Ezekiel 9
v.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 kid at his side. They came in and stood beside the bronze altar.
A holy and righteous God would not allow idolatry to rob him of his rightful place as Israel’s true God. The basis of the judgement was God’s glory and holiness as seen in the theophany of glory and the linen clothing of the man with the writing kit.
This “One Man” (Compare Daniel 10:5; Revelation 1:13) was the “angel of the covenant,” the great high priest, superior to those by whom He was surrounded, receiving direct communication from the Lord, taking the coals of vengeance from between the cherubim Ezekiel 10:2, but coming with mercy to the contrite as well as with vengeance to the impenitent; these are attributes of Jesus Christ John 5:30; Luke 2:34; Matthew 9:13; John 6:39.
v.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.”
v.5-6
As I listened, he said to the others, “Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. 6Slaughter old men, younger men and maidens, women and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were in front of the temple.
They began with the seventy elders polluting the temple with their secret worship of sculptured animals in the inner court. Judgement started in the temple (cf. 1Pe4:17), the center from which religious leadership would come.
v.8
While they were killing and I was left alone, I fell facedown, crying out, “Ah, Sovereign Lord! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?”
Although he could appear heard, his heart throbbed with love for God and his people. He pleaded with God not to eradicate the entire remnant of Judah. She was the only tribe left, and some of that tribe had gone into exile to Babylonia already (605 B.C. and 597 B.C.).
v.11
Then the man in linen with the writing kit at his side brought back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded.”
As an encouragement to Ezekiel that all Judah had not strayed from God, the man with the writing kit reported, “I have done as you commanded.” In other words, the righteous ones had been marked.