Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 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?
Eze 9:8-10. Intercession of the Prophet
and I was left ] The executioners passed out of the inner court, leaving only dead behind them, and the prophet was left alone (Isa 49:21. The anomalous form is to be read impf.). The terrible outbreak of the Divine wrath seemed to forebode the extinction of all the remnant of Israel, and the prophet fell on his face, appealing to the Lord on their behalf. The “residue” suggests the many calamities that had already befallen the people, wearing them down to only a few men (Isa 41:14, comp. the prophet’s own figure of the half-burnt brand, ch. 15), and the threat of a fire going out upon all the house of Israel seemed about to be realized (ch. Eze 5:4). The prophet passes from one state of feeling to another. Sometimes he is in sympathy with the divine resentment, and is himself full of fury against the sinful people (ch. Eze 3:14), and of a scorn that rejoices at their coming chastisements (ch. Eze 6:11), but when the judgments of God are abroad before his eyes he is appalled at their severity, and his pity for men overcomes his religious zeal (ch. Eze 11:13).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Left – The prophet was left alone, all who had been around him were slain.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eze 9:8
I was left.
Spared
I. A pathetic reflection, which seems to invite us to take a solemn retrospect – I was left. You remember, many of you, times of sickness. You walked among the graves, but you did not stumble into them. Fierce and fatal maladies lurked in your path, but they were not allowed to devour you. The bullets of death whistled by your ears, and yet you stood alive, for his bullet had no billet for your heart. I was left–preserved, great God, when many others perished; sustained, Standing on the rock of life when the waves of death dashed about me, the spray fell heavy upon me, and my body was saturated with disease and pain, yet am I still alive–permitted still to mingle with the busy tribes of men. Now, then, what does such a retrospect as this suggest? Ought we not each one of us to ask the question, What was I spared for? Why was I left? Was it that mercy might yet visit you–that grace might yet renew your soul? Have you found it so? Say, sinner, in looking back upon the times when you have been left, were you spared in order that you might be saved with a great salvation? Let us change the retrospect and look upon the sparing mercy of God in another light. I was left. You were born of ungodly parents; the earliest words you can recollect were base and blasphemous, too bad to repeat. You grew up, you and your brothers and your sisters, side by side; you filled the home with sin, you went on together in your youthful crimes, and encouraged each other in evil habits. You recollect how one and another of your old comrades died; you followed them to their graves, and your merriment was checked a little while, but it soon broke out again. Then a sister died, steeped to the mouth in infidelity; after that a brother was taken,–he had no hope in his death, all was darkness and despair before him. And so, sinner, thou hast outlived all thy comrades. And now thou art left, sinner; and, blessed be God, it may be you can say, Yes, and I am not only left, but I am here in the house of prayer; and if I know my own heart, there is nothing I should hate so much as to live my old life over again. As you have served the devil through thick and thin, until you came to serve him alone, and your company had all departed, so by Divine grace may you be pledged to Christ–to follow Him, though all the world should despise Him, and to hold on to the end, until, g every professor should be an apostate, it might yet be said of you at the last, He was left; he stood alone in sin while his comrades died; and then he stood alone in Christ when his companions deserted him. Thus of you it should ever be said, He was left. This suggests also one more form of the same retrospect. What a special providence has watched over some of us, and guarded our feeble frames! Why are you spared? are you an unconverted man? an unconverted woman? To what end are you spared? Is it that you may at the eleventh hour be saved? God grant it may be so. But art thou a Christian? Then it is not hard for thee to answer the question, Why art thou spared? Tell it out, tell it out, thou aged man; tell the story of that preserving grace which has kept thee up till now. Tell to thy children and to thy childrens children what a God He is whom thou hast trusted.
II. A prospect. And I was left. You and I shall soon pass out of this world into another. This life is, as it were, but the ferry boat; we are being carried across, and we shall soon come to the true shore, the real terra firma, for here there is nothing that is substantial. Great God, shall I stand there wrapped in His righteousness alone, the righteousness of Him who sits my Judge erect upon the judgment seat?–shall I, when the wicked shall cry, Rocks hide us, mountains on us fall, shall this eye look up, shall this face dare to turn itself to the face of Him that sits upon the throne? Shall I stand calm and unmoved amidst universal terror and dismay? shall I be numbered with the goodly company who, clothed with the white linen which is the righteousness of the saints, shall await the shock, shall see the wicked hurled to destruction, and feel and know themselves secure? Shall it be so, or shall I be bound up in a bundle to burn, and swept away forever by the breath of Gods nostrils, like the chaff driven before the wind? It must be one or the other; which shall it be?
