Acherub (/ˈtʃɛrəb/;[1]pl.:cherubim;Hebrew:כְּרוּבkərūḇ, pl.כְּרוּבִיםkərūḇīm) is one type of supernatural being in theAbrahamic religions. The numerous depictions of cherubim assign to them many different roles, such as protecting the entrance of theGarden of Eden.[2]
Delitzch'sAssyrisches Handwörterbuch (1896) connected the namekeruv with Assyriankirubu (a name of theshedu orlamassu) andkarabu ("great, mighty").
Salomon Karppe (1897) glossed Babyloniankarâbu as "propitious" rather than "mighty".[2][3]
Dhorme (1926) connected the Hebrew name toAssyriankāribu (diminutivekurību), a term used to refer to intercessory beings (and statues of such beings) that plead with the gods on behalf of humanity.[4](pp 3–4)
Thefolk etymology connectingcherub to a Hebrew word for "youthful" is due toAbbahu (3rd century).[4](p 1)
The Hebrew word was transliterated in Greek with achi (χερουβ), and then in Latin with "ch". While "ch" in words coming from Greek are usually pronounced as a k in English (such as "chemistry" or "chela"), the "ch" in "cherub" is normally pronounced as in "church".[1]
InJewish angelic hierarchy, cherubim have the ninth (second-lowest) rank inMaimonides'Mishneh Torah (12th century), and the third rank in Kabbalistic works such asBerit Menuchah (14th century). The Christian workDe Coelesti Hierarchia places them in the highest rank alongsideSeraphim andThrones.[5]
TheBook of Ezekiel, Chapters 1 and 10, speaks of Ezekiel seeing four "living creatures" ("chayot" in Hebrew), and in Chapter 10 he uses the word "cherub" or its plural, although it is not clear what the relationship is between the two. Based on Ezekiel's description the idea arose, as shown in (at least some) Christian icons, that a cherub has two pairs of wings and four faces: that of alion (representative of allwild animals), anox (domestic animals), ahuman (humanity), and aneagle (birds).[4](pp 2–4)[6] In Chapter 10 the face of the ox is replaced by the face of a cherub (see below). As described by Ezekiel, "Their legs were straight, the soles of their feet like the hooves of a bull, gleaming like polished brass."
InIslam,al-karubiyyin "cherubim" oral-muqarrabin "the Close" refers to the highest angels nearGod,[7] in contrast to the messenger angels. They include theBearers of the Throne, the angels around the throne, and thearchangels.[8] The angels of mercy subordinative to Michael are also identified as cherubim. InIsma'ilism, there areSeven Archangels referred to as cherubim.[9]
Later tradition ascribes to them a variety of physical appearances.[4](pp 2–4) Some earlymidrash literature conceives of them as non-corporeal. In Western Christian tradition, cherubim have become associated with theputto derived fromCupid inclassical antiquity, resulting in depictions of cherubim as small, plump, winged boys.[4](p 1)
Cherubim are also mentioned in theSecond Treatise of the Great Seth, a 3rd-centuryGnostic writing.[10]
Aside from Ezekiel's vision, no detailed attestations ofcherubim survive, and Ezekiel's description of thetetramorph being may not be the same as thecherubim of the historic Israelites.[11] All that can be gleaned about thecherubim of the Israelites come from potential equivalents in the cultures which surrounded them.
