יחזקאל, פרק ט׳, פסוק ו׳

A severe decree of absolute destruction is handed down against the people, sparing no one based on age or gender. The focus of the event lies in both the totality of the punishment and the specific order in which it is carried out. The command is to completely wipe out and eliminate everything in the path of the disaster [מצודת דוד, רד״ק, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. However, a clear layer of protection is established. Specific individuals bear a distinct mark, which is meant to grant them total immunity and ensure they are left untouched during the punishment [מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ].

The execution of this judgment is ordered to begin directly at the physical location of the Sanctuary [מצודת ציון, ביאור שטיינזלץ], striking the men standing before the holy site [רש״י, מצודת דוד]. These individuals, identified as the elders, are struck first because their guilt is exceptionally severe. They are the seventy elders of Israel who stood in the courtyard chamber and burned incense to idols right inside the Sanctuary, acting deliberately to anger God [מצודת דוד, רד״ק].

Yet, an alternative tradition paints a tragic and entirely opposite picture of who these elders are and why they are struck first [חומת אנך]. In this view, the instruction is not to begin at the physical Sanctuary, but rather to begin the punishment with God's sanctified ones. These elders are not idolaters at all; they are completely righteous individuals who fulfilled the entire Torah and were the very people given the protective mark to be saved [רש״י, רד״ק, חומת אנך].

This dramatic reversal, where the protected righteous are suddenly punished first, stems from an accusation brought by the divine attribute of strict justice. It argued before God that these righteous individuals failed to protest against the actions of the wicked. Even though God knew perfectly well that the wicked would have ignored any rebuke, the righteous themselves did not know this in advance. Consequently, they are held accountable and punished for their silence [רש״י, חומת אנך]. This marks the only recorded instance where a positive decree from God, specifically the original command to protect those with the mark, is retracted and transformed into a negative one [רד״ק].