Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 110 · April 20
Made a Watchman
“Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.”
On a wall in the dark, a figure with nothing in his hands.
That is the whole trade. He carries no sword worth mentioning and he decides nothing. He watches the road, and when something moves on it he shouts, and after the shout everything belongs to other people: whether the city wakes, whether the gates are shut, whether anybody believes him.
Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. Two verbs, in that order. Hear, then warn. The message is not his to compose, and the phrase from me is doing the load-bearing.
Then the terms, which are heavier than the job looks. If he keeps quiet and the man dies, his blood will I require at thine hand. If he warns and the man refuses to turn, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. He is answerable for the shout and for nothing else, and that cuts in both directions at once. It will not let him stay silent, and it will not let him take the blame for a city that would not listen. The result he most wants was never his to produce.
Look at where he was standing a week before. Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days. The wall is over a camp he lives in. He is one of the captives, planted where he happens to be able to see. He was told to say what he hears. Nothing else was put in his hands.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 110 is Eyes and Ears Open (Psalm 34:15).