Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 9:1

"Then he cried in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause ye them that have charge over the city to draw near, every man with his destroying weapon in his hand." — Ezekiel 9:1 (ASV)

He cried also ... with a loud voice. —The pronoun refers to the same Being as throughout the previous chapter. His nature is sufficiently shown by the prophet’s address to Him in Ezekiel 9:8: Ah, Lord God! The “loud voice” was to give emphasis to what is said; it is the natural expression of the fierceness of the Divine indignation and wrath.

Those who have charge over the city. —Not earthly officers, but those to whom God has especially entrusted the execution of His will concerning Jerusalem. The word is, no doubt, used often enough of human officers, but such a meaning is necessarily excluded here by the whole circumstances of the vision.

Nor does the phrase “every man” at all indicate that they were human beings, since the same expression is constantly used for angels (Joshua 5:13; Judges 13:11; Daniel 8:16, etc.). Indeed, the representation here is plainly that of angelic executioners of God’s wrath.

They appear only in the light of administrators of vengeance, the description of them being that each had his destroying weapon in his hand. This is repeated in the following verse.