‘And behold six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies towards the north, every one with his weapon for destruction in his hand, and one man in the midst of them, clothed in linen, with a writer's kit hanging by his side (‘on his loins'). And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar.'
Seven heavenly ‘men' now entered the temple area, six equipped for destruction and one for mercy (compare Revelation 8:2; Revelation 8:6). In all Near Eastern nations seven was the number of divine perfection and completeness. These men were thus seen as complete for the divine task in hand. The fact that they came from a northerly direction was probably either to indicate the direction from which judgment was coming, or to confirm that they came from the heavenly dwelling place of God (see on Ezekiel 1:4). They entered by the way where the women were weeping for Tammuz (Ezekiel 8:14), and the image of jealousy had its place (Ezekiel 8:5). They saw enough to stir their righteous anger.
They entered in a group with the man with the writing kit in the middle. He was clothed in linen. This regularly denotes a heavenly personality (Daniel 10:5; Daniel 12:6-7; Revelation 15:6). The remainder were probably dressed as warriors, and the weapon held ready in the hand was always an indication of judgment. But we must not see the man with the writing kit as being of a different temper than the others, for he is the one who will throw the coals of judgment over Jerusalem (Ezekiel 10:2). He merely has a different function. All are one in their actions. The group reminds us that in the midst of God's judgments there is always mercy for those who respond to Him.
The word for ‘writing kit' is found only here and may well be an Egyptian loan word (qeset from Egyptian gsti). Such a writing kit was usually made from animal horn or wood. It would have a palette with a long groove for the rush pens and circular hollows for two kinds of ink, usually black and red. It was a kit that would be carried by professional scribes.
‘And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar.' This bronze altar was the old altar from Solomon's temple which had been replaced with a stone altar by Ahaz, which he patterned on a Syrian altar (2 Kings 16:14), the old bronze altar being removed and put to the north of the stone altar for the king to ‘enquire by' (2 Kings 9:15). But this was the altar recognised by Yahweh. This is another indication of how the temple had been defiled. God had not overlooked the replacing of His altar with a foreign altar. From the true altar His mercy and judgment would reach out.
The action is very significant. On that bronze altar had been offered sacrifices for Israel for many generations. There atonement had been made. It had also been a place of sanctuary when there was nowhere else to go. Men could flee to the altar (1 Kings 1:50; 1 Kings 2:28). But now the right of sanctuary was lost. The sacrifices had ceased. God was deserting His temple and His altar. It was no longer a holy place.