The appearance of thecherubim continue to be a subject of debate.Mythological hybrids are common in the art of theAncient Near East. One example is the Babylonianlamassu orshedu, a protective spirit with asphinx-like form, possessing the wings of an eagle, the body of a lion or bull, and the head of a king. This was adopted largely inPhoenicia. The wings, because of their artistic beauty and symbolic use as a mark of creatures of theheavens, soon became the most prominent part, and animals of various kinds were adorned with wings; consequently, wings were bestowed also upon human forms,[2] thus leading to the stereotypical image of anangel.[12]
William F. Albright (1938) argued that "the winged lion with human head" found in Phoenicia andCanaan from theLate Bronze Age is "much more common than any other winged creature, so much so that its identification with the cherub is certain".[4](pp 2–4) A possibly related source is the human-bodiedHittitegriffin, which, unlike other griffins, appear almost always not as a fierce bird of prey, but seated in calm dignity, like an irresistible guardian of holy things;[2][12] some have proposed that the wordgriffin (γρύψ) may be cognate withcherubim (kruv >grups).[13][14] While Ezekiel initially describes the tetramorphcherubim as having
the face of a man ... the face of a lion ... the face of an ox ... and ... the face of an eagle
in thetenth chapter this formula is repeated as
the face of the cherub ... the face of a man ... the face of a lion ... the face of an eagle
which (given that "ox" has apparently been substituted with "the cherub") some have taken to imply thatcherubim were envisioned to have the head of abovine.
In particular resonance with the idea of cherubim embodying the throne of God, numerous pieces of art from Phoenicia,Ancient Egypt, and evenTel Megiddo in northern Israel depict kings or deities being carried on their thrones by hybrid winged creatures.[12]
If this animalistic form is how the ancientIsraelites envisioned cherubim, it raises more questions than it answers. For one, it is difficult to visualize the cherubim of theArk of the Covenant as quadrupedal creatures with backward-facing wings, as these cherubim were meant to face each other and have their wings meet, while still remaining on the edges of the cover from which they were beaten. At the same time, these creatures have little to no resemblance to thecherubim in Ezekiel's vision.
On the other hand, even ifcherubim had a morehumanoid form, this still would not entirely match Ezekiel's vision and likewise seemingly clashes with the apparently equivalentarchetypes of the cultures surrounding the Israelites, which almost uniformly depicted beings which served analogous purposes to Israel'scherubim as largely animalistic in shape. All of this may indicate that the Israelite conception of thecherub's appearance may not have been wholly consistent.[11]
The cherubim are the most frequently occurring heavenly creature in theHebrew Bible, as the Hebrew word appears 91 times.[4](pp 2–4) The first occurrence is in theBook of Genesis 3:24. Despite these many references, the role of the cherubim is never explicitly elucidated.[4](p 1) While Israelite tradition must have conceived of the cherubim as guardians of theGarden of Eden[2] in which they guard the way to theTree of life,[15] they are often depicted as performing other roles; for example in theBook of Ezekiel, they transport Yahweh's throne. The cherub who appears in the "Song of David", a poem which occurs twice in the Hebrew Bible, in2 Samuel 22 andPsalm 18, participates in Yahweh'stheophany and is imagined as a vehicle upon which the deity descends to earth from heaven to rescue the speaker (see 2 Samuel 22:11, Psalm 18:10).[4](pp 84–85)
In Exodus 25:18–22, God tellsMoses to make multiple images of cherubim at specific points around theArk of the Covenant.[4](pp 2–4) Many appearances of the wordscherub andcherubim in the Bible refer to the gold cherubim images on themercy seat of the Ark, as well as images on the curtains of theTabernacle and inSolomon's Temple, including two measuring tencubits high.[16]
InIsaiah 37:16,Hezekiah prays, addressing God asHebrew:יֹשֵׁ֥ב כְּ֝רוּבִ֗ים,lit. 'enthroned above the cherubim', referring to the mercy seat. In regard to this same phrase, which also appears in2 Kings 19, Eichler renders it "who dwells among the cherubim". Eichler's interpretation contrasts with common translations for many years, which have rendered it as "who sits upon the cherubim." This has implications for the understanding of whether the ark of the covenant inSolomon's Temple was Yahweh's throne or simply an indicator of Yahweh's immanence.[17]
Cherubim feature at some length in Ezekiel. While they first appear inEzekiel 1, in which they are transporting the throne of God by the Kebar (or Chebar, which was nearTel Abib inNippur), they are not called "cherubim" untilEzekiel 10.[18] In Ezekiel 1:5–11 they are described as having the likeness of a man and having four faces: that of a man, a lion (on the right side), and ox (on the left side), and an eagle. The four faces represent the four domains of God's rule: the man represents humanity, the lion represents wild animals, the ox represents domestic animals, and the eagle represents birds.[19]
These faces peer out from the center of an array of four wings; these wings are joined to each other, two of which are stretched upward, and the other two cover their bodies. Under their wings are human hands; their legs are described as straight, and their feet like those of a calf, shining like polished brass. Between the creatures, glowing coals that moved between them could be seen; their fire "went up and down", and lightning burst forth from it. The cherubs also moved like flashes of lightning.
