Cherubim
Cherubim
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Among the symbolic ornaments of the Tabernacle the writer of Hebrews mentions the cherubim of glory overshading the mercy-seat (Heb 9:5). In Solomons Temple there were two colossal cherubim whose out-spread wings filled the most holy place (1Ki 6:23-28), but in the ideal description of the Tabernacle two much smaller figures are represented as standing on the ark of the covenant itself (which was only about four feet long), facing each other and overshadowing the place of Gods presence. The cherubim were das beliebteste Ornamentstck der Hebrer (Benzinger, Heb. Arch., Freiburg, 1894, p. 268). It is significant that while precise directions are given regarding their material, position, and attitude, nothing is said of their shape except that they were winged. Their enigmatic form made them fitting symbols of the mysterious nature of the Godhead. Originally, no doubt, they were far from being merely allegorical. They had lived long in the popular imagination before they came to be used as religious emblems. They were mythical figures probably suggested by the phenomenon of the storm-cloud, in which God seemed to descend from heaven to earth, the thunder being the rushing of their wings and the lightning their flashing swords (cf. Psa 18:10-11). While Lenormant (Les Origines, 1880-84, i, 112f.) and Friedrich Delitzsch (Wo lag das Paradies?, 1881, p. 150f.) connect them with the winged bulls which guarded the entrance to Assyrian palaces, others associate them with the Syrian griffins (probably of Hittite origin) which were supposed to draw the chariot of the sun-god (Cheyne, Encyclopaedia Biblica i. 745). Behind the cherubim of Ezekiel (10:1f.) which are the original of the living creatures of Rev 4:6-8, there may be the signs of the zodiac (Gunkel).
When the later Hebrews wished to represent the presence of Jahweh among them in the Temple at Jerusalem, they adopted the cherubim as the awful symbols alike of His nearness and of His unapproachableness. It is improbable that these works of art had a purely human appearance. Schultz (OT Theol., Eng. translation , 1892, ii. 236) inclines to the view that they were composite figures, with the feet of oxen, the wings of eagles, the manes of lions, and the body and face of men. A. Jeremias (The OT in the Light of the Anc. East, 1911, ii. 126), following Klostermann, thinks it possible that the conception is that of four cherubim (two cherubim, each with a double face). As the symbols were blazoned on the doors, walls, and curtains of the Temple, their general appearance must originally have been quite well known, but time once more threw a veil of mystery over them, and Josephus declares that no one can tell or guess what the cherubim, were like (Ant. viii. iii. 3).
Literature.-I. Benzinger, Heb. Arch.2, 1907, index, s.v. Kerube; A. Furtwngler, in Roscher [Note: oscher Roschers Ausfhrliches Lexikon der griech. und rm. Mythologie.] , Lex. i. 2, col. 1742ff. article Gryps; article Cherub in Encyclopaedia Biblica and Cherubim in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) .
James Strahan.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
cherubim
Those angels who compose the second highest of the nine choirs. The word is a Hebrew plural and according to Pope Saint Gregory, means
“the fulness of knowledge; and these sublime hosts are thus called because they are filled with a knowledge which is more perfect as they are allowed to behold the glory of God more closely.”
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Cherubim
Angelic beings or symbolic representations thereof, mentioned frequently in the Old Testament and once in the New Testament.
I. IN PHILOLOGY
The word cherub (cherubim is the Hebrew masculine plural) is a word borrowed from the Assyrian kirubu, from karâbu, “to be near”, hence it means near ones, familiars, personal servants, bodyguards, courtiers. It was commonly used of those heavenly spirits, who closely surrounded the Majesty of God and paid Him intimate service. Hence it came to mean as much as “Angelic Spirit”. (The change from K of Karâbu, to K of Kirub is nothing unusual in Assyrian. The word has been brought into connection with the Egyptian Xefer by metathesis from Xeref=K-r-bh.) A similar metathesis and play upon sound undoubtedly exists between Kerub and Rakab, “to ride”, and Merkeba, “chariot”. The late Jewish explanation by analogy between Kerub and Rekûb, “a youth”, seems worthless. The word ought to be pronounced in English qerub and querubim, and not with a soft ch.
II. IN ART
Cherub and Cherubim are most frequently referred to in the Bible to designate sculptured, engraved, and embroidered figures used in the furniture and ornamentation of the Jewish Sanctuary. According to Exod., xxv, 18-21 there were placed on the kapporeth, or lid of the Ark, (i.e. “the Mercy-Seat”) the figures of two cherubim of wrought (=massive?) gold. According to III Kings, vi, 23 sqq., and II Paralip., iii, 11 sqq., Solomon placed in the Holy of Holies two huge Cherubim of olive-wood overlaid with gold. “They stood on their feet and their faces were towards the house”, which probably means they faced the Holy Place or the Entrance. According to Exod., xxvi, 31, cherubim were embroidered on the Veil of the Tabernacle, separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. “With blue and purple and scarlet and fine twined linen” they were made. How many such cherubim were embroidered on the Paroket, or Veil, we do not know. It is often supposed that as this veil screened the Holy Holies, two large- sized figures to represent guardian spirits or keepers were thereon depicted. According to III Kings, vi and vii, cherubim were engraved apparently as an artistic “motif” in wood and metal. The panelling of the Temple, both interior and exterior, was covered with them, as well as with palm-trees and open flowers. The brazen sea was adorned with figures of lions oxen, and cherubim. According to Ezechiel, xli, 18 sqq., in his visionary description of the Temple, the wall-space of the Sanctuary was ornamented with cherubim and palm-trees, and each cherub had two faces, that of a man and that of a lion, the faces respectively turned to the palm tree to the right and left. But there is no ground whatever to suppose that the actual cherubim of the Solomonic Temple or pre-Solomonic Sanctuary were double-faced; the contrary seems certain, but from the Scripture text we cannot with certainty conclude what sort of faces these Temple cherubim had, whether animal or human. It is sometimes concluded from Ezech., x, 14, “the first face was the face of a cherub and the second that of a man, the third the face of a lion and the fourth the face of an eagle”, that a cherub’s face cannot have been a human one, and the face of an ox has naturally been suggested, but the argument is not conclusive. In Egyptian art, figures with a human face and two outstretched wings attached to the arms are exceedingly common. In Assyrian art, also, winged human figures on either side of a palm tree are very often used in decoration. They are sometimes hawk-headed, but more usually possess men’s faces. However, even the Jews at the time of Christ had completely forgotten the appearance of the Temple cherubim. Josephus (Antiq., VIII, 3) says that no one knows or even can guess what form they had. The very fact, however, that the Bible nowhere gives a word of explanation, but always presupposes them well-known, makes us believe that they were among the most common figures of contemporary art.
