'Watchman' in the Bible

Now David was sitting between the two gates; and the lookout went up to the roof of the gate by the wall, and when he raised his eyes and looked, he saw a man running alone.

The lookout called down and told the king. The king said, “If he is alone, he has good news to tell.” And he came nearer and nearer.

Then the lookout saw another man running, and he called to the gatekeeper and said, “Look, another man running alone.” The king said, “He also is bringing good news.”

The lookout said, “I think the man in front runs like Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.” The king said, “He is a good man and is coming with good news.”

Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel and he saw the crowd with Jehu as he approached, and said, “I see a company.” And Joram said, “Send a horseman to meet them and have him ask, ‘Do you come in peace?’”

So the horseman went to meet him and said, “Thus says the king: ‘Do you come in peace?’” And Jehu said, “What have you to do with peace? Rein in behind me.” And the watchman reported, “The messenger approached them, but he has not returned.”

And the watchman reported, “He approached them, but he has not returned; and the driving [of the chariot] is like that of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously.”

“He builds his house like a spider’s web,Like a (temporary) hut which a watchman makes.

My eyes anticipate the night watches and I awake before the call of the watchman,That I may meditate on Your word.

Unless the Lord builds the house,They labor in vain who build it;Unless the Lord guards the city,The watchman keeps awake in vain.

This is what the Lord says to me,“Go, station the lookout, let him report what he sees.

And the lookout called like a lion,“O Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower by day,And I am stationed every night at my guard post.

“Now look! Here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.”And one said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon;And all the carved images of her gods are shattered on the ground.”

The [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning Dumah (Edom):Someone keeps calling to me from Seir (Edom),“Watchman, what is left of the night [of Assyrian oppression]?Watchman, what is left of the night? [How long until morning?]”

The watchman says,“The morning comes [only briefly], but also [comes] the night [of Babylonian oppression].If you would ask [of me then], ask [again, if Edom really wishes to know];Come back again.”

“Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me.

“Son of man, speak to the sons of your people [who are exiled in Babylon] and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword on a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman,

But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, he is taken away because of his corruption and sin; but I will require his blood from the watchman’s hand.’

“Now as for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you shall hear a message from My mouth and give them a warning from Me.

Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a [true] prophet [to warn the nation];But the snare of a bird catcher was laid in all his paths.And there is only deep hostility in the house of his God (the land of Israel).