“Among the executors
Was a man
Clothed in linen,
With a writing case
At his side.
They went in.
They stood beside
The bronze altar.
Now the glory
Of the God of Israel
Had gone up
From the cherubim
On which it rested
To the threshold
Of the house.
Yahweh called
To the man
Clothed in linen,
With the writing case
At his side.
Yahweh said to him.
‘Go through the city,
Through Jerusalem,
Put a mark
On the foreheads
Of those who sigh,
Of those who groan
Over all the abominations
That are committed in it.’”
Now a new character enters the scene. This man dressed in white linen with a writing case at his side was among the 6 executioners from the north. They were all standing at the bronze altar when the glory of the God of Israel left the cherubim where it was resting and went to the threshold of the house. Then Yahweh called to the man, who was clothed in linen, with the writing case at his side. Yahweh told him to go into Jerusalem. He was to find all the people who were sighing and groaning about all the abominations in town. He was to put a taw mark on their forehead, like a mini cross, since taw was the last consonant of the Hebrew alphabet. Thus he acted like the angel of death in the Passover story. He marked those who cared about the situation there, who might be spared.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 