1Und er rief vor meinen Ohren mit lauter Stimme und sprach: Nahet euch, ihr Aufseher der Stadt, ein jeder mit seinem Werkzeug der Zerstörung in seiner Hand! 2Und siehe, sechs Männer kamen des Weges vom oberen Tore, welches gegen Norden sieht, ein jeder mit seinem Werkzeug zum Zerschlagen in seiner Hand; und ein Mann war in ihrer Mitte, in Linnen gekleidet, mit einem Schreibzeug an seiner Hüfte; und sie kamen und stellten sich neben den ehernen Altar. - 3Und die Herrlichkeit des Gottes Israels erhob sich von dem Cherub, über welchem sie war, zu der Schwelle des Hauses hin. Und er rief dem in Linnen gekleideten Manne, der das Schreibzeug an seiner Hüfte hatte, 4und Jehova sprach zu ihm: Gehe mitten durch die Stadt, mitten durch Jerusalem, und mache ein Zeichen an die Stirnen der Leute, welche seufzen und jammern über all die Greuel, die in ihrer Mitte geschehen. 5Und zu jenen sprach er vor meinen Ohren: Gehet hinter ihm her durch die Stadt und schlaget; euer Auge schone nicht, und erbarmet euch nicht. 6Mordet bis zur Vertilgung Greise, Jünglinge und Jungfrauen und Kinder und Weiber! aber nahet euch niemandem, an welchem das Zeichen ist; und bei meinem Heiligtum sollt ihr anfangen. Und sie fingen an bei den alten Männern, welche vor dem Hause waren. - 7Und er sprach zu ihnen: Verunreiniget das Haus und füllet die Vorhöfe mit Erschlagenen; gehet hinaus! Und sie gingen hinaus und schlugen in der Stadt. 8Und es geschah, als sie schlugen, und ich allein übrigblieb, da fiel ich nieder auf mein Angesicht und schrie und sprach: Ach, Herr, Jehova! willst du den ganzen Überrest Israels verderben, indem du deinen Grimm über Jerusalem ausgießest? 9Und er sprach zu mir: Die Schuld des Hauses Israel und Juda ist über die Maßen groß, und das Land ist mit Gewalttat erfüllt, und die Stadt ist voll Beugung des Rechts; denn sie sagen: Jehova hat das Land verlassen, und Jehova sieht uns nicht! 10So auch ich, - mein Auge soll nicht schonen, und ich werde mich nicht erbarmen; ihren Weg will ich auf ihren Kopf bringen. 11Und siehe, der in Linnen gekleidete Mann, welcher das Schreibzeug an seiner Hüfte hatte, brachte Antwort und sprach: Ich habe getan, wie du mir geboten hast.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 CONTINUATION OF THE PRECEDING VISION: THE SEALING OF THE FAITHFUL. (
Ezek 9:1-
Ezek 9:11)
cried--contrasted with their "cry" for mercy (
Ezek 8:18) is the "cry" here for vengeance, showing how vain was the former.
them that have charge--literally, officers; so "officers" (
Isa 60:17), having the city in charge, not to guard, but to punish it. The angels who as "watchers" fulfil God's judgments (
Dan 4:13,
Dan 4:17,
Dan 4:23;
Dan 10:20-
Dan 10:21); the "princes" (
Jer 39:3) of Nebuchadnezzar's army were under their guidance.
draw near--in the Hebrew intensive, "to draw near quickly."
2 clothed with linen-- (
Dan 10:5;
Dan 12:6-
Dan 12:7). His clothing marked his office as distinct from that of the six officers of vengeance; "linen" characterized the high priest (
Lev 16:4); emblematic of purity. The same garment is assigned to the angel of the Lord (for whom Michael is but another name) by the contemporary prophet Daniel (
Dan 10:5;
Dan 12:6-
Dan 12:7). Therefore the intercessory High Priest in heaven must be meant (
Zech 1:12). The six with Him are His subordinates; therefore He is said to be "among them," literally, "in the midst of them," as their recognized Lord (
Heb 1:6). He appears as a "man," implying His incarnation; as "one" (compare
1Tim 2:5). Salvation is peculiarly assigned to Him, and so He bears the "inkhorn" in order to "mark" His elect (
Ezek 9:4; compare
Exod 12:7;
Rev 7:3;
Rev 9:4;
Rev 13:16-
Rev 13:17;
Rev 20:4), and to write their names in His book of life (
Rev 13:8). As Oriental scribes suspend their inkhorn at their side in the present day, and as a "scribe of the host is found in Assyrian inscriptions accompanying the host" to number the heads of the slain, so He stands ready for the work before Him. "The higher gate" was probably where now the gate of Damascus is. The six with Him make up the sacred and perfect number, seven (
Zech 3:9;
Rev 5:6). The executors of judgment on the wicked, in Scripture teaching, are good, not bad, angels; the bad have permitted to them the trial of the pious (
Job 1:12;
2Cor 12:7). The judgment is executed by Him (
Ezek 10:2,
Ezek 10:7;
John 5:22,
John 5:27) through the six (
Matt 13:41;
Matt 25:31); so beautifully does the Old Testament harmonize with the New Testament. The seven come "from the way of the north"; for it was there the idolatries were seen, and from the same quarter must proceed the judgment (Babylon lying northeast of Judea). So
Matt 24:28.
stood--the attitude of waiting reverently for Jehovah's commands.
brazen altar--the altar of burnt offerings, not the altar of incense, which was of gold. They "stood" there to imply reverent obedience; for there God gave His answers to prayer [CALVIN]; also as being about to slay victims to God's justice, they stand where sacrifices are usually slain [GROTIUS], (
Ezek 39:17;
Isa 34:6;
Jer 12:3;
Jer 46:10).
