“Who will live and who will die? “ On Yom Kippur we chant this powerful medieval prayer that reminds us not only of our fragility in the face of the great unknown but also some of the harshest human questions: Why do some survive calamities and some don’t? Why do so many innocent people have to die because some in their community cause great harm?
Selective justice, random retribution -- every single one of these heartbreaking words reverberate so much louder during these days of war, and so much more painful -- and yet I’m referring to the questions asked by Ezekiel the prophet 2,600 years ago, back by the river of Babylon.
The exiled prophet travels in his mind from Tel Aviv, Babylon’s Judean refugee community to the Temple of Jerusalem - just a few years before the city’s final fall and destruction. In his visions he sees the people whom he knows so well - some are those whom he considers guilty for Judea’s fall from grace, while others whom he considers innocent - they kept protesting, to no avail.
But it isn’t really his opinion that matters here - but rather the opinion of the higher power that is grabbing the prophet by his hair and flying him into the courtyards of Jerusalem through his inner eye. The God of Israel for whom Ezekiel claims he speaks is the god whose fury at the people who’ve turned away from Him to worship other gods and look away from justice - can no longer be tamed. YHWH is fed up and it’s time for fury -- but will everybody in Judea pay the price for the fault of some?
In today’s chapter Ezekiel sees a fantastic vision that once again, chilling, echoes our reality today. He sees YHWH, residing in the Holy of Holies above the Cherubim, electric and blue, and he sees six messengers of wrath, summoned to prepare the city for its final chapter. Among them is the scribe, clad in linens, with an inkwell at his hip, and a specific task -- to mark the ones who have been critical and loud against the errant leaders - and are destined to be saved from the destruction:
וּכְב֣וֹד ׀ אֱלֹהֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל נַֽעֲלָה֙ מֵעַ֤ל הַכְּרוּב֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר הָיָ֣ה עָלָ֔יו אֶ֖ל מִפְתַּ֣ן הַבָּ֑יִת וַיִּקְרָ֗א אֶל־הָאִישׁ֙ הַלָּבֻ֣שׁ הַבַּדִּ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֛ר קֶ֥סֶת הַסֹּפֵ֖ר בְּמׇתְנָֽיו׃ וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהֹוָה֙ אֵלָ֔ו עֲבֹר֙ בְּת֣וֹךְ הָעִ֔יר בְּת֖וֹךְ יְרוּשָׁלָ֑͏ִם וְהִתְוִ֨יתָ תָּ֜ו עַל־מִצְח֣וֹת הָאֲנָשִׁ֗ים הַנֶּֽאֱנָחִים֙ וְהַנֶּ֣אֱנָקִ֔ים עַ֚ל כׇּל־הַתּ֣וֹעֵב֔וֹת הַֽנַּעֲשׂ֖וֹת בְּתוֹכָֽהּ׃
“The Presence of the God of Israel had moved from the cherub on which it had rested to the threshold of the Temple. The figure clothed in linen with the writing case at his waist was summoned; and YHWH said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the persons who moan and groan because of all the abominations that are committed in it.”
Ezekiel.9.3-4
The Hebrew word for ‘mark’ is ‘Tav’ - it literally means a marking of some sort but is also the final letter of the Hebrew alphabet - the one shared with the Phoenicians that, eventually, was adopted, with some variation, by the Greeks and Romans. You may know it as the letter with the shape of X.
The scribe is marking X on people’s foreheads who are bound for life, echoing the Exodus when Hebrew doors were smeared with blood, and lived.
Robert Alter reminds us that this goes even further, suggesting that “The saving mark on the forehead recalls the mark that saves Cain from retribution.”
This mythic resonance seems to indicate a plan to spare the innocent from the ones responsible for the moral decay of the city.
In a Talmudic passage, a sage suggested that the scribe was the angel Gabriel, and that YHWH told him: “Inscribe on the foreheads of the righteous a tav of ink, and on the foreheads of the wicked a tav of blood. Why the letter tav? Rav said, Tav for “you shall live” (Tichyeh) and Tav for “you shall die” (Tamut).
This is the most blatant example of selection in our sources. But did it even matter? Did the ones marked for life survive the slaughter by the Babylonians? Did they escape death only to become slaves or exiles?
But is it possible when an entire region is under attack? How do we mark - or unmark ourselves in order to survive and live with safety - still today?
And what was the purpose of this vision - was it only only imagined by Ezekiel as a way to maybe still try wake the people up?
The ink with which these marks and words were written is how we read this story now - the visions outlived the people, marked or not; the blood that every one of these words evoke echoes the horror and the groans that are all that’s left for the prophet, for us, as he sees the city covered with death delivered by YHWH’s six messengers. Ezekiel tells us that it seems that none were left:
“I flung myself on my face and cried out, “Ah, my Sovereign GOD ! Are you going to annihilate all that is left of Israel, pouring out Your fury upon Jerusalem?” Ezekiel 9:8
The final letter of the alphabet marked the end of the sacred city. But the same letter TAV, that spells ‘Tamut’ - “DIE” will one day change again and as the city is rebuilt again, a century later, it will become ‘TICHYE’ - “LIVE”.
But the mysterious six messengers, among them the scribe clad in linens, are not quite done yet with their task. The violent visions continue, and with them some of the more stunning, psychedelic and surprising details of what one prophet saw into the reality that is the very source of death and life.
We pray for life and hope, compassion, healing and peace for all people, everywhere, today and every day. Let us be marked for life.
Image: Ezekiel's Vision of the Sign "Tav" (Ezekiel IX:2-7), anonymous (Flemish - Mosan Region), mid 12th C., champlevé enamel, copper gilt, Walters Art Museum /
Go Below the Bible Belt. Link in bio. subscribe.Below the Bible Belt: 929 chapters, 42 months, daily reflections.Become a free or paid subscriber and join Rabbi Amichai’s 3+ years interactive online quest to question, queer + re-read between the lines of the entire Hebrew Bible. Enjoy daily posts, weekly videos and monthly learning sessions. 2022-2025.
#Ezekiel #Ezekiel9 #ProphetEzekiel #יחזקאל #יחזקאלבןבוזי #BookofEzekiel #JewishMysticism #Prophets #Neviim #Hebrewbible #Tanach #929 #labshul #belowthebiblebelt929 #Tav #Cain’smark #Bloodonthedoors #Godofwrath #thepowerofprotest #collectivepunishment #divinecompassion #Tav #Xmarksthespot #selection #justice #stoptheviolence #peace #prayforpeace #nomorewar #hope