Ezekiel 9:7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

They initiated their actions with the elders who stood before the temple of God. He instructed them to desecrate the sanctuary and to fill the courtyards with the slain. Rather than ‘courtyards,’ the LXX translates this as ‘ways.’ The elders being slaughtered, referenced earlier, were those who used censers to offer incense to idols. The temple had lost its sanctity, as the transgression against God's holiness had defiled all; thus, where sin abounds, judgment commences. The temple courts were filled with the lifeless bodies, not the pathways outside the temple, unless we interpret the ‘ways’ as the squares within the city. The angels could not have sullied the temple, once radiant with God's glory, unless the Lord who withdrew His glory commanded it.

He instructed them to desecrate the sanctuary, to fill the pathways of the deceased, and to step out to those who would cause destruction. Because they had themselves polluted God's dwelling with idols, the just Judge orders a similar fate for those who are unrighteous. Thus, they stepped out and struck the city.