Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
Come not near any ... upon whom is the mark - (Revelation 9:4). It may be objected that Daniel, Jeremiah, and others were carried away, whereas many of the vilest were left in the land. But God does not promise believers exemption from all suffering, but only from what will prove really and lastingly hurtful to them. His sparing the ungodly turns to their destruction, and leaves them without excuse (Calvin). However, the prophecy waits a fuller and final fulfillment, because Revelation 7:3-8, in ages long after Babylon, foretells as still future the same sealing of a remnant (144,000) of Israel previous to the final outpouring of wrath on the rest of the nation; the correspondence is exact, the same pouring of fire from the altar follows the marking of the remnant in both (cf. Revelation 8:5, with Ezekiel 10:2); so Zechariah 13:9; Zechariah 14:2, distinguishes the remnant from the rest of Israel.
Begin at my sanctuary - for in it the greatest abominations had been committed; it had lost the reality of consecration by the blood of victims sacrificed to idols; it must therefore lose its semblance by being filled and defiled with the dead bodies of the slain idolaters (Ezekiel 9:7). God's heaviest wrath falls on those who have sinned against the highest privileges; these are made to feel it first (1 Peter 4:17-18). He hates sin most in those nearest to him, e.g., in the priests, elders, etc.
They began at the ancient men - the 70 elders, mentioned in Ezekiel 8:11.