Ezekiel 1

Ezekiel 1:4. And I looked, and behold a whirlwind coming from the north, a great cloud, and a fire kindling itself, and a brightness round about it (the cloud), and from out of it (the fire) like the bright glitter of Chashmal in the midst of the fire. (This fourth verse is peculiar in almost every one of the expressions contained in it. The אֵשׁ מִתְלַקַּחַת is literally, fire catching itself; but the only definite meaning we can attach to this is, that of fire kindling itself self-communicating from one part to another. The expression occurs only in another passage (Exodus 9:24), where it is plainly used to denote, as here, the awful intensity and living force of the fire. The two its, being of different genders in the original, plainly refer, the one to the cloud, the other to the fire; and I have marked this by inserting the words for the two objects respectively. The כְּעֵין הַחַשְׁמַל  rendered by our translators, “as the colour of amber.” Bu עֵין is not properly colour; it is the eye, the look, the glance, such as the eye itself or anything brilliant gives forth. Amber also is not the right word here for Chashmal. The derivation of the word is uncertain, but it is generally understood to denote a sort of mixed metal, a composition of gold and silver, which is expressed by the ἠλέκτρου of the LXX. Gesenius, however, takes it as equivalent to the Nehosheth Kâlâl, furbished or glittering brass, of Ezekiel 1:7. The glance of this glittering metal in the midst of so intense a fire suggests the highest possible splendour. And as it is this quality of it that the prophet here has in view, it is, for us, better to give prominence to the shining than the mixed character of the metal. The appearance of this fiery cloud is said to have been from the north, we believe simply on natural grounds; it was of the nature of a storm, hence it seemed to come from the hilly Caucasian region to the north the natural region of clouds and tempests. We regard it as quite fanciful in Häv. to suppose that the prophet conceives himself in the temple, and points to the north as the quarter from which the instruments of God's displeasure, the Chaldeans, were to come. Besides, there is mercy as well as judgment indicated in the vision.)

Ezekiel 1:5. And out of the midst of it the likeness of four living creatures; and this was their appearance they had the likeness of a man.

Ezekiel 1:6. And four faces were to each, also four wings to each of them.

Ezekiel 1:7. And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet like the sole of a calf's foot; and they sparkled like the glitter of polished brass. (Hitzig would translate this last expression, molten brass or metal, deriving קָלָל from קָלָה, to roast or burn in the fire. But the transition from roast to melt does not appear at all easier, in respect to such an article as brass, than from to be light to make light (the common meaning of קָלַל), to furbish or brighten. For nothing is more usual than to say of any piece of metal, it is heavy or light in appearance, according as it is well or ill polished. I therefore retain the common meaning, which was quite correctly given by Stephanus in his Thes. as “refulgens, a consequenti tamen, cum proprie politum ac tersum declaret.”)

Ezekiel 1:8. The hand of each (literally, his hand) was that of a man underneath their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.

Ezekiel 1:9. Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went each straight forward.

Ezekiel 1:10. And for the likeness of their faces, there was the likeness of a man and the likeness of a lion on the right side to the four of them; and the likeness of an ox to the left side to the four, and the likeness of an eagle to the four.

Ezekiel 1:11. And their faces and their wings were separated from above; two of each joined one another, and two covering their bodies. (The import of what is said in this 11th verse regarding their faces and wings is, that they were each separate or distinct both in regard to their heads and wings, but that the tips of the two outstretched wings reached to one another, while the other two wings, in token of humble and reverential awe, formed a sort of veil or covering for the middle or lower parts of their bodies. Very commonly the first clause is rendered,” and their faces and their wings were expanded from above,” or spread forth upwards. But one does not see how that could properly be said of the faces, as well as the wings, and the verb בָּרַר is never used but in the sense of separating, dispersing, or scattering. The Septuagint leave out the faces altogether, in order, apparently, to make the sense of expanding (ἐκτεταμέναι) more suitable.)

Ezekiel 1:12. And they went every one of them straight forward; whither the spirit was to go they went; they turned not when they went.

Ezekiel 1:13. And for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, as the appearance of torches; it went up and down between the living creatures; and there was brightness in the fire, and from the fire went forth lightning.

