Ezekiel 10:7-17

7 Then one of the cherubim reached out his hand and took some live coals from the fire burning among them. He put the coals into the hands of the man in linen clothing, and the man took them and went out.

8 (All the cherubim had what looked like human hands under their wings.)

9 I looked, and each of the four cherubim had a wheel beside him, and the wheels sparkled like beryl.

10 All four wheels looked alike and were made the same; each wheel had a second wheel turning crosswise within it.

11 The cherubim could move in any of the four directions they faced, without turning as they moved. They went straight in the direction they faced, never turning aside.

12 Both the cherubim and the wheels were covered with eyes. The cherubim had eyes all over their bodies, including their hands, their backs, and their wings.

13 I heard someone refer to the wheels as “the whirling wheels.”

14 Each of the four cherubim had four faces: the first was the face of an ox, the second was a human face, the third was the face of a lion, and the fourth was the face of an eagle.

15 Then the cherubim rose upward. These were the same living beings I had seen beside the Kebar River.

16 When the cherubim moved, the wheels moved with them. When they lifted their wings to fly, the wheels stayed beside them.

17 When the cherubim stopped, the wheels stopped. When they flew upward, the wheels rose up, for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.

Ezekiel 10:7-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 10

In this chapter is a vision, very much like that in the first chapter, with some difference, and with a different view, the design of it being to represent the wrath of God against Jerusalem, and his departure from the city and temple. A throne much like that in Eze 1:26 is described, Eze 10:1; orders are given from it to scatter coals over the city, Eze 10:2; the situation of the cherubim when these orders were given, Eze 10:3; the removal of the glory of the Lord from the cherub to the threshold of the house, and the consequences of it; the house filled with smoke; the court with the brightness of the Lord's glory; and the sound of the cherubim's wings heard to the outer court, as the voice of God, Eze 10:4,5; the orders of taking and scattering fire over the city executed, and the manner in which they were, Eze 10:6,7; a description of the cherubim and the wheels, much like that in the first chapter, Eze 10:8-17; the departure of the glory of God from the threshold to the east gate of the Lord's house, with the motion of the cherubim and wheels along with him, Eze 10:18,19; and the chapter is concluded with observing, that the cherubim are the same with the living creatures seen in the vision of the first chapter, and had the same form, likeness, and motion, Eze 10:20-22.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew the face of a cherub; compare 1:10 .