Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 18:10

"And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly; Yea, he soared upon the wings of the wind." — Psalms 18:10 (ASV)

Cherub. See Exodus 25:19. This passage alone would show how naturally the idea of winged attendants on the Divine Being grew out of the phenomena of cloud and storm.

No doubt many features of the developed conception were derived from contact with Assyrian art. However, for the poetry of this passage, we need only think of those giant pinions that cloud so often forms, this description being in close parallelism with “wings of the wind.”

The variation in Samuel, where “appeared” is used instead of “did fly,” is undoubtedly a transcriber’s error. For the picture, we may compare Oceanus’s approach in Prometheus Vinctus:

“On the back of the quick-winged bird I glided,
And I bridled him in
With the will of a God.”

MRS. BROWNING’S translation.

It has been conjectured, however, that for kherûb we should read rekhûb, “chariot,” as in Psalm 104:3. Compare also:

“And rushed forth on my chariot of wings manifold.”—ibid.