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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ezekiel 1:4 - 1:4
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Description of the theophany seen by the spirit of the prophet. - Eze 1:4. And I saw, and, lo, a tempestuous wind came from the north, a great cloud, and a fire rolled together like a ball, and the brightness of light round about it, and out of its midst, as the appearance of glowing metal from the midst of the fire. - The description begins with a general outline of the phenomenon, as the same presented itself to the spiritual eye of the prophet on its approach from the north. A tempestuous wind brings hither from the north a great cloud, the centre of which appears as a lump of fire, which throws around the cloud the brightness of light, and presents in its midst the appearance of glowing metal. The coming of the phenomenon from the north is, as a matter of course, not connected with the Babylonian representation of the mountain of the gods situated in the extreme north, Isa 14:13. According to the invariable usage of speech followed by the prophets, especially by Jeremiah (cf. e.g., Eze 1:14; Eze 4:6; Eze 6:1, etc.), the north is the quarter from which the enemies who were to execute judgment upon Jerusalem and Judah break in. According to this usage, the coming of this divine appearance from the north signifies that it is from the north that God will bring to pass the judgment upon Judah. אֵשׁ מִתְלַקַּחַת, “fire rolled together like a ball,” is an expression borrowed from Exo 9:10. לֹו refers to עָנָן, and מִתֹּוכָהּ to אֵשׁ, as we see from the words in apposition, מִתֹּוךְ הֵָאשׁ. The fire, which formed the centre of the cloud, had the appearance of הַשְׁמַל. The meaning of this word, which occurs again in Eze 1:27 and Eze 8:2, is disputed. The Septuagint and Vulgate translate it by ἤλεκτρον, electrum, i.e., a metal having a bright lustre, and consisting of a mixture of gold and silver. Cf. Strabo, III. 146; Plin. Hist. Nat. xxxiii. 4. To the explanation of Bochart, that it is a compound of נְחֹשֶׁת, “brass,” and the Talmudic word מלל or מללא, “aurum rude,” and signifies “rough gold ore,” is opposed the fact that the reading מללא in the Talmud is not certain, but purports to be ממלא (cf. Gesen. Thesaur. p. 535, and Buxtorf, Lexic. Talmud, p. 1214), as well as the circumstance that raw gold ore has not a lustre which could shine forth out of the fire. Still less probability has the supposition that it is a compound of l#$x, in Syriac “conflavit, fabricavit,” and חשׁם, “fricuit,” on which Hävernick and Maurer base the meaning of “a piece of metal wrought in the fire.” The word appears simply to be formed from חשׁם , probably “to glow,” with ל appended, as כַּרְמֶל from כרם morf , and to denote “glowing ore.” This meaning is appropriate both in v. 27, where עֵין הַשְׁמַל is explained by מַרְאֵה־אֵשׁ, as well as in Eze 8:2, where זֹהַר, “brilliancy,” stands as parallel to it. הַשְׁמַל, however, is different from נְחֹשֶׁת קָלָל in Eze 1:7 and in Dan 10:6, for חַשְׁמַל refers in all the three places to the person of Him who is enthroned above the cherubim; while נְחֹשֶׁת קָלָל in Eze 1:7 is spoken of the feet of the cherubim, and in Dan 10:6 of the arms and feet of the personage who there manifests Himself. In verse fifth the appearance is described more minutely. There first present themselves to the eye of the seer four beings, whom he describes according to their figure and style.
