Teks -- Ezekiel 33:1-22 (NET)

Ezekiel Israel’s Watchman

33:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 33:2 “Son of man, speak to your people, and say to them, ‘Suppose I bring a sword against the land, and the people of the land take one man from their borders and make him their watchman. 33:3 He sees the sword coming against the land, blows the trumpet, and warns the people, 33:4 but there is one who hears the sound of the trumpet yet does not heed the warning. Then the sword comes and sweeps him away. He will be responsible for his own death. 33:5 He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, so he is responsible for himself. If he had heeded the warning, he would have saved his life. 33:6 But suppose the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people. Then the sword comes and takes one of their lives. He is swept away for his iniquity, but I will hold the watchman accountable for that person’s death.’ 33:7 “As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them on my behalf. 33:8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you must certainly die,’ and you do not warn the wicked about his behavior, the wicked man will die for his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his death. 33:9 But if you warn the wicked man to change his behavior, and he refuses to change, he will die for his iniquity, but you have saved your own life. 33:10 “And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you have said: “Our rebellious acts and our sins have caught up with us, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”’ 33:11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but prefer that the wicked change his behavior and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil deeds! Why should you die, O house of Israel?’ 33:12 “And you, son of man, say to your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him if he rebels. As for the wicked, his wickedness will not make him stumble if he turns from it. The righteous will not be able to live by his righteousness if he sins.’ 33:13 Suppose I tell the righteous that he will certainly live, but he becomes confident in his righteousness and commits iniquity. None of his righteous deeds will be remembered; because of the iniquity he has committed he will die. 33:14 Suppose I say to the wicked, ‘You must certainly die,’ but he turns from his sin and does what is just and right. 33:15 He returns what was taken in pledge, pays back what he has stolen, and follows the statutes that give life, committing no iniquity. He will certainly live– he will not die. 33:16 None of the sins he has committed will be counted against him. He has done what is just and right; he will certainly live. 33:17 “Yet your people say, ‘The behavior of the Lord is not right,’ when it is their behavior that is not right. 33:18 When a righteous man turns from his godliness and commits iniquity, he will die for it. 33:19 When the wicked turns from his sin and does what is just and right, he will live because of it. 33:20 Yet you say, ‘The behavior of the Lord is not right.’ House of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his behavior.”

The Fall of Jerusalem

33:21 In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth of the month, a refugee came to me from Jerusalem saying, “The city has been defeated!” 33:22 Now the hand of the Lord had been on me the evening before the refugee reached me, but the Lord opened my mouth by the time the refugee arrived in the morning; he opened my mouth and I was no longer unable to speak.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: Eze 33:6 - Is taken away

Punished by the Lord for his sin.

Wesley: Eze 33:10 - Our sins

The unpardoned guilt, and the unsupportable punishment of our sins, in the wasting of our country, burning our city, abolishing the publick worship of God; we shall pine away, 'tis too late to hope.

Wesley: Eze 33:10 - How

How can it be better with us?

Wesley: Eze 33:21 - Smitten

Taken and plundered.

Wesley: Eze 33:22 - Opened my mouth

Not that the prophet was utterly dumb before, for he had prophesied against many nations, only he was forbidden to say anything of the Jews, But now the spirit moved him to speak, and continued his motion, 'till the messenger came, and ever after.

JFB: Eze 33:2 - to the children of thy people

Whom he had been forbidden to address from Eze 24:26-27, till Jerusalem was overthrown, and the "escaped" came with tidings of the judgment being completed. So now, in Eze 33:21, the tidings of the fact having arrived, he opens his heretofore closed lips to the Jews. In the interval he had prophesied as to foreign nations. The former part of the chapter, at Eze. 33:2-20, seems to have been imparted to Ezekiel on the evening previous (Eze 33:22), being a preparation for the latter part (Eze 33:23-33) imparted after the tidings had come. This accounts for the first part standing without intimation of the date, which was properly reserved for the latter part, to which the former was the anticipatory introduction [FAIRBAIRN].

JFB: Eze 33:2 - watchman

Eze 33:1-9 exhibit Ezekiel's office as a spiritual watchman; so in Eze 3:16-21; only here the duties of the earthly watchman (compare 2Sa 18:24-25; 2Ki 9:17) are detailed first, and then the application is made to the spiritual watchman's duty (compare Isa 21:6-10; Hos 9:8; Hab 2:1). "A man of their coasts" is a man specially chosen for the office out of their whole number. So Jdg 18:2, "five men from their coasts"; also the Hebrew of Gen 47:2; implying the care needed in the choice of the watchman, the spiritual as well as the temporal (Act 1:21-22, Act 1:24-26; 1Ti 5:22).

JFB: Eze 33:3 - the sword

Invaders. An appropriate illustration at the time of the invasion of Judea by Nebuchadnezzar.

JFB: Eze 33:4 - blood . . . upon his own head

Metaphor from sacrificial victims, on the heads of which they used to lay their hands, praying that their guilt should be upon the victims.

JFB: Eze 33:6 - his iniquity

His negligence in not maintaining constant watchfulness, as they who are in warfare ought to do. The thing signified here appears from under the image.

JFB: Eze 33:7 - I have set thee a watchman

Application of the image. Ezekiel's appointment to be a watchman spiritually is far more solemn, as it is derived from God, not from the people.

JFB: Eze 33:8 - thou shalt surely die

By a violent death, the earnest of everlasting death; the qualification being supposed, "if thou dost not repent."

JFB: Eze 33:9

Blood had by this time been shed (Eze 33:21), but Ezekiel was clear.

JFB: Eze 33:10 - be upon us

That is, their guilt remain on us.

JFB: Eze 33:10 - pine away in them

If we suffer the penalty threatened for them in Eze 24:23, according to the law (Lev 26:39).

JFB: Eze 33:10 - how should we . . . live?

As Thou dost promise in Eze 33:5 (compare Eze 37:11; Isa 49:14).