III. A terrible contrast. There will be some who will not be left in the sense we have been speaking of, and yet who will be left after another and more dreadful manner. They will be left by mercy, forsaken by hope, given up by friends, and become a prey to the implacable fury, to the sudden, infinite, and unmitigated severity and justice of an angry God. But they will not be left or exempted from judgment, for the sword shall find them out, the vials of Jehovah shall reach even to their heart. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Wilt Thou destroy all the residue of Israel?—
Zeal and pity
The prophet passes from one state of feeling to another. Sometimes he is in sympathy with the Divine resentment, and is himself full of fury against the sinful people (Eze 3:14), and of scorn that rejoices at their coming chastisements (Eze 6:11), but when the judgments of God are abroad before his eyes he is appalled at their severity, and his pity for men overcomes his religious zeal. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And it came to pass: this is a most usual transition, and Scripture phrase.
While; there was some space of time taken up in the execution.
They were slaying; the six slaughtermen; not bodily and actually, but visionally, and in prophetic representation.
Slaying them; those about the sanctuary, and in the city.
I was left; either survived the slaughter, or left alone, now both the sealer and the slayers were gone; or alone sealed of all the priests, the rest being exposed to destruction.
I fell on my face, in most humble and earnest manner addressing to God, as one that would entreat mercy for a ruined state; and
cried, importunately prayed; and the prayer follows.
Ah! an expression of the greatest compounded affection of pity, desire, and zeal for the afflicted; and what follows is a complex of arguments for pity and sparing mercy; from God himself, from his peculiar hand in this, from his people, the remnant of them, and from the sad and mournful state Jerusalem was already in. Must all Israel drink thus of the cup of thine indignation?
The residue of Israel; so called, because many were already in captivity with Jeconiah, and had been so about six or seven years; or else in respect to the electing love of God, who ever reserved a remnant to himself.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. I was leftliterally,”there was left I.” So universal seemed the slaughter thatEzekiel thought himself the only one left [CALVIN].He was the only one left of the priests “in thesanctuary.”
fell upon my facetointercede for his countrymen (so Nu16:22).
all the residuea pleadrawn from God’s covenant promise to save the elect remnant.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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, Eze 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.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Intercession of the Prophet, and the Answer of the Lord
Eze 9:8. And it came to pass when they smote and I remained, I fell upon my face, and carried, and said: Alas! Lord Jehovah, wilt Thou destroy all the remnant of Israel, by pouring out Thy wrath upon Jerusalem? Eze 9:9. And He said to me: The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is immeasurably great, and the land is full of blood-guiltiness, and the city full of perversion; for they say Jehovah hath forsaken the land, and Jehovah seeth not. Eze 9:10. So also shall my eye not look with pity, and I will not spare; I will give their way upon their head. Eze 9:11. And, behold, the man clothed in white linen, who had the writing materials on his hip, brought answer, and said: I have done as thou hast commanded me. – The Chetib is an incongruous form, composed of participle and imperfect fused into one, and is evidently a copyist’s error. It is not to be altered into , however (the 1st pers. imperf. Niph.), but to be read as a participle , and taken with as a continuation of the circumstantial clause. For the words do not mean that Ezekiel alone was left, but that when the angels smote and he was left, i.e., was spared, was not smitten with the rest, he fell on his face, to entreat the Lord for mercy. These words and the prophet’s intercession both apparently presuppose that among the inhabitants of Jerusalem there was no one found who was marked with the sign of the cross, and therefore could be spared. But this is by no means to be regarded as established. For, in the first place, it is not stated that all had been smitten by the angels; and, secondly, the intercession of the prophet simply assumes that, in comparison with the multitude of the slain, the number of those who were marked with the sign of the cross and spared was so small that it escaped the prophet’s eye, and he was afraid that they might all be slain without exception, and the whole of the remnant of the covenant nation be destroyed. The of Israel and Judah is the covenant nation in its existing state, when it had been so reduced by the previous judgments of God, that out of the whole of what was once so numerous a people, only a small portion remained in the land. Although God has previously promised that a remnant shall be preserved (Eze 5:3-4), He does not renew this promise to the prophet, but begins by holding up the greatness of the iniquity of Israel, which admits of no sparing, but calls for the most merciless punishment, to show him that, according to the strict demand of justice, the whole nation has deserved destruction. (Eze 9:9) is not equivalent to , oppression (Isa 58:9), but signifies perversion of justice; although is not mentioned, since this is also omitted in Exo 23:2, where occurs in the same sense. For Eze 9:9, vid., Eze 8:12. For ‘ (Eze 9:10 and Eze 11:21-22, 31), vid., 1Ki 8:32. While God is conversing with the prophet, the seven angels have performed their work; and in Eze 9:11 their leader returns to Jehovah with the announcement that His orders have been executed. He does this, not in his own name only, but in that of all the rest. The first act of the judgment is thus shown to the prophet in a figurative representation. The second act follows in the next chapter.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