3 glory of . . . God--which had heretofore, as a bright cloud, rested on the mercy seat between the cherubim in the holy of holies (
2Sam 6:2;
Ps 80:1); its departure was the presage of the temple being given up to ruin; its going from the inner sanctuary to the threshold without, towards the officers standing at the altar outside, was in order to give them the commission of vengeance.
4 midst of . . . city . . . midst of Jerusalem--This twofold designation marks more emphatically the scene of the divine judgments.
a mark--literally, the Hebrew letter Tau, the last in the alphabet, used as a mark ("my sign,"
Job 31:35, Margin); literally, Tau; originally written in the form of a cross, which TERTULLIAN explains as referring to the badge and only means of salvation, the cross of Christ. But nowhere in Scripture are the words which are now employed as names of letters used to denote the letters themselves or their figures [VITRINGA]. The noun here is cognate to the verb, "mark a mark." So in
Rev 7:3 no particular mark is specified. We seal what we wish to guard securely. When all things else on earth are confounded, God will secure His people from the common ruin. God gives the first charge as to their safety before He orders the punishment of the rest (
Ps 31:20;
Isa 26:20-
Isa 26:21). So in the case of Lot and Sodom (
Gen 19:22); also the Egyptian first-born were not slain till Israel had time to sprinkle the blood-mark, ensuring their safety (compare
Rev 7:3;
Amos 9:9). So the early Christians had Pella provided as a refuge for them, before the destruction of Jerusalem.
upon the foreheads--the most conspicuous part of the person, to imply how their safety would be manifested to all (compare
Jer 15:11;
Jer 39:11-
Jer 39:18). It was customary thus to mark worshippers (
Rev 13:16;
Rev 14:1,
Rev 14:9) and servants. So the Church of England marks the forehead with the sign of the cross in baptizing. At the exodus the mark was on the houses, for then it was families; here, it is on the foreheads, for it is individuals whose safety is guaranteed.
sigh and . . . cry--similarly sounding verbs in Hebrew, as in English Version, expressing the prolonged sound of their grief. "Sigh" implies their inward grief ("groanings which cannot be uttered,"
Rom 8:26); "cry," the outward expression of it. So Lot (
2Pet 2:7-8). Tenderness should characterize the man of God, not harsh sternness in opposing the ungodly (
Ps 119:53,
Ps 119:136;
Jer 13:17;
2Cor 12:21); at the same time zeal for the honor of God (
Ps 69:9-
Ps 69:10;
1John 5:19).
5 the others--the six officers of judgment (
Ezek 9:2).
6 come not near any . . . upon whom . . . mark-- (
Rev 9:4). It may be objected that Daniel, Jeremiah, and others were carried away, whereas many of the vilest were left in the land. But God does not promise believers exemption from all suffering, but only from what will prove really and lastingly hurtful to them. His sparing the ungodly turns to their destruction and leaves them without excuse [CALVIN]. However, the prophecy waits a fuller and final fulfilment, for
Rev 7:3-
Rev 7:8, in ages long after Babylon, foretells, as still future, the same sealing of a remnant (one hundred forty-four thousand) of Israel previous to the final outpouring of wrath on the rest of the nation; the correspondence is exact; the same pouring of fire from the altar follows the marking of the remnant in both (compare
Rev 8:5, with
Ezek 10:2). So
Zech 13:9;
Zech 14:2, distinguish the remnant from the rest of Israel.
begin at . . . sanctuary--For in it the greatest abominations had been committed; it had lost the reality of consecration by the blood of victims sacrificed to idols; it must, therefore, lose its semblance by the dead bodies of the slain idolaters (
Ezek 9:7). God's heaviest wrath falls on those who have sinned against the highest privileges; these are made to feel it first (
1Pet 4:17-18). He hates sin most in those nearest to Him; for example, the priests, &c.
ancient men--the seventy elders.
8 I was left--literally "there was left I." So universal seemed the slaughter that Ezekiel thought himself the only one left [CALVIN]. He was the only one left of the priests "in the sanctuary."
fell upon my face--to intercede for his countrymen (so
Num 16:22).
all the residue--a plea drawn from God's covenant promise to save the elect remnant.
9 exceeding--literally, "very, very"; doubled.
perverseness--"apostasy" [GROTIUS]; or, "wresting aside of justice."
Lord . . . forsaken . . . earth . . . seeth not--The order is reversed from
Ezek 8:12. There they speak of His neglect of His people in their misery; here they go farther and deny His providence (
Ps 10:11), so that they may sin fearlessly. God, in answer to Ezekiel's question (
Ezek 9:8), leaves the difficulty unsolved; He merely vindicates His justice by showing it did not exceed their sin: He would have us humbly acquiesce in His judgments, and wait and trust.
10 mine eye--to show them their mistake in saying, "The Lord seeth not."
recompense their way upon their head-- (
Pro 1:31). Retribution in kind.
11 I have done as thou hast commanded--The characteristic of Messiah (
John 17:4). So the angels (
Ps 103:21); and the apostles report their fulfilment of their orders (
Mark 6:30).