Ezekiel 1:14. And the living creatures ran and returned like the appearance of the meteor-flash. (The בָזָק here, which I render by the meteor-flash, is not found in Heb. as a verb, but has in Arabic and Syriac the sense of to scatter, spread; hence Häv. prefers the meaning of spark-fire. But this hardly conies up to what seems to be required here; and something of the same nature as lightning, only more diffuse and sporadic in its appearance, must be understood. Such is meteor or sheet-lightning; and such is at least one of the meanings ascribed to the word by Ephraim: either a flash of lightning, or a meteor, falling-star. Many in ancient and modern times prefer the first; but we should then have expected בָרָק, which occurs in the verse immediately before. The leading features of the description so far are, first, the portentous cloud, radiant round about, and within glowing with the fervour and brightness of a living self-fed flame. Then, in the midst of this awful heat and lightning-splendour, the four living creatures, in whom the general form and appearance was that of a man, though conjoined with this were also the likenesses of a lion, an ox, and an eagle each looking to its own quarter a face each way, so that wherever the living creatures moved, they did not need to turn; there was a face in that direction. Each were separate in respect to the others, yet by the two wings that were expanded for flying, they were in immediate juxtaposition above; and were all moved and animated by one living spirit, by whose mighty impulse they shot like meteors from place to place, and in all their movements and appearance reflected the bright, burning splendour of the fiery element in which they were seen to exist. At Ezekiel 10:1 they are expressly called cherubim.)

Ezekiel 1:15. And as I was looking at the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth beside the living creatures for its four faces (or, according to its four sides, i.e. as there was a side or direction for each of the four creatures, so a wheel for each of the sides).

Ezekiel 1:16. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like the glance of the tartessus-stone; (Our translators have given beryl as the stone here meant; but it is now more commonly regarded as the chrysolite of the ancients, though this also is not quite certain.) and there was one likeness for the four; and their appearance and their work was as if there were a wheel in the midst of a wheel.

Ezekiel 1:17. When they went, they went by their four sides (or directions), they turned not when they went.

Ezekiel 1:18. As for their rings (felloes), they were both high and dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.

Ezekiel 1:19. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from off the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

Ezekiel 1:20. Whithersoever the spirit was for going, thither they went the spirit was for going; and the wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. (Both Häv. And Hitzig here render רוּחַ הַחַיָח the spirit or breath of life, the living principle, holding that if the living creatures had been meant, the usual term חַיווֹת would have been used. But in the very next verse except one, we have the same word as here for what must mean the living creatures “the heads of the living creatures;” and there Hitzig, as usual, is obliged to suppose a corruption in the text, and correct from the LXX. But in both places the word is most naturally taken collectively, just as in Genesis 7:14; Genesis 8:1, for living creatures: that which has life, the living creature-hood, for the living creatures. So here the prophet has spoken of the creatures separately; he now views them collectively, as being together the aggregate creaturely forms in which the spirit resided and manifested itself. The clause in the middle of the verse, “the spirit was for going,” seems to have been thrown in for greater explicitness, to indicate expressly that it was not the wheels themselves, but the spirit working in them, that was the source of motion. I see no need, therefore, for rejecting the clause. The description in this second part of the vision is to the following effect: By the side of each cherub (that is, apparently, on the same side and exterior to the cherub) there was a gigantic wheel, or more properly a double wheel one within another, going through each other transversely; for the wheels, like the cherubim with their four faces, did not need to turn when they moved from one direction to another; and this could only be effected by a sort of double wheel to every cherub, each running transversely through the other, so that to whichever quarter the movement might point, there could be a motion of the wheel towards it. The felloes or outer rings of these wheels were set round with eyes, and were each also instinct with the same spirit of life and power that wrought in the cherubim, so that the motions of all were simultaneous.)

Ezekiel 1:21 . When those went, they went; and when those stood, they stood; and when those were lifted up from off the earth, the wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

Ezekiel 1:22. And above the heads of the living creatures was the likeness of the firmament, as the glitter of crystal, terrible, stretched over their heads above.

Ezekiel 1:23. And under the firmament their wings erect, one toward another; each one had two covering on this side, and each one two covering on that side their bodies. (This looks somewhat like a contradiction to what was said in Ezekiel 1:11, where simply four wings were assigned to each cherub, two for flying and two for covering their bodies. Here it seems as if each had four for covering their bodies. But, possibly, what is meant is, not that four wings existed specially for this purpose, but that the use of the four wings altogether was such as to act like a covering for the body: the whole body was overshadowed by them, and kept out of sight.)

