II.
The Guardians of thb Trek of Life.
Adam and Eve being driven out from the tree of life, who were the guards that stood to hinder their return ? Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way.
i. The Cherubim.
1. The essential idea of the Cherubim seems to have been that they represented the forces of nature as the servants of God. " The Lord sitteth between the cherubims, be the earth never so unquiet," says David, and in another psalm, "He rode upon a cherub, and did fly." These forces of nature, these things of the world about us, these objects and circumstances, made by God
1 Phillips Brooks.
GENESIS III. 24 119
to assist iu the pleasure and culture of mankind, — these same things are they which, when man is rebellious and selfish, stand between him and his fullest life. Those objects and circumstances which, if a man were docile and humble, and lived his life with and under God, would all be developing and perfecting him, making him stronger, making him happier, — all those things, just as soon as a man cuts himself off from God and insists on getting knowledge and doing work by himself, become his enemies. They hinder him instead of helping him ; they are always pulling him down instead of lifting him up ; making him a worse and smaller instead of a better and larger man.
2. In the symbolism of Scripture the Cherubim are every- where the " supporters " of the Divine Majesty. For this reason they are admitted into the Tabernacle and the Temple in the very teeth of the second commandment ; two veritable and un- deniable " graven images " (of Cherubim) spread their wings over the Mercy Seat on which the Divine Glory was believed to appear. For this reason the Chariot of God in Ezekiel is composed of Cherubim, and in the Apocalypse the same symbolic beings (under the name of " the four living creatures ") are seen " in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne." They belong in some way to the Presence of God : they mean that He is there, very really and truly. Secondly, they represent also nature in her manifold forms and types. The graven images in Tabernacle and Temple were evidently composite creature-forms, something like those so common in Assyria. They resemble no one type of creature life, but several blended together so as to suggest them all. The Cherubim of Ezekiel's vision and the living creatures of the Apocalypse are essentially the same. The sin and degrada- tion of the old world was creature- worship ; therefore, in the sacred writings, Jewish or Christian, the symbolic representatives of all nature, in all her types and kinds, are made the supporters of His Throne who is eternally above nature, who manifests Himself for ever through nature. There is a tremendous truth in that; the only right place, the only safe place, for the Cherubim — for nature — for natural science — is in immediate connection with, in immediate subordination to, the One living and true God. It is the place of honour ; it is the place of safety.
I20 THE TREE OF LIFE
Bring the Cherubim out of the Temple and away from God; instantly they become monuments of idolatry, which the servants of the Most High must break and burn. Let them remain Hit supporters and His Throne ; they are glorified and we are safe.
3. The Cherubim at the entrance to forfeited and forbidden Paradise meant that God's presence was there, that God Himself barred the way: God who fulfils Himself in nature, who rules and reigns in and through the laws of nature. Is there any riddle there ? Does it not explain itself ? Is it not obviously true that natural law eternally forbids our getting into Paradise, and that we have no power to evade or to defy that law ? People may be as lucky or as successful as you like ; they may be (as we say) the spoilt children of fortune; they may have every advantage on their side ; but they cannot make their way into the garden of delight. No happiness for man which has not its drawbacks, its penalties ; at best, its tormenting fear of loss ! That is not a pious platitude ; it is an inexorable law of nature, with which most of us have made acquaintance to our cost — and those who have not, will. Nature itself bars our way to blips, the bliss we cannot but desire : and nature stands for God.^
If you should meet with one who strays
Beyond the walls of peace, Who spends the passion of his days
In dreams that never cease, Oh, tell him that the outcast ways Find no release.
If you should look into his eyes,
And see the shadow there Of his dear City's towers and skies,
Where once his heart lay bare, Oh, tell him those who are most wise Their vision spare.
If you should see him turn and wait.
Fast bound by his desire, Beyond the walls disconsolate.
In dreams that never tire, Oh, tell him that the City gate Is barred by fire,
' Bayner Wintcrbotham.
GENESIS III. 24 121
No other torches shall divide