And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem. This two-fold designation marks more emphatically, the scene of the divine judgments. Set a mark - literally, the Hebrew letter Tau, the last in the alphabet, used as a mark (Job 31:35, margin, 'my sign,' literally, Tau (t)), originally written in the term of a cross which Tertullian explains as referring to the badge and only mean of salvation, the cross of Christ. But nowhere in Scripture are the words which are now employed as names of letters used to denote the letters themselves or their figures (Vitringa). The noun here is cognate to the verb, 'mark a mark.' So in Revelation 7:3 no particular mark is specified. We seal what we wish to guard securely. When all things else on earth are confounded, God will secure His people from the common ruin. God gives the first charge as to their safety, before He orders the punishment of the rest (Psalms 31:20; Isaiah 26:20-21). So in the case of Lot and Sodom (Genesis 19:22); also the Egyptian first-born were not slain until Israel had time to sprinkle the blood-mark, ensuing their safety (cf. Revelation 7:3; Amos 9:9). So the early Christians had Pella provided as a refuge for them, before the destruction of Jerusalem.
Upon the foreheads - the most conspicuous part of the person, to imply how that their safety would be manifested to all (cf. Jeremiah 15:11, "Verily it shall be well With thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction;" fulfilled in the preservation of Jeremiah, Ebed-melech, and the remnant, on the capture of the city, Jeremiah 39:11-18). It was customary thus to mark worshippers (Revelation 13:16; Revelation 14:1; Revelation 14:9) and servants. So the Church of England marks the forehead with the sign of the cross in baptizing. At the exodus the mark was on the houses, because then it was families; here it is on the foreheads, for it is individuals whose safety is guaranteed.
Of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof - similarly-sounding verbs in the Hebrew, as in the English version, expressing the prolonged sound of their grief х hane'ªnaachiym (H584) wªhane'ªnaaqiym (H602)]. "Sigh" implies their inward grief ("groanings which cannot be uttered," Romans 8:26); "cry" the outward expression of it. So Lot (2 Peter 2:7-8). Tenderness should characterize the man of God, not harsh sternness in opposing the ungodly (Psalms 119:53; Psalms 119:136; Jeremiah 13:17; 2 Corinthians 12:21; Philippians 3:18); at the same time zeal for the honour of God (Psalms 69:9-10; 1 John 5:19).