Ezekiel 1:24. And I heard the sound of their wings as the noise of many waters, as the voice of the Almighty; when they went there was a tumultuous noise, like the noise of a camp; (A tumultuous noise, קוֹל הֲמֻלָּה, so the expression is now commonly understood. Our translators have given to the phrase the meaning of “the voice of speech.” But this hardly makes sense, and is also against the pointing. The only other passage where the word occurs is in Jeremiah 11:16, and there our translators have rendered tumult, and the connection here evidently requires something of that description. The LXX. omits the clause, as it does various others in this chapter, but the Vulgate translates: “sonus multitudinis.” The expression here, therefore, may be regarded as equivalent lent in meaning to the very similar one קוּל המיֹך, which is more frequently employed. (Daniel 10:6; Isaiah 13:4. See Ges. Lex.) The description in this third and last part, which is that of manifested Godhead in the likeness of enthroned humanity, closely resembles the description given in Exodus 24:10, only more extended and particular. Here, as there, we have the sky-blue sapphire-stone, and the heavens' crystal clearness, emblem of Divine splendour, only here the splendour is of a more dreadful aspect; and there is seen not merely a pavement, but a throne also as of sapphire, while the glorious being that sat on it was radiant with the bright lustre of celestial fire. From that throned firmament also were heard voices of terrific majesty and power, at the utterance of which the cherubic forms continually let down their wings, as in the attitude of reverent and listening silence.) when they stood, they let down their wings.

Ezekiel 1:25. And there came a voice from above the firmament that was over their heads when they stood, and they let down their wings.

Ezekiel 1:26. And above the firmament that was over their heads, as of the appearance of a sapphire-stone, was the likeness of a throne; and upon the likeness of the throne, the likeness after the appearance of a man upon it aloft.

Ezekiel 1:27. And I saw like the glitter of Chashmal, as the appearance of fire within it round about, from the appearance of his loins and upwards, and from the appearance of his loins and downwards, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it was bright all around. 28. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. It was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah. And I was looking, and I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice speaking.

To gather up now the leading features and symbolic purport of this wonderful vision, we can easily perceive that the ground work of it was derived from the patterns of Divine things in the most holy place in the temple; yet very considerably modified and changed, to adapt it to the present occasion. Here also there is the throne of the Divine Majesty, but not wearing the humble and attractive form of the mercy-seat; more like Sinai, with its electric clouds and pealing sounds, and bursting effusions of living flame. Here, too, are the composite forms about the throne the cherubim with outstretched wings touching each other; but instead of the two cherubic figures of the temple, four, each with four hands, four wings, four faces, looking in so many directions doubtless with respect to the four quarters of the earth, toward which the Divine power and glory was going to manifest itself. These four are here further represented as peculiarly living creatures, full of life and motion, and not only with wings for flight, but wheels also of gigantic size beside them, revolving with lightning speed, and all resplendent with the most intense brightness. The general correspondence between what Ezekiel thus saw in the visions of God, and what was to be found in the temple, indicated that it was the same God who dwelt between the cherubim in the temple and who now appeared to his servant on the banks of the Chebar; while the differences bespoke certain manifestations of the Divine character to be now at hand, such as required to be less prominently displayed in his ordinary procedure.

1. That he appeared specially and peculiarly as the God of holiness; this, first of all, was intimated by the presence of the cherubim. For here, as in the temple, the employment of these composite forms pointed back to their original destination in the garden of Eden, to keep the way to the tree of life, from which man had been debarred on account of sin; ideal creatures, as the region of pure and blessed life they occupied, had now become to men an ideal territory. Yet still they were creatures, not of angelic, but of human mould; they bore the predominant likeness of man, with the likenesses superadded of the three highest orders of the inferior creation (the lion, the ox, the eagle). “It is an ideal combination; no such composite creature as the cherub exists in the actual world; and we can think of no reason why the singular combination it presents of animal forms should have been set upon that of man as the trunk or centre of the whole, unless it were to exhibit the higher elements of humanity in some kind of organic connection with certain distinctive properties of the inferior creation. The nature of man is immensely the highest upon earth, and towers loftily above all the rest by powers peculiar to itself. And yet we can easily conceive how this very nature of man might be greatly raised and ennobled by having superadded to its own inherent qualities those of which the other animal forms here mentioned stand as the appropriate types.” “These composite forms are here called חַיוֹת for which the Septuagint, and John in the Apocalypse, use the synonymous term ζῶα living ones. The frequency with which this name is used of the cherubim is remarkable. In Ezekiel and the Apocalypse together it occurs nearly thirty times, and may consequently be regarded as peculiarly expressive of the symbolical meaning of the cherubim. It presents them to our view as exhibiting the property of life in its highest state of power and activity, as forms of creaturely existence, altogether instinct with life. And the idea thus conveyed by the name is further substantiated by one or two traits associated with them in Ezekiel and the Apocalypse. Such, especially, is the very singular multiplicity of eyes attached to them, appearing primarily in the mystic wheels that regulated their movements, and at a later stage (Ezekiel 10:12) in the cherubic forms themselves. For the eye is the symbol of intelligent life, the living spirit's most peculiar organ and index. And to represent the cherubim as so strangely replenished with eyes could only be intended to make them known as wholly in spirited. Hence, in Ezekiel 1:20, “the spirit of the living creatures” is said to have been in the wheels; where the eye was, there also was the intelligent, thinking, directive spirit of life. Another and quite similar trait is the quick and restless activity ascribed to them by Ezekiel, who represents them as “running and returning” with lightning speed; and then by John, when he describes them as “resting not day and night.” Incessant motion is one of the most obvious symptoms of a plenitude of life. We instinctively associate the property of life even with the inanimate things that exhibit motion such as fountains and running streams, which are called living, in contradistinction to stagnant pools, that seem comparatively dead. So that creatures which appeared to be all eyes, all motion, are, in plain terms, those in which the powers and properties of life are quite peculiarly displayed. But life, it must be remembered, most nearly and essentially connected with God, life as it is, or shall be held by those who dwell in his immediate presence, and form in a manner the very enclosure and covering of his throne, preeminently, therefore, holy and spiritual life.” (The Typology of Scripture, 3d ed. vol. i. pp. 229-248, where the whole subject of the cherubim is fully investigated.)

