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Cherub/Cherubim

Cherub/Cherubim

A Cherub or Cherubim is a type of angel usually involved in sacred work before God. They are generally described as winged creatures with feet and hands. The word(s) occurs over 90 times in the Old Testament and once in the New Testament at Heb. 9:5, “And above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the Mercy Seat, but of these things, we cannot now speak in detail.” Apparently, there are different kinds of Cherubim. Two golden Cherubim are on the Mercy Seat (Exodus 25:18). They were put in Eden “to guard the way of the tree of life,” (Gen. 3:24). An interested description of them is given in Ezek. 1:5-11,13-14.

Ezekiel 1:5-11, “And within it there were figures resembling four living beings. And this was their appearance: they had human form. 6 Each of them had four faces and four wings. 7 And their legs were straight and their feet were like a calf’s hoof, and they gleamed like burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings on their four sides were human hands. As for the faces and wings of the four of them, 9 their wings touched one another; their faces did not turn when they moved, each went straight forward. 10 As for the form of their faces, each had the face of a man, all four had the face of a lion on the right and the face of a bull on the left, and all four had the face of an eagle… 13 In the midst of the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches darting back and forth among the living beings. The fire was bright, and lightning was flashing from the fire. 14 And the living beings ran to and fro like bolts of lightning.”

 

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