Ezekiel · Chapter 10

Verse 1. As it were a sapphire stone] See Clarke’s notes on “Ezekiel 1:22”; “Ezekiel 1:26”. The chariot, here mentioned by the prophet, was precisely the same as that which he saw at the river Chebar, as himself tells us, Ezekiel 10:15, of which see the description in Ezekiel 1:26.

Verses 1-3. Then I looked, &c. — Most of this chapter has been explained in the notes on chap. 1. In the firmament, &c. — See Ezekiel 1:26. The repetition of the vision here signified that the heavy and terrible judgments of God were drawing nearer and nearer. He — That sat on the throne; spake unto the man clothed in linen — To the angel, as before, Ezekiel 9:2; and said, Go in between the wheels, under the cherub — Or, between the cherubim, according to the explication given verse 7. And fill thy hand with coals of fire — Which sparkled and ran up and down between the living creatures: see Ezekiel 1:13. This part of the vision signified that the city would shortly be consumed by fire. Coals of fire do elsewhere denote the divine vengeance. Now the cherubim — Which were part of the vision shown to the prophet; stood on the right side of the house — In the inner court, on the north side of the temple, verse 18; namely, the court of the priests. And the cloud filled the court — A splendour, or brightness, went before, and a cloud followed it. The splendour signified the clearness of the judgment; and the clouds, the storms of calamity which would follow it.

Verse 1. Behold, in the firmament—there appeared as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of a throne. This is the vision that was seen by the river Chebar, but now the vision opens in the temple. Messiah on his throne passing the final sentence on the polluted sanctuary, in which his holiness disdained to dwell. The throne seated on the dense blue of the sapphire gem, named last in Ezekiel 1:26, is here put the first, the hour of judgment being at hand: his characters are sombrous and dark.

1. The repetition with such particularity of all these details proves that Ezekiel regarded the vision, even in its minuteness, as picturing a deep mystery. This alone would exclude the hypothesis that the symbols used were merely familiar emblems of sovereignty, well known to every Israelite (1 Kings 6:29; 7:25, 44; Ezekiel 17:3, 7), or that the living creatures merely represented divine intelligence, power, creative might and omniscience. — Piepenbring. The emphasis placed upon this vision by the prophet shows that he understood it to contain some new revelation. Indeed, this vision is the key to the entire prophecy. All the fundamentals to Ezekiel’s theology are here pictorially expressed: his conception of God — human in his attributes (not beastly, as the heathen thought), gloriously enthroned above all gods, One who only needs to be seen as he is in order to be reverenced; his conception of man, whose chief duty is “to glorify God and enjoy him forever;” his conception of the world and its government as being wholly, constantly, irrevocably, everlastingly dominated by its divine King; all nature and all history, life and death, things present and things to come, governed by one Will which “makes for righteousness.” This prophecy is a picture in whirlwind and fire of the song of the seraphim: “Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah of hosts: that which filleth the whole earth is his glory” (Isaiah 6:3). Ezekiel’s vision has been called “a song without words.” His cherubim are speechless. They do not need to speak. Before the majesty of Jehovah they stand and drop their wings, too awed to speak. The effect of this “vision of God” upon the seer may be traced in almost every chapter of his prophecy. For detailed description of the vision see also notes on chap. 1.

1. “Behold… as it were a sapphire stone, with the appearance of the likeness of a throne upon it” (LXX.). The glory of the Lord has returned from the threshold of the house (Ezekiel 9:3) and the prophet now sees it above the cherubim. If we follow the Septuagint it is not the color of the throne which is described as sapphire, but of the foundation, “the firmament” upon which rests the throne; and this agrees with Exodus 24:10, and Revelation 21:19. It is a very curious fact, pointed out by Delitzsch, that the ancients lacked color perception. No ancient language contains the word sky-blue. It was not until the Middle Ages that even the poets seem to have noticed that the sky was blue. The Hebrews alone seem to have discovered this and have expressed the thought beautifully with the help of the sapphire — which is the more precious the deeper the blue. “Sapphire blue is the blue of the heaven; blue is the color of the atmosphere illumined by the sun, through which shine the dark depths of space; the color of the finite pervaded by the infinite; the color taken by that which is most heavenly as it comes down on the earthly, the color of the covenant between God and men. And blue passes almost universally as the color of fidelity… In biblical symbolism there is associated with blue the idea of the blue sky and with the blue sky the idea of the Godhead coming forth from its mysterious dwelling in the unseen world and graciously condescending to the creature.” — Franz Delitzsch, Iris.

V. 2. He-That sat on the throne. Scatter-That it may take fire in all parts, and none may escape.

Verse 2. Coals of fire] These were to signify the burning of the city by the Chaldeans. It seems that the space between the four wheels, which was all on fire, was that from which those coals were taken.

Verses 1-3. Then I looked, &c. — Most of this chapter has been explained in the notes on chap. 1. In the firmament, &c. — See Ezekiel 1:26. The repetition of the vision here signified that the heavy and terrible judgments of God were drawing nearer and nearer. He — That sat on the throne; spake unto the man clothed in linen — To the angel, as before, Ezekiel 9:2; and said, Go in between the wheels, under the cherub — Or, between the cherubim, according to the explication given verse 7. And fill thy hand with coals of fire — Which sparkled and ran up and down between the living creatures: see Ezekiel 1:13. This part of the vision signified that the city would shortly be consumed by fire. Coals of fire do elsewhere denote the divine vengeance. Now the cherubim — Which were part of the vision shown to the prophet; stood on the right side of the house — In the inner court, on the north side of the temple, verse 18; namely, the court of the priests. And the cloud filled the court — A splendour, or brightness, went before, and a cloud followed it. The splendour signified the clearness of the judgment; and the clouds, the storms of calamity which would follow it.

Ver. 2. He spake to the man, the cherub clothed with linen, the spotless minister of justice. Though the hallowed emblems in the sanctuary were but figures on earth, they are all realities in heaven. This celestial minister went in between the wheels and brought a handful of burning coals and scattered them over the city, which designated the burning of Jerusalem, whose gods were numerous as its streets. These coals, if we may follow the language of the psalms, like the coals of juniper-wood, hard and hot, were portentous of the fiery indignation of the Lord. Psalm 120:4. 140:10. And who could penetrate the centre of the glory but the Holy Spirit, the Spirit that lived in all this living vision?

2. Between the wheels — Literally, whirling; a different word from the one formerly used for wheel. It is used also in verse 13, and signifies that the wheels are all the time moving like a whirlwind. (Compare also Psalm 77:18; Ezekiel 33:23.) It is used, not of a single wheel, but of the entire “wheelwork,” or chariot. Coals of fire — That which previously the prophet had only ventured to describe as appearing like coals of fire (Ezekiel 1:13) he now sees can be handled and used as powerful weapons of judgment. Scatter them over the city — All this is symbolical of judgment to come. Josephus tells us how this prophecy was fulfilled by Nebuzaradan, who, having robbed the temple of its treasures, set fire to it “in the fifth month, the first day of the month, in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, and in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he also burnt the palace and overthrew the city” (Ant., X, 8:5).

V. 3. The right side-The north-side, the side towards Babylon, from whence the fire came which consumed the city. The man-Christ, the Lord of angels, who now attend his coming and commands. The cloud-As the sign of God’s presence. The inner court-The court of the priests, who were chief in the apostacy.

Verse 3. On the right side of the house] The right hand always marked the south among the Hebrews.

Verses 1-3. Then I looked, &c. — Most of this chapter has been explained in the notes on chap. 1. In the firmament, &c. — See Ezekiel 1:26. The repetition of the vision here signified that the heavy and terrible judgments of God were drawing nearer and nearer. He — That sat on the throne; spake unto the man clothed in linen — To the angel, as before, Ezekiel 9:2; and said, Go in between the wheels, under the cherub — Or, between the cherubim, according to the explication given verse 7. And fill thy hand with coals of fire — Which sparkled and ran up and down between the living creatures: see Ezekiel 1:13. This part of the vision signified that the city would shortly be consumed by fire. Coals of fire do elsewhere denote the divine vengeance. Now the cherubim — Which were part of the vision shown to the prophet; stood on the right side of the house — In the inner court, on the north side of the temple, verse 18; namely, the court of the priests. And the cloud filled the court — A splendour, or brightness, went before, and a cloud followed it. The splendour signified the clearness of the judgment; and the clouds, the storms of calamity which would follow it.

3. Right side — Or, south side — of the temple. Ezekiel, coming through the north door into the outer court of the sanctuary, sees just in front of him the cherubim and the throne. He states the position in order to show that he had the best possible opportunity to see what happened when the man went into the fire.

V. 4. The glory-The visible token of the presence of the God of glory. Went up-In token of his departure from the temple. And stood-Shewing his unwillingness to leave, and giving them time to return to him, he stands where he might he seen, both by priests and people, that both might be moved to repentance.

Verse 4. The glory of the Lord went up] This is repeated from Ezekiel 9:3.

