What is the context?
The welcoming promises give way to a sharp warning. Beasts are invited to devour, while Israel’s watchmen are described as blind, unaware and silent when they should give warning.
The images become increasingly pointed. These guardians are like dogs that cannot bark but remain ravenously hungry. They are also shepherds without discernment, each pursuing his own gain.
Their invitation to drink heavily assumes that tomorrow will simply bring more of the same pleasures. The people charged with vigilance are absorbed in appetite and complacency while danger approaches.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Henry and Wesley understand the watchmen and shepherds as leaders and teachers who fail the people entrusted to them. Their neglect, greed and false security belong together.
Henry also applies the warning to leaders in other times and places. The passage exposes what happens when people responsible for warning and care become preoccupied with their own comfort and gain.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.