The Watchman on the Wall

Ezekiel 33:1–9 King James Version

¹Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, ²Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: ³If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; ⁴Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. ⁵He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. ⁶But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. ⁷So 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. ⁸When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. ⁹Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; and he turn not from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

The watchman in Ezekiel's day

Cities in Bible lands were walled, with towers over the gates. A watchman stood on the wall or in the tower and looked out across the country. When he saw riders or an army coming, he called out or sounded the trumpet, the ram's horn, so the people in the fields could run inside and the gates could be shut. Scripture shows the watchman at work in the gate tower at Mahanaim (2 Samuel 18:24–27) and on the tower of Jezreel (2 Kings 9:17). His whole duty was to see clearly and to sound the alarm in time.

Ezekiel was a priest carried captive to Babylon with King Jehoiachin about 597 B.C. He lived among the exiles by the river Chebar, and in the fifth year of that captivity the word of the LORD came to him (Ezekiel 1:1–3). God first named him a watchman then (Ezekiel 3:17). Chapter 33 renews that charge at the turning point of the book: a few verses later a man who escaped from Jerusalem arrives and says, “The city is smitten” (Ezekiel 33:21). The walls of Jerusalem had failed. The word of God had not.

What the passage teaches

The charge cuts two ways. The people who hear the trumpet and take no warning answer for themselves (verses 4–5). The watchman who sees the sword and stays silent answers to God (verse 6). God does not hold the watchman to account for how people respond. He holds him to account for being faithful to sound the warning.

The warning is not given in anger. In the same chapter the LORD says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11). A true warning is mercy. It comes in time, it is plain, and it points to a way of escape: turning from sin to God, and walking in holiness of life.

The New Testament carries the same charge. Ministers “watch for your souls, as they that must give account” (Hebrews 13:17), and every believer is told to watch and be ready for the coming of the Lord (Matthew 24:42).

Related verses

• 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.”
• Isaiah 62:6 “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,”
• Habakkuk 2:1 “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.”
• Amos 3:6 “Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid?”
• Hebrews 13:17 “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.”
• Matthew 24:42 “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.”

Why we chose it

Watchman News exists to keep God's people informed and watchful. We report faithfully what is happening in the church, in revival meetings and conventions, among believers who suffer persecution, in Israel and Jerusalem, and in the wider world, so that believers can pray with understanding and be ready.

We are not prophets, and we do not claim new revelation. We try to be good watchmen: to look carefully, to tell the truth plainly, to keep news and opinion apart, and to measure the times by the Word of God in the King James Version. We would rather sound a sober, accurate report than a loud and careless one. When we get something wrong, we correct it.

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