20Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I place an obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. 21However, if you have warned the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; and you have delivered yourself.

Eze 3:17 I have appointed you a watchman This is expanded in Ezekiel 33. It is a concept used often in the prophets (cf. Isa 56:10; Jer 6:17; Hos 9:8). Remember the prophets functioned as God’s covenant enforcers for the Mosaic covenant. Israel’s obedience determined her destiny. The prophets reminded Israel of the consequences of disobedience (cf. Deuteronomy 27-28). How the people responded to the prophets’ message (i.e., repentance or hardness) determined their future.

Eze 3:18-19 This is a major theological truth of both Jeremiah and Ezekiel, which deals with individual responsibility. The full theological discussion is in Ezekiel 18, 33.

Eze 3:18 You shall surely die This is a Qal INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE and a Qal IMPERFECT of the same VERB (BDB 559, KB 562), which denotes emphasis. In this setting it refers to physical death.

SPECIAL TOPIC: Where Are the Dead?

but his blood I will require at your hand Being called to serve God is a great honor, but it also carries great responsibilities. If I know God’s message and do not speak, it brings spiritual consequences, as does ignoring the message once given (cf. Eze 3:20; Eze 33:6; Eze 33:8).

The term blood (BDB 196) is a metaphor of death. The ancients knew that as the blood flowed away, so too, life. Therefore, the life was in the blood (cf. Gen 9:5-6; Lev 17:11; Lev 17:14).

Eze 3:20 a righteous man

SPECIAL TOPIC: RIGHTEOUSNESS

I place an obstacle before him God tests all those who belong to Him (cf. Gen 22:1; Exo 15:25; Exo 16:4; Exo 20:20; Deu 8:2; Deu 8:16; Deu 13:3; Jdg 2:22; 2Ch 32:31; Mat 4:1; Heb 12:5-13).

Ezekiel uses the metaphor of a stone or obstacle placed on the road (i.e., life’s path) as a way of denoting judgment (cf. Jer 6:21). The fact that God tests humans demands that humans have a God-given free will (cf. Gen 1:26-27). If there is no personal responsibility there can be no ethical consequences! The interpersonal relationship desired by God of His human creatures demands a free will.

Ezekiel also emphasizes an individual aspect to faith and obedience that is unique in the prophets who usually address national Israel (cf. Eze 3:20-21; Eze 14:12-20; Eze 18:5-32; Eze 33:12-20).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Eze 3:16-21

THE WATCHMAN’S RESPONSIBILITY (Eze 3:16-21)

Eze 3:16-21

“And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thy hand. Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth no sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning; and thou hast delivered thy soul.”

“Wicked man shall die in his iniquity … he shall die in his sin …” (Eze 3:18; Eze 3:20). “This warning that the sinner would die had a purely temporal reference,” because, “As far as we can see, Ezekiel had little or no concept of a resurrection, still less of eternal life. Such a comment as this is unacceptable, because it limits the meaning of God’s Word to what the commentator supposes the inspired writer had in mind. These words were not the words of Ezekiel, but the words of God; and the arbitrary judgment of any man should not be allowed to restrict their meaning to what the arbitrary judge supposes to have been the conviction of the prophet through whom God spoke. This type of erroneous commentary must be guarded against continually as having no validity whatever.

“I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel …” (Eze 3:17). This figurative use of “watchman” was used of Jeremiah’s work (Jer 6:17), and is also found in Hab 2:1. Likewise, Christian elders are said to “watch” for the souls of their members (Heb 13:17).

The statement here that a righteous man who turns from his righteousness will die in his sins makes Calvinists very nervous; and Feinberg warned against using this passage to teach the possibility of apostasy; but nothing is any more unreasonable, unprovable, or unlikely than the old cliche that, “Once saved, always saved!” Angels sinned and lost their place in heaven; an apostle (Judas) fell from his place, which was taken by another; and Paul even warned the Galatians that, “Ye are fallen away from grace” (Gal 5:4); and that did not mean that, “They had abandoned the basis of grace for works of their own, as Feinberg thought, but that, they had abandoned reliance upon the work of faith for reliance upon the works of the Law of Moses! The great warning of 1Co 10:12 is a total fraud unless there is genuine danger of falling for every Christian who ever lived. “Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall.”

Nor is the old Calvinistic excuse that, “In case a Christian or the Old Testament follower of God should fall away, he was never actually saved anyway, being merely a hypocrite all the time!” Feinberg honored this false cliche as follows.

“From the context of this passage and the general teaching of the Scripture, we must conclude that “the righteous person” of this chapter was not one who had the root of regeneration, but was righteous in outward appearance and deed only.”

