* wise.
31:6 35:10
* made.
26:1-37 1Ch 15:1
* cherubims.
{Keroovim,} cherubim, not cherubims. What these were we
cannot determine. Some, observing that the verb {kerav} in
Syriac, sometimes means to resemble, make like, conceive the
noun {keroov} signifies no more than an image, figure, or
representation of anything. Josephus says they were flying
animals, like none of those which are seen by man, but such
as Moses saw about the throne of God. In another place he
says, "As for the cherubim, nobody can tell or conceive what
they were like." These symbolical figures, according to the
description of them by Ezekiel, (ch. 1:10; 10:14,) were
creatures with four heads and one body; and the animals of
which these forms consisted were the noblest of their kind;
the lion among the wild beasts; the bull among the tame ones;
the eagle among the birds, and man at the head of all. Hence
some have conceived them to be somewhat of the shape of
flying oxen; and it is alleged in favour of this opinion,
that the far more common meaning of the verb {kerav,} in
Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, being to plough, the natural
meaning of {keroov,} is a creature used in ploughing. This
seems to have been the ancient opinion which tradition had
handed down, concerning the shape of the cherubim with the
flaming sword, that guarded the tree of life. (Ge 3:24.)
25:18,22 1Ki 6:23 2Ch 3:10 Eze 1:5-28 10:1-19
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