The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 115

touched the other wall, and their wings aignifica.nce of the cherubim, the pelms, touched one another 1n the midst or the and the flowers. house. [In 2 Chron. iii. 10 we o.re told 1. The Cherubim have been rega.rded by the.t the cherubim were of " ime.ge work" some a.a symbols of the invisible Godhead, (the meo.ning of the Heb. word is unknown)· by others as '' representations of the heavenly We e.lao lee.rn the.t they •' stood on their spirits which surround the Lord of glory feet" and, unlike the cherubim of the to.ber- and set forth psychica.l life e.t its highest ne.cle, which fe.ced ea.eh other (Exod. xxvii. stage" (Keil) ; but it eeems best to view 9), faced the throne, i.e., the cec1o.r partition, them as symbols of all animal life, includ- e.nd the east. The object of this arrange- ing the highest and perhaps not excluding ment probably we.s to ene.ble the wings to the thought of Him who is the source and be stretched out e.oross the sanctuary. In spring oI life, the .d.nima animantium (of. the tabernacle the wings were "spread out eh. xii. 28). Hence they a.re spoken of e.s on high " (Exod. xxv. 20 ; xxvii. 9). In n1'1JiJ (Ezek. i. 5, 13, 15, &c.) "the living both cases the e.rk and mercy-seat were things" (compare Ta twa, Rev. iv. 6, 8, 9), placed under the overshadowing wings (eh. and even as i1!1JiJ "the life" (Ezek. x. 14, viii. 6). There would be a clear space of 15, &c.) The cherubim consequently speak eight or nine cubits between the bodies of of the great e.nima.1 kingdom before its the cherubim, and the ark only measured Creator. " Creaturely being reaches its 2½ cubits (Exod. x.xv. 10) in length and 1½ highest degree in those which have a.n cubits in breadth. Unlike Ezekiel's cherubim anima, and among th6se, the lion, the bull, (Ezek. cha. i. x; cf. Rev. iv. 7), these had the eagle, and the ma.n a.re the highest a.nd o.ppa.rently but one face. The cherub was most complete" (Bahr). These shapes, not a simple, but a complex being, having accordingly, were not inappropriate or un- no unalterable and fixed form. See Bahr, meo.ning in a temple raised by the oreo.ture Symbolik, i. pp. 313, 314; Diot. Bib. vol. i. to the glory of the Crea.tor. pp. 301-303.) 2. Just as the cherubim speak of e.nima.l, Ver. 28.-A.nd he overlald the cherubims so do the Palms of vegetable life. They a.re with gold. " the princes of the vegetable kingdom " Ver. 29.-And he carved au the walls of (Linnmus). "Amongst trees there is none the house round about with carved figures so lofty and towering, none which he.a such of cherubims [lit. openings, i.e., gro.vings e. fair majestic growth, which is so ever- or indentations of cherubim. c•,:i~J:l;l is green, and which affords so grateful e. shade used of gravings in stone, Exod. xxviii. 11; and such noble fruits-fruits which a.re xxxix. 6: in metal, x.xviii. 36 ; xxxix. 30) eRid to be the food of the blessed in and palm trees and open flowers [The open paradise-as the pa.Im" (Bii.hr), who also flowers mo.y well have been lilies (eh. vii. adds that it is ea.id to have e.s many ex- 19, 22, 26). It is unoertain whether there oellent properties o.s there are days in the were one or more rows of cherubim o.nd year, and cites Humboldt e.s designo.ting it palms. Keil, arguing from the o.ne.logy of the " noblest of plants-forms to which the Egyptian temples, contends for two or three nations have always accorded the meed of rows, but it is doubtful how fa.r the Israel- beauty. " Judme., he further remarks, is ites, notwithstanding their new o.nd inti- the fo.therle.nd of the palm, so much so that mate 1·elations with the country, would take the pe.lmin later days became the symbol of Egypt and its idolatrous shrines for a Pe.lestine (as-on the well-known coin with model. Ezek. xii. 18 tends to show tho.t the legend Jud<1!a capta\. The palms, the po.Im-trees o.lterno.ted with the oherubs. therefore, tell of the vegeto.hle world, and of The cherubim may have had two faces, such Him who fashioned its noble a.nd gro.ceful as he describes (ver. l!i'), the face of o. man forms. on the one side, and tb e face of a young lion S. And very similar was the testimony of on the other side; but if so, they must have the Flowers. " Flowers and bloom have differed in form from those of the oracle. been, from ancient times to our own, the Possibly the open flowers formed a border, usual symbols of li.le-fulness. . . . So then or were sculptured in festoons, above, o.nd by the flower-work, o.s well as by the cheru- the gourds (or buds) formed a border below bim and the palm-trees, wo.s the dwelling of (o.s in the Kouyunji.k slab). But as to this Jehovah, whioh was o.dorned therewith, de- the taxi is silent. signo.ted as an abode of life" (Diihr). On Bat while we a.re ignorant of the preoise the earthly dwelling-ple.oe of the Eteme.l, form and of the e.rro.ngement of these that is to say, were everywhere pourtmyed orno.mente.l carvings, we are not wholly in the various tokens of His Almighty power the dark as to their symbolism. For every- and goodness. And the significe.nce of thing in the temple, we may be sure, had e. eaoh is the same. " Thou hast created e.11 meaning. Let us inquire, then, into the - things, and for thy pleasure faey are, and 110 Tim FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. [OH, VI, 1-88,