Cherubim

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Guardians of important places and they intercede both with the gods/and for the gods Mesopotamia
Gods and Goddess Reference


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 Jehovah’s immediate presence. Hence we have the phrase ‘Thou that sittest on the cherubim’ (Psa_80:1 et al.). In Ezekiel’s 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 prophet’s 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, eagle’s wings, and bull’s 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 Ezekiel’s 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 God—His 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 Ezekiel’s 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.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

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).
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

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 Israel’s 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 Solomon’s 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 Ezekiel’s 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).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.

Cher?ubim (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. 127?Babylonian 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 wings?and, 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 attached?is 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-seat?while the Shechinah, or sacred flame that symbolized the divine presence, and the awful name of Jehovah in written characters were in the intervening space?gave 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. 128?Persian 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 all?were the animals which, or rather parts of which, composed the symbolical figures. Each cherub had four distinct faces on one neck?that 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. 129?Egyptian Cherub
Whether the golden calf constructed by Aaron might be?not the Apis of Egypt?but a representation of the antediluvian Cherubim?as 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 worship?each nation having added something according to its own taste and fancy?perhaps 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 temple?they 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.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.

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