Ezekiel 3:19 - Exposition

Thou hast delivered thy soul, etc. This phrase is again an eminently characteristic one (comp. Ezekiel 33:9 ). Here also, though the words do not necessarily imply more than deliverance from bodily death, thought of as a judgment for negligence, it is, I think, scarcely possible to avoid finding in them a "springing and germinant" sense, analogous to that which we have found in the preceding verse. The dread warning has for its complement a message of comfort. The judgment passed on the prophet does not depend on the results of his ministry. "Whether men will bear, or whether they will forbear," he has "delivered his soul," i.e. saved his life, when he has done his duty as a watchman. The phrase is noticeable as having passed out of the language of Scripture into familiar use. A man can say, "Liberavi animam meam," when he has uttered his conviction on any question of importance affecting the well being of others.