The house was filled with the cloud] This is a fact similar to what occurred frequently at the tabernacle in the wilderness, and in the dedication of the temple by Solomon. What is mentioned here was the Divine shechinah, the symbolical representation of the majesty of God.

Verses 4-7. Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub — In token of his departure from the temple. The words may be better rendered, For the glory of the Lord had gone up, &c. For the prophet repeats here what he had related before, Ezekiel 9:3. And the house was filled with the cloud — The account here given must strike every reader as to its similarity with the description given of the Shechinah in the books of Moses and the first book of Kings. A bright cloud was the sign of God’s presence, which first filled the tabernacle, Exodus 40:35, (afterward the temple, 1 Kings 8:10,) where it fixed itself upon the mercy-seat, Leviticus 16:2. From whence God is said, so often in Scripture, to dwell between the cherubim. This glory now removed from the place where it used to appear in the inner sanctuary, and came down toward the porch of the temple, and stood, or fixed itself, partly in the temple and partly in the inner court adjoining to it: see note on Ezekiel 9:3. The glory stood, to show God’s unwillingness to leave his people, and give them time to return to him, and placed itself where it might be seen, both by priests and people, that both might be moved to repentance. And the sound of the cherubims’ wings, as the voice of the Almighty — As the sound of loud thunder. The cherubim, in the prophet’s vision, seem to have moved to attend upon the Shechinah, which now had taken its station at the threshold of the house. He went and stood beside, rather, between, the wheels.

Ver. 4. Then the glory of the Lord went up— and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord’s glory. Like Ezekiel, these things Isaiah spake when he saw his glory. John 12:41. Allow me on this head to translate literally the words of Cocceius. “The cloud which is the glory of the Lord descending on the throne, signifies the dwelling of God with his people in humble figure.

“But what is understood by the splendour of the glory of Jehovah filling the court? It is the WORD dwelling with men, who saw his glory [when made flesh] as the glory of the only-begotten of the Father, shining in all Israel. For though all the Israelites did not know the glory of Jehovah, or the glory of the Lord, yet they heard his words, they attested his works, they saw his sufferings, which were radiances of the glory of God; for by these the faithful who dwell in the Word of God, (the name of promise) abide in him, and know him to be the Son of the living God.”

4. The glory of the Lord went up — The cherubim remained, but Jehovah once more removed to the threshold (Ezekiel 9:3). Was this in order to view the execution of his commands in the burning of the city? This is wholly conjecture. Perhaps the idea is that otherwise the man could not have had the strength to fulfill his commission. Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:28; 3:23) could not stand near God’s glory; how much less would he have been able to enter his chariot! The house was filled with the cloud — “God’s presence without a cloud is to man insupportable.” Even when God appeared to Moses “the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud,” and of those on the mount of transfiguration it is said “a cloud overshadowed them.” From the cherub — Or, from the chariot. As in Hebrew the words cherub and chariot are nearly identical it would only require a very slight error to make this substitution. The connection shows that the entire chariot is meant. In the recently discovered Senschirli inscriptions, dating from about Ezekiel’s era, one man is named “Rekub-El,” chariot of God. Court was full of the brightness of the Lord’s glory — It is here for the first time made perfectly clear that the brightness which from the beginning had impressed the prophet was the shining of the divine One and not of the throne or the chariot.

V. 5. Was heard-As a mighty and terrible thunder.

Verse 5. As the voice of the Almighty God] That is, as thunder; for this was called the voice of God.

Verses 4-7. Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub — In token of his departure from the temple. The words may be better rendered, For the glory of the Lord had gone up, &c. For the prophet repeats here what he had related before, Ezekiel 9:3. And the house was filled with the cloud — The account here given must strike every reader as to its similarity with the description given of the Shechinah in the books of Moses and the first book of Kings. A bright cloud was the sign of God’s presence, which first filled the tabernacle, Exodus 40:35, (afterward the temple, 1 Kings 8:10,) where it fixed itself upon the mercy-seat, Leviticus 16:2. From whence God is said, so often in Scripture, to dwell between the cherubim. This glory now removed from the place where it used to appear in the inner sanctuary, and came down toward the porch of the temple, and stood, or fixed itself, partly in the temple and partly in the inner court adjoining to it: see note on Ezekiel 9:3. The glory stood, to show God’s unwillingness to leave his people, and give them time to return to him, and placed itself where it might be seen, both by priests and people, that both might be moved to repentance. And the sound of the cherubims’ wings, as the voice of the Almighty — As the sound of loud thunder. The cherubim, in the prophet’s vision, seem to have moved to attend upon the Shechinah, which now had taken its station at the threshold of the house. He went and stood beside, rather, between, the wheels.

5. Even to the outer court — See comments Ezekiel 8:16; 9:3. We consider the glory to be over the threshold of the inner court, near the sanctuary. The voice of the Almighty God — The Hebrews often spoke of the thunder as the voice of El Shaddai, or Jehovah (Psalm 29). The movements of the cherubs’ wings, as they made ready to accompany their Master, though detained by divine will, could be heard even into the court of the Gentiles, and sounded like the noise of thunder. “‘El Shaddai’ was the name of God as ruling over nature, while ‘Jehovah’ expressed his covenant relationship to Israel.” — Plumptre.

V. 6. And stood-Either as one that deferred execution, to try whether the city would repent, or as one who was to give some farther order to the angels, that were to be the ministers of his just displeasure.

Verses 4-7. Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub — In token of his departure from the temple. The words may be better rendered, For the glory of the Lord had gone up, &c. For the prophet repeats here what he had related before, Ezekiel 9:3. And the house was filled with the cloud — The account here given must strike every reader as to its similarity with the description given of the Shechinah in the books of Moses and the first book of Kings. A bright cloud was the sign of God’s presence, which first filled the tabernacle, Exodus 40:35, (afterward the temple, 1 Kings 8:10,) where it fixed itself upon the mercy-seat, Leviticus 16:2. From whence God is said, so often in Scripture, to dwell between the cherubim. This glory now removed from the place where it used to appear in the inner sanctuary, and came down toward the porch of the temple, and stood, or fixed itself, partly in the temple and partly in the inner court adjoining to it: see note on Ezekiel 9:3. The glory stood, to show God’s unwillingness to leave his people, and give them time to return to him, and placed itself where it might be seen, both by priests and people, that both might be moved to repentance. And the sound of the cherubims’ wings, as the voice of the Almighty — As the sound of loud thunder. The cherubim, in the prophet’s vision, seem to have moved to attend upon the Shechinah, which now had taken its station at the threshold of the house. He went and stood beside, rather, between, the wheels.

6. Take fire — Fire symbolizes God’s purity. “What really destroys the town is the destructive holiness of Jehovah.” — Orelli.

V. 7. One Cherub-One of the four. And took-As a servant that reaches what his master would have. Went out-Out of the temple.

Verses 4-7. Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub — In token of his departure from the temple. The words may be better rendered, For the glory of the Lord had gone up, &c. For the prophet repeats here what he had related before, Ezekiel 9:3. And the house was filled with the cloud — The account here given must strike every reader as to its similarity with the description given of the Shechinah in the books of Moses and the first book of Kings. A bright cloud was the sign of God’s presence, which first filled the tabernacle, Exodus 40:35, (afterward the temple, 1 Kings 8:10,) where it fixed itself upon the mercy-seat, Leviticus 16:2. From whence God is said, so often in Scripture, to dwell between the cherubim. This glory now removed from the place where it used to appear in the inner sanctuary, and came down toward the porch of the temple, and stood, or fixed itself, partly in the temple and partly in the inner court adjoining to it: see note on Ezekiel 9:3. The glory stood, to show God’s unwillingness to leave his people, and give them time to return to him, and placed itself where it might be seen, both by priests and people, that both might be moved to repentance. And the sound of the cherubims’ wings, as the voice of the Almighty — As the sound of loud thunder. The cherubim, in the prophet’s vision, seem to have moved to attend upon the Shechinah, which now had taken its station at the threshold of the house. He went and stood beside, rather, between, the wheels.

7. And one cherub — Literally, the cherub — the one nearest to him. Even though the divine glory is compassionately absent, yet human weakness seems to be inadequate to the task assigned until the guardian of the divine honor assists him in doing what was commanded. (Compare Isaiah 6:5, 6.) We lose sight now of this man clothed with linen, and there is no attempt whatever to picture the conflagration.

Verse 8. The form of a man’s hand under their wings.] I am still of opinion that the hands and wings were not distinct. The arms were feathered like wings, and the hand terminated the arm; but as the long front feathers of the wings would extend much beyond the fingers, hence the hands would appear to be under the wings. See on Ezekiel 1:8. The human hand might be intended to show that God helps and punishes man by man; and that, in the general operations of his providence, he makes use of human agency.

