Commentary for Ezekiel 9:2
וְהִנֵּ֣ה שִׁשָּׁ֣ה אֲנָשִׁ֡ים בָּאִ֣ים ׀ מִדֶּרֶךְ־שַׁ֨עַר הָעֶלְי֜וֹן אֲשֶׁ֣ר ׀ מָפְנֶ֣ה צָפ֗וֹנָה וְאִ֨ישׁ כְּלִ֤י מַפָּצוֹ֙ בְּיָד֔וֹ וְאִישׁ־אֶחָ֤ד בְּתוֹכָם֙ לָבֻ֣שׁ בַּדִּ֔ים וְקֶ֥סֶת הַסֹּפֵ֖ר בְּמָתְנָ֑יו וַיָּבֹ֙אוּ֙ וַיַּ֣עַמְד֔וּ אֵ֖צֶל מִזְבַּ֥ח הַנְּחֹֽשֶׁת׃
And, behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lieth toward the north, every man with his weapon of destruction in his hand; and one man in the midst of them clothed in linen, with a writer’s inkhorn on his side. And they went in, and stood beside the brazen altar.
Rashi on Ezekiel
six men Our Rabbis explained them in Tractate Shabbath (55a) as Anger, Wrath, Fury, Destroyer, Breaker, Annihilator.
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Rashi on Ezekiel
his sledgehammer Heb. כְּלִי מַפַּצוֹ, which smashes everything, as in (Ps. 137: 9): “and dash (וְנִפֵּץ) your infants.”
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Rashi on Ezekiel
with a scribe’s tablet [Synonymous with] פִּנְקַס. These are wax- covered tablets upon which they engrave with a stylus.
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Rashi on Ezekiel
beside the copper altar This was the stone altar erected by Solomon instead of the copper altar that Moses had made in the desert.
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