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Prophet Elijah ascending to heaven in a chariot of fire (tapestry)
Rueven Rubin
Ezekiel's Visions of the Throne-Chariot
The Accounts of the Journeys
The throne-chariot (Heb. merkavah) of God was first described in Ezekiel 1:1-28, which was written shortly after the first Jewish exiles arrived in Babylon (587 BCE.)
"In the [or 'my'] thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. On the fifth of the month--it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin-- the word of the LORD came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, [or 'Ezekiel son of Buzi the priest'] by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. [or 'Chaldeans'] There the hand of the LORD was upon him. I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north--an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was that of a man, but each of them had four faces and four wings.
Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had the hands of a man. All four of them had faces and wings, and their wings touched one another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved. Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a man, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out upward; each had two wings, one touching the wing of another creature on either side, and two wings covering its body. Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went. The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.
"As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like chrysolite, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not turn about [or 'aside'] as the creatures went. Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around. When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
"Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked like an expanse, sparkling like ice, and awesome. Under the expanse their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body. When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, [Hebrew Shaddai. El Shaddai appeared before Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Genesis.] like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.
"Then there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. Above the expanse over their heads was what looked like a throne of sapphire, [or 'lapis lazuli'] and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell face down, and I heard the voice of one speaking."
- Ezekiel 1:1-28
(2) In Ezekiel's House with the Elders of Judah
"I looked, and I saw the likeness of a throne of sapphire [or 'lapis lazuli'] above the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim. The LORD said to the man clothed in linen, 'Go in among the wheels beneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.' And as I watched, he went in. Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the temple when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court. Then the glory of the LORD rose from above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple. The cloud filled the temple, and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the LORD. The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard as far away as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty [Hebrew Shaddai] when he speaks.
"When the LORD commanded the man in linen, 'Take fire from among the wheels, from among the cherubim,' the man went in and stood beside a wheel. Then one of the cherubim reached out his hand to the fire that was among them. He took up some of it and put it into the hands of the man in linen, who took it and went out. (Under the wings of the cherubim could be seen what looked like the hands of a man.)
"I looked, and I saw beside the cherubim four wheels, one beside each of the cherubim; the wheels sparkled like chrysolite. As for their appearance, the four of them looked alike; each was like a wheel intersecting a wheel. As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the cherubim faced; the wheels did not turn about [or 'aside'] as the cherubim went. The cherubim went in whatever direction the head faced, without turning as they went. Their entire bodies, including their backs, their hands and their wings, were completely full of eyes, as were their four wheels. I heard the wheels being called 'the whirling wheels.' Each of the cherubim had four faces: One face was that of a cherub, the second the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
"Then the cherubim rose upward. These were the living creatures I had seen by the Kebar River. When the cherubim moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the cherubim spread their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not leave their side. When the cherubim stood still, they also stood still; and when the cherubim rose, they rose with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in them.
"Then the glory of the LORD departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the LORD's house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. These were the living creatures I had seen beneath the God of Israel by the Kebar River, and I realized that they were cherubim. Each had four faces and four wings, and under their wings was what looked like the hands of a man. Their faces had the same appearance as those I had seen by the Kebar River. Each one went straight ahead."
- Ezekiel 10:1-22
"...While earlier prophetic works are clearly written collections of oral performances, Ezekiel's work has the consistency of style and theme characteristic of written composition. Ezekiel, unlike his prophetic forebears, has written a book."
- Dr. Steven S. Tuell, "Deus absconditus in Ezekiel's Prophecy"
"According to the mystics, the wheels supporting the throne of God represent the orbits of the planets, and the entire solar system is properly the merkavah, or chariot of God."
- MPH, "The Vision Of Ezekiel"
"Ezechiel's vision of the Cherubim, which is practically the same in the tenth chapter as in the first, is one of the most difficult in Scripture, and has given rise to a multitude of explanations. The prophet first saw a luminous cloud coming from the north; from a distance it seemed a heavy cloud fringed with light and some intense brilliancy in the centre thereof, bright as gold, yet in perpetual motion as the flames of a fire. Within that heavenly fire he began gradually to distinguish four living beings with bodies as men, yet with four faces each: a human face in front, but an eagles face behind; a lion's face to the left and an ox's face to the right. Though approaching, yet their knees did not bend in their march, straight and stiff they remained; and for feet they had the hoofs of oxen, shod as it were with shining brass. They had four arms, two to each shoulder, and attached along each arm a wing. Of these four winged arms two were outstretched above, and two were let down and covered their bodies. These four living beings stood together, facing in four opposite directions, and between them were four great wheels, each wheel being double, so that it could roll forward or sideways. Thus this angelic chariot, in whatever of the four directions it moved, always presented the same aspect. And both angels and wheels were all studded with eyes. And over the heads of the cherubim, so that they touched it with the points of their outstretched wings, was an expanse of crystal, and on this crystal a sapphire throne, and on the throne one resembling a man, the likeness of the glory of Jehovah."
- J.P. Arendzen, "Cheribim", Catholic Encyclopedia
"The combination of man, lion, bull and eagle is not as odd as it sounds, since each was seen as dominating some sphere of the natural world: the lion over wild animals, the bull or ox over domestic animals, the eagle over birds and man over creation in general. The oldest occurrence of the foursome may be on a 3,200-year-old bronze cult stand from Cyprus which portrays a cherub with the head of a man, the wings of an eagle, the forelegs of a lion and the hindquarters of a bull (see Elie Borowski, 'Cherubim: God's Throne?' in BAR, July/August, 1995)."
- Darek Barefoot, "The Riddle of the Four Faces: Solving an 1800-Year-Old Mystery" (from the book-in-progress, Gospel Mysteries)
(A photograph of a 9th C. BCE Phoenician ivory carving of the foursome can be found here.)
The bronze stand dates "from the 12th century B.C.E. Only parts of two sides of this openwork stand have survived. Originally four-sided as described in the Bible (1 Kings 7:27), the stand would have supported a basin for ablutions in the Temple. The basin would have been placed on the top of the stand (1 Kings 7:38). The similarities of our stand to the ten 'stands of bronze' described in the Bible, which were supplied by the Phoenician artisan Hiram of Tyre (not to be confused with the king Hiram of Tyre) for Solomon's Temple, are astounding. The four wheels on which the stand moved, the stand's rectangular shape, and even the division of decorative elements into two main registers with decorative touches above and below-all reflect the Biblical text: 'Upon the ledges there was a base above; and beneath the lions and oxen were certain additions made of thin work' (1 Kings 7:29). This bronze stand is said to have come from Cyprus. The extremely slender figures wearing long robes may reflect Cypriot influence-or Phoenician craftsmanship. Although our stand is two centuries older than Solomon's Temple, I would venture to say that the same workshop that made our stand may well have sent craftsmen to Jerusalem to make the stands for the Jerusalem Temple."
- Elie Borowski, "Cherubim: God's Throne?" in Biblical Archaeology Review, July/August, 1995
"Ezekiel sees over the heads of the cherubim, the throne of the God, who is thus absolutely sovereign over his whole creation."
- Jim A. Cornwell, "The Mystery of Ezekiel's and John's Vision OT and NT - Cherubim " (from The Alpha and the Omega [1995])
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