Verses 8-13. There appeared in the cherubim the form of a man’s hand — See Ezekiel 1:8. The following verses to the 12th are the same, in substance, with Ezekiel 1:16-18, where see the notes. To the place where the head looked they followed, verse 11. Each wheel consisted of four semicircles in correspondence to the heads of each animal. It was cried unto them, O wheel — Or, move round, as some render the word. They were put in mind of continually attending upon their duty; for the wheels and living creatures were animated with the same principle of understanding and motion.

Ver. 8. The form of a man’s hand under their wings. To this hand all power is given both in heaven and earth; it is the arm by which he rules the nations, and chastises his enemies with a rod of iron.

8. “And something like a human hand became visible on the cherubs under their wings.” — Kautzsch. Ezekiel could not have known it, but in view of the incarnation there is an added beauty in this picture of a man’s hand beneath these symbolical representations of universal life. The hand that moves the world is the hand that made it — the hand of “the man Christ Jesus.” (See note Ezekiel 1:26.)

V. 9. Looked-Attentively viewed. Beryl stone-Of sea-green.

Verse 9. The colour of a beryl stone.] תרשיש אבנ eben Tarshish, “the stone of Tarshish.” The Vulgate translates it chrysolith; Symmachus, the jacinct; the Septuagint, the carbuncle. In the parallel place, Ezekiel 1:16, it is תרשיש כעינ keeyn Tarshish, “like the eye of Tarshish;” i.e., the colour of tarshish, or the stone so called, which the Vulgate translates visio maris, “like the sea,” i.e., azure. The beryl is a gem of a green colour, passing from one side into blue, on the other side into yellow. The chrysolith is also green, what is called pistachio green; but the chrysolith of the ancients was our topaz, which is of a fine wine yellow. The beryl, or chrysolith, is most likely what is here meant by tarshish. One name among the ancients served for several kinds of gems that were nearly of the same colour. The moderns go more by chemical characters than by colour.

Verses 8-13. There appeared in the cherubim the form of a man’s hand — See Ezekiel 1:8. The following verses to the 12th are the same, in substance, with Ezekiel 1:16-18, where see the notes. To the place where the head looked they followed, verse 11. Each wheel consisted of four semicircles in correspondence to the heads of each animal. It was cried unto them, O wheel — Or, move round, as some render the word. They were put in mind of continually attending upon their duty; for the wheels and living creatures were animated with the same principle of understanding and motion.

9-11. See notes on chap. 1.

V. 10. They-The wheels. This intimates the references of providence to each other, and their dependences on each other: and the joint tendency of all to one common end, while their motions appear to us intricate and perplexed, yea, seemingly contrary.

Verse 10. A wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.] It is difficult to comprehend this description. It is generally supposed to mean one wheel within another, cutting each other at right angles. This, in my opinion, will not account for the motions attributed to these wheels; nor can I see how, on this supposition, they could have any motion; for if one was moved on its axis, the other must be dragged contrary to its axis. I have conjectured it rather to mean a wheel within a wheel, or a wheel with two rims, working on the same axis. See on Ezekiel 1:16-18. It is however no matter of faith; and the reader may judge as he thinks proper. For other matters relative to this chariot, wheels, cherubim, wings, &c., I must refer to the notes on the first chapter. And perhaps from the whole of this vision and its difficulties, he will see the propriety of the council of rabbins ordering Rabbi Ananias three hundred barrels of oil to light his lamp during the time it would be necessary for him to employ in explaining this one vision.

Verses 8-13. There appeared in the cherubim the form of a man’s hand — See Ezekiel 1:8. The following verses to the 12th are the same, in substance, with Ezekiel 1:16-18, where see the notes. To the place where the head looked they followed, verse 11. Each wheel consisted of four semicircles in correspondence to the heads of each animal. It was cried unto them, O wheel — Or, move round, as some render the word. They were put in mind of continually attending upon their duty; for the wheels and living creatures were animated with the same principle of understanding and motion.

9-11. See notes on chap. 1.

V. 11. When-The wheels moved by the cherubim, or that spirit of life, which moved the living creatures. They went-They were so framed, that they could move on all four sides without the difficulty and delay of turning. Head-Of the living creatures.

Verses 8-13. There appeared in the cherubim the form of a man’s hand — See Ezekiel 1:8. The following verses to the 12th are the same, in substance, with Ezekiel 1:16-18, where see the notes. To the place where the head looked they followed, verse 11. Each wheel consisted of four semicircles in correspondence to the heads of each animal. It was cried unto them, O wheel — Or, move round, as some render the word. They were put in mind of continually attending upon their duty; for the wheels and living creatures were animated with the same principle of understanding and motion.

9-11. See notes on chap. 1.

V. 12. And-Now he describes both the cherubim and wheels as full of wisdom, and as governed by an excellent wisdom. The wheels-Which the four cherubim had to move, govern, and direct.

Verses 8-13. There appeared in the cherubim the form of a man’s hand — See Ezekiel 1:8. The following verses to the 12th are the same, in substance, with Ezekiel 1:16-18, where see the notes. To the place where the head looked they followed, verse 11. Each wheel consisted of four semicircles in correspondence to the heads of each animal. It was cried unto them, O wheel — Or, move round, as some render the word. They were put in mind of continually attending upon their duty; for the wheels and living creatures were animated with the same principle of understanding and motion.

12. The prophet now sees, what escaped him at the first appearance of these creatures (Ezekiel 1:5-13), that they, as well as the wheels, were full of eyes. Though the movements of the living creatures and the wheels were like lightning there was nothing capricious or blind about these. An infinite knowledge guided their activity. (Compare Revelation 4:6.) As has been said, the prophet receives here a new impression of the all-seeing eye of Jehovah. Everywhere as he stands face to face with the forces of nature he can say — must say, within himself — “Thou God seest me!”

V. 13. The wheels-As to their frame and motion. It was cried-Still there was one who guided, as by vocal direction. Unto them-To each of them.

Verse 13. As for the wheels, it was cried unto them—O wheel.] Never was there a more unfortunate and unmeaning translation. The word lglgh haggalgal, may signify, simply, the roller, or a chariot, or roll on, or the swift roller. And he clepide ilke wheelis volible, or turninge about. Old MS. Bible. Any of these will do: “and as to the wheels,” לאופנים laophannim, “they were called in my hearing” lglgh haggalgal, “the chariot.” The gentleman who took for his text “O wheel!” and made God’s decree of eternal predestination out of it, must have borrowed some of Rabbi Ananias’s three hundred barrels of oil! But such working of God’s word cannot be too severely reprehended.

As these wheels are supposed to represent Divine Providence, bringing about the designs of the Most thigh, how like is the above lglgh haggalgal, taken as a verb, “roll on,” to those words of Virgil in his Pollio:—

Talia sæla, suis dixerunt, currite, fusis,

Concordes stabili fatorum numine Parcæ.

“The Fates, when they this happy web have spun,

Shall bless the sacred clue, and bid it swiftly run.”

Verses 8-13. There appeared in the cherubim the form of a man’s hand — See Ezekiel 1:8. The following verses to the 12th are the same, in substance, with Ezekiel 1:16-18, where see the notes. To the place where the head looked they followed, verse 11. Each wheel consisted of four semicircles in correspondence to the heads of each animal. It was cried unto them, O wheel — Or, move round, as some render the word. They were put in mind of continually attending upon their duty; for the wheels and living creatures were animated with the same principle of understanding and motion.

Ver. 13. Oh wheel. So Montanus reads, whom our bible mostly follows. But others read, gelgel, oh orb, oh world, oh chariot, or oh sphere. The cherub is here called gelgel, and he commands I know not what, as roll on, act, do this or that; bids every creature hearken to the voice of God. Poole’s Synopsis. The cry, oh wheel, obviously signifies, to proceed in the execution of God’s pleasure, and accomplish the designations of providence.

13. “As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing, the whirling wheels” (R.V.). The last word — galgal — is very difficult to translate. Dean Plumptre translates it by “chariot,” saying that the prophet “recognized that as the right name of the whole mysterious and complex form. It was nothing less than the chariot throne of the King of the universe” (Pulpit Commentary). But, while this is an easy way out of the difficulty, unfortunately this word never has this meaning in any other passage. It is almost the word wheel, with an emphasis upon the fact that the wheel is whirling. Perhaps the most sensible rendering which would retain the literal meaning would be, “They were called in my hearing, ‘whorl,’ or ‘whirlwind.’” (Compare Kautzsch.) The reference is to their lightning-like rapidity of movement. (Compare Ezekiel 1:14.)

V. 14. Every one-Of the living creatures, Ezekiel 1:6.

Verse 14. The first—was the face of a cherub] In Ezekiel 1:10, this is called the “face of an ox;” here, the “face of a cherub:” hence, a cherub was in the likeness of an ox, at least, as to its head. bwrk kerub never occurs as a verb; and its meaning cannot be precisely ascertained. Parkhurst thinks the k caph to be here the note of similitude; and then translates k ke, “like,” br rab or bwr rob, “the mighty one;” and, in consequence, makes the cherubim an emblem of the Holy Trinity. See his lengthy Dissertation under brk in his Hebrew and English Lexicon.

