CHERUBIM
647
CHERUBIM
Holy of Holies two huge ( Iherubim of olive-wood over-
laid with gold. "They stood on their feet and their
faces were towards the house", which probably means
that they faced the Holy Place or the Entrance. — (c)
According to Exod., xxvi, 31, cherubim were embroi-
dered "ii 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 of Holies,
two large-sized figures to represent guardian spirits or
keepers were thereon depicted. — (d) According to III
Kings, vi and vii, cherubim were engraved apparently
as an art isi ie " mot if " in wood and metal. The panel-
ling of the Temple, both interior and exterior, was cov-
i red -.villi them, as well as with palm-trees and open
Bowers. The brazen sea was adorned with figures of
lions, oxen, and cherubim.- (e) According to Ezechiel,
xli. 18 sqq., in his visionary descript ion 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 re-
spectively turned to the palm-tree to the right and
1 ft. Hut 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 fares
these Temple cheruliiui had. whether animal or hu-
man. It is sometimes concluded from Ezech., x, 14,
"the tirst 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 can-
not have bet n a human one, and the fa I' an ox lias
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 ex- Bgry 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, hut more usually possess men's faces. How- ever, even the Jews at the time of Christ had com- pletely forgotten the appearance of the Temple cheru- bim. Josephus (Antiq., VIII, iii. § ."> says thai no one knows or even can guess what form they had. The very fart, however, that the Bible nowhere gives a word of explanation, but always presupposes them well-known, makes us believe that they wen- among the most common figures of contemporary art.
III. In Inspired Vision. — As Jehovah was sur- rounded by figures of cherubim in His Sanctuary on earth, so lie is, according to Scripture, surrounded
in reality by elieruliim in His Court above. The
f unci ion ascribed to these heavenly servants of God's
j i- ili.it of throne-bearers, or "carriers", of
Sis Divine Majesty. [nPs.xviithe psalmist describes
i ii Jehoi iii to rescue a soul in
■ in the following words: "He bowed the heavens and came down, and darkness was under His
II' rode upon a cherub and flew, and flew upon the wings oi the wind " Some see in the cherubim a species of storm-spirits, or angels through whose
. Btorm-clouds gathered, as if they were God's
living chariot, swift :i- the wings of the wind. The
idea of cherubim as the chariot of God
Cated in I Paralip. 18, where David gives gold for the
Temple cherubim, who are described as rusiQ "tie Chariot", not, probably, because they had the outward shape of M vehicle, but because 'lie I cherubim symbolized the swift-winged living thrones upon which the Almighty journeys through the heavens. Pro] i ■ chiel mention! the i hi t til >im in a two-fold connexion: (a) in his vision of the living chariot of God ' h i and J b) in his prophei 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 bril-
liancy in the centre thereof, bright as gold, yet in per-
petual motion as the flames of a (ire. Within that heav-
enly 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 eagle's 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 i act
shoulder, and attached along each arm a wing. ( )f
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 of the field, the eagle the king of the birds of the air. On this account the cherubim have of recent years been ex- plained as mere symbols of the fulness of earthly life, which, like the earth itself, is the footstool of Cod But these faces are more naturally understood to signify that these angelic beings possessed the intel- ligent 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 elory.Of the King of Tyre it is said: "Thou, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. In Eden, the garden of God wert thou, nil 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 from 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 thee, protecting cherub away from the fierj stone — Indirectly we can gather from this passage thai Cherubim were conceived to be in a state of perfect ion, wisdom, einlessness, nearness to Cod on Hi Holy Mountain and of preternatural glory and happiness. Unfortunately, the words paraphrased as "with wings outstretched in protection" are difficult to translate: "piDH PICDO may mean "cherub of anointing, who cover- ", therefore i royal, anointed being, overshadowing others with its wings to shelter them. If this be so, we must add royalty and benef- - to the characteristics of cherubim.
IV. In Theology.- Notwithstanding the present common opinion of advanced Protestant scholars, that cherubim are only symbolic representations of
