Ezekiel 9

9:1-2 The prophet did not have to wait long for judgment to come. The Lord summoned his angelic warriors to punish the city, and seven men appeared in response. Six men each carried a deadly weapon, while the seventh was dressed in linen and carried a writer’s case. They stood ready for action in the Temple courtyard, next to the bronze altar where sacrifices were normally offered.

9:3 The glory of the God of Israel, the visible manifestation of his presence, now began to depart from the defiled Temple. First, it rose up from between the cherubim, that is, from above the Ark in the Most Holy Place, where it normally rested. From there, it moved to the entrance to the Temple, ready to leave its former throne.

9:4-6 Just as the man dressed in linen (9:2-3) reenacted the marking of those kept safe at the first Passover (Exod 12:7-13), the angels of destruction reenacted comprehensive judgment (Exod 12:28-30), this time on old and young, girls and women and little children. Not just the firstborn males, as in Egypt, but everyone who did not have the mark that identified them as those who mourned over the sins of the city (cp. Rev 7:1-8) were destroyed.

9:7 Defile the Temple! Unlike Queen Athaliah, who was dragged out of the Temple before she was executed so that her blood would not defile the holy site (2 Kgs 11:15-16), these idolaters were to be killed in the Temple, which was already so defiled by their idolatry that nothing sacred was left there. Without God’s holy presence, concern for the sanctity of the building was an empty gesture.

9:8 Ezekiel feared that he might be the only person left after the Lord expressed his fury.

9:9-10 The Lord replied that he would fully repay Israel’s sins (but see 9:3-4, 11).

9:11 I have done as you commanded: The remnant had been successfully marked to save them from the wrath to come (9:3-4).