InEzekiel 10, another detailed description of the cherubim appears, with slight variations in the details. Three of the four faces are the same – man, lion and eagle – but where chapter one has the face of an ox, Ezekiel 10:14 says "face of a cherub". Ezekiel equates the cherubim of chapter ten with the living creatures of chapter one in Ezekiel 10:15, "The cherubs ascended; those were the creatures (Hebrew:הַחַיָּ֔ה,romanized: haḥayyā) that I had seen by the Chebar Canal" and in 20:10, "They were the same creatures that I had seen below theGod of Israel at the Chebar Canal; so now I knew that they were cherubs." In Ezekiel 41:18–20, they are portrayed as having two faces, although this is probably because they are depicted in profile.[4](pp 2–4)
In rabbinic literature, the twocherubim are described as being human-like figures with wings, one a boy and the other a girl, placed on the opposite ends of theMercy seat in the inner-sanctum of God's house.[20]Solomon's Temple was decorated with Cherubs according to1 Kings 6, andAḥa bar Ya’akov claimed this was true of theSecond Temple as well.[21]
Many forms ofJudaism include a belief in the existence of angels, including cherubim within theJewish angelic hierarchy. The existence of angels is generally accepted within traditionalrabbinic Judaism. There is, however, a wide range of beliefs within Judaism about what angels actually are and how literally one should interpret biblical passages associated with them.
InKabbalah there has long been a strong belief in cherubim, the cherubim and other angels regarded as having mystical roles. TheZohar, a highly significant collection of books in Jewish mysticism, states that the cherubim were led by one of their number named Kerubiel.[2]
On the other end of the philosophical spectrum isMaimonides, who had a neo-Aristotelian interpretation of the Bible. Maimonides writes that to the wise man, one sees that what the Bible and Talmud refer to as "angels" are actually allusions to the various laws of nature; they are the principles by which the physical universe operates.
For all forces are angels! How blind, how perniciously blind are the naive?! If you told someone who purports to be a sage of Israel that the Deity sends an angel who enters a woman's womb and there forms an embryo, he would think this a miracle and accept it as a mark of the majesty and power of the Deity, despite the fact that he believes an angel to be a body of fire one third the size of the entire world. All this, he thinks, is possible for God.But if you tell him that God placed in the sperm the power of forming and demarcating these organs, and thatthis is the angel, or that all forms are produced by the Active Intellect; that here is the angel, the "vice-regent of the world" constantly mentioned by the sages, then he will recoil.
— The Guide for the Perplexed II:4
For he [the naive person] does not understand that the true majesty and power are in the bringing into being of forces which are active in a thing although they cannot be perceived by the senses ... Thus the Sages reveal to the aware that the imaginative faculty is also called an angel; and the mind is called acherub. How beautiful this will appear to the sophisticated mind, and how disturbing to the primitive.
- —The Guide for the Perplexed II:6.
