Ezekiel 9:4

The Lord instructed this man to go through Jerusalem and put a mark on everyone who expressed grief over the abominations that existed in Jerusalem (cf. Revelation 7:3; Revelation 9:4; Revelation 14:1). The mark distinguished the godly from the wicked (cf. Exodus 12:7; Exodus 12:13; Joshua 2). Some expositors believed that this individual was the Angel of the Lord, the preincarnate Christ, because of his prominence among these messengers and because of what he did (cf. Ezekiel 10:2; Ezekiel 10:6-7). [Note: Ibid.] There is no way to prove or disprove this theory. Most interpreters believe he was an angel.

"There was special significance to the ’mark’ used for the purpose. The word ’mark’ is the Hebrew word taw, which is the name of the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet. It may have been understood as an abbreviation for tam, ’blameless.’ In the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. the taw of Paleo-Hebrew script was written like an X or sloped cross." [Note: Cooper, p. 127.]

"Ezekiel, of course, could not have thought of Christian symbolism nor is the passage a direct prediction of Christ’s cross. It is a remarkable coincidence, however." [Note: Feinberg, p. 56.]

"This is one of the many examples where the Hebrew prophets spoke better than they knew." [Note: H. L. Ellison, Ezekiel: The Man and His Message, p. 44. See Block, The Book . . ., pp. 310-14, for an extensive discussion of the taw on the forehead.]