JFB: Eze 33:11

To meet the Jews' cry of despair in Eze 33:10, Ezekiel here cheers them by the assurance that God has no pleasure in their death, but that they should repent and live (2Pe 3:9). A yearning tenderness manifests itself here, notwithstanding all their past sins; yet with it a holiness that abates nothing of its demands for the honor of God's authority. God's righteousness is vindicated as in Eze 3:18-21 and Eze. 18:1-32, by the statement that each should be treated with the closest adaptation of God's justice to his particular case.

JFB: Eze 33:12 - not fall . . . in the day that he turneth

(2Ch 7:14; see Eze 3:20; Eze 18:24).

JFB: Eze 33:15 - give again that he had robbed

(Luk 19:8).

JFB: Eze 33:15 - statutes of life

In the obeying of which life is promised (Lev 18:5). If the law has failed to give life to man, it has not been the fault of the law, but of man's sinful inability to keep it (Rom 7:10, Rom 7:12; Gal 3:21). It becomes life-giving through Christ's righteous obedience to it (2Co 3:6).

JFB: Eze 33:17 - The way of the Lord

The Lord's way of dealing in His moral government.

JFB: Eze 33:21 - twelfth year . . . tenth month

A year and a half after the capture of the city (Jer 39:2; Jer 52:5-6), in the eleventh year and fourth month. The one who escaped (as foretold, Eze 24:26) may have been so long on the road through fear of entering the enemy's country [HENDERSON]; or, the singular is used for the plural in a collective sense, "the escaped remnant." Compare similar phrases, "the escaped of Moab," Isa 15:9; "He that escapeth of them," Amo 9:1. Naturally the reopening of the prophet's mouth for consolation would be deferred till the number of the escaped remnant was complete: the removal of such a large number would easily have occupied seventeen or eighteen months.

JFB: Eze 33:22 - in the evening

(see on Eze 33:2). Thus the capture of Jerusalem was known to Ezekiel by revelation before the messenger came.

JFB: Eze 33:22 - my mouth . . . no more dumb

That is, to my countrymen; as foretold (Eze 24:27), He spake (Eze. 33:2-20) in the evening before the tidings came.

Clarke: Eze 33:2 - Son of man - if the people of the land take a man

Son of man - if the people of the land take a man - The first ten verses of this chapter are the same with Eze 3:17-22; and to what is said there on this most important and awful subject I must refer the reader. Here the People choose the watchman; there, the Lord appoints him. When God chooses, the people should approve.

Clarke: Eze 33:10 - If our transgressions and our sins be upon us

If our transgressions and our sins be upon us - They are upon us, as a grievous burden, too weighty for us to bear: how then can we live under such a load

Clarke: Eze 33:10 - We pine away in them

We pine away in them - In such circumstances how consoling is that word: "Come unto me, all ye who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!"

Clarke: Eze 33:11 - As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked

As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked - From this to the twentieth verse inclusive is nearly the same with Ezekiel 18, on which I wish the reader to consult the notes.

Clarke: Eze 33:13 - If he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity

If he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity - If he trust in his acting according to the statutes and ordinances of religion, and according to the laws relative to rights and wrongs among men, and in other respects commit iniquity, he shall die for it.

Clarke: Eze 33:19 - He shall live thereby

He shall live thereby - "The wages of sin is death;"the "gift of God is eternal life."It is a miserable trade by which a man cannot live; such a trade is sin.

Clarke: Eze 33:21 - In the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month

In the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month - Instead of the twelfth year, the eleventh is the reading of seven of Kennicott’ s MSS., one of De Rossi’ s, and the Syriac. My own, mentioned in the preceding chapter, reads with the present text. This was on Wednesday, Jan. 25, A.M. 3416 or 3417

Clarke: Eze 33:21 - One that had escaped out of Jerusalem

One that had escaped out of Jerusalem - After it had been taken by the Chaldeans

Clarke: Eze 33:21 - Came unto me, saying, The City Is Smitten

Came unto me, saying, The City Is Smitten - This very message God had promised to the prophet, Eze 24:26.

Clarke: Eze 33:22 - My mouth was opened

My mouth was opened - They had now the fullest evidence that I had spoken from the Lord. I therefore spoke freely and fully what Good delivered to me, Eze 24:27.

Defender: Eze 33:9 - warn the wicked

Ezekiel, called as a watchman to warn Israel, was responsible to do his duty; otherwise he would be responsible for the deaths of the people and would be punished accordingly. In parallel manner, the Christian disciple is called to bear witness to the saving gospel of Christ. If he fails in this, and those to whom he could have witnessed are lost then he must be judged - not for salvation, but for rewards, "he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire" (1Co 3:15).

Defender: Eze 33:9 - die in his iniquity

The ungodly man who fails to hear the gospel is headed for hell - not because he did not hear and so does not know how to be saved, but because of his rejection of the witness of God in nature and conscience (Rom 1:20; Rom 2:15). His ungodly behavior is evidence enough that he has refused whatever light was available, and he is "without excuse" (Rom 1:20). He cannot blame disobedient watchmen for not warning him."

Defender: Eze 33:16 - None of his sins

When a sinner repents and turns to God in Christ for salvation, God "pardoneth iniquity ... because he delighteth in mercy. He will ... cast all their sins into the depths of the sea" (Mic 7:18, Mic 7:19). God can do this in perfect justice because Christ is "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (Joh 1:29)."

Defender: Eze 33:18 - turneth from his righteousness

A perfectly righteous man could be saved, but there is "none righteous" (Rom 3:10). Thus, all must come as sinners in repentance and faith if they come at all."