Verse 14. And every one had four faces — See notes on Ezekiel 1:6-

10. The first had the face of a cherub — That is, of an ox, as appears by comparing this verse with Ezekiel 1:10. The word cherub, indeed, originally signifies an ox. The several faces are here represented in a different order from the description given of them Ezekiel 1:10, of which difference this reason may be assigned. In the first chapter the prophet saw this vision coming out of the north, and advancing southward, (verse 4,) where the face of a man, being placed on the south side, was first in view. The lion, being on the east part, was toward his right hand; the ox, being placed toward the west, was on his left; and the eagle was toward the north. This interpretation is justified from the situation of the standards of the several tribes of Israel in the wilderness, (Numbers 2:2, 10, 18, 25,) where Judah, whose standard was a lion, was placed on the east side; Reuben, whose standard was a man, was placed on the south; Ephraim, whose standard was an ox, was placed on the west; and Dan, whose standard was an eagle, was placed on the north side. Here the prophet is supposed to stand westward of the Shechinah, as that was moving eastward: so the ox was first in his view.

Ver. 14. Every one had four faces. Some of the christian fathers trifle here, by a reference to the four evangelists. They give the man to Matthew, the lion to Mark, the ox to Luke, and the eagle to John. Let us say rather with David, the chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels. The calf is placed first of the four. See on Exodus 32:4.

14. This is a description corresponding exactly to that given in Ezekiel 1:10, except that here, instead of “the face of an ox,” we have the face of a cherub. Many explanations of this have been attempted, but none seem satisfactory. Some suppose that Ezekiel calls the face of the ox the face of “the cherub” (Hebrews) — referring to the one which had given the coal of fire to the man in linen; others think that he refers thus to it because the movement of the chariot was in the direction which it faced; others imagine that he intends to express here the idea that the typical cherub form was that of an ox, while still others venture to hint that the prophet had changed the face of an ox into the face of the cherub, because the former notion had proven distasteful to his companions in exile. The last two suppositions are contradicted by many direct statements in both visions; the other hypotheses do not seem very convincing, and unless a future examination of ancient manuscripts shall show a corruption of the text it may be best frankly to acknowledge that we do not know why the prophet makes this change. Professor Toy omits the verse from his revised text.

Verses 15-17. And the cherubims were lifted up — To attend upon the divine glory wherever it went, and particularly at its removal from the temple. This is the living creature, &c. — Here it is spoken of as only one living creature, though before it is called the living creatures; because it was, as it were, but one creature, of the likeness of four different animals. For the spirit of the living creature was in them — There is a perfect harmony between second causes in their dependance on, and subjection to, the one infinite, wise, good, holy, and just God. The Spirit of God directs all the creatures, upper and lower, so that they all serve the divine purpose. Events are not determined by the wheel of fortune, which is blind, but by the wheels of providence, which are full of eyes.

15. Were lifted up — The prophet recognizes the same peculiarity of movement as had impressed him in the wheels when the vision first appeared (Ezekiel 1:20). There was a spirit both in wheels and cherubim which controlled their actions. The motive power of the chariot was neither wheel nor wing, but a unifying spirit.

Verses 15-17. And the cherubims were lifted up — To attend upon the divine glory wherever it went, and particularly at its removal from the temple. This is the living creature, &c. — Here it is spoken of as only one living creature, though before it is called the living creatures; because it was, as it were, but one creature, of the likeness of four different animals. For the spirit of the living creature was in them — There is a perfect harmony between second causes in their dependance on, and subjection to, the one infinite, wise, good, holy, and just God. The Spirit of God directs all the creatures, upper and lower, so that they all serve the divine purpose. Events are not determined by the wheel of fortune, which is blind, but by the wheels of providence, which are full of eyes.

V. 17. For-There is a perfect harmony between second causes in their dependence on, and subjection to, the one infinite, wise, good, holy, and just God. The spirit of God directs all the creatures, upper and lower, so that they shall serve the divine purpose. Events are not determined by the wheel of fortune, which is blind, but by the wheels of providence, which are full of eyes.

Verses 15-17. And the cherubims were lifted up — To attend upon the divine glory wherever it went, and particularly at its removal from the temple. This is the living creature, &c. — Here it is spoken of as only one living creature, though before it is called the living creatures; because it was, as it were, but one creature, of the likeness of four different animals. For the spirit of the living creature was in them — There is a perfect harmony between second causes in their dependance on, and subjection to, the one infinite, wise, good, holy, and just God. The Spirit of God directs all the creatures, upper and lower, so that they all serve the divine purpose. Events are not determined by the wheel of fortune, which is blind, but by the wheels of providence, which are full of eyes.

17. Lifted up themselves, etc. — Literally, were lifted up with them; for the spirit of life was in them.

V. 18. And stood-On the right side of the house, where the cherubim were in the inner court.

Verses 18, 19. Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold, &c. — The cloud of glory, emblematical of the divine presence, now makes a further remove from the temple: it now quite left the house itself, and settled upon the cherubim, which stood in the court adjoining to it, ver.

3. And the cherubims lifted up their wings: the wheels also — See Ezekiel 1:19, 26. And stood at the door of the east gate — This was a still further remove from the temple, (for the east gate was just at the entrance into the inner court before the temple,) to signify that the divine protection would entirely leave the house; and, God departing, the angels depart also, and withdraw that benefit and service which they gave before. Here, however, the glory of God, the cherubim, and the wheels, all stood, respiting execution, and giving opportunity of preventing the approaching misery.

V. 19. And every one-The glory, the cherubim, the wheels, all stood, respiting execution, and giving opportunity of preventing the approaching misery. The east gate-The last court, the court of the people.

Verses 18, 19. Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold, &c. — The cloud of glory, emblematical of the divine presence, now makes a further remove from the temple: it now quite left the house itself, and settled upon the cherubim, which stood in the court adjoining to it, ver.

3. And the cherubims lifted up their wings: the wheels also — See Ezekiel 1:19, 26. And stood at the door of the east gate — This was a still further remove from the temple, (for the east gate was just at the entrance into the inner court before the temple,) to signify that the divine protection would entirely leave the house; and, God departing, the angels depart also, and withdraw that benefit and service which they gave before. Here, however, the glory of God, the cherubim, and the wheels, all stood, respiting execution, and giving opportunity of preventing the approaching misery.

19. They went out — Jehovah returns to his chariot (verse 18) and moves solemnly out of the temple. The prophet notices that the cherubim and wheels still move in absolute harmony. The interaction of the animate and the inanimate is perfect. Every one stood — Literally, it stood; the chariot paused as for the last time it left the sanctuary. It was Jehovah’s farewell to his ancient and beloved temple. The silence of that impressive moment was a prophecy of the lament uttered six centuries later: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!” (Matthew 23:37.) The God of Israel — Here again the tender national name for Jehovah is given. The use of this name by the prophet is always significant (Ezekiel 8:4; 9:3; 10:19, 20; 11:22; 40:2; 44:2). This is none other than Israel’s God, and (verse 20) he will remain the God of Israel still, even though his people forsake him and he himself is forced to leave his sanctuary, which has been turned into an idol temple. Yea, and it will be as the God of Israel that he will come to comfort and deliver the faithful remnant in Babylon. He does not cease to be Israel’s God, though the time has come when he must be recognized as also the God of the whole earth.

V. 20. I knew-Either by special assurance as a prophet, or by comparing them with those which he had often seen in the temple.

Verse 20. And I knew that they were the cherubims.] This formation of the plural is quite improper. In general, Hebrew nouns of the masculine gender end in ים im, in the plural; the s, therefore, should never be added to such. Cherub is singular; cherubim is plural. The s should be uniformly expunged.

I have already referred to the end of this chapter for farther information relative to this glorious chariot of Jehovah; but I must say that I have met with nothing on the subject that entirely satisfies myself. In the preceding notes I have endeavoured to make the literal meaning as plain as possible; and have occasionally given some intimations relative to the general design of this sublime vision. My readers are already apprised that I do not like conjectures on Divine things; many points, that had originally no other origin, are now incorporated with creeds of which it is deemed sinful to doubt. Because some learned and pious men have written to prove that this symbolical compound figure is a representation of the Holy Trinity; therefore, the sentiment now passes current. Now this is not proved; and I suppose never can be proved. The continuator of the Historical Discourses of Saurin has made some sensible remarks on the subject of this vision; and these I shall lay here before the intelligent reader. They deserve attention. THIS intelligent writer observes: “For the right interpretation of this vision, the following rules should be laid down:—

“The first rule is this:—An explanation, which accounts for all the parts contained in the vision, is much more probable than those which explain only one part.

