John Trapp on Ezekiel 9:4

Ver. 4. And the Lord] That great Induperator.

Goe through the midſt] Diſcriminate, make a difference, take out the precious from the vile. God will ſever his Saints from others in common calamities, and deliver them, if not from the common deſtruction, yet from the common diſtraction.

And ſet a mark upon the foreheads] Vulg. Et ſigna Thau. Whatever this mark was, it was ſignum ſalutare. The letter Tau ſome think it was, as part of the word Tichieh, i. e. Thou ſhalt live; according to that, The juſt ſhall live by his faith: or as part of the word Torah, i. e. The Law to ſhew that theſe had the Law of God written in their hearts, and this made them mourn to ſee it ſo little ſet by. Howſoever, it is not the ſign of the croſſe as Papiſts would have it: but rather the blood of the croſſe, wherewith when believers are ſprinkled from an evil conſcience (as the houſes of the Iſraelites in Goſhen were with the blood of the Paſchal-lamb) they are ſure of ſafety here, and ſalvation hereafter. The Election of God is ſure, and hath this ſeal, The Lord knoweth who are his, 2 Tim. 2.19. and it ſhall appear by them, Pſal. 91. Tau is the baſis of the Hebrew Alphabet, ſaith One, and marking by Chriſt is the baſis of all true comfort, and ſound profeſſion. Tau endeth and cloſeth up the Alphabet, ſaith another: ſo he who perſevereth to the end, ſhall be ſaved. The mark here mentioned was not corporal but ſpiritual, even the Merit and Spirit of Chriſt, the Value and Virtue of his death and ſufferings.

Of the men that ſigh and cry] That ſigh deeply, and cry out bitterly for their own and other mens ſinnes and miſeries; and this out of Piety and Pitty. Theſe are not many, yet ſome ſuch are found in all ages, Rev. 11.3. Inter vepres roſa naſcitur, & inter feras nonnullae miteſcunt. Ammian. Le us mourn in time of ſinning: ſo ſhall we be marked in times of puniſhing.