Watchman Appointed 

Jerusalem Judged (Ezekiel 33-39)

At the writing of this prophecy, Jerusalem had fallen. Most had been slain while others were taken into captivity in Babylon. The nation, as it had been known, was no more; it would need to be rebuilt. It would need new leadership, a new wall of protection, and a fresh outpouring of blessing. Those needs would be addressed and prophesied about between chapters 33-39. The nation would be reborn according to the prophetic word. 

• Ezekiel would be appointed the watchman of the nation (33).

• A true shepherd would begin to be the true guide to Israel (34).

• Enemies of Israel would be dealt with (35).

• The captives would be returned to their land (36-37).

• Israel would have her security restored (38-39).

Ezekiel's Mission as Watchman (1-9)

In Ezekiel 3:16-21, Yahweh calls Ezekiel to be His watchman to the nation of Judah. The fall of Jerusalem did not bring Ezekiel to the end of his ministry, but his ministry was going to be renewed. His primary calling was as a watchman to the nation. Ezekiel was going to be reminded here of the seriousness of that call. 

After the fall of Babylon, the exiles realized Ezekiel’s calling as a prophet and began to honor him as their watchman in their own words.

The primary responsibility of a watchman was to warn. Ezekiel was himself given a warning. He was to beware of the honor of man. 

Honor can be alluring. Now that he was given honor by the people, he was not to become slack in his role, nor was he to be seduced by his popularity. He was to beware of the temptation to keep quiet when Yahweh was speaking in order to keep his popularity. 

If Ezekiel were to see a sword or danger coming in the future, he would need to put his popularity at risk and warn the people anyway. He would need to be uncompromising and tell people what they might not want to hear. His sense of finally being honored by some at long last was not to compromise his prophetic integrity (1-2).

If he was to see danger, he was to sound the trumpet and warn the people (3). Those who heard the trumpet but didn't heed the warning would be accountable for their own demise. Those who heard the trumpet and heeded the warning would be saved (4-5).

However, if the watchman, Ezekiel, failed to sound the trumpet and the people were not warned and the sword or harm came and took a life, the person who died would be cleared of the sin of not responding to the danger coming. The watchman, Ezekiel, would be held accountable to God for the harm that came to those who lost their lives (6).

Ezekiel was not just made watchman by popular choice; he was appointed watchman by Yahweh. He was accountable to Yahweh and was called to speak the word of warning that Yahweh would speak into Ezekiel's ear (7).

If Ezekiel failed to warn, then those he failed to warn would still die. Yahweh was seeking to make it clear that Ezekiel would be accountable for any unnecessary death if the people were left unwarned (8).  

If Ezekiel did come to warn others of impending danger but those people paid no heed, then they would still reap what they had sown, and Ezekiel would not be responsible for their death (9).

The responsibility for souls is high when God puts a warning in the heart of a parent, leader, or pastor.

Ezekiel’s Message to the Captives (10-20) 

Ezekiel was then given a prophetic word for the captives and Judah at large. Here Yahweh explains some important points of theology. If a man does a righteous deed, it will not wipe out his responsibility for having done something wicked. No matter how good the righteous deed was, it will not make a future evil deed acceptable (10-11). No one can earn God's favor. 

The reverse is also true; when a wicked person turns to God for salvation, Yahweh’s grace will reach out and save. So a person’s righteousness will not save, nor will a person's wickedness destroy, but trust in Yahweh becomes the entire, consistent saving factor (12).

Ezekiel was to make it clear that past righteousness is never to be a point of confidence. To do something good and then assume righteous deeds cause Yahweh to turn His eye from sin would be utterly foolish.  

The theological point made by Ezekiel is clear: deeds do not save, nor do they destroy. Complete trust in Yahweh is the deciding factor (13).

Ezekiel then turned “his people” on their heads. If God announced destruction on the wicked for their wicked deeds, but they heeded Yahweh’s word and turned from their sins and addictions to do the right thing and gave their whole heart to Yahweh, then they could anticipate the potential of a different outcome. 

For example, if the wicked were to turn and fully trust Yahweh to the point of restoring something they took as a pledge for a debt, then none of the sins they had committed and none of their stealing would be remembered.  

When someone would go into debt, they would pledge something of value to the one who made them the loan. This would be a guarantee that they would pay back what they had borrowed. When the loan was paid off, sometimes, through some legal loophole or by violence, the one making the loan would retain the pledge and pervert justice. Yahweh told Ezekiel that when a person would return the pledge, no matter what it might cost to return the pledge, then that action would be considered an act of complete surrender to Yahweh. Yahweh would not remember the act of trying to steal the pledge in the first place (14-16).

Ezekiel anticipated Israel’s objection: Yahweh is not just; He is inconsistent and does not treat people according to what they have done. Ezekiel disagreed; he told Israel that they were inconsistent in the application of justice (17).

When the righteous become evil, they will ultimately pay for what they have done. This is a consistent law of sowing and reaping (18).  

When the wicked turn to Yahweh in complete trust, no matter what it might cost them, when they do what is relationally honoring and surrender fully to Yahweh, then the same person will escape judgment. This is completely consistent with not only sowing and reaping but also with the unchanging mercy of Yahweh (19).  