Eze 1:5-14
The four cherubim. - Eze 1:5. And out of its midst there prominently appeared a figure, consisting of four creatures, and this was their appearance: they had the figure of a man. Eze 1:6. And each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. Eze 1:7. And their feet were upright-standing feet; and the soles of their feet like the soles of a calf, and sparkling like the appearance of shining brass. Eze 1:8. And the hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides; and all four had faces and wings. Eze 1:9. Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not as they went; they went each one in the direction of his face. Eze 1:10. And the form of their faces was that of a man; and on the right all four had a lion's face; and on the left all four had the face of an ox; and all four had an eagle's face. Eze 1:11. And their faces and their wings were divided above, two of each uniting with one another, and two covering their bodies. Eze 1:12. And they went each in the direction of his face; whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went; they turned not as they went. Eze 1:13. And the likeness of the creatures resembled burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches: it (the fire) went hither and thither amongst the beings; and the fire was brilliant, and from the fire came forth lightning. Eze 1:14. And the beings ran hither and thither in a zig-zag manner.
From out of the fiery centre of the cloud there shows itself the form (tw%md@;, properly “resemblance,” “picture”) of four חַיֹּות, animantia, “living creatures;” ζῶα, Rev 4:6; not θηρία, “wild beasts,” as Luther has incorrectly rendered it, after the animalia of the Vulgate. These four creatures had דְּמוּת אָדָם, “the figure of a man.” Agreeably to this notice, placed at the head of the description, these creatures are to be conceived as presenting the appearance of a human body in all points not otherwise specified in the following narrative. Each of them had four faces and four wings (אֶחָת without the article stands as a distributive, and כְּנָפַיִם are “pinions,” as in Isa 6:2, not “pairs of wings”). Their feet were רֶגֶל יְשָׁרָה, “a straight foot;” the singular stands generically, stating only the nature of the feet, without reference to their number. We have accordingly to assume in each of the four creatures two legs, as in a man. יָשָׁר .nam a , “straight,” i.e., standing upright, not bent, as when sitting or kneeling. רֶגֶל is the whole leg, including the knee and thigh, and כַּף רֶגֶל, “sole of the foot,” or the under part of the leg, with which we tread on the ground. This part, not the whole leg, resembled the calf's foot, which is firmly planted on the ground. The legs sparkled like the appearance of נְחֹשֶׁה קָלָל. The subject of נֹצְצִים is not “the כְּרוּבִים, which are understood to be intended under the חיּות in verse fifth” (Hitzig), for this subject is too far distant, but רַגְלֵיהֶם, which is here construed as masculine, as in Jer 13:16. In this sense are these words apprehended in Rev 1:15, and נְחֹשֶׁת there translated by χαλκολίβανος. On this word see Hengstenberg and Düsterdieck on Rev 1:15. נח' קלל probably signifies “light,” i.e., “bright, shining brass,” as the old translators have rendered it. The Septuagint has ἐξαστράπτων; the Vulgate, aes candens; and the Chaldee paraphrase, aes flammans. The signification “smoothed, polished brass” (Bochart), rests upon uncertain combinations; cf. Gesen. Thes. p. 1217, and is appropriate neither here nor in Dan 10:6, where these words precede, “His face had the appearance of lightning, and his eyes were as a flame of fire.” Under the four wings were four hands on the four sides of each cherub, formed like the hands of a man. The wings accordingly rested upon the shoulders, from which the hands came forth. The Chetib וידו may certainly be defended if with Kimchi and others we punctuate וְיָדָו, and take the suffix distributively and אָדָם elliptically, “his (i.e., each of the four creatures) hands were (the hands of) a man;” cf. for such an ellipsis as this, passages like that in Psa 18:34, רַגְלַי כָּאֲיָּלֹות, “my feet as the (feet) of hinds;” Job 35:2, מֵאֵל, “before the righteousness of God.” It is extremely probable, however, that ו is only the error of an old copyist for י, and that the Keri וִידֵי is the correct reading, as the taking of אדם elliptically is not in keeping with the broad style of Ezekiel, which in its verbosity verges on tautology. The second half of Eze 1:8 is neither, with Hävernick, to be referred to the following ninth verse, where the faces are no more spoken of, nor, with Hitzig, to be arbitrarily mutilated; but is to be taken as it stands, comprising all that has hitherto been said regarding the faces and wings, in order to append thereto in Eze 1:9. the description of the use and nature of these members. The definite statement, that “the wings were joined one to another,” is in Eze 1:11 limited to the two upper wings, according to which we have so to conceive the matter, that the top or the upper right wing of each cherub came in contact with the top of the left wing of the neighbouring cherub. This junction presented to the eye of the seer the unity and coherence of all the four creatures as a complete whole - a חָיָּה, and implied, as a consequence, the harmonious action in common of the four creatures. They did not turn as they went along, but proceeded each in the direction of his face. אֶל, “over against his face.” The meaning is thus rightly given by Kliefoth: “As they had four faces, they needed not to turn as they went, but went on as (i.e., in the direction in which) they were going, always after the face.”
