Ezekiel 9

2 by his side. That is, suspended from his girdle, as is still the custom in the East.

3 was gone up. Arising from “between the cherubim”; i.e., from the mercy-seat, to scatter His enemies (Numb. x. 35).

clothed with linen. As a priest. The presence and commission of this messenger of protection shows the care which God takes of His people amidst apparently indiscriminate sufferings.

6 the ancient men. The five and twenty men mentioned, ch. viii. 16.

7. Defile the house. These men had polluted it with their sins; and God had withdrawn from it (3), and left it to be openly defiled with their blood.