Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 1:6
And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.
6. had four faces ] These were a man’s in front of each, an eagle’s opposite to this at the back of each; a lion’s on the right hand of each, and the face of an ox on the left of each. Thus four different faces were presented in each direction, so that in whatever direction the whole moved, while a man’s face was presented first, those of a lion, an ox and an eagle were also encountered. In this view the four living creatures made up one creature, and each of the four was in small that which the four were combined.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
In the Revelation of John each beast has its own distinctive character, here each unites in itself the four characters; there each has six wings, like the Seraphim Isa 6:2, here only four.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. Every one had four faces] There were four several figures of these living creatures, and each of these figures had four distinct faces: but as the face of the man was that which was presented to the prophet’s view, so that he saw it more plainly than any of the others; hence it is said, Eze 1:5, that each of these figures had the likeness of a man; and the whole of this compound image bore a general resemblance to the human figure.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And every one of those four living creatures which appeared to the prophet had four faces: this hieroglyphic, though it seems to present us with a monstrous sight, yet does not unbecome the Divine Wisdom, nor doth it want like representations, as Eze 10:14; Rev 4:6; 5:6; and speaks either the full fitness of angels to do Gods commands in all things and occasions, or the perfection of their nature and obedience; or the universal dominion of God, and the universal subjection of the creatures.
Faces; some would have this not literally understood of that part of the body which is properly the face, though I see no cause for it; but as these living creatures had wings, so they had faces, and what those were the 10th verse does tell us.
And every one had four wings; if it were every face had four wings, each living creature would have sixteen wings, but it is every one of the living creatures had four wings. With two they did fly, noting the speed of their obedience; and with two they cover their body, denoting the reverence of their mind, and obedience.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. Not only were there fourdistinct living creatures, but each of the four had four faces,making sixteen in all. The four living creatures of the cherubimanswer by contrast to the four world monarchies represented by fourbeasts, Assyria, Persia, Greece, and Rome (Da7:1-28). The Fathers identified them with the four Gospels:Matthew the lion, Mark the ox, Luke the man, John the eagle. Twocherubim only stood over the ark in the temple; two more are nowadded, to imply that, while the law is retained as the basis, a newform is needed to be added to impart new life to it. The number fourmay have respect to the four quarters of the world, to imply thatGod’s angels execute His commands everywhere. Each head in front hadthe face of a man as the primary and prominent one: on the right theface of a lion, on the left the face of an ox, above from behind theface of an eagle. The Mosaic cherubim were similar, only that thehuman faces were put looking towards each other, and towards themercy seat between, being formed out of the same mass of pure gold asthe latter (Exo 25:19; Exo 25:20).In Isa 6:2 two wings are addedto cover their countenances; because there they stand by the throne,here under the throne; there God deigns to consult them, and Hiscondescension calls forth their humility, so that they veil theirfaces before Him; here they execute His commands. The face expressestheir intelligence; the wings, their rapidity in fulfilling God’swill. The Shekinah or flame, that signified God’s presence, and thewritten name, JEHOVAH,occupied the intervening space between the cherubim Gen 4:14;Gen 4:16; Gen 3:24(“placed”; properly, “to place in a tabernacle“),imply that the cherubim were appointed at the fall as symbols ofGod’s presence in a consecrated place, and that man was to worshipthere. In the patriarchal dispensation when the flood had caused theremoval of the cherubim from Eden, seraphim or teraphim(Chaldean dialect) were made as models of them for domesticuse (Ge 31:19, Margin;Ge 31:30). The silence of thetwenty-fifth and twenty-sixth chapters of Exodus to theirconfiguration, whereas everything else is