In the closer description of the faces in Eze 1:10, the face of the man is first mentioned as that which was turned towards the seer, that of the lion to the right side, the ox to the left, and that of the eagle (behind). In naming these three, it is remarked that all the four creatures had these faces: in naming the man's face, this remark is omitted, because the word פְּנֵיהֶם (referring to all the four) immediately precedes. In Eze 1:11, it is next remarked of the faces and wings, that they were divided above (מִלְמַעְלָה, “from above,” “upward”); then the direction of the wings is more precisely stated. The word וּפְנֵיהֶם is neither to be referred to the preceding, “and it was their faces,” nor, with Hitzig, to be expunged as a gloss; but is quite in order as a statement that not only the wings but also the faces were divided above, consequently were not like Janus' faces upon one head, but the four faces were planted upon four heads and necks. In the description that follows, חֹובְרֹות אִישׁ is not quite distinct, and #$y)i is manifestly to be taken as an abbreviation of אִשָּׁה אֶל־אֲחֹותָהּ in Eze 1:9 : on each were two wings joining one another, i.e., touching with their tops the tips of the wings of the cherub beside them, in accordance with which we have to conceive the wings as expanded. Two were covering their bodies, i.e., each cherub covered his body with the pair of wings that folded downwards; not, as Kliefoth supposes, that the lower wings of the one cherub covered the body of the other cherub beside him, which also is not the meaning in Eze 1:23; see note on that verse. In Eze 1:12, what is to be said about their movements is brought to a conclusion, while both statements are repeated in Eze 1:9, and completed by the addition of the principium movens. In whatever direction the רוּחַ “was to go, in that direction they went;” i.e., not according to the action of their own will, but wherever the רוּחַ impelled them. רוּחַ, however, signifies not “impulse,” nor, in this place, even “the wind,” as the vehicle of the power of the spiritual life palpable to the senses, which produced and guided their movements, (Kliefoth), but spirit. For, according to Eze 1:20, the movement of the wheels, which was in harmony with the movements of the cherubim, was not caused by the wind, but proceeded from the רוּחַ הַחַיָּה, i.e., from the spirit dwelling in the creature. On the contrary, there is not in the whole description, with the exception of the general statement that a tempestuous wind drove from the north the great cloud in which the theophany was enwrapped, any allusion to a means of motion palpable to the senses. In the 13th and 14th verses is described the entire impression produced by the movement of the whole appearance. וּדְמוּת הַחַיֹּות precedes, and is taken absolutely “as regards the form of the creatures,” and corresponds to the דְּמוּת אַרְבַּע חַיֹּות in Eze 1:5, with which the description of the individual figures which appeared in the brightness of the fire was introduced. Their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches. הִיא refers to אֵשׁ as the principal conception. Fire, like the fire of burning coals and torches, went, moved hither and thither amongst the four creatures. This fire presented a bright appearance, and out of it came forth lightnings. The creatures, moreover, were in constant motion. רָצֹוא, from רָצָא, an Aramaising form for the Hebrew רוּץ, to run. The infin. absol. stands instead of the finite verb. The conjecture of יָצֹוא, after Gen 8:7 (Hitzig), is inappropriate, because here we have not to think of “coming out,” and no reason exists for the striking out of the words, as Hitzig proposes. The continued motion of the creatures is not in contradiction with their perpetually moving on straight before them. “They went hither and thither, and yet always in the direction of their countenances; because they had a countenance looking in the direction of every side” (Kliefoth). בָּזָק signifies not “lightning” (=בָּרָק), but comes from בָּזַק; in Syriac, “to be split,” and denotes “the splitting,” i.e., the zigzag course of the lightning (Kliefoth).