III. IN INSPIRED VISION
As Jehovah was surrounded by figures of cherubim in His Sanctuary on earth, so He is, according to Scripture, surrounded in reality by cherubim in His Court above. The function ascribed to these heavenly servants of God’s Majesty is that of throne-bearers, or “carriers”, of His Divine Majesty. In Psalm 17 the psalmist describes the sudden descent of Jehovah to rescue a soul in distress in the following words: “He bowed the heavens and came down, and darkness was under His feet. He rode upon a cherub and flew upon the wings of the wind.” The idea of cherubim as the chariot of God seems indicated in I Paralip. 18, where David gives gold for the Temple cherubim, who are described as “the Chariot”, not, probably, because they had the outward shape of a vehicle, but because the Temple cherubim symbolized the swift-winged living thrones upon which the Almighty journeys through the heavens.
The Prophet Ezechiel mentions the cherubim in a two-fold connection: in his vision of the living chariot of God (Ch. i and x); in his prophecy on the Prince of Tyre (Ch. xxviii, 14 sqq.). Ezechiel’s vision of the Cherubim, which is practically the same in the tenth chapter as in the first, is one of the most difficult in Scripture, and has given rise to a multitude of explanations. The prophet first saw a luminous cloud coming from the north; from a distance it seemed a heavy cloud fringed with light and some intense brilliancy in the centre thereof, bright as gold, yet in perpetual motion as the flames of a fire. Within that heavenly fire he began gradually to distinguish four living beings with bodies as men, yet with four faces each: a human face in front, but an eagles face behind; a lion’s face to the left and an ox’s face to the right. Though approaching, yet their knees did not bend in their march, straight and stiff they remained; and for feet they had the hoofs of oxen, shod as it were with shining brass. They had four arms, two to each shoulder, and attached along each arm a wing. Of these four winged arms two were outstretched above, and two were let down and covered their bodies. These four living beings stood together, facing in four opposite directions, and between them were four great wheels, each wheel being double, so that it could roll forward or sideways. Thus this angelic chariot, in whatever of the four directions it moved, always presented the same aspect. And both angels and wheels were all studded with eyes. And over the heads of the cherubim, so that they touched it with the points of their outstretched wings, was an expanse of crystal, and on this crystal a sapphire throne, and on the throne one resembling a man, the likeness of the glory of Jehovah.
The mystical meaning of each detail of this vision will probably remain a matter of speculation, but the meaning of the four faces seems not difficult to grasp: man is the king of creation, the lion the king of beasts of the forest, the ox the king of the kine in the field, the eagle the king of the birds of the air. On this account the cherubim have of recent years been explained as mere symbols of the fulness of earthly life, which, like the earth itself, is the footstool of God. But these faces are more naturally understood to signify that these angelic beings possessed the intelligent wisdom of man, the lithe strength of the lion, the ponderous weight of the ox, the soaring sublimity of the eagle. Early Christianity transferred this Old Testament vision to a New Testament sphere and gradually used these cherubic figures to designate the four Evangelists-a thought of rare grandeur and singular felicity, yet only a sensus accommodatus.
Ezechiel’s Prophecy against the Prince of Tyre contains a description of the almost more than earthly glory of that ancient city. Tyre is spoken of as an angel fallen from glory. Of the King of Tyre it is said: Thou, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. In Eden, the garden of God wert thou, all precious stones were thy covering. Thou wert a cherub with wings outstretched in protection, thou wert on the holy mountain of God, thou didst walk amongst fiery stones. Thou wert innocent in thy ways form the day on which thou wert created until iniquity was found in thee…thou didst sin, therefore I will cast thee out from the mountain of God and destroy three, O protecting cherub away from the fiery stones. Indirectly we can gather from this passage that Cherubim were conceived to be in a state of perfection, wisdom, sinlessness, nearness to God on His Holy Mountain and of preternatural glory and happiness. Unfortunately, the words paraphrased as “with wings outstretched in protection” are difficult to translate: the Hebrew term may mean “cherub of anointing, who covers”, therefore a royal, anointed being, overshadowing others with its wings to shelter them. If this be so, we must add royalty and beneficence to the characteristics of cherubim.
IV. IN THEOLOGY
Notwithstanding the present common opinion of advanced Protestant scholars, that cherubim are only symbolic representations of abstract ideas, the Catholic Church undoubtedly holds that there are actually existing spiritual beings corresponding to the name. That Old Testament writers used the word cherubim to designate angels, not merely to express ideas, can be best gathered from Gen., iii, 24, where God sets cherubim at the entrance of Paradise. This sentence would bear no sense at all if cherubim did not stand for ministerial beings, differing from man, carrying out the behest of God. Likewise, it is difficult to read Ezechiel and to persuade oneself that the Prophet does not presuppose the actual existence of real personal beings under the name of Cherubim; in chaps. i and x he speaks again and again of “living beings”, and he says the spirit of life was within them, and repeatedly points out that the bodily forms he sees are but appearances of the living beings thus mentioned. The living beings (zoa) so often mentioned in St. John’s Apocalypse can only be taken as parallel to those in Ezechiel, and their personal existence in St. John’s mind cannot be doubted. The frequent sentence also: “who sittest upon the Cherubim” (1 Samuel 4:4; 2 Samuel 6:2; 2 Kings 19; Isaiah 37:37, 16; Psalms 79:2 and 98:1), though no doubt referring to Jehovah’s actual dwelling in the Holy of Holies, yet is better understood as referring to the heavenly throne-bearers of God. There can be no doubt that the later Jews — that is, from 200 B.C. onwards — looked upon the cherubim as real angelic beings; the angelology of the Book of Enoch and the apocryphal Books of Esdras give us an undeniable testimony on this point.
