Chapter ix.
The vision which follows is closely connected with the previous visions
in which Ezekiel had seen the worship of idols, and of beasts, and of
the sun. Divine judgment must follow. It is a judgment vision the
Prophet now beholds. The judgment, however, is of a discriminating
character. The messengers are commissioned to mark the sorrowing,
faithful remnant. For the rest of the sinners in Jerusalem there is no
mercy. They had defiled the temple and now the temple was to be defiled
by their slain bodies.