Why God Spared the Righteous of Jerusalem with the Mark of Taw

And He did an act of righteousness in that very exile, in that He watched over it, and He did yet another great kindness for Israel with regard to that exile. How so? In Tevet they were due to be exiled from Jerusalem, for so it says, "Son of man, write down for yourself the name of the day, [this very day]" etc. (Ezekiel 24:2). What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He said: If they go forth now in the cold, they will die. What did He do for them? He waited for them until the summer and exiled them. This is what the prophet says, "I will surely gather them, says the Lord" (Jeremiah 8:13); and "gathering" (asof) means nothing other than exile, as it is said, "I will utterly sweep away (asof) everything" etc. (Zephaniah 1:2). And the second: "And He said to him, Pass through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark (taw) upon the foreheads of the men" etc. (Ezekiel 9:4). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Gabriel: Go and inscribe upon the foreheads of the righteous a taw of ink, so that the angels of destruction will have no power over them; and upon the foreheads of the wicked a taw of blood, so that the angels of destruction will have power over them. The prosecution (kategoria) came in before the Holy One, blessed be He, [and said before Him]: Master of the Universe, how do these differ from those? The Holy One, blessed be He, said to it: These are wholly righteous, and those are wholly wicked. It said to Him: It was in their power to protest, yet they did not protest. He said to it: It is revealed and known before Me that had they protested, they would not have been heeded. It said before Him: Master of the Universe, how do these differ from those? Even so, it was in their power to demean themselves for the sanctification of Your name and to take upon themselves blows from Israel, just as the prophets bore them. For behold, Jeremiah suffered many troubles from Israel, and Isaiah, of whom it is written, "I gave my back to the smiters" etc. (Isaiah 50:6), and the rest of the prophets. Immediately He turned back and said to the angels of destruction, "Old man, young man, and maiden, little ones and women [you shall slay utterly]" (Ezekiel 9:6). This too was for good, in that the Holy One, blessed be He, vented His wrath upon Jerusalem, as it is said, "The Lord has spent His wrath" (Lamentations 4:11); for had it not been so, all Israel would have been liable to annihilation. Hence, "Evil shall not sojourn with You" (Psalms 5:5), for the Holy One, blessed be He, does not let His name rest upon evil. And even to Israel He apportioned honor and did not mention them for evil. When He came to the offerings, He said to Moses, "Speak to the children of Israel, When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord" (Leviticus 1:2) — of you, and not of the nations of the world. But when He came to warn about the plague-spots, He said, "When a man (adam) has on the skin of his flesh" — "a man of you" it does not say, but rather "When a man has on the skin of his flesh" etc. Hence, "Evil shall not sojourn with You."