So the Christian Church from the first accepted the personality of the cherubim and early adopted Philo’s interpretation of the name. Clem. Alex.: “The name Cherubim intends to show much understanding (aisthesin pollen).” (Stromata, V, 240.) Though counted amongst the angels during the first centuries of Christianity, the cherubim and seraphim were not mentioned in the lists of the angelic hierarchy. At first but seven choirs of angels were reckoned, i.e. those enumerated (Ephesians 1:21 and Colossians 1:16), with the addition of angeli et archangeli. Thus St. Irenaeus, Haer.II, xxx, and Origen, Peri archon, I, v. But soon it was realized that the Apostle’s list was not intended to be a complete one, and the Old Testament angelic beings mentioned by Ezechiel and Isaias, the cherubim and seraphim, and others were added, so that we have eight, nine, or ten, or even eleven ranks in the hierarchy. The cherubim and seraphim were sometimes thought to be but other names for thrones and virtues (Gregory of Nyssa, “Contra Eunom.”, I; Augustine in Ps., xcviii, 3). Since Psuedo-Dionys., De Caelesti Hier. (written about A.D. 500), the ninefold division of the angelic order has been practically universal; and the cherubim and seraphim take the highest place in the hierarchy, a rank which was ascribed to them already by St. Cyril of Jerusalem (370) and by St. Chrysostom (about 400), and which Pope Gregory the Great, once aprocrisarius or nuncio at Constantinople, made familiar to the West. Pope Gregory divided the nine angelic orders into three choirs, the highest choir being: thrones, cherubim, and seraphim. Of the cherubim he says (Hom. in Ev., xxxiv, 10), that cherubim means “the fulness of knowledge, and these most sublime hosts are thus called, because they are filled with a knowledge which is the more perfect as they are allowed to behold the glory of God more closely”. This explanation of St. Gregory is ultimately derived from Philo’s similar statement, and was already combined with the Old Testament function of the cherubim by St. Augustine in his sublime comment on Ps., lxxix, 2, “Who sitteth upon the Cherubim”: Cherubim means the Seat of the Glory of God and is interpreted: Fulness of Knowledge. Though we realize that cherubim are exalted heavenly powers and virtues; yet if thou wilt, thou too shalt be one of the cherubim. For if cherubim means, Seat of God, remember what the Scripture says: The soul of the just is the Seat of Wisdom.
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KEIL, Commentary on Ezechiel, I, 20-46, in Clark’s Foreign Lib. (Edinburgh, 1876), IV; KNABENBAUER, Commentarius in Ezechielem (Paris, 1890), 21-41; ZSCHOKKE, Theologie der Propheten (Freiburg im Br., 1877), 250 sqq.; BAREILLE in Dict. de theol. cath., s.v. Anges, 1206-11; WULFF, Cherubim, Throne und Seraphim (Altenburg, 1894); PERROT and CHIPIEZ, Le temple de Jerusalem (Paris, 1889); VIGOUROUX, La Bible et les decouvertes modernes, IV, 358-409; RYLE in HASTINGS, Bible Dict., s.v.
J.P. ARENDZEN Transcribed by Michael T. Barrett Dedicated to all the angels of God
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IIICopyright © 1908 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
CHERUBIM
From the images that were made for the tabernacle and the temple, it seems that cherubim (plural of cherub) were winged creatures of some heavenly angelic order. They usually acted as guardians for the Almighty and his interests.
After the rebellion against God in the garden of Eden, God sent cherubim to guard the tree of life (Gen 3:24). In Israels tabernacle, two cherubim images were attached to the lid of the ark of the covenant in the Most Holy Place. The lid of the ark, known as the mercy seat, was the symbolic throne of God, and the cherubim were symbolic guardians of that throne (Exo 25:18-22; 1Sa 4:4; 2Sa 6:2; 2Ki 19:15; Psa 80:1; Heb 9:5). In Solomons temple also, the Most Holy Place had images of guardian cherubim. They were so huge that side by side they stretched across the room from wall to wall (1Ki 6:23-28). In Ezekiels visions, cherubim supported the chariot-throne of God (Eze 1:4-28; Ezekiel 10; cf. Psa 18:10).
Craftsmen who worked on the ornamentation of the tabernacle and the temple included cherubim in many of their designs. Cherubim were pictured on the coverings and curtains of the tabernacle (Exo 26:1; Exo 26:31), the walls of the temple (1Ki 6:29; cf. Eze 41:17-20; Eze 41:25), and the mobile lavers that belonged to the temple (1Ki 7:29; 1Ki 7:36).
Fuente: Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
Cherubim
CHERUBIM.1. The most important passage for determining the origin of the Hebrew conception of the cherubim is Psa 18:10. The poet, in describing a theophany of Jehovah, represents the God of Israel as descending to earth on the black thunder-cloud: He rode upon a cheruh and did fly, yea, he soared on the wings of the wind. According to this passage, the cherub is a personification of the storm-cloud, or, as others prefer to interpret, of the storm-wind which bears Jehovah from heaven to earth.
2. We shall next discuss the part the cherubim play in the religious symbolism of the OT. In the Tabernacle there were two small golden cherubim, one at each end of the mercy-seat. It was these figures that invested the ark with its special significance as an emblem of the immediate presence of Jehovah. Cherubic figures were embroidered on the curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place, and on the other tapestries of the sanctuary. In the Temple two huge cheruhim of olive wood, overlaid with gold, overshadowed the ark with their wings (1Ki 6:23-28). Cherubic figures were also found among the other decorations of the Temple (1Ki 6:29; 1Ki 6:32; 1Ki 6:35). In both sanctuaries they are figures of religious symbolism; they act as bearers of Deity, and are consequently emblematic of Jehovahs immediate presence. Hence we have the phrase Thou that sittest on the cherubim (Psa 80:1 et al.). In Ezekiels Inaugural vision (ch. 1) the four composite figures of the living creatures are in a later passage termed cherubim (Psa 10:2). They support the firmament on which the throne of Jehovah rests, and in this connexion we again have them as bearers of Deity. In the Paradise story, the cherubim perform another function; they appear as guardians of the tree of life (Gen 3:24 J [Note: Jahwist.] ). A different version of this story is alluded to by Ezekiel (Eze 28:14; Eze 28:16); according to this prophet, a cherub expels the prince of Tyre from Eden, the garden of God. In both these passages they perform the function of guardians of sacred things, and in view of this it is probable that, in the Temple and Tabernacle, they were looked upon as guardians of the contents of the ark as well as emblems of the Divine presence.
