Ezekiel 9:1

He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice,.... That is, the glory of the Lord God of Israel, whom the prophet saw in the temple, and who directed him from place to place, and showed him all the

He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. He cried ... with a loud voice.

EZEKIEL CHAPTER 9 The prophet in the vision seeth a mark set upon some, , and the destruction of all the rest, . God rejecteth his intercession, . He cried; the man whom he had seen upon the throne, Christ, who is Lord and Sovereign. Or, the glory of God, or the God of glory, or an angel by order from God. In mine ears; either a Hebraism, he cried so that I distinctly heard; or rather to intimate that Ezekiel only heard what was spoken; the elders who were now with him hearing nothing of what was spoken. Cause them to draw near; Approach, ye visitations, i.e. ye sore, wasting, unparalleled judgments; so the concrete in the superlative degree is sometimes expressed in the abstract, as it is here: or, these judgments are already near at hand. It may point, at the chief commanders in the Babylonish army, them that have charge; not those that were now officers under Zedekiah, and commissioned by him, but those whom God hath appointed to destroy the city; angels, say some; the Chaldean commanders, think others. With his destroying weapon; each of these had a weapon proper for that kind of destruction which he was to effect; and so, some to slay with sword, another with the pestilence, another with famine; each had his proper work herein, and it is called his destruction. In his hand, denoting both readiness unto, expedition in, and strength for the work.

Ezekiel 9:1 He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man [with] his destroying weapon in his hand.Ver. 1. He cried also.] God, to whom vengeance belongeth, calleth aloud and with a courage, as we say, to the executioners of his wrath, to come and fall on. Cause them that have charge over the city.] Proefecti urbis - i.e., the angels, here called the visitations or visitors of Jerusalem, the prefects of the city. Every man with his destroying weapon.] Called a maul, or battle axe, telum dissipatorium.

(1) He cried also . . . with a loud voice.—The pronoun refers to the same Being as throughout the previous chapter. His nature is sufficiently shown by the prophet’s address to Him in Ezekiel 9:8 : “Ah, Lord God!” The “loud voice” was to give emphasis to what is said; it is the natural expression of the fierceness of the Divine indignation and wrath. Them that have charge over the city.—Not earthly officers, but those to whom God has especially entrusted the execution of His will concerning Jerusalem. The word is, no doubt, used often enough of human officers, but such sense is necessarily excluded here by the whole circumstances of the vision. Nor does the phrase “every man” at all indicate that they were human beings, the same expression being constantly used of angels (as in Genesis 18:1-2; Joshua 5:13; Judges 13:11; Daniel 8:16, &c), and the representation here being plainly that of angelic executioners of God’s wrath. They appear only in the light of the administrators of vengeance, the description of them being that each had “his destroying weapon in his hand.” This is repeated in the following verse.

CHAPTER IX The vision in this chapter seems intended to denote the general destruction of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, excepting a few pious individuals that were distressed at the abominations that were committed in the land; who, in order to be delivered from the general calamity, were MARKED, in allusion, perhaps, to the custom of eastern princes, who marked their servants in the forehead, or rather to the custom very frequent among the Pagan worshippers, of indelibly imprinting on different parts of their body the marks of their idols. To indicate, likewise, that God was soon to forsake the temple, the shechinah, or glorious symbol of his presence, is seen to remove from the inner sanctuary to the threshold or door of the temple, 1-7. The prophet intercedes for his people; but God, on account of the greatness of their sins, will not be entreated, 8-11. NOTES ON CHAP. IX Verse 1. Cause them that have charge over the city] By those six men with destroying weapons the Chaldeans are represented, who had received commission to destroy the city; and when the north is mentioned in such cases, Chaldea and the Chaldean armies are generally intended. There appears to have been six men with a sort of slaughter-bills, and one man with an inkhorn. These may represent the seven counsellors of the eastern monarchs, who always saw the king's face, and knew all the secrets of the government. One of them was that minister who had the office of reporting concerning criminals, who carried the book of death and the book of life into the presence of the king, where the names were entered of criminals who were destined to suffer, and of those who were either considered as innocent or recommended to mercy; those of the former in the book of death, those of the latter in the book of life. This person with the inkhorn might be termed, in our phrase, the recorder.

1. that have charge over the city] Lit. either the “oversights” (overseers), or the “visitations” (visitants) of the city. The latter is most natural, “visitations” being said for “those who visit,” that is, the executioners (Jeremiah 52:11). Cf. Isaiah 60:17 (officers). The verb may be rendered as A.V. Bring near, or Draw near (ch. Ezekiel 36:8; Job 31:37). The perf., the executioners are at hand, is less suitable to the loud cry, and the immediate appearance of the seven men seems in response to the summons.

Them that have charge - The angels who have charge to execute God’s sentence. Every man - “angels,” not “men.”

1. Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near — Or, Draw nigh, ye that have the visitation of the city (Peshito and Hebrew differently pointed). This probably refers to the executioners (Davidson).