Watchman in Ezekiel

Dani Treweek (NT3)

SUMMARY
The relationship between Luke-Acts has long been the subject of much
discussion. Whilst many scholars have scrutinised the stylistic and linguistic
similarities and differences between the two volumes (often preferring to
separate the two books) little attention has been payed to their narrative unity
and sitz im leben. It is examining the formal features of both, as well as the
thematic and narrative links, that it becomes clear that the author originally
wrote both of these volumes as one united work which was later split into the
gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. Reading them as one work (ie. As Luke-
Acts) has implications for how we understand the Lukan purpose, structure
and theology.

“And at the end of seven days, the word of the LORD came to me:“Son of man, I have
made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth,
you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you
give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save
his life, that wicked person shall die for* his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your
hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his
wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. Again, if a
righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a
stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die
for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his
blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he
does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered
your soul.”” (Ezekiel 3:16-21 ESV)

Problems with Watchman of Chp 3

- Relationship between the watchman passage and the context

o Stands outside his commissioning which ends at 3:15
Second commissioning? When?
Second stage in his commissioning?

- The individual focus rather than a national (corporate) focus & suggestion of
evading judgement if proper response made
o Marked contrast from before where Ezk’s ministry has
National focus
Irrevocable judgement

- Ezekiel’s divinely imposed dumbness

o Strange that he is made watchman, told to wanr people and then
told to close himself up and is made dumb!
 Has to do mainly with how watchman passage relates to
what follows

Possible resolutions?
• Watchman passage part of his initial call to be a prophet which lasts for
3 chapters but has two distinct stages
- Stage 1 (1:1-3:15) Ezk’s recpeption of the content of his
ministry – message of judgement on Jerusalem
highlights Ezk’s ministry to nation as a whole
judgement is inescapable
central component is eating of scroll
- Stage 2 (3:16-27)
Responsibility to warn inidviduals
judgement possibly evadable
Spirit (again) enters him and sets him on his feet
Two speeches frame 2nd encounter with glory of Yahweh
which again
• 1st establishes role of watchman
• 2nd how to discharge that role (by symbolic silence
broken only when Yahweh gives him oracle and
opens his mouth).
- How he functions in chp 4-5. Symbolic acts in
silence and then message of judgement
- But content seems much more related to
corporate rather than individuals
- So it is unclear

• Watchman commissioning belongs chronologically after fall of

Jerusalem but put here for thematic reasons
o There is a 2nd watchman passage in Ch 33 after fall of Jerusalem
announced
Marking a transition to new phase of Ezk ministry?
• Offers hope to individuals who heed the warning of
the fall of Jerusalem
o Included at beginning as well for a complete account of both
aspects of Ezk’s commissioning
o Means that the watchman call of Chp 3 is isolated from what
follows (which is the beginning of the ministry he was called to in
1:1-3:15)
First stage continues until Jerusalem falls and the dumbness
is lifted
o Problem Ezk’s commissioning as watchman explicityly said to
have occurred 7 days after end of first stage of call
 Ezek. 3:16 And at the end of seven days, the word of the LORD
came to me:
Means that we either have to disregard this specific mention
or not relegate watchman till later in his ministry

• 3rd possibility Part of initial call but highlights particular ministry that
does not become promiment till after fall of Jerusalem?

Ezekiel the Watchman

• Metaphor not original to Ezekiel
o Hosea (8th Century) watchman for my God over Ephraim (Hos
9:8)
o Jeremiah (6th Century) I raised up a watchman for you (Jer 6:17)
• Function is to warn Israelites
o But only when he hears a word from Yahweh’s mouth
Arrival of God is the danger about which people need to be
warned
So the attacking foe is also the friend who wants his
‘enemies’ to escape!
• Watchman will address individuals pastoral role giving individual
attention to those under his care
o Distinctive in Ezekiel: comes our particularly in Ch 33ff
Fall of Jerusalem does not signal end of his ministry
But the beginning of a new and important stage of it
o Prophets have characteristically addressed
king as head and representative of whole nation
Nation as a whole
o Now Ezk called to address individuals in a pastoral sense
Jerusalem has fallen, nation is decimated
• Must now warn and admonish individuals