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 Chaldeans had so attacked them everywhere, that they left none remaining. Since, therefore, they raged so savagely against the whole multitude, the Prophet seemed to himself to remain alone, as if God had snatched him from the horrible burning, by which he wished the whole people to be consumed and perish. Now if any one should object, that they were not all slain, the answer is, that a slaughter took place which almost destroyed the name of the people; then the survivors were like the dead, because exile was worse to them than death itself. Lastly, we must remark that the prophecy was extended to the last penalty, which at length awaits the ungodly, although God connives at them for a time, or merely chastises them moderately.
In fine, the slaughter of the city was shown to the Prophet as if all the citizens had utterly perished. And so God wished to show how terrible a destruction pressed upon the people, and yet no one feared it. Now as the Prophet fell upon his face, it was a testimony of the human affection, by which he instructed the people although unworthy. Hence he fell upon his face as a mediator, for we know that when the faithful ask pardon of God, they fall upon their face. They are said also to pour forth their prayers for the sake of humility, because they are unworthy to direct their prayers and words upwards. (Psa 102:1.) Therefore Ezekiel shows that he interceded for the safety of the people. And truly God was unwilling that his servants, under pretense of zeal, should cast off all sense of humanity, so that the slaughter of the people should be their play and joke. We have seen how anxiously Jeremiah prayed for the people, so that he was at length entirely overwhelmed with grief; for he wished, as we see in the ninth chapter, that his eyes flowed down as fountains. (Jer 9:1.) Hence the Prophets, although they were God’s heralds to promulgate his wrath, yet had not altogether put off all care and anxiety; for when they seemed to be hostile to the people they pitied them. And to this end Ezekiel fell on his face before God And truly that was a grievous trial, which he did not disguise; for he complains that a populous city was destroyed, and women and boys slain promiscuously with men. But he lays before God his own covenant, as if he said, even if the whole world should perish, yet it was impossible for God to lose his own Church, because he had promised, that as long as the sun and moon shone in heaven, there should be a seed of the pious in the world. “They shall be my faithful witnesses in heaven,” said he. (Psa 89:37.) The sun and moon are remaining in their place: therefore God seemed to have broken his covenant when he destroyed the whole people. This is the reason why the Prophet lies on his face, as if astonished, and exclaims with vehemence, Alas! O Lord God, wilt thou destroy the remnant of Israel by pouring forth thine anger? that is, whilst thou so purest forth thine anger against Jerusalem — for that city remained as a testimony of God’s covenant; for as yet some safety could be hoped for; but although after it was cut off, the faithful wrestled with that temptation, yet the contest was hard and fatiguing; for no one thought that any memorial of God’s covenant could flourish when that city was extinct. For he had there chosen his seat and dwelling, and wished to be worshipped in that one place. Since, therefore, the Prophet saw that city destroyed, he broke forth into a cry, what then will become of it! For when thou hast poured forth thine anger against Jerusalem, nothing will remain left in the city. Hence also it will readily be understood, that God’s covenant was almost obliterated, and had lost all its effect. Now it follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
2. The Prophet Interceding in Vain (Eze. 9:8-11)
EXEGETICAL NOTES.Eze. 9:8. Ezekiel recovers from a passing surprise while the slaughter in the city was proceeding, and then realises his solitariness. And remained I, the frequenters of the Temple all dead, the only one spared alive there, his perturbed mind was found in a temporary oblivion of what he had heard in reference to such as were to be marked, and then loomed before him the obliteration even of the promised remnant. In intense sympathy for the people; in fear and sorrow, I fell upon my face; with his mouth in the dust he burst forth into an appeal for forbearancespeaking not in name of the exiles, but in name of the inhabitants of Judea, and said, Ah! Lord God, destroyest Thou all the remnant of Israel, as would be done, in the pouring out Thy fury upon Jerusalem? The captive sin Assyria and Babylon are undergoing their punishment: all that is left of Israel as a nation is here, and therefore Ezekiels cry is to the Lord God for the latter.
