Scripture Daily

Context No. 3153 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Context · Reflection

Ezekiel 9:7-11: in context

7He said to them, “Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!” They went out, and struck in the city. 8While they were killing, and I was left, I fell on my face, and cried, and said, “Ah Lord GOD! Will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your wrath on Jerusalem?” 9Then he said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perversion; for they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD doesn’t see.’ 10As for me also, my eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way on their head.” 11Behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, “I have done as you have commanded me.”

This is one of the most terrible visions in Ezekiel, and it should be read with trembling. Executioners are sent through Jerusalem in judgment, sparing only those marked with a sign on their foreheads. Ezekiel falls on his face and cries out, ah, Lord GOD, will you destroy all the remnant of Israel? God answers that the guilt is very great, the land full of blood, and his eye will not spare.

As hard as the vision is, notice the mark. Earlier, those who sighed and groaned over the abominations done in the city were marked on their foreheads, and they alone are spared. Those who grieved over the sin around them, who did not grow numb to evil, were set apart for mercy. And notice Ezekiel's own response: he falls on his face and intercedes, will you destroy the whole remnant? Even amid deserved judgment, the ones who mourn over sin and cry out for mercy stand apart. To grieve over evil, rather than shrug and accept it, is itself a mark of belonging to God.

In a world grown numb to evil, do I still grieve over the sin around me, marked as one who mourns rather than one who shrugs?

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