Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 10:15
And the cherubims were lifted up. This [is] the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar.
15. were lifted up ] The prophet identifies the manifestation with that seen at the Chebar when he perceives its movement. The verse is resumed in Eze 10:19.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Were lifted up; or lifted up themselves, ready to attend on the Lord of glory, who was now departing from his polluted and impenitent people.
The living creature: see Eze 1:13-15,19-22.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. The repeated declaration ofthe identity of the vision with that at the Chebar is to arouseattention to it (Eze 10:22;Eze 3:23).
the living creatureusedcollectively, as in Eze 10:17;Eze 10:20; Eze 1:20.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the cherubim were lifted up,…. From the earth;
[See comments on Eze 1:19];
this [is] the living creature that I saw by the river Chebar: a river in Chaldea, where the prophet was when he had the vision of the living creatures recorded in the “first” chapter; and hence it is out of doubt that the living creatures and the cherubim are the same.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
We shall afterwards explain in the proper place why he says the cherubim ascended. The first and principal scope of this vision was that God would no longer dwell in the temple, because he had determined to depart thence on account of the impious and wicked profanations by which the temple had been contaminated. Now for this reason he says, the cherubim ascended; but he adds, that was the living creature, which he had seen near the river Chebar He adds this for clearing up the vision, because if it had been offered only once, the Jews might doubt its tendency, and its obscurity would take away their taste for it, and render the prophetic teaching quite insipid. But since the vision is repeated, God confirms and sanctions what otherwise had not been sufficiently stamped upon the hearts of the people; for experience also teaches us this, that we increase in faith and make further progress according as God speaks with us again and again. For even if we seem to ourselves to follow up what we have learnt from the Scriptures, yet if the same sentence is repeated, we become still more familiar with it. Then again, if we read the same sentiment in two or three Prophets, God brings forward more witnesses, that so the truth may be better established; since we know our great propensity to doubt, we are always fluctuating, and although the word of God has in it sufficient energy to confirm us, we are still unsettled, unless our minds are propped up by various supports. God therefore wished to place the same thing twice before the eyes of his Prophet, that the former vision might make more impression not only on the Prophet himself, but also upon all the Jews. For we said that although there was some difference, yet there is no discordance in the Prophet’s saying that the living creature was one and the same.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
15. Were lifted up The prophet recognizes the same peculiarity of movement as had impressed him in the wheels when the vision first appeared (Eze 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.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And the cherubim mounted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the River Chebar. And when the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them, and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels also turned not from beside them. When they stood, these stood, and when they mounted up these mounted up with them, for the spirit of the living creature was in them.’
The description of the cherubim mounting up (see Eze 10:19) immediately leads into an explanation of the fact that they are identifiable with ‘the living creature’ of chapter 1, and that their connection with the wheels is inseparable. Both always move together, acting in unison. And this was because the spirit of the living creature was in them. The use of ‘living creature’ is here specific, that is why the previous identification was made. Thus the emphasis is on the fact that the whirling wheels share the life of the cherubim.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 10:15 And the cherubims were lifted up. This [is] the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar.
Ver. 15. Were lifted up. ] Or, They lift up themsdves – scil., to follow and attend their departing Lord.
That I saw by the river of Chebar.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze 10:15-17
15Then the cherubim rose up. They are the living beings that I saw by the river Chebar. 16Now when the cherubim moved, the wheels would go beside them; also when the cherubim lifted up their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels would not turn from beside them. 17When the cherubim stood still, the wheels would stand still; and when they rose up, the wheels would rise with them, for the spirit of the living beings was in them.
Eze 10:15; Eze 10:20 The cherubim rose up. They are the living beings that I saw at the river Chebar Possibly, Ezekiel had not been in the inner court of the temple. Although he was in training to become a priest he was exiled before his thirtieth year. Apparently when he saw the pictures on the inside of the Temple he recognized the creatures he saw in chapter 1 were the Cherubim.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
cherubims, Hebrew. shervbim, plural; Eng. plural = cherubs. lifted up. To bear away the symbol of the Divine presence. living creature, Singular.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Eze 10:15-19
Eze 10:15-19
“And the cherubim mounted up: this is the living creature that I saw by the river Chebar. And when the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels also turned not from beside them. When they stood, these stood, and when they mounted up, these mounted up with them: for the spirit of the living creature was in them. And the glory of Jehovah went forth from over the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim. And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight when they went forth: and they stood at the door of the east gate of Jehovah’s house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.”
THE DEPARTURE OF GOD’S GLORY
“Cherubim … this is the living creature …” (Eze 10:15). Note how the cherubim (plural), along with all of the other details of the vision, nevertheless refer only to One, namely, the enthroned One, who is God.
“The living creature that I saw by the river Chebar …” (Eze 10:15). “It was a matter of importance that the identities of these two theophanies should have been established, in order to show their real meaning. Bluntly stated, those appearances meant simply that God’s glorious presence was forsaking the old racial Israel, and forever afterward concentrating upon the “righteous remnant,” at that time identified with the captives in Babylon.
Only when we come to Eze 10:15, here, does Ezekiel identify the “living creatures” of Eze 1:5 ff as “cherubim. It is not surely known exactly why this was not made known earlier. See article at end of this chapter regarding the creatures called “cherubim,”
“The cherubim lifted up from the earth …” (Eze 10:18). As Plumptre noted, “From that hour, the temple would be what Shiloh had been, a God-deserted place.
As for the notion that the second temple received the same honor as the first as the resting place of the Glory and the Spirit of God, Jesus Christ took care of that falsehood forever when he denominated the temple as “a den of thieves and robbers,” which it most assuredly was. Furthermore the sons of Satan who had charge of that Second Temple were the principal agents in the contrived execution of the Son of God.
In Eze 10:18, “The glory of Jehovah now moves from the threshold of the temple and stands upon the Cherubim, ready to leave. Indeed, God’s presence had forsaken the temple, but it would not depart from the area until the event recorded in the next chapter (Eze 11:22-23). The episode recorded in Eze 11:1-21 have the effect of delaying the account of the final departure.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
lifted: Eze 10:18, Eze 10:19, Eze 8:6, Eze 11:22, Hos 9:12
This: Eze 10:20, Eze 1:5, Eze 1:13, Eze 1:14, Eze 43:3
Reciprocal: Eze 3:15 – that dwelt
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 10:15. This verse settles the identity of the creature with that described in chapter 1. and represents the four world empires” named in the first chapter.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eze 10:15-17. 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.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Then Ezekiel saw these same cherubim, which he had seen in his vision by the river Chebar, rise up. As they moved, the wheels beside them stayed right with them. Likewise when they stood still the wheels also stood still beside them. The spirit of the cherubim extended to the wheels so that whatever one did the other did. Perhaps the mobility of these creatures to do whatever God commanded them to do is what the wheels represent.