A reader having read Ezekiel straight through would’ve just reached chapter 33. They would have alos just completed reading chapters 25 to 32 which were the oracles against other nations besides Israel. Oracles of judgment against those nations for their antics badgering and tormenting Israel. When we reach chapter 33 we are chronologically in the eleventh month of exile. We encounter a man who has escaped Jerusalem (which has been under siege). He comes to Ezekiel with tragic news, “The city [Jerusalem] has fallen”. It is the opening of the third and final division of the Book of Ezekiel and it is also the opening of a new phase of Ezekiel’s ministry, a portion that speaks of a watchman in parable form. It is the same watchmen we have encountered in Ezekiel 3. It is Ezekiel himself. Where the previous portions of Ezekiel had dealt with the past and present circumstances of Israel, this new portion after the collapse of Israel would deal with future prophetic references. In Ezekiel 3 the commission from God to be watchman was a private matter between Ezekiel and God. With the fall of Jerusalem this prophet now goes public with this prophetic revelation from God and it is done in parable to the people.
Ezekiel’s dwelling on future reference and the things to come for Israel is deliberate. They are about to go through decades of exile and bondage to the Babylonians and God (through Ezekiel) wants the remnant to stand fast in their hope of a future restoration. This is pretty much what we encounter after Ezekiel’s “Parable of The Watchman II” (the sequel). Unfortunately in or around verse 30 we see that the people of Israel are only paying attention to Ezekiel in a superficial manner. They’re listening more for entertainment value or for personal gain rather than taking God’s oracle serious as we can see in the statement, “And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it. When this comes—and come it will!—then they will know that a prophet has been among them." They are probably giving Ezekiel the same reaction people get in today’s society when they walk around in robes with signs that say “Repent, The End Is Nigh”. The prophecies are viewed with distain (or mocked with derisive humor) but they are not taken serious even in light of the economic disaster the US is going through.
Regardless of the resistance Ezekiel forges ahead through this quagmire of doubt with his message of faith and hope rather than get discouraged. When God is with you, who can be against you?!?! God would eventually convince these careless people that a prophet had been among them by the future would unfold anyway! It would unfold exact as Ezekiel had prophesied! There would be blessing on Israel once again.
If we move slightly ahead into the next chapter we also see a contrasting of all the false shepherds of Ezekiel’s time with the future True Shepherd that was to come which is sort of relevant to the prophetic turnaround we see in chapter 33. Instead of a watchman on the walls of the city, here we see another form of "watchman", a watchman in the field. A shepherd. It lays the groundwork for Israel’s immediate and long term future. “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves!” The current leaders dealt with Israel brutally, flagrantly disregarded their people…their sheep had been scattered. The future true shepherd would search for His sheep and restore them from all the nations. He would judge between one sheep and another and between the goats and the ram. He will “search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land (v. 11-13)
We obviously understand this to be Jesus Christ. This analogy’s parallel is John 10 and it is striking. I give a portion of the Gospel of John in Chapter 10 “The Good Shepherd” as elucidation.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold [Gentiles]. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” John 10:7-15
Craigie, Peter C.. "The Parable of the Watchman II." Ezekiel (Daily Study Bible (Westminster Hardcover). Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1983. 235-239. Print.
Craigie, Peter C.. "The Delinquent Shepherds." Ezekiel (Daily Study Bible (Westminster Hardcover)). Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1983. 240-241. Print.
Eichrodt, Walther. "Chapter 5.1-17: Oracles Against Neighboring Nations In Palestine." Ezekiel: A Commentary (Old Testament Library). Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1970. 456-473. Print.
Wiersbe, Warren. “Warnings and Promises From the Watchman." Bible Exposition Commentary: Old Testament: The Prophets (Bible Knowledge). Acambaro: Victor, 2003. 222-225. Print.
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