Eze. 9:9. The answer to his appeal is decisive. And He said unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is great exceedingly. The criminality was not all of the same character: in the landward parts, crimes of blood-shedding were most common; in the city, crimes of perverting rights. Religious declension and rebelliousness are not mentioned here, but moral corruption is, as constituting the evil which is to be severely punished. And the terms in which the people form an excuse for their sins correspond with the predominance of the moral element: for they say, The Lord hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not. The difference between this and that in chap. Eze. 8:12, where the religious aspect was prominent, lies here: the latter verse puts seeth us not firstreligion is primarily a matter between God and man. The verse now before us puts hath forsaken the earth firstas if the Lord had gone away from all regard of the conduct of men to men. They imagine they have free scope to act as they choose towards each other, no one is taking oversight of them. The source of all transgression is denial of the providence of God.
Eze. 9:10. The people had taken the position that they only had rights, and yet that position is commanded by another. And I also, my eye shall not spare their way I put (give) upon their head. The path of life which they are walking on turns up to smite their head with punishment. Ezekiels appealing question is not directly answered. The Lord merely vindicates His justice by showing that, whatever amount of vengeance He might inflict, it did not exceed their sin. He would have us humbly acquiesce in His judgments, and wait and trust (Fausset). The prophet sees that a people laden with iniquity go to meet their doom, and he makes no further cry for consideration of their case.
Eze. 9:11. Scarcely had the answer of the Lord been received when behold the man clothed in linen, the chief of the guardians of the city, appearing by himself seemingly, brought word, saying, I have done as Thou hast commanded me. The marks have been affixed on as many as and in the manner in which he had been commissioned. Probably the other six were still carrying on their work (chap. Eze. 11:13). The counsel of the Lord, it shall stand.
HOMILETICS
UNSATISFIED PRAYERS (Eze. 9:8-11)
When God spares His servants at a time during which calamity overtakes others, or saves them when many go on in the broad way to destruction, they deeply grieve and earnestly pray for those who are thus overtaken. What they ask for seems not to be assured. They have prayed and wept in vain, they suppose, and a sore heart-trouble is produced. They wonder if the Lord has shut up His compassions; if prayer is nothing but a cry. They doubt if they have prayed aright; if they have misconceived the ways of the Lord. To such questions Ezekiels case here may suggest direction and solace about unsatisfied prayers.
I. Such prayers may come from true sympathy with misery. Men, who have learned to love their fellowmen because of love to their Father, do not take precautions merely for their own safety in the face of impending suffering. If they are secure themselves they cannot be at ease while their neighbours are in danger of being swept away as with a flood. The sins, sorrows, deaths of others cast a heavy burden upon their souls, and they bow down in utter self-abandonment before God to besecch Him to take pity on the impenitent and doomed. They place themselves between the living One and the condemned to death, and put forth the energies which love can command into their supplications. They weep with them that need to be wept for.
II. Such prayers may use the most effective grounds of appeal. They appeal to God as God. Ah, Lord God! They have no cure in such need. They can help only by prayers, and they present them to Him who hears prayer as to Him who alone is able to do what they long for. In weakness and in conscious self-unworthiness they come boldly to the throne of grace and plead, Wilt Thou act in such severity, Thou who hast made us and fashioned us, and who knowest our frame? Wilt Thou forget the work of Thine own hands and let it perish? Wilt Thou not show thyself to be the Lord mighty to save? They appeal to His promises. Israel,that was a name to touch the heart of God. For He had chosen the people, had nourished and brought them up as children, and in them meant to bless all the families of the earth. Were, then, all to be cut offmen women, and children? The remnant, to which so much has been pledged, would it too be discarded? Would He thus suffer His faithfulness and truth to fail? They appeal to His interests. Jerusalem,those who have stood in the area of His manifested glory, who have been hearers of His word, who are the chief representatives of His people in covenant, who seem best adapted to maintain His way upon earth,if they are sent down to darkness and death, where will He find a people to show forth His praise and saving health? His nature, His truth, His kingdom are grounds of prayer in which mans selfish pleas have no part. Do not disgrace the throne of Thy glory!