TSK: Eze 33:2 - speak // When I bring the sword upon a land // set

speak : Eze 33:17, Eze 33:30, Eze 3:11, Eze 3:27

When I bring the sword upon a land : Heb. A land when I bring a sword upon her, Eze 6:3, Eze 11:8, Eze 14:17, Eze 14:21, Eze 21:9-16; Lev 26:25; Jer 12:12, Jer 15:2, Jer 15:3, Jer 25:31; Jer 47:6, Jer 47:7; Zec 13:7

set : Eze 33:7; 2Sa 18:24-27; 2Ki 9:17-20; Isa 21:6-9, Isa 56:9, Isa 56:10, Isa 62:6; Jer 51:12; Hos 9:8

TSK: Eze 33:3 - he blow

he blow : Eze 33:8, Eze 33:9; Neh 4:18, Neh 4:20; Isa 58:1; Jer 4:5, Jer 6:1, Jer 51:27; Hos 8:1; Joe 2:1, Amo 3:1-15, Amo 6:1-14; 1Cor. 14, 1Co 8:1-13

TSK: Eze 33:4 - whosoever heareth // his blood

whosoever heareth : Heb. he that hearing heareth, 2Ch 25:16; Pro 29:1; Jer 6:17, Jer 42:20-22; Zec 1:2-4; Jam 1:22

his blood : Eze 33:5, Eze 33:9, Eze 18:13; Lev 20:9, 11-27; 2Sa 1:16; 1Ki 2:37; Act 18:6, Act 20:26

TSK: Eze 33:5 - heard // his blood // But

heard : Psa 95:7; Heb 2:1-3

his blood : Isa 51:2; Joh 8:39

But : Exo 9:19-21; 2Ki 6:10; Act 2:37-41; Heb 11:7

TSK: Eze 33:6 - and blow // he is // his blood

and blow : Isa 56:10,Isa 56:11

he is : Eze 33:8, Eze 33:9, Eze 18:20,Eze 18:24; Pro 14:32; Joh 8:21-24

his blood : Eze 3:18-20, Eze 34:10; Gen 9:5, Gen 42:22; 2Sa 4:11

TSK: Eze 33:7 - I have // thou shalt

I have : Eze 3:17-21; Son 3:3, Son 5:7; Isa 62:6; Jer 6:27, Jer 31:6; Mic 7:4; Eph 4:11; Heb 13:17

thou shalt : Eze 2:7, Eze 2:8; 1Ki 22:14, 1Ki 22:16-28; 2Ch 19:10; Jer 1:17, Jer 23:28, Jer 26:2; Act 5:20; Act 20:20,Act 20:26, Act 20:27; 1Co 11:23, 1Co 15:3; Col 1:28, Col 1:29; 1Th 4:1, 1Th 4:2

TSK: Eze 33:8 - O wicked // if thou // that wicked

O wicked : Eze 33:14, Eze 18:4, Eze 18:10-13, Eze 18:18, Eze 18:20; Gen 2:17, Gen 3:4; Pro 11:21; Ecc 8:13; Isa 3:11; Jer 8:13

if thou : Eze 13:9, Eze 13:10; Jer 8:11, Jer 8:12, Jer 14:13-16

that wicked : Eze 33:6; Num 27:3; Act 20:26, Act 20:27

TSK: Eze 33:9 - if thou // if he // thou hast

if thou : Eze 3:19, Eze 3:21; Act 13:40, Act 18:5, Act 18:6, Act 28:23-28; Gal 5:19-21, Gal 6:7, Gal 6:8; Eph 5:3-6; Phi 3:18, Phi 3:19; 1Th 4:3-8, 1Th 5:14

if he : Pro 15:10, Pro 29:1; Luk 12:47; Joh 8:24; Act 13:46; Heb 2:3, Heb 12:25

thou hast : Act 20:26; 2Co 2:15-17

TSK: Eze 33:10 - If our // how

If our : The impenitent Jews seem to have charged the prophet’ s messages with inconsistencycaps1 . fcaps0 or whilst he warned them to repent, and assured the penitent of forgiveness, he also predicted that the people ""would pine away in their transgressions.""The prediction, however, merely implied that God foresaw that the people in general would be impenitent, though some individuals would repent and be pardoned. Eze 24:23; Lev 26:39

how : Eze 37:11; Psa 130:7; Isa 49:14, Isa 51:20; Jer 2:25

TSK: Eze 33:11 - As I live // I have // turn ye

As I live : Eze 5:11, Eze 14:16-18, Eze 16:48; Num 14:21, Num 14:28; Isa 49:18; Jer 22:24, Jer 46:18; Zep 2:9; Rom 14:11

I have : Eze 18:23, Eze 18:32; 2Sa 14:14; Lam 3:33; Hos 11:8; Luk 15:20-32; 1Ti 2:4; 2Pe 3:9

turn ye : Eze 14:6, Eze 18:30,Eze 18:31; Pro 1:23, Pro 8:36; Isa 55:6, Isa 55:7; Jer 3:22, Jer 31:18-20; Dan 9:13; Hos 14:1; Act 3:19, Act 26:20

TSK: Eze 33:12 - say // The righteousness // as for // neither

say : Eze 33:2

The righteousness : Eze 33:18, Eze 3:20,Eze 3:21, Eze 18:24-26

as for : Eze 33:19, Eze 18:21, Eze 18:27-32; 1Ki 8:48-50; 2Ch 7:14; Mat 21:28-31; Rom 3:25

neither : 1Jo 2:1

TSK: Eze 33:13 - if he // he shall die

if he : Eze 3:20, Eze 18:24; Luk 18:9-14; Rom 10:3; Phi 3:9; Heb 10:38; 2Pe 2:20-22; 1Jo 2:19

he shall die : Eze 18:4, Eze 18:24

TSK: Eze 33:14 - Thou shalt // if he // that which is lawful and right

Thou shalt : Eze 33:8, Eze 3:18, Eze 3:19, Eze 18:27; Isa 3:11; Jer 18:7, Jer 18:8; Luk 13:3-5

if he : Pro 28:13; Isa 55:7; Jer 4:1; Hos 14:1; Act 3:19

that which is lawful and right : Heb. judgment and justice, Eze 18:21, Eze 18:27; Mic 6:8; Mat 9:13