“The second is this:—An explanation which is conformable to the present circumstances of the prophet, and of the people to whom he is sent, as well as to the nature of the things which he is called upon to say to them, is incomparably more probable than those explanations which go in quest of past or future events, which have no connexion with the immediate circumstances of the prophet, nor with the end of his mission. These rules, which appear incontestable, being laid down, we observe, that their opinion who think that God here draws out a plan of the government of his providence, applied to the present state of the Jews, accounts for all that Ezekiel saw; and that in a manner which refers to the end of the prophet’s mission, and all that he had to say to this rebellious people. Why wish God to represent to his prophet the future state of the Christian Church, which was not to be founded till after a series of time, rather than the state of the Jewish Church, and the chastisements which hung over the heads of that hardened people? The people having revolted from God, and persevering obstinately in that revolt, notwithstanding the menaces of the prophet, it was proper to show to Ezekiel, in order that he might declare it to the rebellious, that Providence had its eyes open to all that had been done, all that had hitherto happened, and that it had seized upon the rod to smite. The people imagined, but too much according to the errors of infidelity, that God saw every thing with indifference and had given the world up to chance. It was necessary, therefore, to divest them of these fatal prejudices; and to teach them that the Supreme Being did not behold with the same eye order and disorder, contempt of his laws and submission to his will; and that all the revolutions of states are directed by a superior intelligence, which cannot be imposed upon. The Jewish people imagined but too much that the prophets exaggerated when they threatened them with the severest chastisements. They repeated with emphasis and complacency the promises of God made to the patriarchs; that their posterity should not only be more numerous than the stars of heaven, and the sand which covers the sea-shore; but that it should subsist for ever and ever. God had declared to Abraham, ‘I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and thy seed after thee,’ Genesis 17:7. It was proper, therefore, to show this stiff-necked people that the threatenings of God and his promises were not contradictory. That the people, conformable to the promises given by God to the patriarchs, should not be destroyed; but that, notwithstanding, they should be severely chastised, to correct them for their propensity to idolatry, and their scandalous irregularities. “These suppositions, which are reasonable, being granted, we shall have no difficulty to perceive the sense of this celebrated vision. We shall not follow the order observed by Ezekiel, in the description of what he saw; he raises himself from the nearest to the most distant objects, going back from effects to their general cause. We will begin with the First Cause which gives motion to all that happens, traces out the plan, and procures the execution, according to the rules of his ineffable wisdom, and agreeably to the nature of those creatures which are the object of his agency. Next, we will proceed to consider the effects of this universal Providence, and the intelligent secondary causes which he frequently employs in the administration of the government of the universe.

“‘Ezekiel saw a firmament which was above the heads of the animals; there was the resemblance of a throne like a sapphire stone; and over the resemblance of the throne, there was, as it were, the resemblance of a man.’ This vast transparent firmament represents to us the heaven, the peculiar residence of the Lord of the earth; and where he hath established the throne of his empire. This ‘appearance of a man’ was the emblem of Providence or God; considered as taking care of all the creatures whom he hath made. Man is the symbol of intelligence. The mind of man, with respect to his knowledge and wisdom, is a weak sketch of that mind which knows all things, and whose wisdom is unbounded. And yet, of all sublunary beings, there is none that approaches so near to the Divine nature as man. Under this emblem also it is that God, considered as seeing all things, and directing all, would be represented. This resemblance of man was seated upon a throne, to show that God governs all things as Lord, and that without agitation and without labour.

“The shining metal, and the fire which surrounded him who sat on the throne, were the symbol of his glory and his judgments, which are poured upon the wicked as a fire which nothing can withstand; agreeably to Isaiah, Isaiah 33:14.

“The Jews acknowledged that there was a Providence which governs the whole universe with infinite wisdom. The psalmist gives us a description of it, equally just and pathetic, in Psalm 104:27, &c. Christians, no less than Jews, admit this important truth; and the Gospel establishes it no less strongly than the law. See Matthew 6:26; 10:29, 30. To raise the mind of the prophet up to the first Mover of those events which strike and admonish us in all the revolutions which happen to individuals, families, and states, God shows him four wheels above the firmament, over which the emblem of Providence was placed on a throne. These wheels are a symbol of those perpetual revolutions, which are observed in the earth; and which, by turns, lift up and abase individuals and nations. They are of a prodigious height, to show that man cannot fathom or know all that is great, wonderful, and astonishing, in the ways of Providence. See Job 11:7, 8; Romans 11:33, 34; Isaiah 55:8, 9. These wheels move themselves every way, and are full of eyes in the vast circle of their felloes. This shows, that all which God does he effects without pain; and that the eye of his wisdom ordereth all events. The wheels did not move of themselves; but they followed the impulse of the four living creatures; ‘when the living creatures went, they went.’ This shows that, in the government of the world, all the living creatures are subject to Providence; and that God subordinates the creatures one to another. He directs what those holy intelligences ought to do, who serve him as ministers, and are here represented by the four animals. And these intelligences, enlightened and supported by the Supreme Wisdom, contribute, as far as is suitable, to all that happens to mankind. The angels whom Ezekiel saw were in number four, in reference to the four cardinal points of the world; to show that their ministry extends every where, and that there is no part of the universe which the Providence of God does not govern in an immediate manner, or by the means of his ministers. The extraordinary shape of these angels, which appeared to the prophet in vision, is symbolical; for it is not to be supposed that those heavenly ministers are really thus formed. The ‘four faces, wings, and arms of a man,’ denote the sublime qualities of these immediate ministers of the Deity; qualities entirely essential to fill up the extent of their duty. The face of a man denotes their intelligence; of a lion, their intrepid courage; of an ox, their patience and perseverance in labour; and of an eagle, their great penetration, their sublime sight into heavenly things, and their readiness to rise up into all that is great and Divine. The ‘wings being stretched out,’ signifies that they are always ready to set forward, and run with rapidity wherever the commands of their great Master call them. The ‘wings bent down,’ are a symbol of that profound respect in which these heavenly ministers stand before the Lord of the universe. Under the wings there were men’s arms, to show that zeal produces application and labour. Labour, without zeal, can never be supported; and zeal, without application, is only a hypocritical ardour, which amounts to nothing with that supreme Master who requires sincere homage from those who serve him. If God chose to make known to Ezekiel that his providence extends to all things, and that even in this life it often takes up the rod to chastise nations and individuals, he would also show beforehand that he wished not the destruction of the Jewish people, whom he was about to visit in his anger, but only its correction and amendment. This is signified by the ‘precious metal,’ which the prophet found unmelted in the midst of the fiery cloud. This cloud of fire, urged on by a whirlwind, and involving on all sides the metal, represented the judgments of God which were about to fall upon this rebellious nation, not to destroy, but to humble and purify it. Nothing is more proper than afflictions to bring men back to their duty. As fire purifies metals, so the paternal chastisements of God have a tendency to purify the soul and heart, if the man be not entirely incorrigible. The people upon whom God was about to pour the vials of his anger, were not worthy of his lenity. But that great God, who is firm in his promises, remembers the covenant of peace he had made with the patriarchs. This covenant is made sensible to the prophet under the image of a rainbow, which was round about him who appeared upon the throne. Every one knows, that this splendid phenomenon, which seems to join heaven and earth together, was given to Noah and his posterity as a symbol of the covenant which God then made with mankind, and by which he declared to them that the earth should undergo a deluge no more. Thus, the Pagans considered the Iris as the messenger of the gods. See Virgil, Æn. lib. iv. ver. 694. But whereas the rainbow to the Jews was a symbol of peace, the Iris of the Pagans was a messenger of trouble. On the sight of this bow, the symbol of grace, Ezekiel was to be encouraged; and persuaded that his people were not threatened with an utter destruction. The event fully justified all that the prophet had contemplated, with surprise, in this enigmatical picture. The Chaldeans, the rod of the Lord’s just severity, ravaged Judea; the people were carried away captive; they groaned for seventy years in a foreign land; but they were protected in a miraculous manner against the bloody designs of the cruel Haman; and at length, favoured with various decrees of the kings of Persia, they had permission, not only to return to their own country but also to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.’ See Dr. Dodd’s notes on this place.

EZEKIEL

Verse 20. This is the living creature, &c. — See Ezekiel 1:22-26. And I knew that they were the cherubims — Either by special assurance as a prophet, or from reading and hearing about those that were represented in the holy of holies.

Ver. 20. This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel, by the river of Chebar. Here is a distinction between the golden cherubim of the temple, which neither lived nor moved, and the vision which the prophet now saw. The Lord dwells in the midst of the living creatures, or armies of heaven, and delights also to dwell with men on the earth. The same Divinity which appeared once, appears the second time to console the prophet, and to assure the church of the living presence of his Glory. The Triune God is everywhere at hand.

