Ezekiel 9:8

And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem? WHILE THEY WERE SLAYING THEM, AND I WAS LEFT - literally, 'there was left I.' So universal scented the slaughter that Ezekiel thought himself the only one left (Calvin). He was the only one left of the priests 'in the sanctuary.' I FELL UPON MY FACE - to intercede for my countrymen (so Moses and Aaron "fell upon their faces" to intercede for the general congregation, when God was wroth on account of Korah's sin, ). WILT THOU DESTROY ALL THE RESIDUE OF ISRAEL? - a plea drawn from God's covenant promise to save the elect remnant....

The Prophet does not so carefully preserve the historical order in the context of the words. For he says, _the Chaldeans had returned _He afterwards adds, _while they were striking the city that he fell upon his face. _But we know this to be sufficiently common among the Hebrews, to relate first what is done afterwards. Although the Prophet seems _to have fallen upon his face _a little after their return, _i.e., _as soon as he perceived the city to have been nearly destroyed; yet he says, _while they were smiting, he himself was left. _They think the word compounded of the past and future tense, because there can be no grammatical reason that the word should be one and single. Indeed the word seems compounded of the first and third persons, as if he would say that he was left alone when all the rest were perishing. Yet there is no ambiguity in the sense; for it signifies that the Chaldea...

5-11 The slaughter must begin at the sanctuary, that all may see and know that the Lord hates sin most in those nearest to him. He who was appointed to protect, reported the matter. Christ is faithful to the trust reposed in him. Is he commanded by his Father to secure eternal life to the chosen remnant? He says, Of all that thou hast given me, I have lost none. If others perish, and we are saved, we must ascribe the difference wholly to the mercy of our God, for we too have deserved wrath. Let us still continue to plead in behalf of others. But where the Lord shows no mercy he does no injustice; he only recompenses men's ways....

Verse Ezekiel 9:8. _WILT THOU DESTROY ALL THE RESIDUE OF ISRAEL, ON THY_ _POURING OUT OF THY FURY UPON JERUSALEM?_] These destroyers had slain the _seventy_ elders, the _twenty-five_ adorers of the sun, and the women that mourned for Tammuz; and on seeing this slaughter the prophet fell on his face, and began to make intercession....

LEFT - The prophet was left alone, all who had been around him were slain....

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 9:1 HE CRIED, etc. The voice comes, as before, from the human form, seen as a theophany, in the midst of the Divine glory. CAUSE THEM THAT HAVE CHARGE OVER THE CITY. The noun is an abstract plural, commonly rendered "visitation" (Isaiah 10:3; Jeremiah 11:23, and elsewhere). Here, however, it clearly stands for persons (just as we use "the watch" for "the watchmen"), and is so used in Isaiah 60:17; 2 Kings 11:18 (comp....

AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHILE THEY WERE SLAYING THEM,.... That were in the city: AND I WAS LEFT; in the temple; and the only one that was left there, the rest were slain; for there were none marked in the temple, only in the city, Ezekiel 9:4; THAT I FELL UPON MY FACE; as a supplicant, with great humility: AND CRIED, AND SAID; being greatly distressed with this awful providence: AH, LORD GOD! WILT THOU DESTROY ALL THE RESIDUE OF ISRAEL; the ten tribes had been carried captive before; there only remained the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and these were now threatened with an utter destruction: IN THY POURING OUT OF THY FURY UPON JERUSALEM? shown in the destruction of men, both in the city and temple, by famine, pestilence, and sword....

Ezekiel 9:1. The six men mentioned are angels, into whose hands the city is given. Angels are used in judgments past and future. (See Matthew 13:41; Matthew 16:27; 2 Thessalonians 1:7 .) Angels are likewise prominently mentioned in the book of Revelation. There is a striking correspondency between this chapter and Revelation 7:1. Those who sigh and weep constitute the remnant which have no sympathy with the abominations. They are marked for preservation. Thus a remnant was then kept. Well may we remember that now, in the professing church,

EZEKIEL 9. THE PITILESS SLAUGHTER OF THE SINNERS. The doom has been abundantly justified; now it comes, and in bloody form. In obedience to a ringing summons, seven angels come forth to execute it six armed with deadly weapons, the seventh arrayed in priestly linen and with an inkhorn hanging at his side, ready to put the sign of the cross (the mark in Ezekiel 9:4 is the letter _taw,_ which in the old alphabet was a cross) upon the brows of the few who were to be spared in the coming destruction, because they sighed and cried over the sin of Jerusalem. At this point comes the ominous reminder that Yahweh is gradually departing from the guilty city: already His glory has left the holy place where the cherubim were and moved to the threshold of the Temple. Then there rings out the awful command to the destroying angels, uttered by Yahweh Himself, to slay without mercy all old and young, ma...

I FELL UPON MY FACE. See note on Ezekiel 1:28. AH. Figure of speech _Ecphonesis._ App-6. LORD GOD. Hebrew. _Adonai Jehovah_. App-4. See note on Ezekiel 2:4....