TSK: Eze 33:15 - restore // give // walk // he shall

restore : ""The sin is not forgiven, unless that which is taken away be restored,""says Augustine. Eze 18:7, Eze 18:12, Eze 18:16; Exo 22:26, Exo 22:27; Deu 24:6, Deu 24:10-13, Deu 24:17; Job 22:6, Job 24:3, Job 24:9; Amo 2:8

give : Exo 22:1-4; Lev 6:2-5; Num 5:6-8; Luk 19:8

walk : Eze 20:11, Eze 20:13, Eze 20:21; Lev 18:5; Psa 119:93; Luk 1:6

he shall : Eze 18:27, Eze 18:28; Rev 22:12-14

TSK: Eze 33:16

Eze 18:22; Isa 1:18, Isa 43:25, Isa 44:22; Mic 7:18, Mic 7:19; Rom 5:16, Rom 5:21; 1Jo 2:1-3

TSK: Eze 33:17

Eze 33:20, Eze 18:25, Eze 18:29; Job 35:2, Job 40:8; Mat 25:24-26; Luk 19:21, Luk 19:22

TSK: Eze 33:18

Eze 33:12, Eze 33:13, Eze 18:26, Eze 18:27; 2Pe 2:20-22; Heb 10:38

TSK: Eze 33:19

Eze 33:14, Eze 18:27, Eze 18:28

TSK: Eze 33:20 - Yet // I will

Yet : Eze 33:17, Eze 18:25, Eze 18:29; Pro 19:3

I will : Eze 18:30; Psa 62:12; Ecc 12:14; Mat 16:27; Joh 5:29; 2Co 5:10; Rev 20:12-15, Rev 22:12

TSK: Eze 33:21 - in the twelfth // one // The city

in the twelfth : This was on Wednesday, January 25, am 3416 or 3417. According to the date here given, this escaped Jew did not come to the prophet, with intelligence of Jerusalem being smitten, till about eighteen months after the event; but instead of the ""twelfth year,""eight manuscripts and the Syriac read the eleventh. Eze 1:2

one : Eze 24:26, Eze 24:27

The city : This was the very message which God had promised to the prophet. Eze 24:26; 2Ki 24:4-7; 2Ch 36:17-21; Jer 39:2-8, Jer 52:4-14

TSK: Eze 33:22 - the hand // and my

the hand : Eze 1:3, Eze 3:22, Eze 37:1, Eze 40:1

and my : Eze 3:26, Eze 3:27, Eze 24:26, Eze 24:27

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Eze 33:2 - To the chidldren of thy people // Say unto them // When // The sword // Take a man

The prophet, after three years’ silence enjoined him now hath his mouth opened by new commission.

To the chidldren of thy people to the Jews in general, to who he had not spoken since what he spake in the 24th chapter,

Say unto them propound a parable unto then

When if at any time.

The sword war, or any sore judgment.

Take a man choose out a man who live on the borders, and knows the avenues and the ways the enemy will most likely come to assault them. Set him for their watchman; appoint him to watch the coasts, that they may not be surprised.

Poole: Eze 33:3 - The sword // Come // Blow the trumpet

The sword of the enemy, or any other danger which he may foresee in any of the causes or forerunners of it.

Come i.e. coming, approaching to the land.

Blow the trumpet sound the alarm: the sound of the trumpet is a warning, yet to this sometimes it is necessary to add a warning by word of month, and tell the people brought together by the trumpet what he seeth.

Poole: Eze 33:4 - Whosoever // Taketh not warning // Take him away // His blood

Whosoever considers not and minds not what he hears, who hears and does not consider, he turns a deaf ear to the meaning, though not to the sound of the trumpet.

Taketh not warning apprehends not, nor will be made apprehensive of, the danger, to provide for resisting or fleeing the sword.

Take him away destroy him.

His blood the guilt and blame of his blood, of his death. Shall be upon his own head; shall never be charged on any but himself.

Poole: Eze 33:5 - Shall deliver his soul

He heard, as well as others who escaped, and he might have delivered himself, as they did who took warning. He is the only cause of his own death.

Shall deliver his soul shall save his life, preserve his own person.

Poole: Eze 33:6 - Blow not the trumpet // Be not warned // Taken away in his iniquity // His blood // Require at the watchman’ s hand

Blow not the trumpet neglect his charge, which is to give the alarm.

Be not warned but, unwarned, are surprised by the enemy.

Taken away in his iniquity punished by the Lord for his sins and trespasses formerly done, and he is destroyed under the present fault of not watching, which is a fault in every one that is so secure in time of war.

His blood the guilt of that blood.

Require at the watchman’ s hand charge upon and for it punish the watchman, who sinned in not giving warning.

Poole: Eze 33:9

These three verses are the same with the 17th, 18th, 19th verses of the third chapter, where see them explained.

Poole: Eze 33:10 - Speak // unto the house of Israel // Thus ye speak // If our transgressions and our sins be upon us // How should we then live?

Speak declare from me,

unto the house of Israel the residue of the two tribes, which are brought to Babylon; or else to those already there, and here their brethren are on the way thitherward, since Jerusalem was taken.

Thus ye speak thus ye discourse among themselves, object against God, and his prophet, and your own duty, some of you out of infirmity, others out of perverseness.

If our transgressions and our sins be upon us the unpardoned guilt and the unsupportable punishment of our sins, who were warned and took not warning, do thus, as in the wasting our country, burning our city, abolishing the public worship of God, come upon us, we shall pine away, consume; it is too late to hope it will be better with us now, we should have heard and followed the counsel earlier, if we would have delivered our own souls. If the prophet spake true at first, there is no hope, say the weaker; if there be hope now after so peremptory menaces and so great execution, the prophet did not speak truth, say the perverse, and so concluded they would as they were run the hazard.

How should we then live? how can it be better with us? if the threats be true and sure, it will be worse; if not true, how are his promises to be rested on, that it will be better.

Poole: Eze 33:11 - As I live, saith the Lord God // I have no pleasure // But that the wicked // Turn ye // Why will ye die?

