^\f hethcr its name is of Sem. origin or not, is a disputed point (see below). There is not sufti_ cient reason to doubt that the original idea belonga to the early childhood of Israel's religion, and is thus related to simUar conceptions in other races.
The prominence given to the cherubim in the passages we have passed in review makes it very Jinlikely that they had been borrowed from other countries or foreign religions. For we can hardly imagine the one representation of a living creature, which was permitted in the construction of the ark, the tabernacle, and the temple, to have been derived from an alien source. 1 lie tact that the making and designing of the cherubim is apparently recorded without any consciousness of the violation of the second commandment, is in itself an indication that tlie conception of these creatures belongs to an original national idea--the superstitious element of which was destined to be removed by the teaching of J" worship. 1 bus the 'cherub' survived as one of the traces of a Heb. mythology, which was retained by the nropliets because tt represented pictorially the attrtbutes of the majesty of tlie God of Israel, and was emploved to express more vividly the means by which His glory is revealed to man.
Besides the winged bulls familiar to us from the Assyr. remains, we come across many representa- tions of winged monsters and chima-ras in the countries adjoining Palestine. J-K.YP- ''el^S"'"* "t, is said to have borrowed from byna the hg»re of the Sefer, or Seref (cf . the Heb. seraph ). I hoen. monuments contain representations of wint,ea grilUns guarding the sacred tree (cf. a \yhite marUe relief from AraSos in the Museum of the Louvre). The famous monster represented on t^f t"'»l> of Chuecu-hotep, an Egyp. kmg (r B.C. 2100) gves us a leopard, from whose back issues a ''uman l>oad, with wings on either side of the neck. All these are attempts apparently to comome the attributes of strength and swiftness in an>">a'8 with the intellect of man, in representation ot the
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CHERUBIM
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' demon ' spirits (see Pietsclimann's Gcsch. dcr Phon- izier, pp. 176, 177). To this category belongs in all
riobawlity the earliest Ileb. idea of the cherubim, laving been popularly associated with the thunder- cloud, their presence and form were transferred, in the language of Heb. jjoetry and vision, to the personal court and attendance of J", whose presence was proclaimed by the voice of thunder (cf. Ex 19", 1 S 12", Ps 77"). They therefore bear a close analogy to the seraphim (Is 6), who personified tlie lightnings that surround the throne. Perhaps the two groups of attendant beings are referred to in Ps 104»«.
The expression applied to J', He ' sitteth upon, or inhabiteth, the clierubim ' (c':nD.T 3P'), which we find in 2 K 19", Ps 80' 99', Is 37", is not with- out difficulty. The rendering ' sitteth between the cherubim ' is an explanation, not a transla- tion, of the original : nor does it give the full meaning of the words. To the Heb. poet the cherubim are not only the attendants of J", but the bearers and upholders of His throne. The thunderclouds are the dark wings of these minis- ters of God. They bear Him up. And to this, which is the picture presented by the ser^-ice of the mute forces of nature, there is an analogy presented by the serv'ice of God's people. Hence the earthly correlative to ' thou that sittest upon the cheru- bim ' is ' thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel ' (Ps 22*, and see Cheyne's note).
In later Jewish theology the cherubim take their place among the higliest angels of heaven. Thus Enoch speaks of the court of the palace of heaven. ' Its ceiling was like tlie path of the stars and lightnings, with fiery cherubim between in a transparent heaven ' (xiv. 11, ed. Charles). Of the throne he says, ' Its circuit was as a shining sun and the voice of cherubim ' (xiv. 18, ed. Charles). Speaking of the host of heaven, he mentions ' Gabriel, one of the holy angels, who is over Paradise, and the serpents, and the cheru- bim' (XX. 7, ed. Charles); and in another passage he speaks of ' all the host of the heavens, and all the holy ones al>ove, and the host of God, the cherubim, seraphim, and ophanim, and all the angels of power, etc. (Ixi. 10, ed. Charles). Cf. ' and round about were seraphim, cherubim, and oph- anim : these are they wlio sleep not, and guard tlie throne of His glory ' (Ixxi. 7, ed. Charles). The Jews regarded them as supernatural beings, without attempting to define tlicm. Josephus, speaking of the cherubim in the temple, says none could tell or even guess what they were like (rds S^ X^pov^iU ovdeU OTrolai Tivts J}(jav eltrdv ouoi eUdtrai SwoTtu, A7it. VIII. iii. 3). Philo, referring to the cherubim over the ark, mentions that in the opinion of some they represented the two hemi- spheres (so Philo himself, De Chf.rub. § 7) ; but his own preference was to identify them witli tlie two most ancient and smireme attributes of the Al- mighty— the [lower of creating, and the power of ruling [4yCj 6i tv itiroi^t, 6rj\ova6aL ol vvovoiCtP tAs iTfKfffiirTdTai Kal dvundro} 5vo toO "Oi'tos duvdfieis ttJc Te woirjTiKTii' Kal ^SaffiXiKTjf, 'Oco^d^rro* 5i i) fjUv TOiTfTiKTi 5vi^a/ut avTov &e6s, KaO' ^v fOijKe Kal itrolTjtrc Kal dLfKii(Tfirj(Te ride t6 irdc* ij d^ ^aai\iKij Kvpioi, y rCtv yivofUvujv dpxft Kal civ biKri fif^aiu)S iviKpaTet, Vit. Mns. iii. 8, ed. Mangcy, ii. liiO).