Posted on 03/28/2014 6:11:12 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
Ezekiel 9 (NIV) Then I heard him call out in a loud voice, “Bring near those who are appointed to execute judgment on the city, each with a weapon in his hand.”
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 kit at his side. They came in and stood beside the bronze altar.
Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the LORD called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side 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.”
As I listened, he said to the others, “Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, the mothers and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple.
Then he said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!” So they went out and began killing throughout the city.
While they were killing and I was left alone, I fell facedown, crying out, “Alas, Sovereign LORD! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?”
He answered me, “The sin of the people of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice. They say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land; the LORD does not see.’ So I will not look on them with pity or spare them, but I will bring down on their own heads what they have done.”
Then the man in linen with the writing kit at his side brought back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded.”
Clarke’s Commentary
Ezekiel 9:1
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.
_________
Charles Guiteau
Leon Czolgosz
___________
bttt
Dear FRiends from different beliefs, I would appreciate your insights on who or what those six men are (were or will be.)
Thank you for the commentaries and the link, dear AppyPappy!
You may have to dig up the 70 AD Israel to find your answer.
ping
I do not know for sure, but thought right away that they were angels because they have been used before during God’s judgment on people and nations. Then I found this and it makes even more sense. I hope this helps.
http://www.pastorpauley.com/tzedekah/articles/Ezekiel9_1_6.pdf
Yikes. Thanks, dear gorush!
That may be true, still though I’m hoping to see a variety of insights. Thank you for your thoughts, dear MHGinTN!
Very interesting, dear Wisconsinlady, thank you!
I was going to say the six men were angels at first, but I wasn't sure.
Here's that commentary:
Chapter 9: Next Ezekiel heard a loud voice in the vision crying out to six angels in human form, and a man clothed in linen with them. They came from the north , the direction from which invasion was to come. They went in and stood beside the bronze altar. The majesty of the Lord spoke, and ordered a man clothed in linen to go through Jerusalem, and write a tau, a sort of cross, on the foreheads of those who sigh over the abominations Ezekiel saw in the temple.
Then the Majesty of God ordered those with the man clothed in linen, like the priests, to smite all those on whom the tau was not marked. The Fathers of the Church liked to see the tau as a prefiguration of the baptismal seal. They were to smite all, even little children. They were to begin at the sanctuary and thus defile the temple--a horrendous thought for an Israelite. This all stood for the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar. God told Ezekiel that He had forsaken the city and would not spare.
The man in linen came back and reported all had been done.
Those two names... are those of ASSASSINS.
Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Raguel, Sariel, Lucifer
Thank you so much for those insights, dear Salvation!
Indeed. Assassins of Presidents no less. Thank you for your insights, dear WildHighlander57!
Thank you for your insights, dear bigheadfred!
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