minutely described, isbecause their form was so well-known already to Bezaleel and allIsrael by tradition as to need no detailed description. Hence Ezekiel(Eze 10:20) at once knowsthem, for he had seen them repeatedly in the carved work of the outersanctuary of Solomon’s temple (1Ki6:23-29). He therefore consoles the exiles with the hope ofhaving the same cherubim in the renovated temple which should bereared; and he assures them that the same God who dwelt between thecherubim of the temple would be still with His people by the Chebar.But they were not in Zerubbabel’s temple; therefore Ezekiel’sforetold temple, if literal, is yet future. The ox is selected aschief of the tame animals, the lion among the wild, the eagle amongbirds, and man the head of all, in his ideal, realized by the LordJesus, combining all the excellencies of the animal kingdom. Thecherubim probably represent the ruling powers by which God acts inthe natural and moral world. Hence they sometimes answer to theministering angels; elsewhere, to the redeemed saints (the electChurch) through whom, as by the angels, God shall hereafter rule theworld and proclaim the manifold wisdom of God (Mat 19:28;1Co 6:2; Eph 3:10;Rev 3:21; Rev 4:6-8).The “lions” and “oxen,” amidst “palms”and “open flowers” carved in the temple, were thefour-faced cherubim which, being traced on a flat surface, presentedonly one aspect of the four. The human-headed winged bulls andeagle-headed gods found in Nineveh, sculptured amidst palms andtulip-shaped flowers, were borrowed by corrupted tradition from thecherubim placed in Eden near its fruits and flowers. So the Aaroniccalf (Exo 32:4; Exo 32:5)and Jeroboam’s calves at Dan and Beth-el, a schismatic imitation ofthe sacred symbols in the temple at Jerusalem. So the ox figures ofApis on the sacred arks of Egypt.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And or but everyone had four faces,…. Which are described,
[See comments on Eze 1:10]. The Targum multiplies the faces in a strange monstrous manner, paraphrasing the words thus,
“each had four faces, and there were four faces to everyone “of them”, and every creature had sixteen faces; the number of the faces of the four creatures was sixty and four;”
and everyone had four wings; the seraphim in Isa 6:2; and the four beasts or living creatures in Re 4:8; had six wings; and so it seems that these had also, from Eze 1:11; as will be seen there; nor is this any contradiction to the account here given, since it is not said they had only four wings. The Targum gives the same monstrous account of their wings as of their faces, saying,
“each had four wings, and there were four wings for everyone of them, sixteen wings to every face, and sixty four to every creature; and the number of the wings of the four living creatures were two hundred and fifty six.”
Jarchi is of the same opinion, and confirms it in his note on the text, which is this,
“”four faces to one”; that is, to the face of a man only were four faces, and so, to the lion, to the eagle, and to the ox, lo, sixteen to a living creature, and so to every living creature; and four wings to everyone of the faces, lo, sixty and four wings to a living creatures and which, according to the Targum of Jonathan, amounts to two hundred and fifty six wings;”
what these wings signified, [See comments on Eze 1:11];
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He now comes to the heads and wings themselves. Many suppose that each animal had four heads, and then that four appearances belonged to each head; others extend the wings much further, because they assign four wings to each of the four heads, and others even sixteen; but this does not seem in accordance with the Prophet’s words. He simply says each had four heads, and then four wings. The wings and the heads correspond; but one animal was endowed with only four heads, and so I do not think that it had more than four wings, which will again be evident from the context. He adds afterwards —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) Four faces.The cherubim, being merely symbolical figures, are variously represented. Those placed in the Tabernacle and in the Temple of Solomon appear to have had only a single face; those described in Ezekiels vision of the Temple (Eze. 41:18-19) had two; the four living creatures of Rev. 4:7 were each different from the other: one like a man, one like a lion, one like an ox, and one like an eagle, and these four are combined here in each one of the cherubim (Eze. 1:10). Man is the head of the whole animal creation, the lion of wild beasts, the ox of the domestic animals, and the eagle of the birds.
