17-3-22, Ezekiel 3:16-27

Seven-day periods were common in Israel. For example, mourning for the dead continued for seven days (Gen 50:10; Num 19:11). Perhaps Ezekiel was thinking about the death of his former life as a priest and his call to a new life as God’s prophet. Seven days also was the time of consecration for a priest (Lev 8:1–33). Perhaps this was the consecration of Ezekiel the priest to his new ministry as priest-prophet.

At the end of the seven days of silence, God commissioned Ezekiel to be “a watchman to the house of Israel.” Every fortified city had a sentinel whose task it was to warn the citizens of approaching enemies. What an appropriate figure to describe the work of Ezekiel. Whenever God spoke a threatening word against Israel, Ezekiel was to warn his countrymen of the impending danger.

When seven days elapsed, God appeared and began giving Ezekiel the words he was to deliver to the people. In chaps. 2–3 God had told the prophet repeatedly that he was to deliver divine words (2:4, 7; 3:4, 11), but he had not yet given him those words.

A watchman was a city employee appointed to be a lookout from some high vantage point such as a tower or the city wall. Such an office was extremely important because the safety of the entire population rested with the watchman. If a watchman failed in his duty to warn inhabitants of the town of impending attack, he was held personally responsible for any loss. God appointed Ezekiel as his watchman to warn Judah and Jerusalem of impending destruction.

When seven days elapsed, God appeared and began giving Ezekiel the words he was to deliver to the people. In chaps. 2–3 God had told the prophet repeatedly that he was to deliver divine words (2:4, 7; 3:4, 11), but he had not yet given him those words.

After seven days, Yahweh’s patience with Ezekiel’s disobedience ends and he ups the ante.

What was not spelled out before is now made clear: Ezekiel’s very life depends on whether he chooses to obey (even reluctantly) or continues to disobey. To drive the point home, Yahweh declares as a matter of fact that he had made him a watchman for the house of Israel. This divine appointment is, so far as Yahweh is concerned, irrevocable.

The use of the watchman metaphor is highly unusual. Yahweh not only appoints the watchman, it is he of whom the watchman warns! Yahweh is both the enemy and the one who provides the warning. Ezekiel is commissioned to act as a herald for the divine figure from chapter 1, as well as against that figure coming in judgment.

These verses focus on the prophet’s responsibility and accountability as God’s watchman. He was to warn the wicked of their sin and of impending judgment (v. 18). The responsibility for the message was then upon the wicked person who was warned. If the prophet failed the assignment, the wicked would be judged and the prophet also held responsible for failing to exercise his duty (vv. 19–21).

Indifference that fails to save a life is comparable to negligent homicide. The prophet would be guilty of murder by his failure to fulfill his calling. According to the law of retribution, he was liable for the loss of life payable by the forfeit of his own (Gen 9:5–7).

Ezekiel must decide whether he will turn toward Yahweh’s call and live, or disobey and die.

The question for Ezekiel is whether he will pay attention. Yahweh presses his demand by outlining four hypothetical cases: Ezekiel’s speaking or not speaking to the wicked and the righteous. The primary purpose in describing these cases is not to forecast responses to Ezekiel’s message. In the end, the response to Ezekiel’s message is irrelevant for his own obedience. The primary point is to Ezekiel himself: these words of Yahweh are an ultimatum.

Ezekiel’s disobedient silence has the effect of being a death warrant for those needing the warning and for himself as the one who could have helped but did not. The wicked person Yahweh mentions has no compunction about disregarding the covenant of Yahweh and acts in ways that flout its requirements.

Ezekiel is to pronounce warning to both the wicked and the righteous. These two categories form a merism, a figure of speech used to describe a whole by referring to its opposite extremes. This merism shows that Ezekiel is prohibited from drawing conclusions about who among his listeners is most in need of his message. The whole house of Israel is his audience; whether “wicked,” “righteous,” or someone in between is irrelevant. Ezekiel must be a watchman for all persons indiscriminately; he is not permitted to take his message only where it might have the greatest effect. Yahweh calls him to faithfulness, not fruitfulness.

The word “wicked” is frequently paired with similar terms in the Psalms: evil (5:4), those who forget Yahweh (9:17), those who hate the righteous (34:21), the enemy (55:3), unjust and cruel (71:4), deceitful (109:2), bloodthirsty men (139:19), and violent (140:4). It is the opposite of being meek (37:11), and righteous (37:21). To be wicked is to set one’s self against the covenant God and those whom he blesses while outwardly still appearing to be a member of the house of Israel (v. 17).

Notice that here, unlike what appears in 33:14–16, the option of the wicked person repenting at Ezekiel’s preaching is not mentioned.

The righteous person, on the other hand, fully embraces the covenant’s requirements in both the letter and the spirit (see comments at 18:5–9). “Righteous” reflects a legal judgment that a person has conformed to what is expected.