3. As to the figure of the cherubim in the sanctuaries we have no clue, and Josephus is probably correct when he says that no one knows or can guess their form. The prophet Ezekiel and the results of Babylonian excavations assist us in solving the enigma. The prophets living creatures were composite figures, each having the face of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. We are not to suppose that these forms corresponded exactly to anything that the prophet had seen, but he worked out these figures in his gorgeous imagination, combining elements Hebrew and Babylonian. The native element is to some extent an unsolved riddle, but of the contribution made by Babylonian art there can be no reasonable doubt. The huge composite figures with human head, eagles wings, and bulls body, which were placed as guardians at the doors of temples and palaces in Babylonia, supplied the prophet with the material for his vision. The writer of the story of the Garden of Eden had some such figures in mind. Basing his conjecture on Ezekiels vision, Schultz (OT Theol. ii. p. 236) imagines that the cherubim of the sanctuary were composite figures with feet of oxen, wings of eagles, manes of lions, and human bodies and faces, standing upright and spreading their wings over the ark. This view is somewhat problematic. Cheyne and Dillmann prefer to associate them with the griffin, which so often appears in mythology as a guardian of sacred treasures. The former asserts that the Hebrew cherubim were of Hittite origin. It is not correct to suppose that they were directly borrowed either from the Babylonians or the Hittites, but the Hebrew imagination combined foreign and native elements as they were suited to its purpose. The derivation of the Heb. word from the Bab. [Note: Babylonian.] kurubu, a designation of the steer-god, is, although advocated by Delitzsch, exceedingly uncertain and is denied by Zimmern. We are now in a position to judge the three theories as to the nature of the cherubim,that they were (1) real, (2) symbolical, and (3) mythical. That they were higher angelic beings with actual existence is now generally discarded. They were in reality creations of the imagination, the form being borrowed from mythological sources and afterwards invested with a symbolic meaning.
4. In Jewish theology the cherubim are one of the three highest classes of angels, the other two being the seraphim and ophanim, which guard the throne of the Most High. They appear as youthful angels in Rabbinical literature. Philo allegorizes them as representing two supreme attributes of GodHis goodness and authority; he also mentions other views (for Jewish ideas, cf. JE [Note: Jewish Encyclopedia.] s.v.). The living creatures of the Apocalyptic vision are borrowed from Ezekiels imagery. Starting with this passage (Rev 4:6 ff.), and borrowing elements from Jewish theology, some Christian theologians have incorrectly maintained that the cherubim of Scripture were supramundane spiritual essences.
James A. Kelso.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Cherubim
Cherubim, Cherub
We meet with an account of these so frequently in the word of God, that it forms an important duty to seek, under the Spirit’s teaching, for the clearest apprehension of their meaning. At the entrance of the garden of Eden, after the fall, we find the cherubim and a flaming sword placed. (Gen 3:24) And during the church’s continuance in the wilderness, several relations are made of the cherubim. (Exo 25:18; Exo 26:1; Exo 37:7-8) Solomon’s temple also, was adorned with the representation of them. (1Ki 6:23, etc.) But more particularly, in the visional prophecy of Ezekiel. (See Eze 9:1-11 and Eze 10:1-22 throughout.) The general representation of the cherubim was under the similitude of four living creatures: the face of a man; the face of a lion; the face of an ox, or calf; and the face of an eagle. That these figures were emblems of somewhat more important and higher than themselves, hath been the universal opinion, both in the Jewish and Christian church, through all ages. Some have considered them as representing angels. But there seems, in the first view of the subject, a total contradiction to this, because, no one reason upon earth can be shown, why angels should be represented with four faces. Neither could there be any necessity for any other representation of an angel, but as an angel. We meet with continued instances of angels appearing, in the word of God, to God’s people without any danger of JEHOVAH himself only can it be said, “Thou canst not see my face and live.” (Exo 33:20) Moreover, before the cherubim was sprinkled, on the great day of atonement, the blood of the sacrifice, which we all know was typical of Christ, and represented the one offering of the Redeemer. Now, to have this set forth before angels would have been contrary to the whole sense of Scripture. (See Exo 37:9; Lev 16:14 compared with Heb 9:7; Heb 9:12) Evidently, therefore, the cherubim could not be intended to prefigure angels.
The question is then, What, or whom, did they represent? I would very humbly say in answer, that I am inclined to think, with several who have gone before me in the study of this solemn and mysterious subject, that the cherubim were emblematical of the glorious persons of the GODHEAD, in their covenant engagements to redeem our fallen nature, as represented in those characters united with the manhood of Christ. And the foundation of this belief, I humbly beg to subjoin.
And first, to begin with the earliest representation at the gate of Paradise, we are told, (Gen 3:24) that the Lord himself placed those cherubim there, which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. By which I apprehend, the sense of the expression is, not to keep from, but to keep to, the way of the tree of life; meaning, that poor fallen man now had no access but by this way. And as we well know, from our Lord’s own authority, that Jesus is “the way, and the truth, and the life; and no man cometh to the Father, but by him.” (Joh 14:6) Hence it should seem, that by these cherubic figures, among which the face of a man formed a part, immediately at the fall, redemption through Christ was set up by those emblems, as manifested to the church.
Secondly, Those cherubim were eminently displayed in the Holy of Holies, over and upon the mercy seat. (See Exo 25:17-22, compared with Heb 11:1-24) Now, as from the authority of those Scriptures, we have full licence to conclude, that the mercy-seat itself was an emblem of Christ, and the High Priest going into the Holy of Holies once in a year, with blood, a lively type of the Lord Jesus going in with his own blood into heaven itself, there to appear in the presence of God for us, we cannot for a moment suppose, but that these cherubim must have been designed to represent the holy and undivided Three persons in the one eternal JEHOVAH, before whom only, and to whom only, Christ, in his divine and nature united, made the one sacrifice of by which he hath prefected for ever them that are sanctified. The song of heaven declared, that the redemption by Christ was from God, as the first cause, and to God, as the final end. (Rev 5:9) To have set forth, therefore, these solemn representations, by type and figure, in the Jewish church, before any but JEHOVAH himself, would have been little short of blasphemy, and consequently cherubim, before which every great day of the same was regularly observed, could emblematical only of the glorious persons of the GODHEAD.