Four wings.In Rev. 4:8, six wings are mentioned, as also with the seraphim of Isa. 6:2. The cherubim in Solomons Temple had two (1Ki. 6:27). In Eze. 10:21, as here, they have four. The number is plainly not important, though doubtless assigned to them with reference to the number of creatures, and of their faces, and of the wheels; but that they should have more than the normal number of two is here appropriate, partly to concur with the other indications of the fulness of their life and activity, and partly because (Eze. 1:11) two of them were used to express their reverence, as were four of those of the seraphim in Isaiah.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Four faces A man’s face in front, an eagle’s behind, the face of an ox on the left, and of a lion on the right. This is the usual explanation, but Hugo Winckler ( Altorientalische Forschungen, 1896), from a monument recently discovered at Sendschirli which seems to somewhat resemble this description, would draw the conclusion that each one had a human body and “the appearance of a man,” but also that each creature was four-headed; the four heads facing the cardinal points: the four faces of the man looking toward the east, the four lion faces toward the west, the four bull faces toward the north, the four eagle faces toward the south. The fact seems to be that these were symbolic creatures, never intended for pictorial representation.
Four wings The winged sun-disk is the oldest known symbol of deity and was reverenced in Arabia, Babylonia, Phoenicia, and Egypt. Even in Christian times this same symbol was used for the divine Christ by the Copts. Wesley says of the use of these wings: “With two they flew, denoting the speed of their obedience; and with two they covered their body, denoting their reverence.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 1:6. Every one had four wings In the most ancient hieroglyphic writings, a supreme governor was designed by a man with four wings, and his lieutenants or princes by a man with two: and their being out-stretched signified action or design. So the other particulars of the straightness of their feet, the brightness of their colour, their going forward, Eze 1:12 their being actuated by the Spirit, and the like, seem hieroglyphically to denote the several qualifications necessary in the divine ministers and executors of the Almighty’s commands.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
It is worthy the Reader’s closest attention, how often during this account the appearance of a man is spoken of. Was it, (for I only ask the question, and do not presume to decide,) to lead the Prophet, and the Church by the Prophet’s ministry, to the contemplation of the assumption of our nature into the Godhead? Knowing the infinite importance of the thing itself, that the union of the Godhead with the Manhood was the grand comfort of the Church, by every way and in every representation the blessed doctrine shall be revealed. It was, and hath been from everlasting, the delight of the Son of God to marry our nature, for the grand purposes included in it, and therefore, the Church shall be comforted during their exile in these outlines of redemption. Precious Jesus! was it thus thou wert pleased to manifest thyself in those early ages, to show thy love to thy people.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Eze 1:6 And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.
Ver. 6. And every one had four faces. ] To set forth, saith an expositor, that the power of angels is exercised about all creatures. It is as if the angels did bear on them the heads of all living creatures – i.e., did comprehend in themselves all the elements and all the parts of the world; not as if they did move or act by their own power, but as they are God’s hands and agents, employed by him at pleasure, for the good of his Church especially, Heb 1:14 as being fit and ready to every good work. So should we strive to be. Tit 3:1
And every one had four wings.
a De Ascens. ment. in Deum, grad. 7.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
And every one had four faces: These living creatures were probably hieroglyphical representations of the holy angels, the attendants on “the King of Glory,” and the ministers of his providence. They were four, apparently to denote that they were employed in the four corners of the world; and they had the likeness of a man, to signify that they were intelligent and rational creatures. Eze 1:10, Eze 1:15, Eze 10:10, Eze 10:14, Eze 10:21, Eze 10:22, Rev 4:7, Rev 4:8
every one had four wings: Eze 1:8-11, Exo 25:20, 1Ki 6:24-27, Isa 6:2
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 1:6. The very title “world empires” would suggest the idea of a rule that is over the whole world; that is, that part which is civilized and subject to government control, hence (the four faces and four wings, corresponding to the four points of the compass. The figure signifies an Institution that can look in ail directions with its faces and go in all directions with its wings, Using some poetic words, “I am monarch of all 1 survey.