Restoration and Renewal (33:1–39:29): The first part of chapter 33 takes up verses 1–20. With its emphasis on Ezekiel as a watchman, the importance of one’s present situation rather than the past, and individual responsibility, there are reverberations of Ezekiel 3:17–19 and 18:1–32. In 33:2 God tells Ezekiel to speak to his countrymen, indicating that what follows is an object lesson about the usefulness of a sentry to the townspeople. Those who hear the sound of the trumpet but choose to ignore it do so at their own peril. A watchman who fails to perform his duties destroys both himself and his fellow citizens.

The watchman metaphor is applied to Ezekiel in verses 7–9, for while it is the priest who teaches, it is the prophet who warns. Ezekiel reveals to his fellow exiles his function as…