20-22. I knew that they were the cherubim — If we try to dissect this vision we are in great danger of taking all the life out of it. It must not be forgotten that the cloud and the lightning, the wheels and cherubim, were only “the pictorial clothing of the supreme truth that in his vision, Ezekiel’s soul met the Infinite and Eternal face to face and heard the secret of Jehovah’s counsel from his own mouth” (W. Robertson Smith); yet, we may be able to catch, if only in dim outline, the meaning of each part of this complex picture. Not until Ezekiel had several times seen this vision did he realize that the “living creatures” who were the glory-bearers of Jehovah were the cherubim. They were so unlike the cherubim of the temple with which he was acquainted that he never realized their essential identity until he saw the vision in the temple itself, and perceived that these living creatures took the place above the mercy scat which the carved cherubim formerly occupied, just as the flying wheels and the throne took the place always sacred to the unseen glory (the Shekinah). It is surprising that expositors, notwithstanding the marked difference between Ezekiel’s cherubim and those of the tabernacle and temple, have yet attempted to make them as nearly identical in form as possible. Even M. Pinches supposes there must have been “a peculiar cherubic form” which Ezekiel recognized in the living creatures, “though kept secret from all others,” and even yet an “unfathomable mystery!” (Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, 1893.) But whatever Ezekiel’s words imply here, they could not declare exact similarity of form (Exodus 25:20; 1 Kings 8:7). Indeed the chief object in repeating the vision must have been to bring out the new truth revealed by this new view of these strange symbolic creatures as cherubim. Muller’s idea (Ezekiel Studien, 1895) that Ezekiel substituted the cherubim in this vision for “living creatures” and made certain other changes because of the criticism of those to whom he had told the first vision, is as deficient in a just appreciation of the prophet’s character as in spiritual discernment. Verse 22 is in itself sufficient refutation of this hypothesis. Every Hebrew would have been surprised at the identification by a priest, such as Ezekiel, of these animal forms with the temple cherubim, and would begin to search at once for the points of comparison and contrast, and for spiritual lessons hidden therein.

On the other hand, it is equally clear that these “living creatures” of Ezekiel were not copies of the so-called “winged bulls” of Assyria. Those stone guardians of the temple, with their single human face and long beard and miter ornamented with horns, were strikingly different from these fiery four-faced “living ones” covered with eyes. It has recently been doubted whether the name Kerubi is ever used of these “guardians of the palace” (Davis, Genesis and Semitic Tradition). But if, indeed, those complex animal forms bore the same name as these living creatures of Ezekiel this would only more quickly lead everyone who listened on the banks of the old Babylonian canal to the recital of this strange vision, to compare and contrast these very different forms in order to learn the lessons, which might thus be taught, of providence and deity. What those spiritual lessons were we may be able now only to grasp very partially. One may well regret that the author of the Hebrews, when he spoke of the “cherubim of glory,” was forced to add, “of which we cannot now speak particularly” (Hebrews 9:3-5). How much controversy and confusion of tongues it would have saved if he had given just then one of the parentheses of which he was so fond! The similarity between the Babylonian and all forms of the Hebrew cherubim is evident. All of these “mighty ones” were symbolical forms manifesting the Invisible. They were divine watchers and “guardians,” mediators between God and man, representatives of the divine will, protectors of the divine law, and upholders of the divine throne. But the differences grow on one. The Babylonian genii which protected the temples and palaces had an independent power for good or evil and needed to be propitiated by gifts and prayers. A recently deciphered text gives the piercing cry which daily ascended from those Babylonian homes: — Propitious be the favorable Shidu that is before thee.

May the Lamassu that goeth behind thee be propitious.

— King, Illustrated Archaeology, 1894.

The horror of this worship is well expressed by the psalmist: — They sacrificed their sons

And their daughters unto Shidim,

And shed innocent blood.

— Psalm 106:37; see also Deuteronomy 32:17. How different from the Hebrew cherubim! They were wholly dominated by the One. There was no caprice or personal feeling possible. In Eden, in the tabernacle, in the temple, on the Chebar, everywhere and always, Jehovah dwells “between the cherubim,” and his will and his spirit moves them. But while the Bible cherubim agree in this — and thus differ vitally from the Babylonian — there is a vast growth to be traced in the Hebrew conception represented by these symbolic forms. The cherubim in Eden are guardians of the tree of life, and their revolving sword or “disk of fire” (Lenormant) is especially emphasized. They are pre-eminently representatives of the divine justice and power. The cherubim of the tabernacle and the temple have no sword. They watch over the mercy seat and the written law, and point the way with beckoning wings to the new Eden — the gates of which are now open — and to the Tree of Life of which, through God’s mercy, even the sinful man can now eat. All the cherubic heraldry wrought into the tapestry of the tabernacle and adorning the walls of the temple was a heraldry of grace.

But Ezekiel’s vision shows a great advance upon any previous revelation. Before this the cherubim were only seen in the temple. They were guardians of the covenant of grace which God had made with the Israelites. Only Israelites could enter the temple. It was only the sins of the Jewish nation which the high priest confessed, and for which he received pardon as he knelt close to the mercy seat, shadowed by the glorious wings of the cherubim. Where the cherubim are God’s holy place must be; but Ezekiel sees the cherubim outside the temple and outside the limits by which heretofore he and his nation had always bounded the “holy city” and the “holy land.” God’s holy place and the holy guardians of his law and covenant are not confined any more within the walls of Jerusalem. The throne which the Jews always thought of as above the cherubim in the temple is now seen on the Chebar. Jehovah now “fills the whole earth with his glory,” and all nature “with the floating edges of his robe” (Jeremiah 7:4), and the symbolic cherubim are no longer of the exclusive Jewish type! They have taken on a manifold form. They are neither Jewish nor Egyptian nor Babylonian. They combine all elements. The single-faced cherub of the Jerusalem temple has become the four-sided, four-winged, four-faced cherub of God’s universal sanctuary. It looks toward every point of the compass, toward every nation of men.* The images of gold in the local holy of holies has given way to living beings full of spiritual fires. The cloud of incense hiding the unseen Presence has given place to “the likeness of a man upon the throne.” The Palestinian and Jewish conception of God and his providence has gone down before the new and lofty thought that the one God belongs to the whole earth and the whole earth to him, and that all forms of life — even the gods and genii of the heathen and the guardians of death — are but manifestations or servants of the One supreme. (See notes chap. 1.) Never have the omnipotence, the omnipresence, and the omniscience of the Deity been more vividly and forcibly pictured. Whirlwind, cloud, and lightning, and all the most subtle and untamable forces of nature are his ministers. The powers of heaven and earth and the underworld bow submissively before his throne. Life and death, men and demons, are his servants. It was a lesson Ezekiel’s captive and stricken comrades needed to learn. They, no doubt, almost universally thought of Jehovah as the God of Jerusalem and of Canaan, and when they were carried away from these holy places — away from the temple, the altar, and the cherubim — and all the customary worship and ritual were left far behind them in the distance, many of them began to feel themselves justified in honoring the gods of the land wherein they dwelt. Especially were they tempted to do this when it appeared that even the sanctity of the distant temple was not to be maintained, but even the holy of holies had been profaned by the feet of the invading heathen. Then it was that this seer of God, in this splendid picture, painted before their eyes the mighty all-conquering truth, that “the Lord is here,” and every spot where he reveals himself is holy ground; and that he is “Lord” in Babylon as truly as in Jerusalem. This is the central thought of the vision and of the entire prophecy. Israel may sin, the temple may be destroyed, Jerusalem may fall, “the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take council… against Jehovah,” but his sovereignty remains untouched. He is still “God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, a mighty and a terrible,” who “doth execute the judgment… and loveth the stranger” (Deuteronomy 10:17); as powerful and as gracious on the plains of Chaldea as in the mountains about the holy city.

[*This explains the repetition again and again of this fourfold symbolism. The use of the numeral four in ancient times in this symbolic sense cannot be doubted. (See our Introduction to Ezekiel, “Symbolism.”)] This seems to have been the lesson which God taught Ezekiel and he in turn taught to his countrymen from this “vision of God.” Thus the nature and office of the cherubim are clearly seen. They are the guardians of the divine majesty, mediatorial revelations of the glory of the One, concentrating in themselves all the forces of immaterial nature and all the quintessence of universal life. Animate and inanimate nature, man, and all the powers and principalities of heaven and Hades are but revelations of the divine Presence, fitly enthroning the supreme revelation of the invisible God in the “man upon the throne.”

The influence of this vision upon later writers is almost unparalleled. The early fathers, particularly, were sure that the four cherubim were symbolical of the nature and work of Christ: the man representing his Incarnation; the lion, the emblem of Judah, his eternal Kingship; the ox, his atoning sacrifice; the eagle, his heavenly spirit and essential divinity. So also many of the earliest fathers believed that these “living creatures” prefigured the four evangelists: St. Matthew having written the gospel of his humanity; St. Mark, the eagle gospel; St. Luke, the priestly or sacrificial narrative; and St. John, the royal gospel, showing his glorious generation from the Father — though later writers almost universally assign the eagle to St. John, and the lion to St. Mark.

