9:6 Slay utterly old [and] young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom [is] the {g} mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the {h} elders who [were] before the house.
(g) Thus in all his plagues the Lord preserves his small number, which he marks as in Ex 12:12, Re 7:3 but the chief mark is the spirit of adoption, with which the heart is sealed up to life everlasting.
(h) Which was the chief opportunity for all these evils, as in Eze 8:11.
9:6 At my sanctuary - There are the great sinners, and the abominable sins which have brought this on them.
9:5-11 The slaughter must begin at the sanctuary, that all may see and know that the Lord hates sin most in those nearest to him. He who was appointed to protect, reported the matter. Christ is faithful to the trust reposed in him. Is he commanded by his Father to secure eternal life to the chosen remnant? He says, Of all that thou hast given me, I have lost none. If others perish, and we are saved, we must ascribe the difference wholly to the mercy of our God, for we too have deserved wrath. Let us still continue to plead in behalf of others. But where the Lord shows no mercy he does no injustice; he only recompenses men's ways.