Each person is judged not according to past deeds or right or wrong, but according to the present heart of complete devotion to following Yahweh. When God judges, He judges souls for their present heart, not their past deeds (20).  

Ezekiel is prophesying what is common to all New Covenant grace in Christ, a few amazing verses here, in a prophetic manner, explaining what becomes clear in Christ.

Ezekiel’s Mouth Opened (21-22) 

A fugitive finally arrives in Babylon to the captivity where Ezekiel resides. If we use the date of January 4, 585 B.C., this event would have taken place some eighteen months after the fall of Jerusalem. It would seem it had taken eighteen months for a witness to the fall to arrive in Babylon at Ezekiel's residence. This does not mean they had not heard about the fall; it means this is their first reliable witness.  

Again, if we use here the specific date of January 15, 587 B.C., as to when the final siege of Jerusalem began, we can account for the days. Ezekiel's mouth had been shut and prevented from warning Judah anymore from that day, the day the siege began. It was the same day his wife died. He had heard of the imminent fall of Jerusalem, but it was eighteen months before he received an eyewitness report. From that day, the day of the siege, to the present day, Ezekiel had given his attention to warning the nations, writing chapters 25-32 (21).

Before the day the fugitive came from Jerusalem to the settlement of the Jews in Babylon, Ezekiel’s mouth was closed and he had ceased warning Israel for Yahweh. On the day the fugitive arrived, Ezekiel’s mouth was opened, and he was once again returned to prophesying to Judah. He was restored to being the watchman of Israel (22).

The Focus of the Watchman’s Ministry (23-28) 

Back in chapter two, verses three and following, Ezekiel was told that he was being sent to a rebellious people who were constantly going outside of or transgressing their covenant relationship with Yahweh. 

As Ezekiel is recommissioned to minister to Israel after the fall of Jerusalem, he is again told what kind of people he would be ministering to. 

The fall of the nation, the city, and the Temple did change those in captivity, and it changed those who were coming into captivity from Jerusalem. They were not necessarily rebellious, but they were a people still not completely devoted to Yahweh (23-24).

1. To the Israelites in the Land

   The fall of Jerusalem also created a new group of people—those who were going to be allowed to stay in the land of Israel. To those, Ezekiel also had a word from Yahweh. 

   The word came to Ezekiel, and he was told that those who had survived and lived at that time in Palestine did not accurately evaluate the promise of Yahweh. They assumed Abraham had been made a promise by God, and they, being his children, had a divine right to possess the land (25).   

   Ezekiel was directed to ask some questions of Israel:

   • Could they eat their meat in lustful haste like a band of idolaters?

   • Could they justify their lustful ways by worshiping idols?

   • Could they sacrifice their children to those idols and at the same time assume the land had been given to them to possess without conditions? (25) 

   These Israelites had in general:

   • Used violence to advance their greed 

   • Degraded each other to satisfy their lusts

   • Swapped marriage partners

   Did they still expect the land would be theirs without conditions? Their sense of entitlement to the land was without foundation, and they were yet in need of humbling (26).

   Those who continued to live in the land were then given a word. They could imagine themselves all hidden away among the ruins, out of the sight of anyone who would care, but the sword was coming. Wild beasts were roaming around to catch some who had ventured off alone in the fields, and others who had found some shelter to hide in would come down with disease (27).

   Yahweh was not done with Judah until He had removed from them their smug sense of entitlement and pride. The mountains or the government of Israel would be desolated and leave the nation unsafe to travel through (28).

   Israel was given the land to possess, but not without conditions. They were to remain wholly devoted to Yahweh, and the degrading and shameful sins driven by their lust had caused the land God had given them to be destroyed. All of this was being done in great mercy so Israel could again return and know Yahweh as God (29).

   2. To the Israelites in Babylon

   Ezekiel then begins to warn the exiles who were being kept captive in Babylon. As a group, they were unusually eager and even encouraged each other to go to church, so to speak. They were constantly saying, “Let's go listen to Ezekiel preach. Let's go hear what Yahweh has to say through him” (30).

   They would then come and sit before Ezekiel as though they were a people with hearts fully given to Yahweh. They would hear what Yahweh had to say, but they would not do what Yahweh was calling them to do. Their love for gain was their real god; they could listen but not practice. They loved making money more than they loved Yahweh. They were expressing devotion to Yahweh with their lips, but their hearts remained full of greed. They wanted ease of life more than they wished for Yahweh (31).

   Ezekiel's words were life, a beautiful song. They loved the melody of his storytelling, they loved the rhythm of his depth of insight, and they loved the harmony of his passion. 

   His preaching entertained them because it actually appealed to their lusts. He was so good at oration that his voice was like listening to music, but they could not do what he was saying. It was and is possible to be entertained by preaching and not behaviorally and spiritually changed by it (32).

   The only way the Israelites were going to learn that Ezekiel’s preaching was not mere words was when his words of prophecy came to pass (33).

   After the fall, Israel may not have been rebellious, but they were yet quite deceived. One group of them thought God's promises were mandated without conditions of relationship to Him. Others assumed his words were special enough to listen to but not essential enough to be obeyed. Ezekiel was called to be a prophet and watchman to these survivors who still had much to learn.