Ezekiel 9--Idolaters Killed

Ezekiel 9
English Standard Version

Idolaters Killed
9 Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, “Bring near the executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand.” 2 And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand, and with them was a man clothed in linen, with a writing case at his waist. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar.

3 Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case at his waist. 4 And the LORD said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.” 5 And to the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. 6 Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the house. 7 Then he said to them, “Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out.” So they went out and struck in the city. 8 And while they were striking, and I was left alone, I fell upon my face, and cried, “Ah, Lord GOD! Will you destroy all the remnant of Israel in the outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?”

9 Then he said to me, “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice. For they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see.’ 10 As for me, my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; I will bring their deeds upon their heads.”

11 And behold, the man clothed in linen, with the writing case at his waist, brought back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded me.”

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Ezekiel then sees a vision of the LORD's wrath being poured out on Jerusalem, starting with the destruction and desecration of the Temple.  Before it begins, there is a man dressed in white linen (seemingly an angel or maybe the angel of the LORD) who is to go around the city and mark anyone who is grieved in their heart by the wickedness and idolatry.  This mark will be a mark of protection, as only these righteous few will survive this judgment.

Old and young, rich and poor, male and female alike will all perish in the judgment.  There will be no distinction between them.  It would seem that the other six "men" are probably also angelic beings responsible for making sure that the wicked perish and the righteous are not harmed.  Matthew Henry notes that the LORD only sent two angels to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns of the valley, but sent six to destroy Jerusalem as a show of force and a sign of just how wicked they were.  As I said when we started studying this book, I'm not going to try to make too much out of the numbers or symbolism.  I believe Ezekiel wrote down what he saw and it is clear from his reaction that it appeared as if the whole city was going to be destroyed (very few people were marked for protection).

The judgment started with the house of the LORD (with the priests and then the elders of people) and went out from there.  This is in alignment with what 1 Peter 4:17 says of the coming judgment, "17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?."  The priests and elders who were the spiritual and civil leaders of the people where not spared and the judgment started with them.  So it will be in the last days when people will come to "church" and be led into worship of the beast (the Antichrist) by those claiming that they are leading people into truth and light, but they are leading them into falsehood and darkness.  So too with the political leaders who ally themselves with the kingdom of darkness and make themselves enemies of the LORD and His Kingdom.  All people of all nations who are not marked by the angels God sends out to protect those who belong to Him will be swallowed up the judgment of the Great Tribulation that is to come that this incident foreshadows.  (See Revelation 7:1-8 where 144,000 witnesses from the Twelve Tribes will be marked to be kept safe during the plagues and judgments of the Great Tribulation).  The parallels here are undeniable (though that does not mean they are speaking of the same event.  It may simply mean that God is in the habit of saving His remnant for coming judgment just like He did with Noah and his family, Lot and His family, and will one day do again for the 144,000 that He chooses to protect from the Antichrist, Satan, and the world).

No one deserved to be saved, but the LORD is good and saves a remnant unto Himself for His glory. These that were saved were faithful to the LORD and did not give themselves to idols were grieved by the worship that was given to the other gods and the moral decay that was going on around them.  They would be the best to help raise up a new generation of people in a far-away land full of idols and wickedness that would remain righteous and teach the next generation to stay true to the LORD and His covenant.  Not all in Exile would remain faithful (we see that just a fraction of them did), but do you imagine any of these idolaters would have refused to bow down to the king of Babylon's gold statue or would have continued to pray when the king of the Medes and Persians ordered that no one could pray to any god for a month other than the king?  God saved righteous men, women and children (like Daniel and his three friends) because the story of Jerusalem and its people does not end here.