1 Samuel 14:16 - "And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked; and behold, the multitude was surging hither and thither."

Psalm 130:6 - "my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning."

A watchman, as we all know, is a person who keeps a vigil, in order to protect a person or some property. And, since it is obvious that the daylight hours are busy ones when unauthorized persons would have a difficult time in harming the person or object being guarded, then it also became obvious that the watchman is generally employed at night. The use of the night watchman in business buildings and factories and other establishments is a commonplace occurence for us; the watchman in ancient times was used in just the same way.

As we mentioned in the article about the vinedresser, there were watch towers erected in the vineyards to keep them safe from thieves, and the same was true of the fields. However, there was little use in occupying these towers unless there was something there that was worth stealing, so these towers were manned only during the harvest seasons.

However, there were also watchmen at the city gates and around the city walls, whose duty it was to keep the inhabitants safe from the enemy while they slept. These watchmen also patrolled the city streets and sang out the hours of the night. The Jews divided the night into three watches: the first was from sunset to midnight; the second, from midnight to cockcrow; and the third, from cockcrow to sunrise. And it was reassuring for the watchman to call out the hours as he made his rounds, so that all might rest secure.

The prophets were called the watchmen of God because they saw the doom that was approaching the people because of their moral and religious indifference. These prophets tried to rouse the people in the same way that a watchman would rouse the guard if an unauthorized person were encountered, but the people would not listen. They just couldn’t be bothered. In the same way, false prophets or the prophets of false gods are blind watchmen. And what possible good is a blind watchman! He can’t possibly warn of danger.