Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 1:9

Charles Ellicott Commentary

Ezekiel 1:9

1819–1905
Anglican
Charles Ellicott
Charles Ellicott

Charles Ellicott Commentary

Ezekiel 1:9

1819–1905
Anglican
SCRIPTURE

"their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward." — Ezekiel 1:9 (ASV)

Their wings were joined one to another.— that is, the outstretched right wing of one cherub was joined at its tip to the left wing of another, so that although four, they yet constituted in some sense but one creature, all moving in harmony and by a common impulse. This applies to the cherubim only when in motion; when they stood, the wings were let down (Ezekiel 1:24). The joining of the extremities of the outstretched wings of the cherubim recalls the arrangement in Solomon’s Temple (1 Kings 6:27), in which the wings of the larger cherubim touched one another above the mercy seat.

They turned not when they went. — Whichever way they wished to go, they could still go straight forward, that is, in the direction towards which they looked, since they looked in all directions, and their round feet made it equally easy to move in any way. It would at first seem that as two of the wings of each cherub was used to cover their bodies (Ezekiel 1:11), the wings would have required their turning when they changed their course; but if we conceive of the four cherubim as arranged to form a square, and with their wings moving as one creature, this difficulty disappears.