Ezekiel 9 Study Notes

9:1-2 Linen was often worn by angelic messengers (Dn 10:5; Rv 15:6), but it was also the fabric for priestly garments (Ex 28:42); linen thus portrays purity and holiness. The bronze altar, originally built by Solomon (2Ch 4:1), was relocated during the reign of Ahaz to the northeast corner of the temple to make room for his own pagan altar (2Kg 16:14).

9:3-4 It is possible that those to be spared received the sign of the cross (put a mark on the foreheads), like those sealed for deliverance in Rv 7:3-4; 14:1.

9:5-6 This deliverance from judgment (do not come near anyone who has the mark) resembles the Passover story, where the household was spared if the blood of a sacrificial lamb was placed above the door (Ex 12:7,13).

9:7 The historical fulfillment of this event (fill the courts with the slain) is depicted in 2Ch 36:17-19.

9:8 Ezekiel asks his question again in 11:13.

9:9-11 Verse 9 is an apparent echo of the flood (Gn 6:11). The saying of the lawless (the Lord has abandoned the land; he does not see) repeats in inverted form what the idolatrous elders had said in 8:12.