It appears, therefore, that the s3rmbolic figure whidi the Hebrew generically designates as a chentb, was a composite creature-form, that finds a parallel in the re- ligious insignia.of Assyria, Egypt, and Persia, e. g. tiis sphinx, the winged bulls and lions of Nineveh, etc, a general prevalence which prevents the necessity of our regarding it as a mere aidoption from the Egyptian ritual. In Huch forms (comp. the Chimera of Greek and the Griffin of north-eastern feibles) every imagina- tive people has sought to embody its notions either of the attributes of Divine essence, or of the vast powers
CHERUBIM
23t
CHERUBIM
of Nature which transcend that of man. Among the Greeks the dragon (Photius, Cod, 190, p. 250), and among the Indians the ^jfin (Pliny, vii, 2), were es- pecially such creatures of mythological imagination. See Dbaoon. In the Tarioos legends of Hercnles the bull and the lion constantly appear as forms of hostile and evil power; and some of the Persian sculptures apparently represent evil genii under similar quasi- cherabic forms. The Hebrew idea seems to limit the number of the cherubim. A pair (Exod. xxv, 18, etc.) were placed on the mercy-seat of the ark ; a pair of colossal size overshadowed it in Solomon*s Temple •with the canopy of their contiguously extended wings. Ezekiel, i,4-14, speaks of four, and similarly the apoc- alyptic Simff creaiuru, ^oia (Rev. iv, 6), are four. So at the ftont or east of Eden were posted "tAe cheru- bim," as though the whole of some recognized num- ber. They utter no voice, though one is " heard flrom above them,'* nor have dealings with men save to awe and repel. A '* man clothed in linen' ^ is introduced as a medium of communication between them and the prophet, whereas for a simUar office one of the sera- phim personally officiates ; and these latter also ** cry one to another." The cherubim are placed beneath the actual presence of Jehovah, whose moving throne they appear to draw (Gen. iii, 24; Ezek. i, 6, 25, 26 ; x, 1, 2, 6, 7 ; Isa. vi, 2, 8, 6). The expression, however, "the chariot 015^*1^) of the cherubfan" (1 Chron. xxvili, 18) does not imply wheels, but the whole ap- paratus of ark and cherubim is probably so called in reference to its being carried on staves, and the words " chariot" and " cherubim" are in apposition. So a sedan might be called a ** carriage," and the masc form 227^ 18 iised for the body of a litter. See, how- ever, DoTJen, De ckenib. Sand, (ap. Ugolini, vol. viii), where the opposite opinion is ably supported. The glory symbolizing that presence which eye cannot see rests or rides on them, or one of them, thence dis^ momtts to the temple threshold, and then departs and mounts again (Ezek. x, 4, 18 ; comp. ix, 8 ; Psa. xviii, 10). There is in them an entire absence of human sympathy, and even on the mercy-seat they probably appeared not merely as admiring and wondering (1 pBt. i, 12), but as guardians of the covenant and aven- gers of its breach. A single figure there would have suggested an idol, which two, especially when repre- sented as regarding something greater than themselves, could not do. They thus became subordinate, like the supporters to a shield, and are repeated, as it were the distinctive bearings of divine heraldry — the mark, carved or wroueht, everywhere on the house and fur- niture of God (Exod. XXV, 20; 1 Kings vi, 29,85; vii, 29, 86). Those on the ark were to be placed ¥rith wings stretched forth, one at each end of the mercy- seat, and to be made '* of the mercy-seat," which Abar- benel (Spencer, De kg, Heb, ritual, iii, diss, v) and oth-
Probable Form of the Cbembic Tjpe.
ers interpret of the same mass of gold wfth it, viz. I wrought by hammering, not cast and then joined on. This seems doubtful; but tnm the word employed (m^)9p) the solidity of the metal may perhaps be in- ferred. They are called "cherubim of glory" (Heb. ix, 5), as on them the glory, when visible, rested ; but, whether thus visibly symbolized or not, a perpetual presence of God is attributed to the Holy of Holies. They were anointed with the holy oil, like the ark it- self and the other sacred furniture. Their wings were to be stretched upwards, and their faces ** towards each other and towards the mercy-seat." It is remarkable that with such precise directions as to their position, attitude, and material, nothing, save that they were winged, is said concerning their shape. See Tabeb-
MACLB.
lY . Their Meaning. — ^All, whether ancients or mod- ems, have agreed that the cherubim were symbolical, but they have greatly differed as to their figurative design; many regarding them as having a twofold significance, both physical and metaphysical. They were clearly intended, in a general sense, to represent divine existences in immediate contact with Jehovah. This was the view of Chrysostom, Ambrose, Augus- tine, and the fathers generally (Sixt. Senensis, BibL Sand, p. 848), and the Pseudo Dionysius places them second (between seraphim and thrones) in the nine orders of the celestial hierarchy (Dionys. Areop. de CcBletL Hier. p. 5-9). The Cabalists, on the other hand, placed tiiem ninth in their ten choirs of spirits (Buddeus, Philoe, J7e6r. p. 415). In a special sense, Philo regarded them as signifying the two hemispheres, and the flaming sword the motion of the planets, in which opinion he is joined by some modems, who con- sider them to have been nothing more than astronom- ical emblems — ^the Lion and the Man being equivalent to Leo and Aquarius — ^the signs of the zodiac (Land- seer, Sab. Jietear. p. 815). Ireneus views them as emblematic of several things, such as the four ele- ments, the four quarters of the globe, the four Gos- pels, the four universal covenants (adv, Eceree. iii, 11). Tertullian supposed that the. cherubic figures, particu- larly the flaming sword, denoted the torrid zone (^Apol, cap. 47). Justin Martyr imagined that the living creatures of Ezekiel were symbolical of Nebuchadnez- zar, the Assyrian monarch, in his distress ; when he ate grass like an ox, his hair was like a lion's, and his nails like a bird's claws (jQuast, xliv). Atiianasius supposed that they were significant of the visible heavens (jQucut, ad Antiod, cxxxv). The nature of the passages in which cherabim occur— passages poet- ical and highly wrought — the existence of exactly similar images among other nations, and the purely symbolic character of their form, has led not only Jew- ish allegorists like Philo, and Christian philosophers like Clemens of Alexandria, but even such writers as Hengstenberg, Keil, Neumann, etc., to deny them any personal reality; and in this way we may explain Zullich's definition of them as '* mythical servants of Jehovah" (/)«? Cherubim -Wagenj Heidelberg, 1832). Thus, in the vision of Ezekiel, it is obvious that their animal shape and position implies subjection to the Almighty ; that the four heads, uniting what were, according to the Jewish proverb, the four highest things in the world (Schoettgen's Bor. Hebr. ad Rev. iv), viz. the lion among beasts, the ox amon^ cattle, the eagle among birds, and man among all, while God is the highest of all — constitute them the representa- tive and quintessence of creation, placed in subordina- tiod to the great Creator (Leyrer, in Zeller's W&rterb, s. v.). The heads, too, represent not only creatures, perfect after their kind, but also perfect qualiiieSf as love, constancy, magnanimity, sublimity, the f^ consciousness of man, the strong courage of the lion, the enduring strength of the ox, the rapid flight of the eagle (Hoffman) ; and possibly the mmiber four may