The stumbling block that Yahweh puts before him at first appears to suggest that Yahweh is responsible for making the righteous person turn from his righteousness. But this is not so. The righteous person has already turned from his righteousness (v. 20a)—that is, abandoned his loyal fidelity to the spirit and letter of the covenant—and embraced evil. The reference to the stumbling block echoes once more the context of Jeremiah 6:21. The obstacle, or stumbling block, is the beginning of Yahweh enacting punishment. The stumbling block is that event that makes the hypocritically “righteous” person’s true loyalties known to the watching public.

The hand of the Lord was “on” the prophet, suggesting receipt of a visionary experience (v. 22). This experience was a logical extension of Ezekiel’s commission as a watchman. Like Paul after his call, Ezekiel was summoned to go into the desert to receive further instruction for his assignment (Gal 1:16–17).

Here, Ezekiel obeys the compelling force of the hand of the LORD. For the first time since this vision commenced, Ezekiel is given maneuvering room to obey. Unlike the initial vision and its awe-inspiring dread, a word comes to Ezekiel requesting a rendezvous with the divine presence. The omission of the phrase “son of man” to refer to Ezekiel when he is told to “Get up and go …” also indicates that Yahweh holds his coercive ability at bay.

When Ezekiel obeyed and moved to the plain (v. 23), he again encountered the glory of the divine presence, which he had seen in 1:3–28. His response also was the same as in 1:28. He fell facedown in worship and awe at the presence of God.

Separated from an overwhelming, imposing vision, Ezekiel is now able to respond with careful thought. Before, the note had been on Ezekiel’s passivity and the figure overwhelming him; here, Ezekiel got up and went out to the plain (lit., “the valley”), without the aid or compulsion of the divine Spirit. Finally, freely, now he fell facedown in self-offering obedience to the figure representing the glory of the LORD. Although his choices have been narrowed to that which he did not want to do and that which he could not do and live, his obedience is still freely given.

Then Ezekiel was given three restrictions. First, he was instructed to shut himself in his house (v. 24).

The second restriction apparently was closely associated with the first. The prophet was to be bound with ropes to insure his seclusion, “so that you cannot go out among the people” (v. 25).

He also was to be unable to speak (cf. Job 29:10; Ps 137:6).

But is this binding literal? Would one walking into Ezekiel’s home find him sitting in a chair tied up like a hostage? Probably not. Instead, as we have seen before in the comments on the four living creatures (1:10–14), Yahweh apparently chose to describe Ezekiel’s inspired ministry in familiar ancient Near Eastern idioms. In this case, he uses concepts similar to common descriptions of spirit possession. In a text well known in the ancient Near East entitled “The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer,” the sufferer describes his possession by a god as a paralysis and binding of his lips, tongue, mouth, limbs, and body. This same text refers to the Babylonian god Marduk’s hand being overbearing upon this sufferer (cf. 1:3; 3:14, 22). Ezekiel’s own experience of Yahweh’s spirit coming into him, paired with his being told to shut himself inside his house provides a close parallel to what is described in that ancient poem. Ezekiel’s ancient readers would have no doubt that Ezekiel’s ministry is directed and limited by Yahweh from this description.

The Lord’s further instructions in 24:25–27 appear to indicate that Ezekiel’s silence would last until the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C., that is, for six years.

The Lord actually ended Ezekiel’s silence “the evening before the man arrived” (33:22), but the news did not come until six or even eighteen months after Jerusalem fell (see discussion at 33:21). Thus Ezekiel’s silence lasted six and a half to seven and a half years.

First, Ezekiel, in himself, was to be a “sign” for Israel (12:6, 11; 24:24, 27) that a prophet was in their midst. As such, the treatment he experienced at the hand of Yahweh was an enactment in miniature of how Yahweh treats his people. Ezekiel would become a personification and model of Yahweh’s actions toward Israel. His silence would suggest that Israel in exile needed to sit in silence in their own situation and wait for Yahweh to act however he chose.

Second, it is altogether understandable why Yahweh might want to muzzle the prophet from speaking freely. Ezekiel has already shown a strong propensity in his attitude to side with the exiles. The task is too important to permit Ezekiel’s tongue free rein.

Ezekiel has already shown himself to be barely cooperative; this extreme measure takes both his attitude and task as a prophet seriously.

Third, his silence is primarily to make him unable to rebuke them. Literally, Ezekiel is not to be a “man of reproving.” This can be taken to mean that Ezekiel is not to charge Israel with wrongdoing.

Moreover, it also suggests that Yahweh is taking measures to prohibit Ezekiel from acting prematurely in an intercessory role similar to Jeremiah. Yahweh is purposely cutting off the well-traveled route of being persuaded to relent or delay his punishment by the intercession of his prophetic servants (e.g., Moses in Exod 32:11–14; Num 14:13–19).

Ezekiel’s silence is not total. He will be allowed to speak only that which Yahweh permits. This constraint upon his message apparently lasts only until Ezekiel receives word that Jerusalem is fallen (24:27; 33:22). Then he will regain the ability to speak openly and freely.

The responsibility of a believer in Christ today to share the word of life, salvation, and forgiveness is no less awesome. Once the message of salvation is entrusted to us, we are responsible and accountable to share with those who are lost.