Exodus 25:20

shall spread out Heb. shall be spreading out, describing their permanent condition: the idiom, as Genesis 1:6, and frequently.

with their faces, &c. These cherubim, unlike those of Ezek. (see above), are pictured therefore as having only oneface each. The cherubim in Solomon's Temple (1 Kings 6:23-28), it is to be noted, differed materially from those here described. Solomon's cherubim were colossal figures, each ten cubits (15 ft.) high; they were not of gold, but of olive wood, overlaid with gold; they were not uponthe ark, nor did they face each other; they stood, one on each side of the ark, facing the entrance to the Holy of holies, and their four outstretched wings, each 5 cubits (7½ ft.) long, extended across from one wall of the Holy of holies to the other.