Ezekiel

Make Two Cherubim of Gold

~ Heather Davis ~ Leave a comment

Since beginning to work full-time, most of my life is occupied with keeping my head above water. The job can be stressful at times, my energy just isn’t top-notch these days, and the amount of extra-curriculars I need to continue my credentials crowd out that precious time for reflection where thoughts are melded to words and given shape and structure.

Instead, my overtaxed mind wanders down random tracks, asking questions like, “When God told Moses to make two cherubim of gold for the ark’s mercy seat, how did Moses know what they looked like?“

NERDY STUFF

Let’s get the nerdy stuff out of the way: Cherubim is the transliteration of a Hebrew plural word כְּרוּבִים (-im being the Hebrew masculine plural form). So, it means “more than one cherub.” Unfortunately, the root of the word – cherub – is obscure. That is to say, we don’t really know what a cherub is except what we can extrapolate from various biblical accounts.

CHERUBIM IN THE SCRIPTURES

The first mention in the Scriptures is in Genesis 3:24 when God stationed cherubim the east of Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden) after Adam and Eve sinned and were cast out. Here, no detailed description is given, other than they were placed “with a flaming sword” and were intended “to guard the way to the Tree of Life.”

That’s why the next mention in Exodus so fascinates me:

And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. (Ex 25:18-19).

Cherubim are also mentioned in Exodus 26:1 & 31 in the descriptions of the tabernacle curtains and veil, but only that they should be “skillfully worked into” these fabrics. Again, to weave a recognizable cherub, one would need to have some idea what they looked like. Other mentions in Exodus are not much different, centered around the construction details or mentioning that the craftsmen made them.

What I can’t get out of my head is this: despite the extremely specific instructions given on the rest of the furniture and implements for the tabernacle, God simply tells Moses to make a couple of cherubim facing one another with their wings touching atop the ark. Save the mention of wings, there’s no description of what the cherubim looked like. It’s rather heavily implied that Moses and the craftsmen would know exactly what to carve and weave.

In 1 Samuel 4:4, God is declared to be “enthroned on the cherubim,” and in 2 Samuel 22:11, He is said to ride on a cherub and fly. This imagery occurs elsewhere, the cherubim are associated in many places with the ark, and there are other cherubim in Solomon’s temple.

CHERUBIM DESCRIBED

In fact, it’s not until Ezekiel’s book, written centuries later, that we get a rather mind-boggling description of cherubim (see Ezekiel 1:5-11, 13-14, 22-28; 9:3; 10:1-22; 11:22 et al). These sparkling beings are described as having straight legs with feet like a calf’s, wings, human hands beneath their wings, and four faces (one face each of a lion, an ox, a human, and an eagle). They moved in interesting ways, too – described as moving with the whirling wheels that were beside each one, going “straight forward,” and darting “to and fro” like lightning.

To be honest, I wouldn’t know where to begin to craft or weave one of these beings. It definitely begs the question of how Moses and Co. knew what to do when they were told to decorate the tabernacle with cherubim.

Oh boy, I’d love to see what they came up with!

Watch Out!

~ Heather Davis ~ 2 Comments

“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.

Ezekiel 3:17

After last night’s introduction to Biblical prophecy class, I started reading in Ezekiel to prepare for next week. Already this morning, many things were on my mind, not the least of which was Psalm 5:3 and praying expectantly.  

I’m participating in a forty day prayer challenge with some friends, and I have two main prayer focuses during the forty days. One involves people very close to me whom I long to see both in right relation to the Lord and in Godly Christian fellowship complete with accountability. The other concerns where God wants me after this school year ends, work-wise.

Also on my mind (with no little shame) was the temper tantrum I had with God yesterday morning and how He lost no time in correcting me through His word. Blessed be He who has me tutoring so that I had two distinct times in His Word yesterday and so received the rebuke!

At any rate, once I’d repented, He reminded me that one of the two big prayers I am focusing on is already on its way to being answered. Then to remind me that He isn’t bound to my time expectations concerning the other, He nudged me to pick up a collection of D. L. Moody when the book I’d planned for bedtime reading turned out to be one I’d already read.

Concerning Moody, his first Sabbath-school teacher, Mr. Kimball, wrote:

I can truly say … that I have seen few persons whose minds were spiritually darker when he came into my Sabbath-school class, or one who seemed more unlikely ever to become a Christian of clear, decided views of gospel truth, still less to fill any sphere of extended public usefulness.”

from The D. L. Moody Collection, edited by James S. Bell, Jr.

God can and will get hold of these loved ones. But in His time, not mine.

This morning, as I read about Ezekiel being appointed as a watchman, I couldn’t help but think that now in this present age, we are all watchmen of sorts. The Old Testament prophets served to bring the Word of God to the people. Often, as the next few verses of Ezekiel 3 state, that word was a word of warning, meant to bring the people to repentance.

Today, we have the written Word of God and the Spirit of God to be our guide and illuminate the Word to us. We still have prophets, but as last night’s teacher pointed out, we are warned to “test the spirits” (1 John 4:1) and not to “despise the prophecies but test everything…” (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21). We need to be watchmen, but watching that a prophecy is in line with Scripture and points to Yeshua Messiah; Jesus the Christ.

But another thing got me as I read this passage for the second time. Let’s back up two verses and read:

And I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who were dwelling by the Chebar canal, and I sat where they were dwelling. And I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days. And at the end of seven days, the word of the LORD came to me:

“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.

Ezekiel 3:15-17

In the Complete Jewish Study Bible, the commentary here reads, “Rashi* states that God is asking why Yechezk’el [Ezekiel] is keeping silent.”

Besides being a watchman in order to warn others of danger, besides being a watchman in expectant prayer, what if I were to be a watchman who didn’t need to be reminded of God’s commands? A watchman who not only watched, but obeyed?

I don’t know about you, but when it comes to warnings and obedience, this watchman is going to be keeping a closer eye on herself…

And yes, I know a watchman can’t be a herself and I’m a girl and all that, but let’s call it the literary masculine and move on, m’kay?

*Rashi was an 11th century rabbi whose work is still widely respected.