Ezekiel 33:5

_HE 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._ No JFB commentary on this verse....

1-9 The prophet is a watchman to the house of Israel. His business is to warn sinners of their misery and danger. He must warn the wicked to turn from their way, that they may live. If souls perish through his neglect of duty, he brings guilt upon himself. See what those have to answer for, who make excuses for sin, flatter sinners, and encourage them to believe they shall have peace, though they go on. How much wiser are men in their temporal than in their spiritual concerns! They set watchmen to guard their houses, and sentinels to warn of the enemies' approach, but where the everlasting happiness or misery of the soul is at stake, they are offended if ministers obey their Master's command, and give a faithful warning; they would rather perish, listening to smooth things....

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 33:1 If we may think of Ezekiel as compiling and arranging his own prophecies, we may think of him as returning, with something like a sense of relief, to his own special work as the watchman of the house of Israel. For upwards of two years the messages which it had been given him to write (how far they were in any sense published we have no means of knowing) in Ezekiel 25-32; had dealt exclusively with foreign nations. Now his own people are again the object of his care. He resumes his pastoral office at once for warning and consolation. From this point onwards, with the exception of the strange Meshech-Tubal episode in Ezekiel 38:1; Ezekiel 39:1; all is leading

HE HEARD THE SOUND OF THE TRUMPET,.... The alarm of the enemy being at hand, and so was inexcusable: AND TOOK NOT WARNING; which that gave him: HIS BLOOD SHALL BE UPON HIM; the fault shall be imputed to himself, and not another; and he must bear it himself, and answer for it, and not the watchman: BUT HE THAT TAKETH WARNING SHALL DELIVER HIS SOUL; who, hearing the sound of the trumpet, prepares for his own defence, and provides for his safety, he shall save his life, and not fall into the enemies' hands....

Ezekiel 33:1. _Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son 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: If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; Then 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._ In that case the watchman is quite clear; he has done his duty, he has sounded an alarm, and a fitting alarm, upon the trumpet; he has sounded it immediately, without loitering or delaying. He has not been afraid of giving uneasiness to men; he has done his duty, fearless of remark, and he is clear. Happy also is he in knowing that, by heeding the trumpet's warning blast, many have escaped the th

II. PREDICTIONS AFTER THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM (33-48) Chapter S 33-34 A. The Watchman, the False Shepherds, and the True Shepherd _ 1. The renewed call of Ezekiel as watchman (Ezekiel 33:1) _ 2. Ezekiel's mouth opened after Jerusalem's fall is announced (Ezekiel 33:21) 3. Message against the shepherds of Israel (Ezekiel 34:1) 4. The True Shepherd and restoration promised (Ezekiel 34:20) Ezekiel 33:1. The commission of Ezekiel as watchman corresponds to the same call in...

NEED OF A DEEPENED SENSE OF PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY (EZEKIEL 33), and this alike for himself and his hearers. EZEKIEL 33:1. He feels that he is responsible for them, and that they are responsible for themselves. He compares himself, as once before (Ezekiel 3:16), to a watchman whose duty is to raise the alarm in case of impending danger; so it is his, in view of the crisis, to care for and warn individual souls. EZEKIEL 33:10. But the people are despondent, stupefied by the news of the fall of the city (Ezekiel 33:21), sullenly at last admitting their guilt, but believing themselves to lie under the i

SOUL. Hebrew. NEPHESH. App-13....

The illustration duty of the watchman in war....

BUT HE THAT TAKETH WARNING— _But had he taken warning, he had delivered his soul._...