seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Ezekiel 9:1 Then I heard him call out in a loud voice, “Bring near those who are appointed to execute judgment on the city, each with a weapon in his hand.” 2 And I saw six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with a deadly weapon in his hand. With them was a man clothed in linen who had a writing kit at his side. They came in and stood beside the bronze altar.
3 Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side 4 and said to him, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.”
5 As I listened, he said to the others, “Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. 6 Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, the mothers and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple.
7 Then he said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!” So they went out and began killing throughout the city. 8 While they were killing and I was left alone, I fell facedown, crying out, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?”
9 He answered me, “The sin of the people of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice. They say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land; the Lord does not see.’ 10 So I will not look on them with pity or spare them, but I will bring down on their own heads what they have done.”
11 Then the man in linen with the writing kit at his side brought back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded.”
This is from bibletrack.org.The next part of Ezekiel's vision is distressing at best; he sees the execution of the idolaters back in Jerusalem. Those who are true to God are spared with a mark, but the rest are executed. While it would ultimately be the army of Babylon to take Jerusalem, Ezekiel is making it clear that it is God's judgment that will be responsible for the devastation.
You will notice in verse 4 that those "men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done" were given the mark that spared them from being slain in Ezekiel's vision. According to verse 7, not even the temple would be a sanctuary from death. Of course the Babylonians would be the ones to carry out this mission of death, and they had no regard for the temple in Jerusalem.
It is chilling to see God's attitude toward those Jews who had turned their backs on him in this passage. Verses 9-10 sum it up, "Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not. And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head."
This is from enduringword.com.
“Linen was the fabric used for the dress of priests (Exod. 28:29–42) and angelic beings (Dan. 10:5; 12:6–7), two classes of beings directly involved in divine service.” (Block)
“At his side was a writing case (RSV; AV, RV inkhorn): the word is peculiar to this chapter and may be a loan-word from Egyptian, where it refers to the scribe’s writing equipment, incorporating pen, ink-horn and wax writing-tablet.” (Taylor)
Go through the midst of the city… put a mark on the foreheads: God commanded the one with the inkwell to mark the righteous men of the city. Ezekiel 9:6 shows this was a protective identification, to protect them in the coming invasion and also to protect them spiritually for the age to come. It shows that even when judgment comes upon an entire nation, God still knows how to mark and identify the righteous.
Of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations: The remnant God would spare had nothing to do with age or perceived innocence. The remnant was those who had broken hearts over the idolatry and wickedness of the city, men like Jeremiah.
In the End Times books.... the mark mysteriously appears. In this chapter of Ezekiel..... it was applied by a man dressed in linen with a writing kit. It's a vision that is going to be carried out by the Babylonian forces. There will be survivors..... some will survive by being raped or castrated and enslaved. Others will survive after being left behind for dead. Some will survive only to die on the march from Jerusalem to Babylon. Some will survive only to die in Babylon. A few will survive because God made a promise to Abraham and David.
Back in Egypt.... way way back when Moses was still in the picture.... before there was a Temple in a Tent [let alone a Temple in Jerusalem]..... God put all His precious humans in their houses and had the doors painted in blood to let the angel of death know they were protected. Now, most of the humans in the household are idol soured..... so the angels have to enter the house.... and kill those idol soured souls. So now instead of marking a household..... God has an angel that marked individuals.
There's a produce store near me. It's not a grocery store.... although they do sell some canned goods.... 90% of what they sell is produce. Most of the time it's excellent produce.... right out of the valley in California or Mexico..... fresh... and beautiful. It lasts forever too! But then there's the case goods.... the stuff that didn't make it through the shipping.... the stuff that sat too long..... sour, rotten....
But wait.... I can buy a whole case of "rotten" apples for a buck or two.... and from that case... I can pull out enough good apples to make a couple of fabulous pies.
God wasn't making a fabulous apple pie.... God was saving the world by pulling out the good apples. He had an angel mark the ones who were not soured by idols. The rest.... He will destroy.
