15 And I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who were dwelling by the Chebar canal, and I sat where they were dwelling. And I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.
16 And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: 17 “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. 18 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.19 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. 20 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. 21 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.”
The overwhelming nature of the visionary experience of the previous verses clearly rendered the prophet speechless (15). One commentator maintains that the word 'astonished' is really much stronger in the original, referring almost to a state of dazedness or ecstasy. A New Testament illustration of this may be seen in the experience of Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, in Luke 1:11ff, who having seen the angel of God while ministering in the Temple, was so wrought upon with fear and dread that when he came out of the Temple he was in a daze, and the people perceived that he had seen a vision. In this profound experience, Ezekiel was again given a reminder of his commission and calling (16) in the well-known metaphor of the watchman. The watchman's function was to be on the alert to the situation around him, to hear the word of the Lord when it came to him, and to utter it faithfully and accurately to the people. He was to stand on the walls watching for the approach of the enemy, and everything depended on his vigilance, diligence and clear-sightedness, to watch for any movement of danger and to sound the warning trumpet accordingly. This was the task allotted to Ezekiel. The exiles had been assured by false prophets that their exile would be brief and that they would soon return to their homeland; but God sent Ezekiel to be a watchman to warn the people that it was not to be so, that fearful things would happen to them and that they must pay heed and turn from their sin. 'Warn them to turn before it is too late Ezekiel, for if you do not warn them, they will die and their blood will I require at your hands. Warn them, and whether they return to Me or not you have delivered your soul'. Such was Ezekiel's calling.