2. But this idea of holy and spiritual life, as connected with the presence and glory of God, was greatly strengthened in the vision by the fervid appearance, as of metallic brightness and flashes of liquid flame, which shone from and around all the parts and figures of the vision. It denoted the intense and holy severity in God's working, which was either to accomplish in the objects of it the highest good, or to produce the greatest evil. Precisely similar in meaning, though somewhat differing in form, was the representation in Isaiah's vision (Ezekiel 6.), where instead of the usual name cherubim, that of seraphim is applied to the symbolical attendants of God, the burning ones, as the word properly signifies, burning forms of holy fire, the emblems of God's purifying and destroying righteousness. Hence their cry one to another was, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of Hosts.” And in token of the twofold working of this holiness, it was by the application of a burning coal to his lips that the prophet, as the representative of the elect portion of the people, was hallowed for God's service, while in the message that follows, the ungodly mass are declared to be for burning (as the word literally is in Ezekiel 1:13). The same element that refined and purified the one for God's service was to manifest itself in the destruction of the other. And it is this also that is symbolically taught here by the dazzling light, the glowing embers, and fiery coruscations, with which all was enveloped and emblazoned. It made known God's purpose to put forth the severer attributes of his character, and to purify his Church by “the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning.”

3. Even these fiery appearances, however, in the cherubim and the other objects of the vision did not sufficiently express what was here meant to be conveyed; and therefore, to make out the idea more completely, wheels of vast proportions were added to the cherubim. The prophet would thus render palpable to our view the gigantic and terrible energy which was going to characterize the manifestations of the God of Israel. A spirit of awful and resistless might was now to appear in his dealings; not proceeding, however, by a blind impulse, but in all its movements guided by a clear-sighted and unerring saga city. How striking a representation did such a spirit find for itself in the resolute agency and stern utterances of Ezekiel! In this respect he comes nearest of all the later prophets to Elijah.

4. Finally, above the cherubim of glory and their wonderful wheel-work was seen, first, the crystal firmament, and then, above the firmament, the throne of God, on which he himself sat in human form, a form, as here displayed, beaming with the splendour of heavenly fire, but at the same time bearing the engaging aspect of a man, and surrounded with the attractive and pleasing halo of the rainbow. In this shone forth the mingled majesty and kindness of God, the overawing authority on the one hand, and the gracious sympathy and regard on the other, which were to distinguish his agency, as now to be put forth for the reproof of sin among the covenant-people, and the establishment of truth and righteousness. The terror which the manifestation was fitted to inspire was terror only to the guilty; while, for the penitent and believing, there was to be the brightest display of covenant love and faithfulness. Especially was this indicated by the crowning appearance of the rainbow; which, from being the token of God's covenant with Noah, in respect to the future preservation of the earth, was like the hanging out from the throne of the Eternal of a flag of peace, giving assurance to all that the purpose of Heaven was to preserve rather than to destroy, and to fulfil that which was promised in the covenant. Even if the Divine work now to be carried forward in the spiritual world should require, as in the natural world of old, a deluge of wrath for its successful accomplishment, still the faithfulness and love of God would be sure to the children of promise, and would only shine forth the more brightly at last, in consequence of the tribulations which might be needed to prepare the way for the ultimate good.

Such, then, was the form and import of this remarkable vision. There was nothing about it accidental or capricious; all was wisely adjusted and arranged, so as to convey beforehand suitable impressions of that work of God to which Ezekiel was now called to devote himself. It was substantially an exhibition by means of emblematical appearances and actions of the same views of the Divine character and government which were to be unfolded in the successive communications made by Ezekiel to the covenant-people. By a significant representation, the Lord gathered into one magnificent vision the substance of what was to occupy the prophetic agency of his servant; as in later times was done by our Lord to the Evangelist John in the opening vision of the Apocalypse.