Ezekiel 9:1-11

content/bible_journal/ezekiel_9:1-11.md

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+title = "Ezekiel 9:1–11"
+date = "2023-03-21"
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+
+### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ezekiel9.1-11)
+
+Having shown Ezekiel the idolatrous acts the people of Jerusalem are committing
+in His temple, the Lord summons angelic warriors to begin executing the people
+of the city. Six of them arrive, plus a scribe in charge of the heavenly
+record. Normally God's glory rested above the Ark of the Covenant in the Most
+Holy Place, seated on His earthly throne as it were, but now He has moved to
+the threshold of the temple because He is about to remove His Presence from
+Jerusalem.
+
+Before He goes, the Lord gives the angels instructions. The scribe is to go
+ahead into the city and put a mark on the foreheads of those who do not approve
+of the abominations that have taken place. The six warriors are to go after and
+slaughter everyone else, beginning with the twenty-five priests who are before
+them.
+
+Greatly disturbed by all he has seen, Ezekiel falls on his face in despair. He
+fully expects no one will survive this disaster, and the remnant of Israel will
+not survive. In effect, this is an appeal to God's promises that He made with
+the Israelites, to be their God and to preserve David's kingly line. Ezekiel is
+worried that the exiles will never again be able to possess the Promised Land.
+Our God does indeed keep His promises, but He doesn't reassure Ezekiel of that.
+Instead, He emphasizes just how wicked the people of Israel and Judah have been
+to each other, corrupting the land with bloodshed and injustice until it is
+saturated with it. There are no more chances for them, no more mercy; only
+wrath.
+
+And in the time it took for that conversation to be finished, the angelic
+scribe returns to announce that he has completed his task. I'm sure an angel
+can move much faster than we can, and he wouldn't be hindered by such small
+things as walls and doors, but angels are not omnipresent, so he would have to
+go to each person in the city who loved the Lord individually to apply the
+mark. That makes it seem like there really were not many people he had to mark.
+But it also shows the kindness and mercy of the Lord not allowing the righteous
+to be punished along with the wicked. Time and again we see Him do this: 2
+Peter lists several examples such as Noah and Lot. Which is not to say bad
+things never happen to good people (ask Job and Jesus), but disasters that come
+upon many people specifically to judge the wicked are also not visited upon the
+righteous among them.
+
+* * *
+
+You keep all of Your promises and You shelter the righteous under Your wings in
+the day of trouble.