If it be objected, that in the vision of Isaiah, chap. so again, in the vision of John, Rev 8:1-13 where in both Scriptures, we find the seraphim, or cherubim, (for they mean one and the same), are represented as worshipping God, and hence it be said, is there not a contradiction in supposing JEHOVAH worshipping JEHOVAH? I answer, certainly there would be, if this were in reality the case. But the fact is, that it is not so. Let it be remembered, that these cherubim are emblems, and not the very persons they represent. The representatives of another my join in any acts with others, to proclaim with them the worth, or praises, of those whom they represent. As the ambassador of an earthly king, though he represents his master, may, at the same time, join his fellow subjects in proclaiming with them his master’s honour. This objection, therefore, falls to the ground. And though I do not presume, on a subject so mysterious and sublime, to speak decidedly, yet I cannot but think, that the cherubim of Scripture, are intended to represent the glorious persons of the GODHEAD, with the human nature united to the person of the Son of God, and by no means intended to represent angels.
Fuente: The Poor Mans Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures
Cherubim (1)
cheru-bim, cheroo-bim (, kerubhm, plural of cherub, , kerubh): Through the influence of the Septuagint, cherubim was used in the earlier English versions, also as a singular, hence, the plural was made to sound cherubims. The etymology of the word cannot be ascertained.
1. As Guardians of Paradise
In Gen 3:24 the cherubim are placed by God, after the expulsion of Adam from the garden of Eden, at the east thereof, together with the flaming sword to keep the way of the tree of life. In their function as guardians of Paradise the cherubim bear an analogy to the winged bulls and lions of Babylonia and Assyria, colossal figures with human faces standing guard at the entrance of temples (and palaces), just as in Egypt the approaches to the sanctuaries are guarded by sphinxes. But the Babylonian colossi go by the name of lamassu, or shedu; no designation at all approaching the Hebrew kerubh has so far been found in the Assyrian language. Nor are Thus named the winged figures, half human and half animal, which in Babylonian and Persian art are found on both sides of the sacred tree. Thus, a Babylonian origin of the Hebrew cherubim is neither proved nor disproved. If we look for further analogies which, of course, do not indicate a borrowing on the part of the Hebrews, we may mention the fabulous griffins (, grupes), usually represented as having the heads and wings of an eagle and the body and hind quarters of a lion; they were believed by the Greeks to inhabit Scythia, and to keep jealous watch over the gold of that country.
2. The Garden as the Abode of the Gods
If we read between the lines of the Paradise account in Gen (compare Gen 3:8), the garden of Eden, the primeval abode of man, reveals itself as more than that: it was apparently the dwelling-place of God. In the polytheistic story of the creation of the world and early life of man, which, while in several respects analogous (compare Gen 3:22), is devoid of the more spiritual notions of Hebraism, the garden was the abode of the gods who alone had access to the tree of life from the fruit of which they derived their immortality. Adam, before the fall, is conceived as a superhuman being; for while he is forbidden to taste of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, the way to immortality is open to him; for it is only after transgressing the Divine command that he merits death and becomes mortal. The choice of immortal innocence and mortal knowledge lay before him; he elected death with knowledge.
3. The Cherubim as Attendants of the Deity
The mythical elements of the Paradise story are still more patent in Eze 28:13, where the fall of the king of Tyre is likened to that of primeval man. The garden is situated on a holy mountain of Elohim(= God to Ezekiel, but gods in the primitive source), the ‘mountain of assembly’ of Isa 14:13, high above the stars in the recesses of the North. It is a wonderful place, adorned with all manner of precious stones. There man, perfect from the day he was created, resplendent with beauty, excelling in wisdom, walks among the fiery stones, like a cherub with outstretched wings. The cherubs are apparently the attendants of the Deity, beauteous angels, of whom man was to be one: but he fell from glory and was hurled from the sanctuary which he had polluted. Some of the angelic attendants of the Deity within are placed in Genesis without, to do service as guardians of the unapproachable holy garden.
4. As Bearers of the Throne
As attendants of God, they bear the throne upon which He descends from His high abode. Thus in the description of a theophany in Ps 18, we read:
He bowed the heavens also, and came down;
And thick darkness was under his feet.
And he rode upon a cherub and did fly;
Yea, he soared upon the wings of the wind. (Psa 18:9, Psa 18:10)
Hence, the Lord, or, as the fuller title goes, the Lord of Hosts, is repeatedly styled He that sitteth (throned) above the cherubim (Psa 80:1; Psa 99:1; 1Sa 4:4, and elsewhere). There is certainly no trace here of bull figures: bulls do not fly. The underlying conception is, it seems, rather that of the storm cloud. Compare Psa 104:3 :
Who maketh the clouds his chariot;
Who walketh upon the wings of the wind.
The Hebrew for chariot is , rekhubh, a sort of inverted kerubh.
5. In the Vision of Ezekiel
But the function of the cherubim as bearers and movers of the Divine throne is brought out most clearly in the vision of Ezekiel (chapter 1, with which compare chapter 10). In chapter 1 the prophet designates them as living creatures (hayyoth); but upon hearing God’s words addressed to the man clothed in linen (Eze 10:2) he perceives that the living creatures which he saw in the first vision were cherubim (Eze 10:20); hence, in Eze 9:3 the chariot or throne, from which the glory of God went up, is spoken of as a cherub. The following is a description in detail of the cherubim as seen by Ezekiel. They are represented as four living creatures, each with four faces, man, lion, ox (replaced in the parallel chapter by cherub), and eagle (Eze 1:10; Eze 10:14), having the figure and hands of men (Eze 1:5, Eze 1:8), and the feet of calves (Eze 1:7). Each has four wings, two of which are stretched upward (Eze 1:11), meeting above and sustaining the firmament, that is, the bottom of the Divine throne (Eze 1:22; Eze 10:1), while two are stretched downward, conformable the one to the other, so as to cover their bodies (Eze 1:11, Eze 1:23). In appearance, the living creatures resemble coals of fire (compare Eze 10:2, Eze 10:6 f, where the man clothed in linen is bidden fill both his hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim), burning like torches, the fire flashing up and down among the creatures, a bright fire out of which lightning goes forth (Eze 1:13). Thus the creatures run and vanish as the appearance of a flash of lightning (Eze 1:14). The cherubim do not turn as they change direction, but always go straight forward (Eze 1:9, Eze 1:17; Eze 10:11), as do the wheels of the cherubic chariot with rings full of eyes round about (Eze 1:18; Eze 10:12). The cherubim represent the spirit, or will, in the wheels: at the direction of the spirit, the wheels are lifted up from the bottom and the chariot moves upward (Eze 1:19 f; Eze 10:16 f). The cherubim are Thus the moving force of the vehicle.
