Ezekiel 33:2

2 Human one, speak to your people and say to them: Suppose I bring a sword against a country, and the people of the land take a certain person from their assembly and make him their lookout.

Ezekiel 33:2 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 33:2

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, ( Genesis 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.

Ezekiel 33:2 In-Context

1 The LORD's word came to me:

2 Human one, speak to your people and say to them: Suppose I bring a sword against a country, and the people of the land take a certain person from their assembly and make him their lookout.

3 When he sees the sword coming against the land, he blows the trumpet and warns the people.

4 If they hear the sound of the trumpet but don't heed the warning, when the sword comes and they are taken away, they are responsible for their blood.

5 They heard the sound of the trumpet but didn't heed the warning, so their blood is on them. If they had paid attention to the warning, they would have saved their lives.