9 Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, “Bring near the executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand.” 2 And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand, and with them was a man clothed in linen, with a writing case at his waist. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar.
3 Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case at his waist. 4 And the Lord said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.” 5 And to the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. 6 Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the house. 7 Then he said to them, “Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out.” So they went out and struck in the city. 8 And while they were striking, and I was left alone, I fell upon my face, and cried, “Ah, Lord God! Will you destroy all the remnant of Israel in the outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?”
9 Then he said to me, “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice. For they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see.’ 10 As for me, my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; I will bring their deeds upon their heads.”
11 And behold, the man clothed in linen, with the writing case at his waist, brought back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded me.”
God is selective and discriminating, however, in His judgment, as we gather from the marking of the faithful in 4, and we are told that those who had a burden for the evil of the situation and a passionate concern about the tragedy that had come upon God's people were exempt from it. It should be noticed, for all that, that it was not those who merely disagreed with what was going on who were spared, but those who sighed and cried for the abominations. It was no intellectual or theoretical disagreement, for that would not pass muster with God: 'That is not good enough for Me', He says. This is very telling. Lots of things happen in a community that decent folk object to or disagree with, and that even might make them put up their hands in horror, but God says 'That will not do; it is the people who sigh and cry over the abominations'. Who are they today? They are those who are so concerned that they make prayer a priority in their lives, and who express their burden about the tragedy of moral declension in the prayers they offer before God in private and in public. God does not think much of theoretical or formal disapproval, but He does take very seriously those who are so concerned that they will weep before His throne of grace.
So the command was given for the judgment to proceed (6), with the addition of the fateful words 'begin at My sanctuary'. There can be little doubt that this is the basis of the Apostle Peter's words that 'judgment must begin at the house of God' (1 Peter 4:17). Ezekiel is deeply disturbed by the awful thoroughness of the judgment, and intercedes with the Lord for a remnant at least to be spared. We should compare this intercession with Abraham's in Genesis 18:23ff and Amos's in Amos 7:1-6. In common with them, Ezekiel's heart was tender towards his own people. His message, though hard, was delivered out of a heart that felt deeply the tragedy of Israel.