6. Relation to Seraphim and Other Angels
Ezekiel’s cherubim are clearly related to the seraphim in Isaiah’s inaugural vision (Isa 6:1-13). Like the cherubim, the seraphim are the attendants on God as He is seated upon a throne high and exalted; they are also winged creatures: with twain they cover their faces, and with twain they cover their feet, and with twain they fly. Like the Levites in the sanctuary below, they sing a hymn of adoration: Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. In the Book of Enoch, the cherubim, seraphim, and ophannim (wheels), and all the angels of power constitute the host of God, the guardians of His throne, the singers of praise ascribing blessedness to the Lord of Spirits, with the archangel Gabriel at their head (see 20:7; 40; Isa 61:10 f; 71:7). And so in the Jewish daily liturgy the seraphim, ophannim, and living creatures constitute the heavenly choir who, the elect ministers of the Living God, ready to do the will of their maker with trembling, intone in sweet harmony the Thrice-holy. In the Talmud, the cherubim are represented as having the likeness of youths (with a fanciful etymology, , ke plus rubh, like a youth; Sukk 5b; Hag 13b), while, according to the Midrash, they have no definite shape, but appear indifferently as men or women, or as spirits and angelic beings (Gen rabba) 21).
7. In Rev 4:1-11
The four living creatures of Rev 4:6 are clearly modeled upon Ezekiel, with supplementary touches from Isaiah. Full of eyes before and behind, they are in the midst of the throne, and round about it. One resembles a lion, the other a calf, and the third a man, and the fourth a flying eagle. Each of the creatures has six wings. They have no rest day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.
8. Ornamental Cherubim in the Temple of Solomon
In the temple of Solomon, two gigantic cherubic images of olive-wood plated with gold, ten cubits high, stood in the innermost sanctuary (the debhr) facing the door, whose wings, five cubits each, extended, two of them meeting in the middle of the room to constitute the throne, while two extended to the walls (1Ki 6:23-28; 1Ki 8:6, 1Ki 8:7; 2Ch 3:10-13; 2Ch 5:7, 2Ch 5:8). The Chronicler represents them as the chariot of the Lord (1Ch 28:18). There were also images of the cherubim carved on the gold-plated cedar planks which constituted the inner walls of the temple, and upon the olive-wood doors (1Ki 6:29, 1Ki 6:35; 2Ch 3:7); also on the bases of the portable lavers, interchanging with lions and oxen (1Ki 7:29-36). According to the Chronicler, they were also woven in the veil of the Holy of Holies (2Ch 3:14).
9. In the Temple of Ezekiel
Ezekiel represents the inner walls of the temple as carved with alternating palm trees and cherubim, each with two faces, the lion looking on one side, the man on the other (Eze 41:18-25).
10. In the Tabernacle
In the Tabernacle, there were two cherubim of solid gold upon the golden slab of the lid, or mercy-seat, facing each other, with wings outstretched above, so as to constitute a throne on which the glory of the Lord appeared, and from which He spake (Exo 25:18-22; Exo 37:7-9; Num 7:89; Heb 9:5). There were also cherubim woven into the texture of the inner curtain of the Tabernacle and the veil (Exo 26:1, Exo 26:31; Exo 36:8, Exo 36:35). There were no cherubim in the temple of Herod, but the walls were painted with figures of them (see Talmud Yoma) 54a). In the times of Josephus no one knew what the Scriptural cherubim looked like (Ant., VIII, iii, 3).
Literature
Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, under the word; KAT3, 529 f, and references; commentaries on Genesis and Ezekiel.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Cherubim (2)
The cherubic forms in the constellation figures. See ASTRONOMY, II, 8.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Cherubim
Cherubim (Cherub, pl. Cherubim) is the name of certain symbolical figures frequently mentioned in Scripture. The derivation and meaning of the term cannot now be known with certainty.
Fig. 127Babylonian Cherub
Figures of the cherubim were conspicuous implements in the Levitical tabernacle. Two of them were placed at each end of the mercy-seat, standing in a stooping attitude, as if looking down towards it, while they overshadowed it with their expanded wingsand, indeed, they were component parts of it, formed out of the same mass of pure gold as the mercy-seat itself (Exo 25:19).
These figures were afterwards transferred to the most holy place in Solomon’s temple, and it has been supposed from 1Ch 28:18, that that prince constructed two additional ones after the same pattern, and of the same solid and costly material; but whether it was with a view to increase their number in accordance with the more spacious and magnificent edifice to which they were removed, or merely to supply the place of those made by Moses, which in the many vicissitudes that befell the ark might have been mutilated or entirely separated from the mercy-seat to which they were attachedis not ascertained. This much, however, is known, that Solomon erected two of colossal dimensions, in an erect posture with their faces towards the walls (2Ch 3:13), covering with their outstretched wings the entire breadth of the most holy place. These sacred hieroglyphics were profusely embroidered on the tapestry of the tabernacle, on the curtains and the great veil that separated the holy from the most holy place (Exo 26:1; Exo 26:31), as well as carved in several places (1Ki 8:6-8) on the walls, doors, and sacred utensils of the temple. The position occupied by these singular images at each extremity of the mercy-seatwhile the Shechinah, or sacred flame that symbolized the divine presence, and the awful name of Jehovah in written characters were in the intervening spacegave rise to the well-known phraseology of the sacred writers, which represents the Deity dwelling between or inhabiting the cherubim; and, in fact, so intimately associated were they with the manifestation of the divine glory, that whether the Lord is described as at rest or in motion, as seated on a throne, or riding in a triumphal chariot, these symbolic figures were essential elements in the description (Num 7:89; Psa 18:10; Psa 80:1; Psa 99:1-9; Isa 6:2; Isa 37:16).
