Defile the house. — The utmost possible pollution under the Mosaic economy was the touch of a dead body. (See Numbers 19:11; 1 Kings 13:2; 2 Kings 23:16.) It might be thought that the Temple would be spared this defilement; but not only must the execution of justice override all technicalities, as at the execution of Joab (1 Kings 2:28-31), but in this case the very defilement itself was a part of the judgment, since God was about to forsake His sanctuary, and give over even this to the desolations of the heathen. From the Temple the destroying angels passed out into the city.
Related Commentaries of Ezekiel 9:7
Ezekiel 9:7
7 And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.