The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 178

EXPOSITION. asks himself whether he has acted on CHAPTER XXXIII. the Wll1'Iling which was borne in on his Ver. 1.-If we may think of Ezekiel as mind at the very beginning of his mission. compiling and arranging bis own prophecies, Has he sounded the trumpet? Hae he we rn:i.y think of him as returning, with warned the people of the destruction that is sometiling like a sense of relief, to bis own coming on them? The outward ima"ery special work as the watchman of the house vanishes in ver. 7. It is of no Cbaltlean of Israel. For upwards of two years the invader that the prophet had to give per- messages which it had been given him to sonal and direct warning, but of each man's write (how far they were in any sense own special sin which was bringing ruin on published we have no means of knowing) in himself and on his country. eh. xxv.-xxxii. had dealt exclusively with Ver. 10.-Thus ye speak, saying, etc. At foreign nations. Now his own people are the earlier stage the prophet had to contend again the object of his care. He resumes with scorn, incredulity, derision (eh. xii. 22), his pastoral office at once for warning and They trusted in the promises of the fo.lse consolation. From this point onwards, with prophets ( oh. xiii. 6). They laid to their the exception of tho strange Meshech-Tubal soul the flattering unction that they were episode in eh. xxxviii., xxxix., e.11 is lee.ding suffering, not for their own sine, but for the onwards to the final vision of the rebuilt sins of their fathers (eh. xviii. 2). Now temple, and the redistributed land of Israel, they stand face to face with the fulfilment and through them to the times of the Mes- of the prophet's words. They cherish no sianic restoration. No date is given here hopes, and they make no excuses. They for the word of the Lord which now co.me have fallen into the abyss of despair. Ad- to him, but it mny, perhaps be inferred, mitting their own sin and the righteousness from vers. 21, 22, that. it was immediately of their punishment, docs not the very before the arrive.I of the messenger who admission exclude hope? Who co.n bring brought the tidings that JerUBruem was life to those that are thus dead in trespa.ssee taken. In tile ecstatic state indicated by l\nd sine? The parallelism wilh Lov. xxvi. "the Iumd of the Lord" he knew that some 39-4:2 is so striking that it oan scarcely be great chnngo was coming, thnt ho had e. new accidental, message to deliver, a new part to plCLy. Ver. 11.-Say unto them, etc. To meet Ver. 2.-Spea.k to the children of thy that despair the prophet has to fo.ll back on people. (On the force of the possessive the truth which he had proclaimed onca pronoun, see noto on oh. iii. I.) The formu!CL before (oh, xviii. 32). He must appear as id carried on throughout the chapter (vers. 12, uttering a messnge of pnrdon resting on the 17, 30). Set him for their watohman. Eze- unchanging oho.meter of the great Absolver. kiel falls baok upon the thought of eh. iii. Now, ne ever, it is true that he willeth not 17, but the image is expanded with charnc- tile death of the wicked, that o.ll punishment toristio fulness. The function of the watch- (in tliis world, o.t least) is mcCLnt to lead to man, iu which he sees a parable of hie own repentance, and that for those wilo repont office, is to stand upon his tower (2 Sam. there is the hope of restoration and of life. xviii. 24:, 25; 2 Kings ix. 17; Hl\b. ii. 1), to No rightoouenese in tlie past o.vo.ils against keep his eye on the distant horizon, and as the trangrossion of the present (ver. 12); but soon as the clouds of dust or the gleam of then also no wiokedues. of tilo past prevails armour gives notice of the approach of the to shut out the penitont's claim to pardon. enemy, to sound the trumpet of alarm (Amos As a mo.n is o.t any given moment, when iii. 6; Hos. viii. 1 ; Jar. iv. 5; vi 1), tlio.t the judgment comes on him, so is he denlt men may not be taken unawares. If he with. In some sense, as in ver. 13, tile disoharge that duty foithfully, then, o.s in righteousness of the past mny become o. oh. iii. 17-21, the blood of those that perish stumbling-blook. The mo.u mo.y trust in through their own negligence shall rest 011 it, and be off his guCLrd, ceasing to watch their own head. nnd prny, and so tho tempto.tiou mo.y Vers. 6-9.-But if the watchman, oto. prevail. The words imply what we might almost call Ver. 15.-lf the wioked restore the pledge. the agony of eelf-aoouaation. 'fhe prophet In eh. xviii. 7, 12, 16, this and ite opposite  184 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [cm. xrxm.1-381