Fig. 128Persian Cherubim
The first occasion on which the Cherubim are mentioned in Scripture is on the expulsion of our first parents from Eden, when the Lord placed cherubim on the east of the garden; or as it may be rendered, ‘before or on the edge of the garden.’ The word in the original translated ‘on the east,’ may signify as well ‘before or on the edge of;’ and the historian does not say that the Lord placed there ‘cherubim,’ but ‘the cherubim.’ The word rendered by our translators ‘placed,’ signifies properly ‘to place in a tabernacle,’ an expression which, viewed in connection with some incidents in the after history of the primeval family (Gen 4:14-16), seems a conclusive establishment of the opinion that this was a local tabernacle, in which the symbols of the Divine presence were manifested, suitably to the altered circumstances in which man after the Fall came before God, and to the acceptable mode of worship he was taught to observe. That consecrated place, with its striking symbols, called ‘the presence of the Lord,’ there is reason to believe, continued till the time of the Deluge, otherwise there would have been nothing to guard the way to the tree of life: and thus the knowledge of their form, from the longevity of the antediluvians, could have been easily transmitted to the time of Abraham. Moreover, it is an approved opinion that, when those emblems were removed at the close of the patriarchal dispensation from the place of public worship, the ancestors of that patriarch formed small models of them for domestic use, under the name of Seraphim or Teraphim. The next occasion in the course of the sacred history on which the cherubim are noticed is when Moses was commanded to provide the furniture of the tabernacle; and although he received instructions to make all things according to the pattern shown him in the Mount, and although it is natural to suppose that he saw a figure of the cherubim, yet we find no minute and special description of them, as is given of everything else, for the direction of the artificers (Exo 26:31). The simple mention which the sacred historian makes, in both these passages, of the cherubim, conveys the impression that the symbolic figures which had been introduced into the Levitical tabernacle were substantially the same with those established in the primeval place of worship on the outskirts of Eden, and that by traditional information, or some other means, their form was so well known, both to Bezaleel and the whole congregation of Israel, as to render superfluous all further description of them. On no other ground can we account for the total silence as to their configuration, unless we embrace the groundless and unworthy opinion of those who impute to the author of the Pentateuch a studied concealment of some parts of his ritual, after the manner of the Mystics. But there was no mystery as to those remarkable figures, for Ezekiel knew at once (Eze 10:20) the living creatures which appeared in his vision supporting the throne of God, and bearing it in majesty from place to place, to be cherubim, from having frequently seen them, in common with all other worshippers, in the carved work of the outer sanctuary. Moreover, as is the opinion of many eminent divines, the visionary scene with which this prophet was favored, exhibited a transcript of the Temple, which was shown in pattern to David, and afterwards erected by his son and successor: and, as the chief design of that later vision was to inspire the Hebrew exiles in Babylon with the hope of seeing, on their return to Judea, another temple, more glorious than the one then in ruins, it is reasonable to believe that, as the whole style and apparatus of this mystic temple bore an exact resemblance (1Ki 6:20) to that of Solomon’s magnificent edifice, so the cherubs also that appeared to his fancy portrayed on the walls would be facsimiles of those that belonged to its ancient prototype. Taking then his description of them to be the proper appearance that belonged in common to all his cherubic creatures (Ezekiel 1, 10, 41), we are led to conclude that they were compound figures, unlike any living animals or real object in nature, but rather a combination, in one nondescript artificial image, of the distinguishing features and properties of several. The ox, as chief among the tame and useful animals, the lion among the wild ones, the eagle among the feathery tribes, and man, as head over allwere the animals which, or rather parts of which, composed the symbolical figures. Each cherub had four distinct faces on one neckthat of a man in front, that of a lion on the right side, and of an ox on the left; while behind was the face of an eagle. Each had four wings, the two under ones covering the lower extremities (Heb. the feet), in token of decency and humility, while the upper ones, spread out on a level with the head and shoulders, were so joined together, to the edge of his neighbors’, as to form a canopy; and in this manner they soared rather than flew, without any vibratory motion with their wings, through the air. Each had straight feet. The Hebrew version renders it ‘a straight foot;’ and the probability is, that the legs were destitute of any flexible joint at the knee, and so joined together that its locomotions must have been performed in some other way than by the ordinary process of walking, or lifting one foot after another. The ideal picture, then, which Ezekiel’s description would lead us to form of the cherub, is that of a winged man, or winged ox, according to the particular face it exhibited or the particular direction from which it was seen. To use the words of Dr. Watts, ‘That figure which would have had all four faces visible if it had stood forth as a real animal or a statue, could have had but two faces, or at most three, visible when figured on a wall or curtain, the other being hid behind; and thus the cherubs may be in all places of Scripture the same four-faced animals, and yet only two or three of their faces appear, according to their designed situation and the art of perspective.
Fig. 129Egyptian Cherub
Whether the golden calf constructed by Aaron might benot the Apis of Egyptbut a representation of the antediluvian Cherubimas some suppose, from its being made on ‘a feast to the Lord,’ and called ‘the gods of Israel’ (Exo 32:5), and whether Jeroboam, in the erection of his two calves, intended a schismatic imitation of the sacred symbols in the Temple of Jerusalem rather than the introduction of a new species of idolatry (1Ki 12:28), we shall not stop to inquire. But, as paganism is a corruption of patriarchal worshipeach nation having added something according to its own taste and fancyperhaps we may find a confirmation of the views given above of the compound form of the cherubim in the strangely compounded figures under which some of the heathen deities are represented, or which symbolized their attributes, as shown in the preceding engravings. Many of these have outspread or lowering wings, after the manner of the Hebrew cherubim; and there are perhaps few subjects which admit of more ample illustration from ancient monuments.
