{"id":74947,"date":"2020-05-19T17:16:06","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T14:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=74947"},"modified":"2020-05-19T17:16:06","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T14:16:06","slug":"watchman-wont-you-blow-your-horn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/watchman-wont-you-blow-your-horn\/","title":{"rendered":"Watchman, Won\u2019t You Blow Your Horn?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"74947","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"485","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"If you see the sword advancing - it\u2019s your job to warn\r\n\r\n","content":"

At the opening of our chapter, God instructed Ezekiel to speak to his countrymen as follows: \u201cWhen I bring the sword against a country, the citizens of that country take one of their number and appoint him their watchman. Suppose he sees the sword advancing against the country, and he blows the horn and warns the people\u201d (2-3).<\/span><\/p>\n

God told Ezekiel that He was appointing him to be the watchman (or, lookout) for Israel, charged with the responsibility of warning the people about impending danger. As God explained, in detail, if a warning is given and someone ignores it, that person alone bears responsibility for his own fate. However, if a watchman fails to give warning, then he bears the responsibility for the fate of all the people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Malbim, characteristically, came up with two types of watchmen and three distinctions among them.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A lookout who is stationed to see if the enemy is approaching the city.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. After the enemy has arrived, a lookout is stationed to observe the enemy camp and warn the people to protect the flank from which it intends to launch its attack by firing arrows and catapulting rocks.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The distinctions are:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. The first category consists of many lookouts who are positioned on every flank, while the second is but a single lookout observing the enemy\u2019s preparations.<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. The first type of lookouts can be ordinary people, while the second requires a soldier knowledgeable in military tactics.<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. The first lookouts are selected by the king or general because if they see enemy movement the people will have to deploy for battle. The second is selected by all the people because if he reports that the enemy is overpowering, they will all have to flee for their lives.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Our verses, by speaking of a sword that has already come, and, further, by emphasizing the lookout\u2019s selection by the \u201ccitizens,\u201d is, according to Malbim, clearly referring to the second type.<\/span><\/p>\n

      The figure of the watchman was so memorable, that the sages of the Talmud used it to represent the biblical prophets. In a discussion of who introduced into the Hebrew alphabet the five letters that have additional final forms (<\/span>otiyot sofiyot<\/span><\/em>), they declared that \u201cthe watchmen (<\/span>tzofim<\/span><\/em>) said so\u201d (BT Megillah 2b). Moreover, while the sequence of these letters would be K-M-N-P-Tz, the sages consistently spoke of them as M-N-Tz-P-K, thereby spelling out the words: <\/span>min tzofekha<\/span><\/em>; \u201cfrom your watchmen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":74949,"id":74949,"title":"ez33-night-watchman","filename":"ez33-night-watchman.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez33-night-watchman.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/watchman-wont-you-blow-your-horn\/ez33-night-watchman\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ez33-night-watchman","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":74947,"date":"2020-05-19 14:15:19","modified":"2020-05-19 14:15:32","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1426,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez33-night-watchman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez33-night-watchman-300x223.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":223,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez33-night-watchman-768x570.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":570,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez33-night-watchman-1024x761.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":761,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez33-night-watchman.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1141,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez33-night-watchman.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1426,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez33-night-watchman-1200x891.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":891,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez33-night-watchman-565x420.jpg","home_baner-width":565,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Watchman, Won\u2019t You Blow Your Horn?","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"If you see the sword advancing - 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