As I live, saith the Lord God: see Eze 5:11 16:48 17:16 .

I have no pleasure: see Eze 18:23,32 .

But that the wicked: here is an ellipsis; but I have pleasure in the seasonable return the sinner makes from sin to holiness, and from death to life.

Turn ye O leave sin, cease to do evil, be persuaded to repent; it will please me to pardon your faults, and to throw away the rod, and to save your persons.

Why will ye die? death is your choice, not mine, so long as you go on in the way that is not good; whoso sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul, and love to sin is interpretatively a love and choosing of death. It is your culpable will, not my severe resolution, that you die.

Poole: Eze 33:12 - As for the wickedness of the wicked

As for the wickedness of the wicked & c.: see Eze 3:20 18:20-22,24 , where the same things are explained.

Poole: Eze 33:13 - The righteous // He shall surely live // Commit iniquity // Shall not be remembered // His iniquity that he hath committed // He shall die // For it

The righteous who hath in his life that is past kept the law and forborne evil, hath done what is right and good, and not done what is evil, both which parts of this righteousness are described in Eze. xviii, 5-9.

He shall surely live make him promise of doing him good, and giving him life, peace, every blessing, and happiness. If he trust to his own righteousness ; if he conclude former righteousness is sufficient, and therefore turn to ways of sin, pleasing to an evil heart.

Commit iniquity give himself to doing evil, as it were his work.

Shall not be remembered no regard shall be had to what he had done, he doth himself practically renounce it, and interpretatively recant his doing it.

His iniquity that he hath committed in his apostacy and backslidden state.

He shall die shall be punished, his comforts shall be taken away or die in his hand, he shall live and die miserably.

For it his iniquity and punishment of it, and this is emphatically repeated, as Eze 18:26 .

Poole: Eze 33:14

See Eze 18:21 .

Poole: Eze 33:15 - Without committing iniquity

See Eze 18:7,9 .

Without committing iniquity: it is not a sinless life here required or supposed, but a life in which a man doth not habitually and wilfully work iniquity.

Poole: Eze 33:16

As the threat against a righteous man that proves a presumptuous apostate was stated in the former part of the 12th, and in the whole 13th verse, so in these three verses the case of a repenting and reforming sinner is stated and determined to his encouragement and comfort, and they are the same with Eze 18:21,22,27,28 , which see.

Poole: Eze 33:17

These impious, obstinate quarrellers will accuse and do condemn the just and holy God, that they may acquit themselves. See this verse explained, See Poole "Eze 18:25" , See Poole "Eze 18:29" .

Poole: Eze 33:19

In these two verses the cases are so clearly stated, that it is as clear as the sun the ways of God are very just, and that none but ignorant atheists would think or surmise otherwise.

Poole: Eze 33:20 - Judge // Every one // After his ways

Still blinded prejudice quarrels.

Judge call you to account, plead with you, and pass sentence.

Every one: this is added to rouse every one up to repent of all sins, and of this particularly.

After his ways a terrible threat, and I know not how a greater could be denounced against sinners than this. God, infinitely holy and perfectly just, will judge them according to their unequal, unrighteous, sinful ways, and according to his inflexible justice. And if God enter thus into judgment, who can stand in his sight?

Poole: Eze 33:21 - In the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month // One that had escaped // Saying // The city

In the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month that is one year and five months after the thing was done, and temple burnt, and the city sacked.

One that had escaped one whose own care, but God’ s wonderful providence had much more, befriended him; perhaps it might be one of those that yielded to the Babylonians before, but was resolved to see the upshot of all.

Saying likely giving a particular account of the whole.

The city Jerusalem. Smitten; taken and plundered, the inhabitants slain or captives, and the city sacked, razed, and burnt.

Poole: Eze 33:22 - The hand of the Lord was upon me // Had opened my mouth

The hand of the Lord was upon me the powerful influence of the prophetic Spirit inspired me, and prepared me for what followed.

Had opened my mouth not that the prophet was dumb through impotence and inability to speak, for he had prophesied against many nations, but he was forbidden to say any thing of the Jews, to threaten, warn, counsel, or command, Eze 24:25-27 29:21 ; but now the Spirit moved me to speak, and continued his motion till the messenger came, and ever after, for God did not command him silence any more.

Haydock: Eze 33:2 - Take // Meanest

Take. Before (chap. iii. 17.) God made the choice, (Calmet) as he does here, ver. 7. He confirms the authority of those who are appointed to govern. ---

Meanest. Literally, "last," (Haydock) which seems to denote such as are chosen without regard to their dignity or obscurity in life, Genesis xlvii. 2., and 3 Kings xii. 31. (Calmet) ---

Pastors are not excused from admonishing the people for fear of danger or despair of reclaiming them, as each one is bound to do his duty. (St. Jerome) (Worthington)

Haydock: Eze 33:6 - Iniquity

Iniquity, not regarding the admonitions of his pastor; (chap. iii. 18.; Calmet) or rather of conscience, when the guide proves faithless and silent, as in this instance. (Haydock) ---

The people were persuaded that none suffered except for some fault, ver. 10.; Jeremias xxxi. 30., Daniel xiii. 52., and Genesis xliv. 16. The author of the Book of Job takes great pains to remove this mistake. God sometimes sends crosses for a trial, (Calmet) and to increase the merit of his servants; though it be very true, (Haydock) "no one is miserable except he deserve it." (St. Augustine)

Haydock: Eze 33:8 - Surely die

Surely die a temporal, (Theodoret) or rather an eternal death. (St. Jerome)

Haydock: Eze 33:10 - Live?