III. Such prayers may be presented in submissiveness. I fell upon my face. Gods ways are beyond even a prophets comprehension. They trend too high and also too deep for us. We are disposed to count that to be confused which is only farther off than we can define, or to charge that with hardness which is only covered with a thin crust. Thus when deprecating the sufferings which befall our persons, our churches, the nations, we may take to questioning God, if not dictating to Him, Wilt Thou not take other steps? Wilt Thou not have regard to the prayers of the destitute? Wilt Thou not have respect to Thy great name whose glory is dearer to Thee than it can be to us? We are but of yesterday and know nothing.
IV. And such prayers may be based on misconceptions of God. As to His mercy. Sympathising friends think they would show pity, they would spare, when God does not, and their tendency is to count Him severe. This conclusion is unreasonable. When once we grasp the idea that He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, we learn that they do not take in all the elements involved in divine mercy who surmise that the mercy of God is limited to the surveys of sense. We must rise beyond the range of the earthly for an ampler view of His rule. For Him, as righteous ruler, to spare those who reject His authority, who will not turn to Him in spite of all His endeavours, would be to connive at His own eternal dishonour. They would go on adding sin to sin. They would produce influences which would shake the loyalty of those who had been faithful to Him. There could be no mercy in a course which would cause such results.
As to His patience. We would have Him check the process of degeneracy in individuals, in churches, in states, at the very outset. We would have Him strike down the man who was leading others into evil as soon as he acquired a bad preeminence. We would not have Him wait till sin is excessive. Therefore do we fancy He has been too patient, and yet, with strange inconsistency, when He is punishing, we fall down and urgently ask if He will not stay His hand! We cannot measure out His patience thus. Both the deferring of punishment and the execution of punishment are ordered in wisdom and love. They must be, for the Lord reigneth, and we should stay on Him, let the darkness about Him be what it may.
As to means of carrying out His will. We acknowledge that the law which binds penalty to guilt is just and good, and can be nothing if it is not irrefragable. We grant that the doom should somehow be in correspondence with the sin. But what will be wisest and most impressive way of manifesting the connection which thus subsists? We are utterly unable to tell, and our prayers might be offered against the very method which we would assent to as right and best, if we knew all. But assuming that there are two chief classes of sins to provide againstinhumanity and denial of Gods interference with the doings of menwe should look for a wonderful variety of treatment according to mens circumstances and place in the worlds development. It is for us not only to pray for the mercy we wish for troubled souls, but also to wait on the Lord so as to see His goings. Those who take heed to the signs of the times can hardly but observe the tendency of our age to ignore the God of special providence, saying, Where is the promise of His coming? Nor can we fail to mark a prevalence of dishonesty, brutality, self-pleasing, which indicate sad disregard of love to man. What may follow we leave with God while we cry for His grace. Only we do well to remember that judgment will begin at the house of God, and that the sufferings of unfaithful Christians will be more awful than those of rebellious Jews. What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy living and godliness!
V. Yet such prayers are answered, but otherwise than directly. We are too disposed to conclude that many of our prayers are not grantedprayers in which we had not regard to iniquity but to Christ. It may be, it is true that often they are not granted in accordance with the express form which we had hoped for, and we become like thoughtless children who complain that their wishes for good are not attended to because their father does not give them the very thing they want and at the time they ask it. We ought to have more confidence in our Heavenly Father than that complaint implies. He who says, Call upon me and I will answer thee, Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do, is true and faithful. What He has said He will do, only it lies with Him to settle both the form and the season of the answer. He brought the man who had been setting a mark upon the mourners in Zion in view of Ezekiel, and that appearance told Ezekiel that his prayer was really answered. He said to Paul, in response to his thrice-told entreaty, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my power is made perfect in weakness; and though that was not what the Apostle besought forthe removal of the thorn in the fleshit was tantamount to that, as the promise secured him against being overcome by his infliction. Were we able to see better, we might come to say of many of our apparently unsatisfied prayers, Verily God hath heard me; He hath attended to the voice of my prayer.
Wait for the unfolding of the sealed book, and then will many rejoice to learn that they had not prayed in vain when they besought that God would glorify Himself by saving men. They died in the sorrow of hopes disappointed; they live in the joy of better things than they could conceive. Let us learn to trust God as revealed in Jesus Christ, His Son, and endeavour to observe more closely how He responds to our prayers.
