ezekiel 9 and 10

Read Ezekiel 9 and 10 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions:

Eze 8:15-9:3 {p} Sun worship in the Temple/ six men called from the north/ glory of YHVH departs to the threshold
Eze 9:4-11 {p} Command for the righteous to be marked on the forehead + the rest to be slain without pity
Eze 10:1-11:1 {p} Fire set in Jerusalem/ Glory of God ascends upon the cherubim from the threshold

The chiastic structures of chapters 8 and 9:

Eze 8:1-9:3 {p+s+s+p}

introduction) Eze 8:1-3a, Ezekiel beheld YHVH/ the Spirit brought him in visions of God to Jerusalem;

1a) Eze 8:3b-4, The north gate + that which provokes to jealousy + the glory of the God of Israel;

1) Eze 8:3b, To the door of the north gate of the inner court;
2) Eze 8:3c, Where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which provokes to jealousy;
3) Eze 8:4, The glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the plain;

1b) Eze 8:5-12, The vision of the image of jealousy + the elders worshiping idols in secret;

1a) Eze 8:5-6a, Image of jealousy at the entrance to the temple/ YHVH: Son of man, do you see this?
central axis) Eze 8:6b {p} Now turn again, you will see greater abominations;
2a) Eze 8:7-12, 70 elders of Israel worshiping abominations in secret/ YHVH: Son of man, have you seen this?

1a) Eze 8:7-8 {s} The vision of the secret door hidden in the temple wall;
1b) Eze 8:9, He said to me, “Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there;”
central axis) Eze 8:10-11, I saw the 70 elders of Israel worshiping all the abominable idols of Israel;
2b) Eze 8:12a, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark;”
2a) Eze 8:12b, “Every man in the room of his idols? They say YHVH does not see us + has forsaken the land;”

central axis) Eze 8:13, He said to me: Turn again, and you will see greater abominations;

2b) Eze 8:14-17a, The vision of the women weeping for Tammuz + the men worshiping the sun;

1a) Eze 8:14-15a, The vision of the women weeping for Tammuz {s}/ YHVH: Have you seen this?
central axis) Eze 8:15b, Turn again, you will see greater abominations than these;
2a) Eze 8:16-17a, The vision of 25 men worshiping the sun/ YHVH: Have you seen this, O son of man?

2a) Eze 8:17b-9:3 {p} That which provokes to anger + the north gate + the glory of the God of Israel;

2) Eze 8:17b-18, Judah has filled the land with violence + provoked Me to anger/ I will not have pity;
1) Eze 9:1-2a, He called/6 men came from the direction of the north gate, each with their weapon;
3) Eze 9:2b-3 {p} The glory of the God of Israel departed from the cherub/ the man with the writer’s inkhorn;

1a) Eze 9:2b, One man was clothed with linen and had a writer’s inkhorn at his side;
central axis) Eze 9:3a, The glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub to the threshold of the temple;
2a) Eze 9:3b {p} He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn at his side.

Eze 9:4-11 {p}

1a) Eze 9:4, YHVH to the man w/inkhorn: ‘Mark on the foreheads all who cry over the abominations that are done;

1b) Eze 9:5-7, To the others He said: Go after him and kill, do not let your eye spare, nor have pity;

central axis) Eze 9:8, “So it was, that while they were killing them, I was left alone; and I fell on my face and cried out, and said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Will You destroy all the remnant of Israel in pouring out Your fury on Jerusalem?’”

2b) Eze 9:9-10, Their iniquity is exceedingly great, therefore My eye will not spare, nor have pity;

2a) Eze 9:11 {p} The man who had the inkhorn reported back: ‘I have done as You commanded me.’

The idolatry that Israel was engaged in, which Ezekiel saw by a vision, is all ultimately from Babylon, for it is at the Tower of Babel that the great rebellion against God first occurred (the babylon connection). This is why Babylon is the head of gold of all the kingdoms of this world – the kingdoms that are opposed to the kingdom of God and of His Messiah. This is why Mystery Babylon is the mother of harlots and the abominations of the earth.

Even though Ezekiel cried out to the LORD God, “Will You destroy all the remnant of Israel?” there were those who were not destroyed: those who were marked on their forehead by the man with the inkhorn. The LORD’s are marked on the forehead, as well as the beast’s. We ourselves determine which mark we will bear, just as the men of Jerusalem likewise did. Their mark was not determined by the group to which they belonged, but by the things they did (marked on the hand and forehead). May we, by the thoughts of our minds and the actions of our hands, always bear the mark of the name of the LORD of Hosts!

Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city—take them out of this place! For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking. When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life!” Gen 19:12-17

And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. Luk 17:26-30

And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.” Rev 18:4