Live? They suppose their case to be desperate, as their fathers had sinned, chap. xviii. The prophet shews that none are punished except for their own faults, (Calmet) and that "each one has free-will to be saved or to be lost." (St. Jerome)

Haydock: Eze 33:11 - Desire

Desire. The sinner's damnation is not an object of God's pleasure, chap. xviii. 23. (Calmet) ---

He has an antecedent will to save all. He knocks at the door of our heart, (Apocalypse iii. 20.) and if man do what depends on him, nothing will be wanting on the part of God. (St. Thomas Aquinas, [Summa Theologiae] i. 2. q. 109. and 112.) (Worthington)

Haydock: Eze 33:12 - Hurt him

Hurt him. God effaces all past crimes: yet a relapse makes them as it were revive, and is pardoned with more difficulty, Matthew xviii. 35. Some read, "In what day the converted sinner groans, he shall be saved," as if they had taken in part of Isaias xxx. 15.

Haydock: Eze 33:17 - Equitable

Equitable; as we are much more inclined to vice than to virtue. This argumentation is inconclusive, as God owes nothing to man; and what good the latter does, is an effect of His grace. The propensity to evil is no excuse, as man is still free. He is judged according to the dispositions in which he is found at the hour of death; yet we must not infer, that those who have spent their lives in sinning will be no worse treated than the person who dies guilty of a single crime.

Haydock: Eze 33:21 - Twelfth // Captivity

Twelfth. Roman Septuagint, "tenth." Syriac, "eleventh year,...in the twelfth month;" which Theodoret thinks more probable, as the city was taken in the ninth of the fourth month of that year. Yet even so, it is strange that the news should not arrive before. Some think (Calmet) that the messenger came also to announce what happened after the death of Godolias. (Sanctius) ---

Captivity. Here it is evident that the prophet dates from that event, chap. i., &c. (Haydock) ---

As he prophesied on the very day when the city was besieged, (chap. xxiv. 2.) so ([chap. xxiv.] ver. 26.) he foretold that one should come three years after to inform him of the capture. (Worthington) ---

Then the people would believe him, (ibid.[chap. xxiv.] ver. 27.; Calmet) and he would open his mouth boldly, ver. 22. (Haydock)

Gill: Eze 33:1 - Again the word of the Lord came unto me // saying

Again the word of the Lord came unto me,.... After the delivery of various prophecies concerning the ruin of other nations, the Ammonites, Tyrians, and Egyptians, a fresh prophecy comes from the Lord concerning the Jews:

saying; as follows:

Gill: Eze 33:2 - Son of man, speak to the children of thy people // and say unto them, when I bring the sword upon a land // and set him for their watchman

Son of man, speak to the children of thy people,.... The Jews, of whom the prophet was; and designs those who were with him in the captivity; and who, having behaved so ill, the Lord will not own them for his people, but calls them the prophet's people, and the children of them:

and say unto them, when I bring the sword upon a land; a foreign enemy with an army to invade it, or any other judgment; for there is no public calamity whatever that comes upon a people, but what is by the order, direction, or permission of the Lord. The Targum is,

"those that kill with the sword;''

an army of men that enter into a land sword in hand, with an intent to conquer and destroy: if the people of the land take a man of their coasts: that lives upon their borders, and so is acquainted with all the places where it is most likely an enemy should enter; or a man out of the midst of them, as the Targum; so this phrase sometimes signifies, Gen 47:2, one of their own people, who might be thought to have their good and safety at heart, and might be trusted:

and set him for their watchman: on some place of eminence; on the walls, or in a tower of a frontier town, from whence he might descry the enemy coming at a distance.

Gill: Eze 33:3 - If what he seeth the sword come upon the land // he blow the trumpet, and warn the people

If what he seeth the sword come upon the land,.... Or those that kill with the sword, as the Targum; as soon as he observes a body of armed men, more or less, marching towards the borders of the land with a manifest intention to enter and invade it:

he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; warn the people by blowing the trumpet, the signal agreed on; by which they would understand that an enemy was at hand, or danger near; or warn them by word of mouth, as well as by the trumpet, where he could do it, and when it was necessary.

Gill: Eze 33:4 - Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh no warning // if the sword come and take him away

Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh no warning,.... Does not mind the notice given him; is incredulous of the danger he is in, or negligent of providing for his safety; fancies it is an alarm, and nothing else; and imagines there is no real danger, or what is a mere trifle; or, that the enemy is at a great distance, and it is time enough to provide for his defence:

if the sword come and take him away; those that kill with the sword, as the Targum, come suddenly on him, and take away his life, or carry him captive: his blood shall be upon his own head; the guilt of his slaughter, as the Targum; the sin will be his own; it must be brought in wilful murder; no blame can be laid upon any but himself; the watchman will be clear.

Gill: Eze 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

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.

Gill: Eze 33:6 - But if the watchman see the sword come // and yet blow not the trumpet // and the people be not warned // if the sword come and take any person from among them // he is taken away in his iniquity // but his blood will I require at the watchman's hands

But if the watchman see the sword come,.... Or those that kill with the sword, as the Targum is; so far doing the duty of his office as to be in the watchtower, and not asleep:

and yet blow not the trumpet: to give the people notice of the enemy, and of their danger:

and the people be not warned; but in the utmost security, not apprehending themselves to be in any danger at all:

if the sword come and take any person from among them; even though but a single person:

he is taken away in his iniquity: having had no time to have it set before him, and to be convinced, and to repent of it, and seek for pardoning mercy for it; it is a dreadful thing thus to be taken out of the world, and snatched into hell at once:

but his blood will I require at the watchman's hands; he shall be punished for not doing his duty, for not giving the due warning of danger, on which account the man was surprised with the enemy, and taken away unawares; and therefore his death shall be laid to the watchman, and he must be answerable for it.

Gill: Eze 33:7 - So thou, O son of man // I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel // therefore thou shalt hear the word from my mouth, and warn them from me

So thou, O son of man,.... Here begins the application of the parable to the prophet himself, describing his office and his duty:

I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; which is repeated from Eze 3:17; see Gill on Eze 3:17. The Targum is,

"I have appointed thee a teacher;''

a spiritual watchman; so pastors, teachers, ministers of the Gospel, are watchmen, 2Ti 4:5,

therefore thou shalt hear the word from my mouth, and warn them from me. The Targum is,

"thou shalt receive the word from my Word, and warn them from sinning before me.''

