Ezekiel 9:8-10

Ezekiel 9:8. Intercession of the Prophet

and Iwas left The executioners passed out of the inner court, leaving only dead behind them, and the prophet was left alone (Isaiah 49:21. The anomalous form is to be read impf.). The terrible outbreak of the Divine wrath seemed to forebode the extinction of all the remnant of Israel, and the prophet fell on his face, appealing to the Lord on their behalf. The "residue" suggests the many calamities that had already befallen the people, wearing them down to only a few men (Isaiah 41:14, comp. the prophet's own figure of the half-burnt brand, ch. 15), and the threat of a fire going out upon all the house of Israel seemed about to be realized (ch. Ezekiel 5:4). The prophet passes from one state of feeling to another. Sometimes he is in sympathy with the divine resentment, and is himself full of fury against the sinful people (ch. Ezekiel 3:14), and of a scorn that rejoices at their coming chastisements (ch. Ezekiel 6:11), but when the judgments of God are abroad before his eyes he is appalled at their severity, and his pity for men overcomes his religious zeal (ch. Ezekiel 11:13).