FAITHFULNESS IN STEWARDSHIP (Eze. 9:11)
In fulfilling any work for the manifestation of the Lords will
I. There should be regard to the Lord who appoints it. A position in His service is wished for sometimes because it is counted honourable and respectable, or because it is profitable, or because it is best to take it even if we have no interest in its duties. All such motives are condemned. The only one which can stand in the light is that which prompts us to act because we have been directed by considerations of His will, and are desirous to please Him to the utmost. He that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord. This is capable of being an ever-present motive to faithfulness. It may influence us everywhere, whether we eat or drink, buy or sell, worship alone or with others. He is always at our right hand where we are and where we are called to serve, and we can do whatever we do as before Him. An elastic motive. When we need much power we are moved towards the treasures of Almightiness; when we need little, we come to the same Mighty One who is wise to measure out the adequate supply. He will furnish us for a gentle or a stern service, for presenting a reward or a threat, for expressing a sentence of mercy or of condemnation. We serve not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord,that will regulate us in our daily round, and in dying for Him if need be.
II. Regard to the manner of obeying. As Thou hast commanded. Faithfulness is shown not in doing the appointed service with slovenliness, as if any way of fulfilling it would be sufficient; not in self-regard, as if the way we would like to do it would be satisfactory; not with deference to the opinions and habits of any men, as if they had authority to curtail or enlarge the commands of God; not with limitations, as if we could stop at any point but the point which the Holy One has defined. No; the work of the watcher is not done till he has reached, taught, comforted, saved all whom the Lord has characterised. He will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
III. Regard to the account to be rendered. No faithful servant need go in fear to the tribunal of the Great King. They who obtain mercy to be faithful have boldness in the day of judgment, are not ashamed before Christ at His coming, give in their account with joy, and are enabled to say, in reference to the charge which had been committed to them, Lord, it is done as Thou hast commanded. He is the pattern of perfect faithfulness who did always that which was pleasing to the Father; who could say at the close of the day in which he did His work, I have glorified Thee on the earth, I have finished the work Thou gavest me to do, and who will meet the consummation of all things with the words, Of all that Thou hast given me I have lost nothing. Let us imitate Christ Jesus in doing the will of our Father, not negligently, or equivocally, or incompletely, but so as to be counted worthy of that world, and to stand before the Son of Man. Let us, in all we do, for the glory of Christs name, follow His example, and report every matter to our God in prayer and supplication.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(8) I was left.The words imply left alone. The prophet had just before seen the courts of the sanctuary thronged with idolaters in the full glory of their heaven-defying sin. Now it is a city of the dead, and he is left standing alone in the midst of the dead. He falls upon his face in consternation, and pleads that the residue of Israel may not be utterly destroyed. The sternness of the Divine answer leaves no room for hope of any mitigation of the judgment. No mention is made here of those who were to be saved; they were so few among the mass as to have no effect upon the general impression of the vision. Yet they are not forgotten; and to show that they are not, the man in linen is represented in the next verse (11) as reporting that he had executed the command given him.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Ah Lord God The executioners have passed on, and the prophet is left in the inner court alone with the dead. It seems to him that the last hope of Israel is gone, and that even the last residue of the nation would now be destroyed. Like Elijah, he believes he alone of all God’s people is to be left (1Ki 19:10). Like Moses, he cries out in agony pleading for his speechless, unrepentant countrymen (Num 11:2; Num 14:19; compare Rom 9:1-3).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And it was so that while they were smiting and I was left, I fell on my face and cried out, and said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh. Will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your fury on Jerusalem?” ’
As Ezekiel watched every man in the temple around him smitten down one by one, until he was left alone, it was more than he could bear. And he cried out to God. Would there be no mercy for any, for the residue of Israel? Would not God leave but a few? The Christian must never gloat over God’s judgments. Though he recognise that they are right, as a sinner among fellow sinners they should break his heart even while he rejoices that God’s way is fulfilled (compare Amo 7:1-6)
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Prophet’s situation is strikingly marked. While they were slaying, he was left alone. How must he have felt? What must have been his views? He knew, that it was distinguishing grace and mercy alone, that made all the difference. He knew, that in point of merit, he had none to shelter him; and that he was left alone, was the Lord’s favor, and not his desert. Well might he fall on his face, and in such general desolations pray for Israel. Reader! think what an awful day of God that will be, when these judgments will be fully realized! The contemplation of it even at this distance is solemn. Surely though the Lord’s people; who now rejoice in their mark of Jesus, rejoice with trembling. Who that now mourns in secret, for the abominations of sinners, but must feel for their final destruction. Here in this life these feelings are right: indeed they are unavoidable; but in the great day of God, they will be felt no more. The Lord’s answer to the Prophet is most solemn. And it is well worthy our remark, that the wrath of the Lamb is spoken of, as being the token of long incensed patience and meekness; and not the wrath of the Lion of the tribe of Judah; that is to mark the fierce anger of the Lord at the last day. Rev 6:16 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Eze 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?