Gill: Eze 33:8 - When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man

When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man,.... Order the prophet to say so to him, and as follows; See Gill on Eze 3:18.

Gill: Eze 33:9 - Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way

Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way,.... See Gill on Eze 3:19.

Gill: Eze 33:10 - Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel // if our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them // how should we then live

Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel,.... Such of them as were with him in the captivity: thus ye speak, saying; reasoning and arguing within and among themselves; which the Lord heard, and made known to the prophet, who is bid to repeat it to them in order to give an answer:

if our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them; as the prophet said they should, Eze 24:23, with which he had concluded his prophecies to them; and now they take it up, and argue against themselves, and against him; if our sins and transgressions are laid upon us, and we must answer for them; if the guilt of them is charged on us, and they are unexpiated and unatoned for; and the punishment of them is, or will be, inflicted on us, and we do, and must pine away, and be consumed in them, and by them:

how should we then live? as thou promisest us upon repentance; it is all over with us; there is no hope for us; what signify our repentance, or thy promises of life unto us? these things can never hang together, that we should live, and yet pine away in our sins; so that these are the words of persons both despairing, and making the prophet to say things opposite and contradictory, and which would not admit of a reconciliation; see Eze 37:11.

Gill: Eze 33:11 - Say unto them, as I live, saith the Lord // I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked

Say unto them, as I live, saith the Lord,.... The following is the answer returned from the Lord by the prophet to their above complaint and reasoning; to which is premised the oath of God, showing the certainty, reality, and sincerity of what is said, which might be depended on as true:

I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, &c. See Gill on Eze 18:23, Eze 18:31, Eze 18:32,

Gill: Eze 33:12 - Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people // the righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression // as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness // neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth

Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people,.... See Gill on Eze 33:2. The purport of what the prophet is bid to say in this and some following verses is, that the righteousness of a man that trusts in it, he sinning and not repenting, shall not save him; and that the wickedness of a repenting sinner shall not damn him:

the righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; this must be understood, not of a truly righteous man, or of the righteousness of Christ, by which such an one is made so; for that righteousness does deliver those to whom it is imputed, from sin and the condemnation of it, even in the day of his transgression, which is every day of his life; for there is not a just man that does good, and sinneth not; and in the day when his sin is shown him, and he is convinced of it, this removes the guilt of it; and in the day it will be sought for, or he may be charged with it, and when the sins of others will be brought to an account, the righteousness by which he is justified will deliver him from avenging justice; from the curse of the law; from the wrath of God; from eternal death, and everlasting damnation; but this is to be interpreted of one that is not truly righteous, and of a man's own righteousness; and which he trusts to, as is afterwards expressed; and may and does turn from: this can never deliver a man in the day of his transgression from the guilt and condemnation of it; for a man's own righteousness is but what he ought to do; and, was it ever so perfect, yet, should he commit one single sin, it would not justify him from it, or deliver him from the curse of the law and wrath of God due unto it:

as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; when he is truly convinced of his sin, and the evil of it; is heartily sorry for it, after a godly sort; ingenuously confesses it, and departs from it; applies to Christ, to his blood and righteousness, for pardon and acceptance; though his wickedness has been ever so great, or attended with ever such aggravating circumstances, yet it shall not damn him; or he shall not fall by it into hell and everlasting perdition; but shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation:

neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth; he cannot live by it, nor for it; as it cannot justify him, it cannot save him, or bring him to heaven, or entitle him to eternal life; he is not able to live comfortably now; when his sin is charged upon him, his righteousness will not relieve him; and much less will he be able to live happily hereafter; he must and will die in his sins, being found in them, for anything his own righteousness can do for him: this is the same with the former clause, and is repeated in different words for the confirmation of it; self-righteous persons not being easily convinced of the truth of these things.

Gill: Eze 33:13 - When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live // but if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity // all his righteousness shall not be remembered // but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it

When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live,.... A happy life, here and hereafter; an eternal life, and not die the second death: this must be understood, should he appear a truly righteous person; one that does not trust to his own righteousness, but to the righteousness of Christ, and lives by faith on that; looking for the hope of righteousness through it, and behaving agreeably to his character:

but if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity; as he will by trusting to it; if he trusts to it for acceptance with God, and justification in his sight, and thinks himself proof against all temptation to sin on account of it; and that he has righteousness enough to make amends for sins committed, or for other sins he may commit; and which he may venture upon through this false notion, and so be led on to an open course of sinning, and series of committing iniquity:

all his righteousness shall not be remembered; God will take no notice of it; it shall be of no avail to justify him from sin, and secure him from wrath; it will be as if it never had been:

but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it; an eternal death, which is the just wages of sin; from which a man's own righteousness can never deliver him, though the righteousness of Christ does deliver from it; see Pro 10:2.

Gill: Eze 33:14 - Again, when I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die // but if he turn from his sin // and do that which is lawful and right

Again, when I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die,.... That is, provided he continues in the same course of life, impenitent and unbelieving:

but if he turn from his sin; repent of it, and forsake it:

and do that which is lawful and right; or "judgment and justice"; do that which is agreeably to the law of God, and what is right between man and man; lives soberly, righteously, and godly, as well as denies ungodliness and worldly lusts; whereby it appears that his repentance is genuine and true.

