cherub "Idols" in God's presence

[lavey.online]

Throughout the Old Testament, God gets angry of creating IDOLS & putting them in the places of worship. But, as myself, many of us may get surprised that, God Himself tell to Moses to make cherub "Idols" on the Mercy seat. How to explain this ?

 

If they are "Idols", my question is why God asked to place Cherub models ? Why don't He place real Cherubs from Heaven, at the time His presence was on the mercy seat ?

[FreeinChrist]

IMO, I don't see the Cherub as symbols of idolatry but rather as symbol of the coming Gospel of Christ being the center to bring man into God presence.  To the best of my knowledge while the Ark was to be held in reverence it was not to be worshipped as God, but a symbol of His Presence.  When we read the book of Ezekiel we see in the opening chapter a vision that Ezekiel had; he records the vision in Ezekiel 1:4-28.  In verses 4-9, Ezekiel speaks of this bizarre vision to which he later call this likeness cherubims, Ezekiel 10:15, we see these 4 living creatures/cherubims had faces and wings.  For on the Ark their would have been 4 wings altogether, so that each of the wings on the ark would represent one of the four faces on this wheel. 

 

So we now see the four faces on the wheel in verse 10 of chapter 1.  The first face is the face of a man, did you know that in the Gospel of Luke that Luke being a physician was writing his Gospel from the point of view of Jesus' Humanity.  The second being the face of a lion, Matthew when writing his Gospel was identifying Jesus Kingship, for we all know that the lion is the king of the jungle, how much more so is the Lion of Judah truly King of Kings.  The third face of this wheel was the face of an ox, Mark while writing his Gospel, was representing Christ servitude to us, and thus showing us when the King comes as a servant truly His servants should follow His example.  And finally we see the face of an Eagle, John in writing his Gospel, was showing us the Divinity of our Precious God/Man Savior Jesus Christ, for in his Gospel we see that Jesus often refers to Himself openly as the Great I AM, for the eagle soars in heaven just as Jesus came down from above.

 

So just like the wheel in Ezekiel 1 shows of the coming Gospels of Jesus Christ, I see in the four wings of the Cherubs on the Ark of Covenant direction to the Good News of Jesus Christ showing how we can come into the presence of Our Holy Father thru our Redeemer Jesus Christ.

[FreeinChrist]

Forgot to add that we see two 3:16 in the Bible, one in reference to lost of thought for the Ark, and the other pointing to the need of Jesus Christ.

And it shall come to pass, when ye multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.

Jeremiah 3:16

 

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

[Guest shiloh357]

Throughout the Old Testament, God gets angry of creating IDOLS & putting them in the places of worship. But, as myself, many of us may get surprised that, God Himself tell to Moses to make cherub "Idols" on the Mercy seat. How to explain this ?

 

If they are "Idols", my question is why God asked to place Cherub models ? Why don't He place real Cherubs from Heaven, at the time His presence was on the mercy seat ?

they were not idols in that they were not objects of worship.

[Littlelambseativy]

Just a technicality, but the cherub is not a 'living creature' and they are the only ones with faces of man,cow, lion and eagle.they also have eyes all all around the cherub does not.

[OneLight]

Just a technicality, but the cherub is not a 'living creature' and they are the only ones with faces of man,cow, lion and eagle.they also have eyes all all around the cherub does not.

 

?  That is a bit confusing.

[Guest LadyC]

i think what lamb is trying to point out is that what WE think of as cherubs (the cute little toddler angels with wings and halos) are NOT cherubs.

 

cherubim have four faces on an apparently square head. they can move up, down, forwards, backwards, and side to side instantly without turning. i don't remember how many wings they have, but isn't it six? maybe just four. they had hands (but no arms) under their wings, and had wheels for feet... and yet they hover. they're described in scripture as something that sounds quite scary looking. they held flaming swords at the entrance to eden. they are, as i understand it, 'guards' of a sort, very powerful and important celestial beings.

 

they're not angels as we think of angels. even the scriptures describe angels as taking on the form of man. cherubim never take on the form of a man. but in 1st or 2nd samuel, david wrote that the Lord rides on a cherub as it flew... like wings on the wind. 

 

anyway, i never thought of the cherubim on the mercy seat as being idols at all. i saw them as representing the celestial guardians of the ark of the covenant. they were not there to be idolized.

[OneLight]

Genesis 3:24

So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

 
Exodus 25:10-22

And they shall make an ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and shall make on it a molding of gold all around. You shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in its four corners; two rings shall be on one side, and two rings on the other side. And you shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, that the ark may be carried by them. The poles shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. And you shall put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you.

You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width. And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the mercy seat. And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.

Ezekiel 10 is a vision and not a full description of a Cherub.

[lavey.online]

The Bible tells about Lucifer in such a way : " “You were the anointed cherub who covers; " in Ezekiel 28:14.

 

Some of the Scholars explain this :

 

As in the tabernacle, in the same way, two cherubs cover the God's presence in heaven.  Lucifer had been appointed as one of the two cherubs covering God's presence.

 

The purpose of covering God's presence is to hide His full glory from people, since if they see the full glory of God they will be perished. Even the two cherubs who are covering His presence must cover their face, by two of their wings.

 

This is a very sacred thing, I know, but my question is, why God not place two real cherubs ? Why the cherub "models" are placed in the tabernacle ?

[FreeinChrist]

Just a technicality, but the cherub is not a 'living creature' and they are the only ones with faces of man,cow, lion and eagle.they also have eyes all all around the cherub does not.

 

Could you please explain in more detail, as I have always thought of Cherubims be a living creatures, and thought that is what Ezekiel stated:

And the Cherubims were lifted up, This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar.

Ezekiel 10:15