The opinions concerning the design of the cherubim are as diversified as those relative to their form. All are agreed that they had a symbolical meaning, although it is not easy to ascertain it. The ancients, as well as the fathers, considered that they had both a physical and a metaphysical object. The opinions of the moderns may be reduced to three systems. Hutchinson and his followers consider the cherubim as emblems of the Trinity, with man incorporated into the divine essence. But the grand objection to this theory, where it is at all intelligible, is, that not only are the cherubim, in all the places of Scripture where they are introduced, described as distinct from God, and no more than His attendants, but that it represents the divine Being, who is a pure spirit, without parts, passions, or anything material, making a visible picture of Himself, when in all ages, from the beginning of time, He has expressly prohibited ‘the likeness of anything in heaven above.’ Another system regards the cherubim as symbolical of the chief ruling powers by which God carries on the operations of nature. As the heaven of heavens was typified by the holy of holies in the Levitical tabernacle (Heb 9:3-12; Heb 9:24-28), this system considers that the visible heavens may be typified by the holy place or the outer sanctuary, and accordingly finding, as its supporters imagine they do, the cherubim identified with the aerial firmament and its elements in such passages as the following: Psa 18:10; Deu 33:26; Psa 68:4; He is said to descend in fire (Exo 19:18), and between which He dwelt in light (1Ti 6:16); and it was in this very manner He manifested His divine glory in the tabernacle and templethey interpret the cherubim, on which the Lord is described as riding, to be symbolical of the wind, the clouds, the fire, the light; in short, the heavens, the atmosphere, the great physical powers by which the Creator and preserver of the universe carries on the operations of nature.
A third system considers the cherubim, from their being instituted immediately after the Fall, as having particular reference to the redemption of man, and as symbolical of the great and active rulers or ministers of the church. Those who adopt this theory as the true explanation of their emblematical meaning, are accustomed to refer to the living creatures, or cherubim, mentioned in the Apocalyptic vision (Rev 4:6), improperly rendered in our English translation ‘beasts,’ and which, it is clear, were not angels, but redeemed men connected with the church, and deeply interested in the blessings and glory procured by the Lamb. The same character may be ascribed to the living creatures in Ezekiel’s visions, and to the cherubim, which stood over and looked into the mercy-seat, sprinkled with the blood of the atonement, and on the Shechinah, or divine glory arising from it, as well as the cherubic figures which were placed on the edge of Eden; and thus the cherubim, which are prominently introduced in all the three successive dispensations of the covenant of grace, appear to be symbols of those who, in every age, should officially study and proclaim the glory and manifold wisdom of God.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Cherubim
Eastward of the garden of Eden
Gen 3:24
In the tabernacle
– General references
Exo 25:18-20; Exo 37:7-9
– Ark rested beneath the wings of
1Ki 8:6-7; 2Ch 5:7-8; Heb 9:5
– Figures of, embroidered:
b On walls of tabernacle
Exo 26:1; Exo 36:8
b On the vail
Exo 26:31; Exo 36:35
In the temple
– General references
1Ki 6:23-29; 2Ch 3:10-13
– Figures of:
b On the vail
2Ch 3:14
b On the walls
1Ki 6:29-35; 2Ch 3:7
b On the lavers
1Ki 7:29; 1Ki 7:36
In Ezekiel’s vision of the temple
Eze 41:18-20; Eze 41:25
Figurative
Eze 28:14; Eze 28:16
Symbolic
Eze 1; Eze 10
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Cherubim
Cherub’im. The symbolical figure so called was a composite creature-form which finds a parallel in the religious insignia of Assyria, Egypt and Persia, for example, the sphinx, the winged bulls and lions of Nineveh, etc. A cherub guarded paradise. Gen 3:24. Figures of Cherubim were placed on the Mercy-Seat of the ark. Exo 25:18. A pair of colossal size overshadowed it in Solomon’s Temple with the canopy of their contiguously extended wings. 1Ki 6:27.
Those on the Ark were to be placed with wings stretched forth, one at each end of the Mercy-Seat. Their wings were to be stretched upwards, and their faces “towards each other and towards the Mercy-Seat.” It is remarkable that, with such precise directions as to their position, attitude and material, nothing, save that they were winged, is said concerning their shape.
On the whole, it seems likely that the word “cherub” meant, not only the composite creature-form, of which the man, lion, ox and eagle were the elements, but, further, some peculiar and mystical form. (Some suppose that the cherubim represented God’s providence among men, the four faces expressing the characters of that providence:
1) its wisdom and intelligence (man);
2) its strength (ox);
3) its kingly authority (lion);
4) its swiftness, its far-sightedness (eagle).
Others, combining all the other references with the description of the living creatures in Revelation, make the cherubim to represent God’s redeemed people. The qualities of the four faces are those which belong to God’s people. Their facing four ways, towards all quarters of the globe, represents their duty of extending the truth. The wings show swiftness of obedience; and only the redeemed can sing the song put in their mouths in Rev 5:8-14. — Editor).
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
CHERUBIM
(1) Angelic
Gen 3:24; Eze 10:5; Eze 10:20; Eze 11:22
(2) Images of
Exo 25:18; Exo 37:9; Num 7:89; 1Sa 4:4; 1Ki 6:35; 2Ch 3:11
Psa 80:1; Psa 99:1; Heb 9:5
Fuente: Thompson Chain-Reference Bible
Cherubim
are regarded by some as the ideal representatives of redeemed animate creation. In the Tabernacle and Temple they were represented by the two golden figures of two-winged living creatures. They were all of one piece with the golden lid of the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies, signifying that the prospect of redeemed and glorified creatures was bound up with the sacrifice of Christ.
This in itself would indicate that they represent redeemed human beings in union with Christ, a union seen, figuratively, proceeding out of the mercy seat. Their faces were towards this mercy seat, suggesting a consciousness of the means whereby union with Christ has been produced.
The first reference to the “cherubim” is in Gen 3:24, which should read “… at the East of the Garden of Eden He caused to dwell in a tabernacle the cherubim, and the flaming sword which turned itself to keep the way of the Tree of Life.” This was not simply to keep fallen human beings out; the presence of the “cherubim” suggests that redeemed men, restored to God on God’s conditions, would have access to the Tree of Life. (See Rev 22:14).
Certain other references in the OT give clear indication that angelic beings are upon occasion in view, e.g., Psa 18:10; Eze 28:4. So with the vision of the cherubim in Eze. 10:1-20; Eze 11:22. In the NT the word is found in Heb 9:5, where the reference is to the Ark in the Tabernacle, and the thought is suggested of those who minister to the manifestation of the glory of God.
We may perhaps conclude, therefore, that, inasmuch as in the past and in the present angelic beings have functioned and do function administratively in the service of God, and that redeemed man in the future is to act administratively in fellowship with Him, the “cherubim” in Scripture represent one or other of these two groups of created beings according to what is set forth in the various passages relating to them.