20-22. I knew that they were the cherubim — If we try to dissect this vision we are in great danger of taking all the life out of it. It must not be forgotten that the cloud and the lightning, the wheels and cherubim, were only “the pictorial clothing of the supreme truth that in his vision, Ezekiel’s soul met the Infinite and Eternal face to face and heard the secret of Jehovah’s counsel from his own mouth” (W. Robertson Smith); yet, we may be able to catch, if only in dim outline, the meaning of each part of this complex picture. Not until Ezekiel had several times seen this vision did he realize that the “living creatures” who were the glory-bearers of Jehovah were the cherubim. They were so unlike the cherubim of the temple with which he was acquainted that he never realized their essential identity until he saw the vision in the temple itself, and perceived that these living creatures took the place above the mercy scat which the carved cherubim formerly occupied, just as the flying wheels and the throne took the place always sacred to the unseen glory (the Shekinah). It is surprising that expositors, notwithstanding the marked difference between Ezekiel’s cherubim and those of the tabernacle and temple, have yet attempted to make them as nearly identical in form as possible. Even M. Pinches supposes there must have been “a peculiar cherubic form” which Ezekiel recognized in the living creatures, “though kept secret from all others,” and even yet an “unfathomable mystery!” (Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, 1893.) But whatever Ezekiel’s words imply here, they could not declare exact similarity of form (Exodus 25:20; 1 Kings 8:7). Indeed the chief object in repeating the vision must have been to bring out the new truth revealed by this new view of these strange symbolic creatures as cherubim. Muller’s idea (Ezekiel Studien, 1895) that Ezekiel substituted the cherubim in this vision for “living creatures” and made certain other changes because of the criticism of those to whom he had told the first vision, is as deficient in a just appreciation of the prophet’s character as in spiritual discernment. Verse 22 is in itself sufficient refutation of this hypothesis. Every Hebrew would have been surprised at the identification by a priest, such as Ezekiel, of these animal forms with the temple cherubim, and would begin to search at once for the points of comparison and contrast, and for spiritual lessons hidden therein.

On the other hand, it is equally clear that these “living creatures” of Ezekiel were not copies of the so-called “winged bulls” of Assyria. Those stone guardians of the temple, with their single human face and long beard and miter ornamented with horns, were strikingly different from these fiery four-faced “living ones” covered with eyes. It has recently been doubted whether the name Kerubi is ever used of these “guardians of the palace” (Davis, Genesis and Semitic Tradition). But if, indeed, those complex animal forms bore the same name as these living creatures of Ezekiel this would only more quickly lead everyone who listened on the banks of the old Babylonian canal to the recital of this strange vision, to compare and contrast these very different forms in order to learn the lessons, which might thus be taught, of providence and deity. What those spiritual lessons were we may be able now only to grasp very partially. One may well regret that the author of the Hebrews, when he spoke of the “cherubim of glory,” was forced to add, “of which we cannot now speak particularly” (Hebrews 9:3-5). How much controversy and confusion of tongues it would have saved if he had given just then one of the parentheses of which he was so fond! The similarity between the Babylonian and all forms of the Hebrew cherubim is evident. All of these “mighty ones” were symbolical forms manifesting the Invisible. They were divine watchers and “guardians,” mediators between God and man, representatives of the divine will, protectors of the divine law, and upholders of the divine throne. But the differences grow on one. The Babylonian genii which protected the temples and palaces had an independent power for good or evil and needed to be propitiated by gifts and prayers. A recently deciphered text gives the piercing cry which daily ascended from those Babylonian homes: — Propitious be the favorable Shidu that is before thee.

May the Lamassu that goeth behind thee be propitious.

— King, Illustrated Archaeology, 1894.

The horror of this worship is well expressed by the psalmist: — They sacrificed their sons

And their daughters unto Shidim,

And shed innocent blood.

— Psalm 106:37; see also Deuteronomy 32:17. How different from the Hebrew cherubim! They were wholly dominated by the One. There was no caprice or personal feeling possible. In Eden, in the tabernacle, in the temple, on the Chebar, everywhere and always, Jehovah dwells “between the cherubim,” and his will and his spirit moves them. But while the Bible cherubim agree in this — and thus differ vitally from the Babylonian — there is a vast growth to be traced in the Hebrew conception represented by these symbolic forms. The cherubim in Eden are guardians of the tree of life, and their revolving sword or “disk of fire” (Lenormant) is especially emphasized. They are pre-eminently representatives of the divine justice and power. The cherubim of the tabernacle and the temple have no sword. They watch over the mercy seat and the written law, and point the way with beckoning wings to the new Eden — the gates of which are now open — and to the Tree of Life of which, through God’s mercy, even the sinful man can now eat. All the cherubic heraldry wrought into the tapestry of the tabernacle and adorning the walls of the temple was a heraldry of grace.

But Ezekiel’s vision shows a great advance upon any previous revelation. Before this the cherubim were only seen in the temple. They were guardians of the covenant of grace which God had made with the Israelites. Only Israelites could enter the temple. It was only the sins of the Jewish nation which the high priest confessed, and for which he received pardon as he knelt close to the mercy seat, shadowed by the glorious wings of the cherubim. Where the cherubim are God’s holy place must be; but Ezekiel sees the cherubim outside the temple and outside the limits by which heretofore he and his nation had always bounded the “holy city” and the “holy land.” God’s holy place and the holy guardians of his law and covenant are not confined any more within the walls of Jerusalem. The throne which the Jews always thought of as above the cherubim in the temple is now seen on the Chebar. Jehovah now “fills the whole earth with his glory,” and all nature “with the floating edges of his robe” (Jeremiah 7:4), and the symbolic cherubim are no longer of the exclusive Jewish type! They have taken on a manifold form. They are neither Jewish nor Egyptian nor Babylonian. They combine all elements. The single-faced cherub of the Jerusalem temple has become the four-sided, four-winged, four-faced cherub of God’s universal sanctuary. It looks toward every point of the compass, toward every nation of men.* The images of gold in the local holy of holies has given way to living beings full of spiritual fires. The cloud of incense hiding the unseen Presence has given place to “the likeness of a man upon the throne.” The Palestinian and Jewish conception of God and his providence has gone down before the new and lofty thought that the one God belongs to the whole earth and the whole earth to him, and that all forms of life — even the gods and genii of the heathen and the guardians of death — are but manifestations or servants of the One supreme. (See notes chap. 1.) Never have the omnipotence, the omnipresence, and the omniscience of the Deity been more vividly and forcibly pictured. Whirlwind, cloud, and lightning, and all the most subtle and untamable forces of nature are his ministers. The powers of heaven and earth and the underworld bow submissively before his throne. Life and death, men and demons, are his servants. It was a lesson Ezekiel’s captive and stricken comrades needed to learn. They, no doubt, almost universally thought of Jehovah as the God of Jerusalem and of Canaan, and when they were carried away from these holy places — away from the temple, the altar, and the cherubim — and all the customary worship and ritual were left far behind them in the distance, many of them began to feel themselves justified in honoring the gods of the land wherein they dwelt. Especially were they tempted to do this when it appeared that even the sanctity of the distant temple was not to be maintained, but even the holy of holies had been profaned by the feet of the invading heathen. Then it was that this seer of God, in this splendid picture, painted before their eyes the mighty all-conquering truth, that “the Lord is here,” and every spot where he reveals himself is holy ground; and that he is “Lord” in Babylon as truly as in Jerusalem. This is the central thought of the vision and of the entire prophecy. Israel may sin, the temple may be destroyed, Jerusalem may fall, “the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take council… against Jehovah,” but his sovereignty remains untouched. He is still “God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, a mighty and a terrible,” who “doth execute the judgment… and loveth the stranger” (Deuteronomy 10:17); as powerful and as gracious on the plains of Chaldea as in the mountains about the holy city.

[*This explains the repetition again and again of this fourfold symbolism. The use of the numeral four in ancient times in this symbolic sense cannot be doubted. (See our Introduction to Ezekiel, “Symbolism.”)] This seems to have been the lesson which God taught Ezekiel and he in turn taught to his countrymen from this “vision of God.” Thus the nature and office of the cherubim are clearly seen. They are the guardians of the divine majesty, mediatorial revelations of the glory of the One, concentrating in themselves all the forces of immaterial nature and all the quintessence of universal life. Animate and inanimate nature, man, and all the powers and principalities of heaven and Hades are but revelations of the divine Presence, fitly enthroning the supreme revelation of the invisible God in the “man upon the throne.”

The influence of this vision upon later writers is almost unparalleled. The early fathers, particularly, were sure that the four cherubim were symbolical of the nature and work of Christ: the man representing his Incarnation; the lion, the emblem of Judah, his eternal Kingship; the ox, his atoning sacrifice; the eagle, his heavenly spirit and essential divinity. So also many of the earliest fathers believed that these “living creatures” prefigured the four evangelists: St. Matthew having written the gospel of his humanity; St. Mark, the eagle gospel; St. Luke, the priestly or sacrificial narrative; and St. John, the royal gospel, showing his glorious generation from the Father — though later writers almost universally assign the eagle to St. John, and the lion to St. Mark.