The only thing wrong with such a comment is that it contradicts the sacred text which speaks of “a righteous man,” not a hypocrite, nor a “pretended” righteous man, but a “righteous man.”

There is, however, a legitimate softening of what is written here in the understanding of the passage by Keil.

“To turn oneself from his righteousness” denotes the formal falling away from the path of righteousness, not mere “stumbling or sinning from weakness.”

We believe Keil’s observation here is correct, because it is proved by the example of Peter who even denied the Lord but was nevertheless retained in the apostleship. It is never the making of a mistake, however serious, that results in the falling from grace on the part of a Christian, but a deliberate forsaking of the way of truth.

One final word about the possibility of such a fall is that of the following passage.

“As touching those who once were enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and powers of the age to come, and then fall away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance” (Heb 6:4-5).

It would be absolutely impossible to designate a true Christian any more explicitly than this is done in the first four lines of this passage; and yet the possibility of such a true Christian’s falling away is dramatically stated.

The dramatic new light from this portion of the Old Testament is seen in the shift of emphasis from the Israelite conception of salvation as applicable to their nation, to that of its being the concern of every single individual.

“The passage anticipates the great moral principle of Divine government (Ezekiel 18) that each man is individually responsible for his own actions, and that he will be judged by these and these alone.” People are never to be saved as nations, groups, races, or as any other classification, but as individuals.

“And I lay a stumblingblock before him …” (Eze 3:20). This cannot mean that God tempts any person whomsoever, because, “God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man” (Jas 1:13). “The expression here means that the temptations of the righteous are under God’s providential control.”

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Reciprocal: Jer 1:4 – the word

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Eze 3:16. The special message from the Lord came to Ezekiel at the end of the seven days mentioned in the preceding verse. The Lord seems to have respected the feelings of his prophet and did not disturb him for a period.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Eze 3:16-19. And at the end of seven days During which time the prophet had sufficient opportunity to observe their manners and prevailing vices; the word of the Lord came to me Informing me more particularly what my office was, and what the duty of that office. Son of man, I have made thee a watchman, &c. Prophets have the title of watchmen given them; because, like watchmen placed on towers to discern and give notice of any dangers that may be approaching, they, by their prophetical spirit, were enabled to foresee the evils coming upon the ungodly, and were bound to give people timely notice, that they might avoid them by true repentance and reformation. When I say By the threatenings of my word, or by my spirit exciting thee to give seasonable and necessary reproofs and warnings; unto the wicked Any wicked person whatever, poor or rich, mean or mighty. Thou shalt surely die Both temporally and eternally, unless thy sincere repentance prevent this destruction; and thou givest him not warning As thy office indispensably requires thee to do; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity Shall depart this life in a state of sin and guilt, and be condemned to those punishments to which temporal death translates sinners; for his ignorance will not procure him impunity. But his blood will I require at thy hand Thou shalt be accountable for the loss of his soul, Just as a mans blood is laid to the charge of him who is any way accessory to his death. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not But still go on in his trespasses, unawakened and unreformed; he shall die, but thou hast delivered thy soul Thou shalt be clear from the guilt of being accessory to his destruction.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Eze 3:16-21. The Pastoral Charge.At the end of the week he receives another Divine message, this time of a more explicit kind and unaccompanied by vision. His task is now defined as that of a watchman. As it is the watchmans business to detect and give warning of danger, so it is the prophets business to warn individual men of the coming catastrophe which he himself so clearly sees. It is not enough to warn the crowd: he must deal personally with the individuals good and bad, who compose the crowd, and warn them solemnly, each and all, the good no less than the badthe bad to turn from his evil way, and the good to persist to the end without swerving in the good way; for the destiny of men will be determined by the character and conduct they exhibit when the hour of judgment strikes.

This is a passage of great importance, emphasizing the idea of individual responsibility but applying it more particularly to the calling of the prophet or preacher. There is a sense in which he is responsible for the souls of his hearers; and if one of them dies unwarned, then the prophet is his murderer. For the first time in Hebrew history the prophet becomes a pastor; he has the care of souls.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

5. Ezekiel’s role in Israel 3:16-21

This section describes God’s formal induction of Ezekiel into the prophetic office in legal language designed to impress his pastoral accountability on him (cf. Jer 6:16-21).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

At the end of these seven days the Lord’s word came to Ezekiel. "The word of the Lord came to me" is a key phrase in Ezekiel occurring in 41 verses. It appears in Jeremiah nine times and in Zechariah twice.

"For no other prophet is there a record of such sustained contact with the divine word, the very essence of prophecy." [Note: Craigie, p. 22.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)