Ezekiel 3:17

Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel,.... Not in a civil sense, a watchman of a town or city, or of the whole country, but in an ecclesiastical sense.

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. I have made thee a watchman.

See . I; the person that appeared to him, . It is the great and glorious One. Made thee; appointed by commission; I have qualified by gifts, I have actually sent thee forth, &c. Watchman; night and day to observe whether the enemy approach, and to give notice on pain of death. Hear the word at my mouth: see . Give them warning; I will give thee notice, thou art then to give warning unto them, and let them know it comes from me, and in mercy, to prevent their final ruin. Be not as a prognosticator, as one that consults the stars, and foretells from the conjunction of them, but own the things thou art to warn them of as from my mouth.

Ezekiel 3:17 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.Ver. 17. Son of man.] So Christ constantly calleth this prophet, to keep him humble. See Ezekiel 2:1. I have made thee a watchman.] I, who am the chief Bishop and Shepherd of souls, have set thee in thy watch tower, with charge to look well to my flock with golden fleeces, precious souls, that none be lost for want of warning. See therefore that thou be Episcopus, not Aposcopus; an overseer, not a byseer; a watcher, not a sleeper: Somnoleatia Pastorum est gaudium luporum. Shall the shepherds sleep whenas the wolves watch and worry the flock? Herodotus telleth of one Euenius, a city shepherd, who for sleeping and allowed the wolf to enter the fold and kill sixty sheep, had his eyes pulled out. God threateneth the like punishment upon sleepy watchmen, idol shepherds. Therefore, hear the word at my mouth.] Who am the arch-prophet, the only doctor of my Church; admonish them therefore in my words, foresee and foretell them their danger in my name and stead. See Habakkuk 2:1 2 Corinthians 5:20. Ephrem., Tract. de Tim. Dei. Lib. ix.

Verse 17. I have made thee a watchman] The care and welfare of all this people I have laid on thee. Thou must watch for their safety, preach for their edification, and pray for their eternal welfare. And that thou mayest be successful, receive the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. God is particularly jealous lest any words but his own be taught for Divine doctrines. He will not have human creeds, no more than TRADITIONS, taught instead of his own word. No word can be successful in the salvation of sinners but that which comes from God. Every minister of the Gospel should be familiar with his Maker by faith and prayer; God will then hold communion with his spirit; otherwise, what he preaches will be destitute of spirit and life, and his hackneyed texts and sermons, instead of being the bread from heaven, will be like the dry mouldy Gibeonitish crusts.

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. Isaiah 21:6, “Thus saith the Lord, Go set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.” Jeremiah 6:17, “Also I set watchmen over you and said, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet, but they said, We will not hearken;” Habakkuk 2:1; comp. 2 Kings 9:17-20. The appointment of Ezekiel as watchman was not a change upon his original appointment as “prophet” (ch. Ezekiel 2:5), it is only a more precise definition of it. The term, which had already been used by Jer. (Jeremiah 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. Ezekiel 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.

Watchman - The priests and ministers of the Lord were often so called. Ezekiel is especially distinguished by this title Ezekiel 33:7.

17-21. Jehovah uses a figure to describe the prophet’s duty with which doubtless Ezekiel was well acquainted (Jeremiah 6:17). A silent prophet is like the watchman who, sleeping at his post, fails to warn the city of danger.