9:1ffThis chapter presents a picture of coming judgment. After Ezekiel had seen how corrupt Jerusalem had become, God called one man to spare the small minority that had been faithful. Then he called six men to slaughter the wicked people in the city. This judgment was ordered by God himself (9:5-7).
Life Application Study BibleEzekielChapter 9
Ezekiel 9
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original pages: 1318, 1319
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9Ezekiel 9
The Slaughter of Idolaters
1Then the LORD thundered, “Bring on the men appointed to punish the city! Tell them to bring their weapons with them!” 2Six men soon appeared from the upper gate that faces north, each carrying a deadly weapon in his hand. With them was a man dressed in linen, who carried a writer’s case at his side. They all went into the Temple courtyard and stood beside the bronze altar. 3Then the glory of the God of Israel rose up from between the cherubim, where it had rested, and moved to the entrance of the Temple. And the LORD called to the man dressed in linen who was carrying the writer's case. 4He said to him, “Walk through the streets of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of all who weep and sigh because of the detestable sins being committed in their city.” 5Then I heard the LORD say to the other men, 6Follow him through the city and kill everyone whose forehead is not marked. Show no mercy; have no pity! ®Kill them all—old and young, girls and women and little children. But do not touch anyone with the mark. Begin right here at the Temple.” So they began by killing the seventy leaders. 7“Defile the Temple!” the LORD commanded. “Fill its courtyards with corpses. Go!” So they went and began killing throughout the city. 8While they were out killing, I was all alone. I fell face down on the ground and cried out,“O Sovereign LORD! Will your fury against Jerusalem wipe out everyone left in Israel?” 9Then he said to me, “The sins of the people of Israel and Judah are very, very great. The entire land is full of murder; the city is filled with injustice. They are saying, ‘The LORD doesn’t see it! The LORD has abandoned the land!’ 10So I will not spare them or have any pity on them. I will fully repay them for all they have done.” 11Then the man in linen clothing, who carried the writer's case, reported back and said, “I have done as you commanded.”
Life Application Notes 7 notes
9:2The writer's case was a common object in Ezekiel’s day. It included a long narrow board with a groove to hold the reed brush that was used to write on parchment, papyrus, or dried clay. The board had hollowed out areas for holding cakes of black and red ink that had to be moistened before use.
9:3What is God's glory? It is the manifestation of God’s character—his ultimate power, transcendence, and moral perfection. God is completely above humans and their limitations. Yet God reveals himself to us so that we can worship and follow him.
9:3Cherubim are an order of powerful angelic beings created to glorify God. They are associated with God's absolute holiness and moral perfection. God placed cherubim at the entrance of Eden to keep Adam and Eve out after they sinned (Genesis 3:24). Representations of cherubim were used to decorate the Tabernacle and Temple. The lid of the Ark of the Covenant, called the atonement cover, was adorned with two gold cherubim (Exodus 37:6-9). It was a symbol of the very presence of God. The cherubim seen by Ezekiel left the Temple along with the glory of God (chapter 10). Ezekiel then recognized them as the living beings he had seen in his first vision (see chapter 1).
9:4,5God told the man with the writer's case to put a mark on those who were faithful to God. Their faithfulness was determined by their sorrow over their nation’s sin. Those with the mark were Spared when the six men began to destroy the wicked people. During the Exodus, the Israelites put a mark of blood on their doorframes to save them from death. In the final days, God will mark the foreheads of those destined for salvation (Revelation 7:3), and Satan will mark his followers (Revelation 13:16, 17), who, like him, are destined for destruction. When God punishes sin, he won't forget his promise to preserve his people.
9:6The spiritual leaders of Israel blatantly promoted their idolatrous beliefs, and the people abandoned God and followed them. Spiritual leaders are especially accountable to God because they are entrusted with the task of teaching the truth (see James 3:1). When they pervert the truth, they can lead countless people away from God and even cause a nation to fall. It is not surprising, then, that when God began to judge the nation, he started at the Temple and worked outward (see 1 Peter 4:17). How sad itis that in the Temple, the one place where they should have been teaching God’s truth, these men were teaching lies.
9:9,10The people said that the LORD had abandoned the land and wouldn't see their sin. People have many convenient explanations to make it easier to sin: “It doesn’t matter,” “Everybody's doing it,” or “Nobody will ever know.” Do you find yourself making excuses for sin? Rationalizing sin makes it easier to commit, but rationalization does not convince God or cancel the punishment.