20-22. I knew that they were the cherubim — If we try to dissect this vision we are in great danger of taking all the life out of it. It must not be forgotten that the cloud and the lightning, the wheels and cherubim, were only “the pictorial clothing of the supreme truth that in his vision, Ezekiel’s soul met the Infinite and Eternal face to face and heard the secret of Jehovah’s counsel from his own mouth” (W. Robertson Smith); yet, we may be able to catch, if only in dim outline, the meaning of each part of this complex picture. Not until Ezekiel had several times seen this vision did he realize that the “living creatures” who were the glory-bearers of Jehovah were the cherubim. They were so unlike the cherubim of the temple with which he was acquainted that he never realized their essential identity until he saw the vision in the temple itself, and perceived that these living creatures took the place above the mercy scat which the carved cherubim formerly occupied, just as the flying wheels and the throne took the place always sacred to the unseen glory (the Shekinah). It is surprising that expositors, notwithstanding the marked difference between Ezekiel’s cherubim and those of the tabernacle and temple, have yet attempted to make them as nearly identical in form as possible. Even M. Pinches supposes there must have been “a peculiar cherubic form” which Ezekiel recognized in the living creatures, “though kept secret from all others,” and even yet an “unfathomable mystery!” (Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, 1893.) But whatever Ezekiel’s words imply here, they could not declare exact similarity of form (Exodus 25:20; 1 Kings 8:7). Indeed the chief object in repeating the vision must have been to bring out the new truth revealed by this new view of these strange symbolic creatures as cherubim. Muller’s idea (Ezekiel Studien, 1895) that Ezekiel substituted the cherubim in this vision for “living creatures” and made certain other changes because of the criticism of those to whom he had told the first vision, is as deficient in a just appreciation of the prophet’s character as in spiritual discernment. Verse 22 is in itself sufficient refutation of this hypothesis. Every Hebrew would have been surprised at the identification by a priest, such as Ezekiel, of these animal forms with the temple cherubim, and would begin to search at once for the points of comparison and contrast, and for spiritual lessons hidden therein.

On the other hand, it is equally clear that these “living creatures” of Ezekiel were not copies of the so-called “winged bulls” of Assyria. Those stone guardians of the temple, with their single human face and long beard and miter ornamented with horns, were strikingly different from these fiery four-faced “living ones” covered with eyes. It has recently been doubted whether the name Kerubi is ever used of these “guardians of the palace” (Davis, Genesis and Semitic Tradition). But if, indeed, those complex animal forms bore the same name as these living creatures of Ezekiel this would only more quickly lead everyone who listened on the banks of the old Babylonian canal to the recital of this strange vision, to compare and contrast these very different forms in order to learn the lessons, which might thus be taught, of providence and deity. What those spiritual lessons were we may be able now only to grasp very partially. One may well regret that the author of the Hebrews, when he spoke of the “cherubim of glory,” was forced to add, “of which we cannot now speak particularly” (Hebrews 9:3-5). How much controversy and confusion of tongues it would have saved if he had given just then one of the parentheses of which he was so fond! The similarity between the Babylonian and all forms of the Hebrew cherubim is evident. All of these “mighty ones” were symbolical forms manifesting the Invisible. They were divine watchers and “guardians,” mediators between God and man, representatives of the divine will, protectors of the divine law, and upholders of the divine throne. But the differences grow on one. The Babylonian genii which protected the temples and palaces had an independent power for good or evil and needed to be propitiated by gifts and prayers. A recently deciphered text gives the piercing cry which daily ascended from those Babylonian homes: — Propitious be the favorable Shidu that is before thee.

May the Lamassu that goeth behind thee be propitious.

— King, Illustrated Archaeology, 1894.

The horror of this worship is well expressed by the psalmist: — They sacrificed their sons

And their daughters unto Shidim,

And shed innocent blood.

— Psalm 106:37; see also Deuteronomy 32:17. How different from the Hebrew cherubim! They were wholly dominated by the One. There was no caprice or personal feeling possible. In Eden, in the tabernacle, in the temple, on the Chebar, everywhere and always, Jehovah dwells “between the cherubim,” and his will and his spirit moves them. But while the Bible cherubim agree in this — and thus differ vitally from the Babylonian — there is a vast growth to be traced in the Hebrew conception represented by these symbolic forms. The cherubim in Eden are guardians of the tree of life, and their revolving sword or “disk of fire” (Lenormant) is especially emphasized. They are pre-eminently representatives of the divine justice and power. The cherubim of the tabernacle and the temple have no sword. They watch over the mercy seat and the written law, and point the way with beckoning wings to the new Eden — the gates of which are now open — and to the Tree of Life of which, through God’s mercy, even the sinful man can now eat. All the cherubic heraldry wrought into the tapestry of the tabernacle and adorning the walls of the temple was a heraldry of grace.

But Ezekiel’s vision shows a great advance upon any previous revelation. Before this the cherubim were only seen in the temple. They were guardians of the covenant of grace which God had made with the Israelites. Only Israelites could enter the temple. It was only the sins of the Jewish nation which the high priest confessed, and for which he received pardon as he knelt close to the mercy seat, shadowed by the glorious wings of the cherubim. Where the cherubim are God’s holy place must be; but Ezekiel sees the cherubim outside the temple and outside the limits by which heretofore he and his nation had always bounded the “holy city” and the “holy land.” God’s holy place and the holy guardians of his law and covenant are not confined any more within the walls of Jerusalem. The throne which the Jews always thought of as above the cherubim in the temple is now seen on the Chebar. Jehovah now “fills the whole earth with his glory,” and all nature “with the floating edges of his robe” (Jeremiah 7:4), and the symbolic cherubim are no longer of the exclusive Jewish type! They have taken on a manifold form. They are neither Jewish nor Egyptian nor Babylonian. They combine all elements. The single-faced cherub of the Jerusalem temple has become the four-sided, four-winged, four-faced cherub of God’s universal sanctuary. It looks toward every point of the compass, toward every nation of men.* The images of gold in the local holy of holies has given way to living beings full of spiritual fires. The cloud of incense hiding the unseen Presence has given place to “the likeness of a man upon the throne.” The Palestinian and Jewish conception of God and his providence has gone down before the new and lofty thought that the one God belongs to the whole earth and the whole earth to him, and that all forms of life — even the gods and genii of the heathen and the guardians of death — are but manifestations or servants of the One supreme. (See notes chap. 1.) Never have the omnipotence, the omnipresence, and the omniscience of the Deity been more vividly and forcibly pictured. Whirlwind, cloud, and lightning, and all the most subtle and untamable forces of nature are his ministers. The powers of heaven and earth and the underworld bow submissively before his throne. Life and death, men and demons, are his servants. It was a lesson Ezekiel’s captive and stricken comrades needed to learn. They, no doubt, almost universally thought of Jehovah as the God of Jerusalem and of Canaan, and when they were carried away from these holy places — away from the temple, the altar, and the cherubim — and all the customary worship and ritual were left far behind them in the distance, many of them began to feel themselves justified in honoring the gods of the land wherein they dwelt. Especially were they tempted to do this when it appeared that even the sanctity of the distant temple was not to be maintained, but even the holy of holies had been profaned by the feet of the invading heathen. Then it was that this seer of God, in this splendid picture, painted before their eyes the mighty all-conquering truth, that “the Lord is here,” and every spot where he reveals himself is holy ground; and that he is “Lord” in Babylon as truly as in Jerusalem. This is the central thought of the vision and of the entire prophecy. Israel may sin, the temple may be destroyed, Jerusalem may fall, “the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take council… against Jehovah,” but his sovereignty remains untouched. He is still “God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, a mighty and a terrible,” who “doth execute the judgment… and loveth the stranger” (Deuteronomy 10:17); as powerful and as gracious on the plains of Chaldea as in the mountains about the holy city.

[*This explains the repetition again and again of this fourfold symbolism. The use of the numeral four in ancient times in this symbolic sense cannot be doubted. (See our Introduction to Ezekiel, “Symbolism.”)] This seems to have been the lesson which God taught Ezekiel and he in turn taught to his countrymen from this “vision of God.” Thus the nature and office of the cherubim are clearly seen. They are the guardians of the divine majesty, mediatorial revelations of the glory of the One, concentrating in themselves all the forces of immaterial nature and all the quintessence of universal life. Animate and inanimate nature, man, and all the powers and principalities of heaven and Hades are but revelations of the divine Presence, fitly enthroning the supreme revelation of the invisible God in the “man upon the throne.”

The influence of this vision upon later writers is almost unparalleled. The early fathers, particularly, were sure that the four cherubim were symbolical of the nature and work of Christ: the man representing his Incarnation; the lion, the emblem of Judah, his eternal Kingship; the ox, his atoning sacrifice; the eagle, his heavenly spirit and essential divinity. So also many of the earliest fathers believed that these “living creatures” prefigured the four evangelists: St. Matthew having written the gospel of his humanity; St. Mark, the eagle gospel; St. Luke, the priestly or sacrificial narrative; and St. John, the royal gospel, showing his glorious generation from the Father — though later writers almost universally assign the eagle to St. John, and the lion to St. Mark.