CHAPTER 33 Ezekiel 33:1-33 . RENEWAL OF EZEKIELS COMMISSION, NOW THAT HE IS AGAIN TO ADDRESS HIS COUNTRYMEN, AND IN A NEW TONE. Heretofore his functions had been chiefly threatening; from this point, after the evil had got to its worst in the overthrow of Jerusalem, the consolatory element preponderates. 2. to the children of thy people--whom he had been forbidden to address from Ezekiel 24:26 on that day a fugitive will come to tell you the news. 27 At that time your mouth will be opened; you will speak with him and will no longer be silent. So you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the LORD. , till Jerusalem was overthrown, and the escaped came with tidings of the judgment being completed. So now, in Ezekiel 33:21 , the tidings of the fact having arrived, he opens his heretofore closed lips to the Jews. In the interval he had prophesied as to foreign nations. The former part of the chapter, at Ezekiel 33:2-20 , seems to have been imparted to Ezekiel on the evening previous ( Ezekiel 33:22 ), being a preparation for the latter part ( Ezekiel 33:23-33 ) imparted after the tidings had come. This accounts for the first part standing without intimation of the date, which was properly reserved for the latter part, to which the former was the anticipatory introduction [FAIRBAIRN]. watchman-- Ezekiel 33:1-9 exhibit Ezekiels office as a spiritual watchman; so in Ezekiel 3:16-21 ; only here the duties of the earthly watchman (compare 2 Samuel 18:24 While David was sitting between the inner and outer gates, the watchman went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall. As he looked out, he saw a man running alone. 25 The watchman called out to the king and reported it. The king said, If he is alone, he must have good news. And the man came closer and closer. , 2 Kings 9:17 When the lookout standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehus troops approaching, he called out, I see some troops coming. Get a horseman, Joram ordered. Send him to meet them and ask, Do you come in peace? ) are detailed first, and then the application is made to the spiritual watchmans duty (compare Isaiah 21:6-10 This is what the Lord says to me: Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees. 7 When he sees chariots with teams of horses, riders on donkeys or riders on camels, let him be alert, fully alert. 8 And the lookout shouted, Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; every night I stay at my post. 9 Look, here comes a man in a chariot with a team of horses. And he gives back the answer: Babylon has fallen, has fallen! All the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground! 10 O my people, crushed on the threshing floor, I tell you what I have heard from the LORD Almighty, from the God of Israel. , Hosea 9:8 The prophet, along with my God, is the watchman over Ephraim, yet snares await him on all his paths, and hostility in the house of his God. , Habakkuk 2:1 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint). A man of their coasts is a man specially chosen for the office out of their whole number. So Judges 18:2 So the Danites sent five warriors from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and explore it. These men represented all their clans. They told them, Go, explore the land. The men entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night. , five men from their coasts; also the Hebrew of Genesis 47:2 He chose five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh.; implying the care needed in the choice of the watchman, the spiritual as well as the temporal ( Acts 1:21 Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from Johns baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection. 23 So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. 24 Then they prayed, Lord, you know everyones heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen 25 to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs. 26 Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles. , 1 Timothy 5:22 Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure). 3. the sword--invaders. An appropriate illustration at the time of the invasion of Judea by Nebuchadnezzar. 4. blood . . . upon his own head--metaphor from sacrificial victims, on the heads of which they used to lay their hands, praying that their guilt should be upon the victims. 6. his iniquity--his negligence in not maintaining constant watchfulness, as they who are in warfare ought to do. The thing signified here appears from under the image. 7. I have set thee a watchman--application of the image. Ezekiels appointment to be a watchman spiritually is far more solemn, as it is derived from God, not from the people. 8. thou shalt surely die--by a violent death, the earnest of everlasting death; the qualification being supposed, if thou dost not repent. 9. Blood had by this time been shed ( Ezekiel 33:21 ), but Ezekiel was clear. 10. be upon us--that is, their guilt remain on us. pine away in them--if we suffer the penalty threatened for them in Ezekiel 24:23 You will keep your turbans on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or weep but will waste away because of your sins and groan among yourselves. , according to the law ( Leviticus 26:39 Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their fathers sins they will waste away). how should we . . . live?--as Thou dost promise in Ezekiel 33:5 (compare Ezekiel 37:11 Then he said to me: Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off. , Isaiah 49:14 But Zion said, The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.) 11. To meet the Jews cry of despair in Ezekiel 33:10 , Ezekiel here cheers them by the assurance that God has no pleasure in their death, but that they should repent and live ( 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance). A yearning tenderness manifests itself here, notwithstanding all their past sins; yet with it a holiness that abates nothing of its demands for the honor of Gods authority. Gods righteousness is vindicated as in Ezekiel 3:18-21 and Ezekiel 18:1-32 , by the statement that each should be treated with the closest adaptation of Gods justice to his particular case. 12. not fall . . . in the day that he turneth--( 2 Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.; see Ezekiel 3:20 Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. , 18:24 But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked man does, will he live? None of the righteous things he has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will die). 15. give again that he had robbed--( Luke 19:8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount. ) statutes of life--in the obeying of which life is promised ( Leviticus 18:5 Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD). If the law has failed to give life to man, it has not been the fault of the law, but of mans sinful inability to keep it ( Romans 7:10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. , Galatians 3:21 Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law). It becomes life-giving through Christs righteous obedience to it ( 2 Corinthians 3:6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant--not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life). 17. The way of the Lord--The Lords way of dealing in His moral government.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 15:53:22 +0000
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