And he cried, A lion. "Having hearkened diligently with much heed," at length he observes a lion. This is supposed to mean Darius who conquered and pillaged Babylon, as we learn from Daniel. (Daniel 5:28, 31.) I stand continually. When the watchman says that he is continually on his watchtower by day and by night, this tends to confirm the prediction, as if he had said that nothing can be more certain than this vision; for they whom God has appointed to keep watch are neither drowsy nor dim-sighted. Meanwhile, by this example, he exhorts and stimulates believers to the same kind of attention, that by the help of the lamp of the word, they may obtain a distant view of the power of God.

And he cried, A lion - Margin, 'As a lion.' This is the correct rendering. The particle כ (k) - 'as,' is not unfrequently omitted (see Isaiah 62:5; Psalm 11:1). That is, 'I see them approach with the fierceness, rapidity, and terror of a lion (compare Revelation 10:3).
My lord, I stand continually upon the watch-tower - This is the speech of the watchman, and is addressed, not to Yahweh, but to him that appointed him. It is designed to show the "diligence" with which he had attended to the object for which he was appointed. He had been unceasing in his observation; and the result was, that now at length he saw the enemy approach like a lion, and it was certain that Babylon now must fall. The language used here has a striking resemblance to the opening of the "Agamemnon" of AEschylus; being the speech of the watchman, who had been very long upon his tower looking for the signal which should make known that Troy had fallen. It thus commences:
'Forever thus! O keep me not, ye gods,
Forever thus, fixed in the lonely tower
Of Atreus' palace, from whose height I gaze
O'er watched and weary, like a night-dog, still
Fixed to my post; meanwhile the rolling year
Moves on, and I my wakeful vigils keep
By the cold star-light sheen of spangled skies.'
Symmons, quoted in the "Pictorial Bible."
I am set in my ward - My place where one keeps watch. It does not mean that he was confined or imprisoned, but that he had kept his watch station (משׁמרת mishemeret from שׁמר shâmar "to watch, to keep, to attend to").
Whole nights - Margin, 'Every night.' It means that he had not left his post day or night.

And he cried, A lion "He that looked out on the watch" - The present reading, אריה aryeh, a lion, is so unintelligible, and the mistake so obvious, that I make no doubt that the true reading is הראה haroeh, the seer; as the Syriac translator manifestly found it in his copy, who renders it by דקוא duka, a watchman.

And he cried, A (l) lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my post whole nights:
(l) Meaning, Darius who overcame Babylon.

And he cried, a lion,.... That is, the watchman cried, a lion, or that he saw a lion; not Uriah the priest, as the Septuagint; nor Habakkuk, as some Jewish writers; but Cyrus, at the head of the Persian and Median armies, compared to a lion for his fierceness, courage, and strength; see 2-Timothy 4:17 a type of Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, by whom antichrist, or mystical Babylon, will be destroyed, Revelation 5:5. The Targum is,
"the prophet said, the voice of armies, coming with coats of mail, as a lion.''
Aben Ezra interprets it, the watchman cried as a lion, with a great voice; upon sight of the chariots and horsemen, he lifted up his voice, and roared like a lion, to express the terror he was in, and the greatness of the calamity that was coming upon the city.
I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime: so that nothing could escape his notice:
and I am set in my ward whole nights: which expresses his diligence, vigilance, and constancy, in the discharge of his duty; and therefore what he said he saw might be depended on.

A lion--rather, "(The watchman) cried, I am as a lion"; so as is understood (Isaiah 62:5; Psalm 11:1). The point of comparison to "a lion" is in Revelation 10:3, the loudness of the cry. But here it is rather his vigilance. The lion's eyelids are short, so that, even when asleep, he seems to be on the watch, awake; hence he was painted on doors of temples as the symbol of watchfulness, guarding the place (Hor. Apollo) [HORSLEY].

At length the procession has vanished; he sees nothing and hears nothing, and is seized with impatience. "Then he cried with lion's voice, Upon the watch-tower, O Lord, I stand continually by day, and upon my watch I keep my stand all the nights." He loses all his patience, and growls as if he were a lion (compare Revelation 10:3), with the same dull, angry sound, the same long, deep breath out of full lungs, complaining to God that he has to stand so long at his post without seeing anything, except that inexplicable procession that has now vanished away.

A lion - The watchmen cried out, I see also a lion marching before the horsemen and chariots: which they suppose to represent Cyrus or Darius marching in the head of their armies. My lord - The watchman speaks to the prophet, who had set him in this station. Whole nights - According to thy command I have stood, and do yet stand continually, both day and night, upon my watch - tower.