Ver. 8. And I was left. ] And, as I was apt to think, alone. Rom 11:3
I fell upon my face and cried.
Ah, Lord God!
Wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel?
a Polan.
b Lavat.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I fell upon my face. See note on Eze 1:28.
Ah. Figure of speech Ecphonesis. App-6.
Lord GOD. Hebrew. Adonai Jehovah. App-4. See note on Eze 2:4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Eze 9:8-11
Eze 9:8-11
“And it came to pass while they were smiting, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord Jehovah, wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy wrath upon Jerusalem? 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 wresting of judgment: for they say, Jehovah hath forsaken the land, and Jehovah seeth not. And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their ways upon their head. And, behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter saying, I have done as thou hast commanded me.”
EZEKIEL’S INTERCESSION OF NO AVAIL
“This passage shows how wrong are those evaluations of Ezekiel that see him only as a merciless religious zealot. The prophets of God had a heart for the people to whom they had to preach condemnation and judgment. Ezekiel loved his people and their sacred city Jerusalem; and it is possible that he still might have been thinking that the “righteous remnant” so often mentioned by Isaiah, and which also vividly appears now and then in his own writings, would undoubtedly be found “in Jerusalem.”
However, the events which Ezekiel saw in this vision appeared to the prophet as the end of any such possibility as that of a “righteous remnant” remaining in Jerusalem. No! The “righteous remnant” would be found among the captives in Babylon, not in Jerusalem; and the complete end of Jerusalem, as it began to unfold before the eyes of Ezekiel, broke his heart, because he probably thought there might not be left any remnant at all; and that appears to be the reason for his passionate, tearful and heartbroken intercession.
“I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord, wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel …” (Eze 9:8)? The background of this plea is most certainly that of Ezekiel’s knowledge of God’s promise that a “righteous remnant” would remain, There is a similarity here to Abraham’s intercession for Sodom and Gomorrah. Both intercessions were offered in the form of a question. Both were based upon previous promises of God. Here, the promise was that God would spare a remnant. With Abraham, the promise that God would destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Here the tearful question is “Wilt thou destroy the residue of Israel?” With Abraham, the question was, “Wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked?” There is also a third similarity, namely, in the fact that both intercessions failed. Both Jerusalem and Sodom were destroyed, exactly as God promised. God did not violate his promise in either case. There were not ten righteous persons in Sodom; and God preserved a “righteous remnant,” as he promised, only it was not in Jerusalem, but in Babylon!
“The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great …” (Eze 9:9). God here gave the grounds for the utter necessity of Jerusalem’s destruction. At first, we are surprised that God did not here enumerate such things as Israel’s worshipping other gods, or their defiling the temple, or of their neglect of sacrifices, despite the fact of such sins being the source of all their wickedness. The wickedness mentioned here was, (1) the land was filled with blood; (2) the city is full of injustice, and (3) they do not believe in an omniscient, personal God to whom every man must give an account. “These terrible conditions were the end result of the peoples’ false religion.
Nothing is any more important in the life of any man or any nation than his religion. The relationship to God is the governor and determiner of everything else. If that relationship is correct, so will be his life; if it is wrong, no other obligation or duty will be honored for one minute longer than the personal wishes of the sinner may dictate.
Illustration: This writer once visited a young woman just married who was severely prejudiced against her husband’s religion; and she vowed that, “I am going to take him away from that church.”
She did so. Seven years later, she called, pleading for aid to save her marriage. He had developed an affair with another woman; and the answer to her was, “What did you expect? When any person forsakes his duty to God, why should he honor any other duty?”
“Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity …” (Eze 9:10). This was God’s answer to Ezekiel. Jerusalem would be subjected to the destruction which they so richly deserved. “God would have his servants humbly acquiesce in his judgments and trust God to do exactly what is right.
