ni. Their Form and Character.— If we may trust the unanimous testimony of Jewish tradition, we must sup- pose that they had the faces of human beings, accord- ing to the positive assertion of Maimonides, Abarba- nel, Aben Ezra, etc. (Otho, Lex. Bob. s. v. Cherubim ; Buxtorf,fl»rt.i4rc.JV»rf.p.l00). But, taking Ezekiel's description of them to be the proper appearance that belonged in common to all his cherubic creatures (ch. i, X, xii), we are led to conclude that they were com- pound 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 thefeathery tribes, and man, as head over all, were the anw«i>ig which, or rather parts of
CHERUBIM
234
CHERUBIM c.
CHERUBIM
2> (ooDtinaed).
235
CHERUBIM
2> (continiiedX
Ancient Winged Symbols. A. Egyptian.—!, Angelic; 8, Eagle; 8, Asp ; 4, Abetract=" eternity T 5, Sphinx; «, GrifBn. £. Persian.— 1, Cyrus ; 2, Royal or Divine.
C Babylonian.— 1, Male Sphinx; 8, Lion fighting; 8, Eagle; 4, Small AnimaL J). Assyrian — 1, Royal, female; 2, Royal, male; 8, Griffin ; 4, Uorse; 6, Lion; 6, Bull; 7, Sphinx. £, Grecian.— Griflln.
which, composed the symbolical figures. Each cher- ub had four distinct feces 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, or rather the centre of the person (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 iDOtion with their wings, through the air. Each had straight feet (Heb. " their feet [were] a straight foot," Ezek. i, 7), and the probability is that the legs were destitute of any flexible joint at the knee, and so join- ed together that its locomotions must have been per- formed in some other way than by the ordinaiy process of walking, or lifting one foot after another. B&hr (whose entire remarlu on this subject are valuable and often profound) inclines to think that the precise form varied within certain limits ; e. g. the cherubic figure might have one, two, or four faces, two or four feet, one or two pair of wings, and might have the bovine or leonine type as its basis, the imagery being modified to suit the prominently intended attribute, and the highest forms of creature-t>eing exproRsing best the highest attributes of the Creator {Symbolik, i, 813 sq.). Thus, he thinks, the human form might indicate spir« itoali^ (p. 340). (Comp. Grotius on Exod. xxv, 18, and Heb. iz, 5.) Some useful hints as to the connec- tion of cherubic with other mythological forms may be (bund in Creuzer {Stfmbd, i, 441, 540).
It has been sometimes disputed whether the colossal cherubim of olive wood, overlaid with gold, with out- spread wings, touching in the centre of the oracle and
reaching to either wall, placed by Solomon in the Holy of Holies^ were substitutes for or additions to the orig- inal golden pair. The latter is probably the truth, for had tiie Mosaic cherubim been lost we should have been informed of the fact All that we learn about these figures is that they each had a bodjf ten cubits high (1 Kings V, 23), and stood on their feet (2 Chron. iii, 13), so that the monstrous conception of winged child-fiices is an error which should long ago have been banished firom Christian iconography (De Saulcy, Hist, de VArt Judaique, p. 25). The expression " cherubims of tm- age wyrh," m 2 Chron, iu, 10 (fi*^:?^r^ ^^??P, Sept. ipyov U {vX(tfv, Vnlg. opere ttatuario, Marg.,*of movtt- hie work), is very obscure, but would probably give us no flEiilher insight into the sobject (Dorjen, Deopere Zaazifim in Ugolini Thu, viii, Ko. 6) ; but in 1 Chron. xxviii, 18, 19, we learn that David had given to Solo- mon a model for these figures, which are there called "the chariot <>/'the cherubim'^ (Vulg. guadriga cheru- bim). We are not to suppose from this that any wheels supported the figures, but we must take " cher- ubim" in apposition to " chariots" (Bertheau, ad loc.). The same phrase is found in Eccles. xlix, 8, and is in both cases an allusion to the poetical expression, "He rode upon a cherub, and did fly" (2 Sam. xxii, 11 ; Psa. xviii, 10), an image magnificently expanded in the subsequent vision of Ezekiel, which for that rea- son has received firom the Rabbis the titie of h^S'lTa, " the chariot." Although the mere word " cherub" is used in these passages, yet the simple human figure is so totally unadapted to perform the function of a char- iot, that we are almost driven to the conclusion arrived at by De Saulcy on this ground alone, that the normal type of the cherub involved the body of an ox, sa well
CHERUBIM
336
CHERUBIM
as spreading wkigs and a hnman face (JTttf. deVArt Judcdque^ p. 29). If this conjecture be correct, we shall have in these symbols a counterpart, exact in the mimUest particularg^ to the human-headed oxen, touch- ing both walls toith their wwiffi, which have been discov- ered in the chambers of Nixnr6d and Khorsabad. We shall find, further on, the strongest confirmations of this remarkable inference. We may here mention the sus- picion of its truth, whicli we cannot but derive flrom the strange reticence of Josephus on the subject {Ant. iii, 6, 5). Now it is hardly conceivable that an emblem seen daily by multitudes of priests, and known to the Jews from the earliest ages, could be so completely se- cret and forgotten as this. If the cherubim were sim- ply winged genii there would have been no possible reason why Josephus should have been ashamed to mention the fkct, and, in that case, he would hardly have used the ambiguous word Zutov, If, on the oth- er hand, they were semi-bovine tn shape, Josephus, who was of course fiuniliar with the revolting idolatry of which his nation was accused (Tacit. HitL v, 4 ; Jo- sephus, Apionj ii, 7), had the b«»t reason to conceal their real form (Spencer, De kg. Hdir, rit. Ill, iv, 2 ad fin.), and to av^ as fkr as possible, all further in- quiry about them. See Ass, Worship of.