Ezekiel 1:24

24 And I heard the sound of their wings like [the] sound of many waters, like the voice of Shaddai,^[a] [and] {when they moved}^[b] [there was] a sound of tumult like [the] sound of an army; {when they stood still}^[c] they lowered their wings.

Ezekiel 1:24 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 1:24

And when they went
In their ministrations, preaching the Gospel, and administering ordinances: I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters:
so the voice of Christ, which is no other than his Gospel preached by his ministers, is said to be as the sound of many waters, ( Revelation 1:15 ) ; which is heard a great way off, as the Gospel ministry is, even to the ends of the earth; thither the sound of the apostles' words reached, ( Romans 10:18 ) ; and which, as they move with great force, yield a pleasant sound of and may denote both the energy of the word, and the delightfulness of it: as the voice of the Almighty;
the Gospel being the word of God, and not of man; which is quick and powerful, and full of majesty, and works effectually in them that believe: the voice of speech;
an articulate voice, a human one, pronounced by men, whom God employs to deliver out his mind and will: as the noise of an host;
the church being militant, to whom they minister; so that their voice, in their ministry, is sometimes reproving, convincing, confuting, contending, and disputing, as well as teaching and instructing. The Targum is,

``and the voice of their words, when they confess and bless the Lord, the living everlasting King, is as the voice of the host of angels on high:''

when they stood, they let down their wings;
those two with which they flew, and with them covered their faces, or some part of their bodies, as ashamed of their own unworthiness and imperfections; or this may denote their having done their work, and finished their course.

Ezekiel 1:24 In-Context

22 Now [the] likeness above the heads of the living creatures [was] an expanse like the outward appearance of {awesome} {ice} spread out above their heads {upward}.

23 And under the expanse their wings [were stretched out] straight {one toward the other}; each had two [wings] covering them, and each had two [wings] covering their bodies.

24 And I heard the sound of their wings like [the] sound of many waters, like the voice of Shaddai, [and] {when they moved} [there was] a sound of tumult like [the] sound of an army; {when they stood still} they lowered their wings.

25 And there was a sound from above the expanse that [was] above their heads, {and when they stood} they lowered their wings.

26 And from above the expanse that [was] above their heads [there was] the likeness of a throne, {looking like a sapphire}, and above the likeness of the throne [was] a likeness similar to [the] appearance of a human on it, [but] {above it}.

Footnotes

• [a]. Often translated "Almighty"
• [b]. Literally "at their going"
• [c]. Literally "at their standing"