Ezekiel’s passionate intercession evidently caused him to forget the sparing of those who received the mark upon their foreheads; and, to soften the dreadful news of Jerusalem’s fall, God permitted him to hear the report of the Angel of Jehovah in Eze 9:11.
Those who received that mark were the true “righteous remnant”; and they were in no danger whatever of being forsaken.
“I have done as thou hast commanded me …” (Eze 9:11). Yes indeed, some of the righteous remnant were in Jerusalem right up to the fall and through the dreadful events that followed, among whom, we feel sure the great prophet Jeremiah was numbered.
“The execution of God’s command in Eze 9:4 to mark the faithful was passed over as being self-evident until this verse (Eze 9:11), where the accomplishment of it was reported. It might have been mentioned indirectly here in order to encourage Ezekiel and to let him know that, after all, that “righteous remnant” was still and would continue to be intact.
Idolaters Killed – Eze 9:1-11
Open It
1. What sorts of wrongs particularly stir your sense of outrage and make you long for justice?
2. When the decision is up to you, do you lean more toward justice or mercy for people who do wrong? Why?
Explore It
3. As Ezekiel watched, whom did God summon before Him? (Eze 9:1-2)
What occurrence must have emphasized Gods power and holiness for Ezekiel? (Eze 9:3)
4. What instruction did the Lord give to the man with the writing kit? (Eze 9:4)
5. What characteristics was God looking for in the people who would receive the mark? (Eze 9:4)
6. What orders were given to the six men with deadly weapons? (Eze 9:5)
7. Which people were to be spared from the general slaughter in Jerusalem? (Eze 9:6)
8. What did God command to be done to the temple? (Eze 9:7)
9. What emotion did Ezekiel express when he was alone before the Lord? (Eze 9:8)
10. Why was God driven to such extreme action against Jerusalem? (Eze 9:9-10)
11. What did the man with the writing kit report back to God? (Eze 9:11)
Get It
12. Ultimately, from where does justice and judgment for sin come, regardless of how it is carried out?
13. Why was it necessary for God to defile the temple as well as punish the idolaters?
14. Why does it matter to God whether we are grieved by the sin around us, even though we might be unable to change it on our own?
15. In what way is it appropriate to feel sorrow or elation when a wicked person “gets what he deserves”?
16. Why do you suppose injustice and bloodshed in particular are evils that God must punish?
Apply It
17. What is a concrete way in which you can show God that you are grieved by sin?
18. What Christian brother or sister, surrounded by evil, needs your prayers right now?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
that I: Num 14:5, Num 16:4, Num 16:21, Num 16:22, Num 16:45, Deu 9:18, Jos 7:6, 1Ch 21:16, Ezr 9:5
Ah: Eze 4:14, Eze 11:13, Gen 18:23, Jer 4:10, Jer 14:13, Jer 14:19, Amo 7:2-5
Reciprocal: Gen 17:3 – General Jer 5:18 – I will not make Jer 30:14 – because Jer 32:17 – Ah Eze 7:8 – pour Eze 14:23 – that I have not Eze 21:12 – howl
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 9:8. As the men were performing their duty of slaying the inhabitants of the city, the prophet was left alone and he became prostrated by the scenes. Palling upon the ground he prayed earnestly and expressed anxiety over the terrible situation.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eze 9:8. And while they were slaying, and I was left Having, as it is to be supposed, the mark of preservation set upon his forehead by the protecting angel. He seems to speak as if he thought he alone was preserved amidst the common destruction, although, certainly, all those who had a mark set upon them were preserved as well as he. I fell upon my face and cried, &c. I appeared to myself in my vision to do so, namely, to fall down in a posture of supplication, to deprecate Gods anger, (see Num 12:5; and Num 16:4; Num 16:22; Num 16:45,) and to beseech him not to make an utter end of those small remains that were left of the Jewish nation, Jerusalem being almost the only place which was not in the enemys power.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
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, {i} Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy the whole remnant of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem?
(i) This declares that the servants of God have a compassion when they see his judgments executed.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Ezekiel saw that these men were slaying everyone in the temple area and that he alone remained alive. So he prostrated himself before the Lord and prayed earnestly for mercy. Would the Lord destroy even the faithful remnant of Israel in His devastating judgment of the city (cf. Gen 18:22-33; Amo 7:1-6)? Clearly Ezekiel felt deeply for his people, sinful though they were.