Commentary on the Book of Ezekiel

( excerpts from - The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel - Andrew Bruce Davidson (1893 )


The wheels, called whirl or whirling thing (ch. x. 13), may have been
suggested by the sweeping whirlwind and tempest in which Jehovah
moves. The conception of velocity which they express does not differ
greatly from that of ubiquity expressed by their number. The eyes of
which they and the living creature were full are symbols of life and
intelligence. That the faces of each creature are four is but part of the
larger general conception that the creatures are four in number. The
four faces, that of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle or vulture are the
highest types of animal life. It is possible that to the prophet's mind
these types represented four different attributes. Probably the cherubim
in the temple had the human face, though this is not expressly stated.
The prophet represents those carved on the walls of the new temple as
having two faces, those of a man and a young lion (ch. xli. 18). Jehovah
is frequently compared to a lion. He is also called by a name which
may be an epithet of the ox. The symbol of the ox was a familiar one,
I Kings vii; 25, 29, 36, x. 19. Ezekiel may have been familiar with the
mixed animal forms seen in the Assyrian temples, though it is scarcely
necessary to suppose him influenced by these. The multiplication of
details in his symbols is so characteristic of him that he may be credited
with the creation of the four faces himself, just as of the four hands and
four wings of the cherub. Cf. Is. vi. 2. The derivation and meaning
of the word cherub is uncertain. It has been supposed that the word
has been found in Assyrian, but this also is not quite certain. See
Schrader KA T on Gen. iii. 24. Cf. the art. in Encyc. Brit. (Cheyne) ;
Riehm in his Bible Dictionary, and Stud. u. Krit., 1871, also his paper, "
De Natura &c. Cheruborum," 1864. And, Die Lehre des A. Test.
iiber die Cherubim, von J. Nikel, Bres. 1890.