Ezekiel 9:3,4 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And the glory of God was gone to the threshold of the house Namely, that glorious symbol of the divine presence which had been wont to appear between the cherubim upon the mercy-seat, was departed out of that inner sanctuary to the threshold or door of the temple, to show that God would shortly forsake his house, and withdraw himself from the Jews, because of their idolatries and other sins. The word cherub here stands for cherubim, as Ezekiel 10:2. We must distinguish this apparition of the divine glory, which had its usual residence in the temple, from that which was shown particularly to Ezekiel 1:26; Ezekiel 3:23. And he called to the man clothed with linen He who sat on the throne, Ezekiel 1:26, namely, the Son of God, gave his commands to the angel; and the Lord (Hebrew, Jehovah) said unto him, Go through the midst of the city From the one end to the other, or rather through all parts of it; and set a mark, &c. To signify that distinction which God, by his providence, makes in times of common calamity between some and others, Isaiah 26:20; Jeremiah 39:16; Malachi 3:18. For God in his greatest wrath against his enemies has a reserve of mercies for his people. Upon the foreheads of the men that sigh Namely, out of grief, or who mourn for the sins and miseries of others; and cry for all the abominations, &c. Who dare openly bewail the abominations of this wicked city, and so bear their testimony against it. The Vulgate renders the clause, Et signa Thau super frontes virorum gementium, &c.; that is, “mark with the letter Thau the foreheads of the men who grieve, &c.” And it has been a long and prevailing opinion in the Christian Church, that the letter Thau was the mark here intended, namely, in the Samaritan character, supposed to have been used at that time by the Jews, and that the letter was written in the form of a cross, as St. Jerome attests in his commentary on the place. The prevalence of this opinion shows, at least, how early this use of the form of the cross prevailed in the Christian Church, which made way for the superstition and idolatry of the Papists in that particular. It is of more consequence to observe, that whatever this mark was, it was set upon the persons here described to signify that God owned them as his, and would spare and preserve them in the time of this general destruction. Observe, reader, a work of grace in the soul is to God a mark upon the forehead, which he will acknowledge as his mark, and by which he knows them that are his; and those who keep themselves pure in times of common iniquity, God will keep safe in times of common calamity. They that distinguish themselves shall be distinguished; they that cry for other men's sins, shall not need to cry for their own afflictions; for they shall either be delivered from them, or comforted under them. Observe again: God is more careful of his people than vindictive against his enemies; for he orders the sealing of the mourners before the destruction of the rebels.