Isaiah 62:6, 7 I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: you that make mention of the LORD… Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchers; all day and all night they are never silent: ye that are Jehovah's remembrancers, take ye no rest, and give no rest to him, until he establish and until he make Jerusalem a renown in the earth (Cheyne). If the watchers are men, the idea is that during all the years of Israel's captivity, her watchmen, remembrancers, or praying men, are to keep at their work without ceasing, as it were, every day reminding God of his people and of his promise. The figure of the verse is taken from the temple-service, in which there was appointed a constant watch day and night by the Levites. The watches in the East, even to this day, are performed by a loud cry from time to time by the watchmen, both to mark the time and to show that they are constantly attentive to their duty. Possibly the first reference of the figure is to angel-guards appointed by Jehovah; but we may reasonably use the figure for the earth-messengers of Jehovah, the pious praying souls who are his intercessors among his people. As intercessors, these men - I. KEEP GOD REMINDED OF HIS PEOPLE. It is a small objection, indicating very superficial thinking, that "God cannot need to be reminded of anything." The answer is easy. If God is pleased graciously to reveal himself in certain relations, he graciously condescends to accept all the conditions involved in those relations. Children tell their parents what the parents know, and both children and parents are blessed in the telling. The prayers preserved for us in the Bible are full of things which God must know. It might be a thought full of help and cheer to us all that while, busied with our earth-cares, we may be forgetting God, our pious brothers and sisters, our praying men and women, Zion's watchmen, are keeping God reminded of us. The bells that sound for morning prayers throughout our land are a voice that God hears as truly as man. Praying men keep Zion's walls ever before her King. II. KEEP GOD'S PEOPLE EVER REMINDED OF THEIR GOD. Of this there is abundant necessity. Both prosperity and adversity tend to make us forgetful of our God. Even the steady ongoing, that has no ups and. downs, makes the thought of God fade in our minds. So we need the witness of our watchers, our praying men, and their muezzin, or call to prayer. Especially bring out that we need to be kept in mind of the Lord's provisions and promises - the assurance of our full and final redemption. They who pray amongst us, "Thy kingdom come," keep us constantly reminded that there is a necessary preparation for all who are to share in the kingdom. - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, |
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