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I Have Posted Watchmen on Your Walls
They Will Never Be Silent Day or Night
62: 6-9

I have posted watchmen on your walls they will never be silent day or night DIG: Normally, watchmen were guards who kept a lookout for enemies approaching their city, but what is the purpose of the watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem? What are these watchmen unlike those seen in 56:10? What are they calling out for the LORD to do? Why will they have no rest?

REFLECT: Is there anything you want so much that you will neither rest, nor give God a rest, until you see it come to pass? What does this mean for your prayer life? How might the prayer to establish Jerusalem relate to the request in the Lord’s prayer, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done (Matthew 6:10)? If you prayed that prayer consistently and sincerely, how might that begin to affect your priorities? Your perspective on life? How might it lead you to prepare the way for God’s Kingdom?

I, ADONAI, have posted watchman on your walls, O Jerusalem (62:6a). God has set watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem to remind Him constantly of His promises to the City; for He has sworn that never again shall it be plundered by enemies or strangers, but it will enjoy the fruits of its labor in security and peace. Here we have a second group praying for Isra’el’s restoration (the first being the believing remnant) in light of God’s promises in Chapters 60 and 61. These watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem pray for that same goal.

We learn that they will never be silent day or night (62:6b). The fact that they have been praying since the days of Isaiah and will continue to pray until the Messianic Kingdom is established must mean they cannot be human. They can only be angels and are God’s remembrances. The Hebrew word is mazkir meaning, one who reminds. During the days of Isaiah, there were officials whose duty it was to keep records and to bring to the attention of the king anything that needed to be accomplished (Second Samuel 18:6; First Kings 4:3 and Isaiah 36:3). In Second Kings 18:18 the noun is actually translated recorder. Here then ADONAI, the heavenly King, is reassuring His people with imagery familiar to them that He will not forget what He has promised to do. This is the modern Hebrew word for secretary. So the LORD Himself has set up a special group of angels that function in the same way. They have the duty of keeping God’s attention on the fact that He has made a commitment to the final restoration of Isra’el and they are to continually remind Him of His commitment until it has been accomplished.

One might ask why God would need to be reminded of His promises, but that is to read the imagery in an overly literal way. ADONAI is asserting that He will never forget what He has promised, no matter how dark the days may become between the hour the prophet speaks it and the day of its fulfillment. To make that point again (he had made it earlier in 49:15-16), Isaiah uses the imagery of the court. God will not forget, but just to be sure we have that same confidence, He lets us know through Isaiah that He has appointed angelic remembrances whose sole duty is to say, “Sir, don’t forget what you have said about Jerusalem.” Will He forget? Obviously not. Not only will He not allow Himself to rest, for He who watches over Isra’el will neither slumber or sleep (Psalm 121:4), neither will He allow those angels to rest until the day when His vision for a redeemed Isra’el is fully accomplished.250 So in a sense these angelic remembrances are more for our comfort than for His memory. To that end they who call on the LORD, will get no rest, and give Him no rest until He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth (62:6c-7).

Lastly, we see the results of their prayer. When God restores Isra’el and Jerusalem, her produce will no longer be given to her enemies. ADONAI has sworn by His right hand symbolizing personal intervention, and by His mighty arm symbolizing the power to be employed in the deliverance of Isra’el from her captors (62:8a). This is the eighth of nine references to the arm of the LORD in Isaiah (30:30 and 32, 40:10, 50:2, 51:5 and 9, 52:10, 53:1, 59:1 and 16, 63:5). It is not surprising that God confirms what He is saying with an oath that only depends on one thing alone, His own strength and faithfulness represented by His mighty arm. As a result, it is on the Messiah Himself that ADONAI stakes the validity of His promises.

How secure will the City be when God’s promises are fulfilled during the Messianic Kingdom? So secure that the curses for disobedience (Deuteronomy 28:15-68) will never apply again. Never again will I give your grain as food for your enemies, and never again will foreigners drink the new wine from which you have toiled; but those who harvest it will eat it and praise the LORD, and those who gather grapes will drink it in the courts of My sanctuary during the Millennial Kingdom (62:8b-9a). These verses confirm all that has been promised or implied from 61:10 to 62:7.

Those who gather the grapes will drink it in the courts of the LORD’s Millennial Temple (62:9b). So in 62:1-5 it was the prophet who was praying for Isra’el’s restoration in light of God’s promises, in 62:6-9 we see that angels are praying for that goal, and in Romans 10, Rabbi Shaul was praying for that goal. And we should be praying towards that goal as well. This longing is contagious. The thirsty soul longs to drink of the peace of Jerusalem. Therefore, pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May those who love you be secure (Psalm 122:6). ADONAI places great importance on praying for the peace of Jerusalem. The prophets do it, apostles do it, angels do it, certainly we should do it as well! Part of the model prayer that Yeshua taught us to pray was, Your Kingdom come. So we should be praying for His Kingdom to come, and part of that would be to make Yerushalayim the praise of the earth.