Gill: Eze 33:15 - If the wicked restore the pledge // and give again that he had robbed // and walk in the statutes of life // without committing iniquity // he shall surely live, he shall not die

If the wicked restore the pledge,.... His neighbour's raiment, which he has taken as a pledge for money lent him; and which, according to the law, was to be restored before sunset, Exo 22:26 which wicked men did not attend unto; but when such a man is brought to a sense of his wickedness, and repentance for it, as an evidence of it he would restore the pledge:

and give again that he had robbed; to him whom he had robbed; as a thief was obliged to do, four or five fold, according to the law, Exo 22:1, and which, when a man did voluntarily, from the convictions of his own mind, and not by force of the civil magistrate, it was a sign of true repentance; see Luk 19:8,

and walk in the statutes of life; the rule of life and conversation, and to the keeping of which the promise of long life is annexed; and which preserve persons from dying a shameful death by the hand of the civil magistrate; statutes, which, if a man do, he shall live in them; see Eze 20:11,

without committing iniquity; not living entirely without sin, which the best of men do not; but without committing grosser sins, as before; and without making a trade of sinning, and living in it:

he shall surely live, he shall not die; he shall live comfortably now, and happily hereafter; he shall live a spiritual life, and not die the second death.

Gill: Eze 33:16 - None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him // he hath done that which is lawful and right // he shall surely live

None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him,.... Imputed to him; placed to his account; charged upon him, or ever be spoke of to him, either now, or at the day of judgment, by way of accusation and complaint, or to his condemnation:

he hath done that which is lawful and right; has repented of his sin; looked to Christ by faith for the pardon of it; and laid hold on his righteousness for his justification; and being influenced and assisted by the grace of God, has done that which is right and good in the sight of God and man:

he shall surely live; he now lives a life of faith and holiness; he shall continue to live, and persevere to the end, and inherit eternal life; see Eze 18:21.

Gill: Eze 33:17 - Yet the children of thy people say // the way of the Lord is not equal // but, as for them, their way is not equal

Yet the children of thy people say,.... "Not my people"; for surely the children of God could never say what follows; and one would think that even no man could say it, after so much had been said by the Lord concerning the righteous and the wicked, and his dealings with them, which must appear to be just and right, good and gracious; and yet such were the atheism, the perverseness and peevishness of these people, they went on to say as they had done before:

the way of the Lord is not equal: is not according to the rules of justice and equity. The Targum is,

"the ways of the goodness of the Lord are not made plain (or exposed) unto us.''

The answer to which is,

but, as for them, their way is not equal; according to the rule of the divine word; as for God, his way and methods, both of providence and grace, were right and good; See Gill on Eze 18:25.

Gill: Eze 33:18 - When the righteous turneth from his righteousness

When the righteous turneth from his righteousness,.... This and what is said in the following verse are clear instances of the equality, justness, and goodness of the ways of God; and are again repeated, if possible, to make it clear and plain to them that their charge and complaint were groundless; See Gill on Eze 18:24, Eze 18:26.

Gill: Eze 33:19 - But if the wicked turn from his wickedness

But if the wicked turn from his wickedness,.... See Gill on Eze 18:27.

Gill: Eze 33:20 - Yet ye say, the way of the Lord is not equal // O ye house of Israel, I will judge you everyone after his ways

Yet ye say, the way of the Lord is not equal,.... Still obstinately persisting in their false charges, notwithstanding plain proofs to the contrary:

O ye house of Israel, I will judge you everyone after his ways; See Gill on Eze 18:30.

Gill: Eze 33:21 - And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity // in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month // that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me // saying, the city is smitten

And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity,.... Of Jeconiah's captivity, when Ezekiel with others were carried into Babylon; see Eze 1:2.

in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month; which was a year, four months, and some days, after the city of Jerusalem was taken; for that was destroyed in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, and so of the captivity, and in the fifth month, and tenth day of the month. 2Ki 25:2. It is much it was not known at Babylon before; though so it might, and yet not one that escaped came to Ezekiel sooner to give him an account of it, which he had seen with his eyes. The Syriac version reads it, in the "eleventh year"; and so makes it but a few months after the destruction; and it may be observed that it is promised by the Lord, Eze 24:26, that on the day the city was taken, one should escape, and bring the prophet the news; that is, directly, immediately, in a very short time, as soon as it was possible that he could arrive to him; and yet, as taken notice, here were a year and almost five months before he reached him, which seems pretty strange. The difficulty may be solved in this manner: Ezekiel reckons from the captivity of Jeconiah, which began in the month Chisleu; and the computation in 2Ki 25:2, is from Zedekiah's reign, which is to be reckoned from the month Nisan, and from the first Nisan of his reign; for it is a rule with the Jews, ^h that the beginning of the year for kings is the first of Nisan; so that the tenth month from the captivity is the sixth from Nisan; whence it appears there was not a full month from the city being burnt to the news being brought to Ezekiel; which was time short enough, in such a troublesome season, to take a journey from Jerusalem to Babylon; for Zedekiah not being crowned before the Nisan following the captivity, the computation of his reign did not begin till that Nisan, which makes this difference in the chronology. According to Bishop Usher ⁱ, this messenger came to Ezekiel the twenty fifth of January, the fourth day of the week (Wednesday), in 3417 A.M. or before Christ 587:

that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me; as it was foretold and promised he should, Eze 24:26,

saying, the city is smitten; the city of Jerusalem; the walls were broken down, the houses burnt, and the whole destroyed.

Gill: Eze 33:22 - Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening, afore he that was escaped came // and had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning // and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb

Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening, afore he that was escaped came,.... The prophet felt a divine impulse on his mind; he was under the influence of a spirit of prophecy, and knew before the messenger came to him what his message was, and was prepared to receive it, and to prophesy upon it; for this is to be understood of prophecy, as the Targum,

"prophecy from before the Lord was with me in the evening ^k;''

see Isa 8:11,

and had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; the hand of the Lord, or the power of the Lord, had done it, as he promised he would, Eze 3:27 so that he spoke freely and boldly, and continued to do so from the evening, to the time the messenger came to him in the morning, to all those that were with him:

and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb: as he had been for three years past; for though he had been prophesying against several nations, yet these prophecies were not delivered, it is very likely, by word of mouth, but by writing, and sent into those countries by proper messengers; but now the prophet's mouth is opened by the Spirit of God, as it was said it should, when this messenger should come to him, Eze 24:27 and from this time he was not silent, but prophesied to his people, the Jews, verbally, as he was bid to do by the Lord.