1.
Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
2.
In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,
3.
The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.
4.
And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
5.
Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.
THE CHERUBIM
‘The likeness of four living creatures.’
Ezekiel 1:5
I. Ezekiel’s name means ‘God will Strengthen,’ or prevail.—Like Jeremiah, he was a priest as well as a prophet. He lived among those Jews who were carried away captive by Nebuchadnezzar, and settled on the River Chebar, the northern part of Mesopotamia. He began to prophesy about six years before Jerusalem was destroyed; he was therefore contemporary with Jeremiah, and prophesied partly before and partly after the destruction of Jerusalem.
It would seem as though a dark storm-cloud approached him, from which an incessant blaze of lightning revealed itself. As it drew nearer, the prophet beheld the form of the four living creatures, each having a wheel beside him, symbolic of the round of Divine providence, ever revolving in perfect circles. The living creatures or cherubim supported a blue expanse on which God was enthroned in human form. The whole conception impresses the mind with a sense of the reality, greatness, and power of the Divine providence and majesty.
II. The description of the cherubim may arrest us for a little.—They combine, under various figures, intelligence, strength, patience, and soaring aspiration. Their bodies veiled with their wings in token of humility; their method of advance straight forward, because they knew no vacillation or hesitation in doing God’s will; their obedience prompt and immediate, whithersoever the Divine impulse moved them. What glorious beings were these? How marvellous the perfect sympathy between themselves and the wheels of Providence! It seems as though they represent the sentient creation, while the wheels stand for the material, both in perfect correspondence with the will of God. Angels and nature will serve us, if we too are in union with God.
Illustration
‘All symbols are likely to be differently understood or misunderstood. Therefore it is that the symbolic figures in Ezekiel and in Revelations have never been understood alike by Jews or Christians generally. It does not, however, follow from this that these symbols are unworthy of study by mature-minded searchers in God’s Word. For more than fifteen centuries there have been discussions over the special assignment of the four figures in Ezekiel’s vision as symbols of the four evangelists. Jerome thought that the man referred to St. Matthew, the lion to St. Mark, the ox to St. Luke, and the eagle to St. John. Other Christian writers have proposed other arrangements.’
6.
And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.
7.
And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.
8.
And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.
9.
Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.
10.
As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.
11.
Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.
12.
And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.
13.
As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.
14.
And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.
15.
Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
16.
The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
17.
When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.
18.
As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.
19.
And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.
20.
Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
21.
When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
22.
And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.
23.
And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.
24.
And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.
25.
And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.
26.
And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
27.
And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
28.
As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.