Eze 1:15-21
The four wheels beside the cherubim. - Eze 1:15. And I saw the creatures, and, lo, there was a wheel upon the earth beside the creatures, towards their four fronts. Eze 1:16. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like the appearance of the chrysolite; and all four had one kind of figure: and their appearance and their work was as if one wheel were within the other. Eze 1:17. Towards their four sides they went when they moved: they turned not as they went. Eze 1:18. And their felloes, they were high and terrible; and their felloes were full of eyes round about in all the four. Eze 1:19. And when the creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them; and when the creatures raised themselves up from the earth, the wheels also raised themselves. Eze 1:20. Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went in the direction in which the spirit was to go; and the wheels raised themselves beside them: for the spirit of the creatures was in the wheels. Eze 1:21. When the former moved, the latter moved also; when the former stood, the latter stood; and when the former raised themselves from the ground, the wheels raised themselves beside them: for the spirit of the creatures was in the wheels. - The words, “and I saw the creatures,” prepare the way for the transition to the new object which presented itself in these creatures to the eye of the seer. By the side of these creatures upon the ground he sees a wheel, and that at the four fronts, or front faces of the creatures. The singular suffix in לְאַרְבַּעַת פָּנָיו can neither be referred, with Rosenmüller, to the chariot, which is not mentioned at all, nor, with Hitzig, to the preposition אֵצֶל, nor, with Hävernick, Maurer, and Kliefoth, to אֹופָן, and so be understood as if every wheel looked towards four sides, because a second wheel was inserted in it at right angles. This meaning is not to be found in the words. The suffix refers ad sensum to חַיֹּות (Ewald), or, to express it more correctly, to the figure of the cherubim with its four faces turned to the front, conceived as a unity - as one creature (הַחַיָּה, Eze 1:22). Accordingly, we have so to represent the matter, that by the side of the four cherubim, namely, beside his front face, a wheel was to be seen upon the earth. Ezekiel then saw four wheels, one on each front of a cherub, and therefore immediately speaks in Eze 1:16 of wheels (in the plural). In this verse מַרְאֶה is adspectus, and מַעֲשֶׂה “work;” i.e., both statements employing the term “construction,” although in the first hemistich only the appearance, in the second only the construction, of the wheels is described. תַּרְשִׁישׁ is a chrysolite of the ancients, the topaz of the moderns, - a stone having the lustre of gold. The construction of the wheels was as if one wheel were within a wheel, i.e., as if in the wheel a second were inserted at right angles, so that without being turned it could go towards all the four sides. גַּבֵּיהֶן, in Eze 1:18, stands absolutely. “As regards their felloes,” they possessed height and terribleness-the latter because they were full of eyes all round. Hitzig arbitrarily understands גֹּבַהּ of the upper sides; and יִרְאָה, after the Arabic, of the under side, or that which lies towards the back. The movement of the wheels completely followed the movement of the creatures (Eze 1:19-21), because the spirit of the creature was in the wheels. הַחַיָּה, in Eze 1:20 and Eze 1:21, is not the “principle of life” (Hävernick), but the cherubic creatures conceived as a unity, as in Eze 1:22, where the meaning is undoubted. The sense is: the wheels were, in their motion and rest, completely bound by the movements and rest of the creatures, because the spirit which ruled in them was also in the wheels, and regulated their going, standing, and rising upwards. By the רוּחַ the wheels are bound in one with the cherub-figures, but not by means of a chariot, to or upon which the cherubim were attached.