Ezekiel 33:8

When 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. WHEN I SAY UNTO THE WICKED. O WICKED MAN, THOU SHALT SURELY DIE - by a violent death, the earnest of everlasting death; the qualification being supposed, 'if thou dost not repent.'...

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

WHEN I SAY UNTO THE WICKED, O WICKED MAN,.... Order the prophet to say so to him, and as follows; Ezekiel 3:18....

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

WICKED. lawless. Hebrew. _rasha_ '. App-44. iniquity. Hebrew 'avah App-44....

Similar to the part of the watchman is that of the prophet. Cf. ch. Ezekiel 3:17 _seq_. The evil, corresponding to the sword in the illustration, in regard to which the prophet is to warn the people, is left undefined. As in the case of all the prophets, however, the turning point in the fortunes of the exiles appeared to Ezek. of the nature of a divine interposition and judgment, and it is this general idea that colours his language. Except in the two or three passages, Ezekiel 13:5; Ezekiel 30:3, cf. Ezekiel 38:19, the day of the Lord is not referred to in Ezek....

DISCOURSE: 1111 OFFICE AND RESPONSIBILITY OF MINISTERS Ezekiel 33:8. _When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shall 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 thy hand_. THE office of a minister is the most important and most difficult of any that we can be called to sustain. It is the most important, because the salvation of multitudes depends upon it: and it is the most difficult, because it requires such self-denying habits, and spiritual affections. The responsibility also that attaches to it is such, that no man would dare to take it upon himself, if he had not a promise of peculiar assistance in the discharge of it. Ministers are the messengers of God to men: to them they must faithfully declare his whole counsel: however painful the truths may be which they are