Maimonides says that the figures of the cherubim were placed in the sanctuary only to preserve among the people the belief in angels, there being two in order that the people might not be led to believe that they were the image of God.[22]
Cherubim are discussed within themidrash literature. The two cherubim placed byGod at the entrance of paradise[23] were angels created on the third day, and therefore they had no definite shape; appearing either as men or women, or as spirits or angelic beings.[24] The cherubim were the first objects created in the universe.[25] The following sentence of the Midrash is characteristic:
When a man sleeps, the body tells to the soul (neshamah) what it has done during the day; the soul then reports it to the spirit (nefesh), the spirit to the angel, the angel to the cherub, and the cherub to the seraph, who then brings it before God".[26][27]
In early Jewish tradition there existed the notion that cherubim had youthful, human features, due to the etymologization of the name byAbbahu (3rd century). Before this, some early midrashic literature conceived of the cherubim as non-corporeal. In the first century AD,Josephus claimed:
No one can tell, or even conjecture, what was the shape of these cherubim.[28][4](p 1)
A midrash states that when Pharaoh pursued Israel at the Red Sea, God took a cherub from the wheels of His throne and flew to the spot, for God inspects the heavenly worlds while sitting on a cherub. The cherub, however, is "something not material", and is carried by God, not vice versa.[28][29][30]
In the passages of theTalmud that describe the heavens and their inhabitants, the seraphim, ofanim, andliving creatures are mentioned, but not the cherubim;[31] and the ancient liturgy also mentions only these three classes.
In theTalmud,Jose the Galilean holds[32] that when theBirkat Hamazon (grace after meals) is recited by at least ten thousand seated at one meal, a special blessing
Blessed is Ha-Shem our God, the God of Israel,who dwells between the cherubim
is added tothe regular liturgy.
In theBook of Genesis, the Cherubim were introduced:
So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
–Genesis 3:24
They were further described throughout theOld Testament, especially in theBook of Chronicles andEzekiel respectively:
And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims:
For the cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above.
–2 Chronicles 5:7–8
Each of the cherubim had four faces: One face was that of a cherub, the second the face of a human being, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
–Ezekiel 10:14
In Medievaltheology, following the writings ofPseudo-Dionysius, the cherubim are the second highest rank in theangelic hierarchy, following theseraphim and preceding theThrones.[33] Cherubim are regarded in traditionalChristian angelology as angels of the second highest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy.[34]De Coelesti Hierarchia (c. 5th century) lists them alongsideSeraphim andThrones.[5] According toThomas Aquinas, the cherubim are characterized by knowledge, in contrast to seraphim, who are characterized by their "burning love to God".[35]
In Western art, cherubim became associated with theputto and theGreco-RomangodCupid/Eros, with depictions as small, plump, winged boys.[4](p 1) Artistic representations of cherubim in Early Christian andByzantine art sometimes diverged from scriptural descriptions. The earliest known depiction of thetetramorph cherubim is the 5th–6th century apse mosaic found in theThessalonianChurch of Hosios David. This mosaic is an amalgamation ofEzekiel's visions inEzekiel 1:4–28,Ezekiel 10:12,Isaiah'sseraphim inIsaiah 6:13 and the six-winged creatures ofRevelation fromRevelation 4:2–10.[36]
_of_the_celestial_throne_Wellcome_L0030654.jpg)
Al-Karubiyyin,[37] according to the Quran, are identified as a class ofal-muqarrabin,[38] and are a class of angels near the presence of God. They are entrusted with praising God and interceding for humans.[39] They are usually identified either with a class of angels separate or include various angels absorbed in the presence of God: the canonical four Islamic archangelsJibra'il,Mika'il,Azra'el, andIsrafil, the actual cherubim and theBearers of the Throne.[40] They are frequently mentioned in theibn Abbas version of Muhammad's Night Journey.[41]
Some scholars had a more precise approach:ibn Kathir distinguishes between the angels of the throne and the cherubim.[39] In a 13th–14th-century work called "Book of the Wonders of Creation and the peculiarities of Existing Things", the cherubim belong to an order below the Bearers of the Throne, who in turn are identified withseraphim instead.[42]Abu Ishaq al-Tha'labi places the cherubim as the highest angels only next to the Bearers of the Throne.[39] Similarly,Fakhr al-Din al-Razi distinguishes between the angels carrying the throne (seraphim) and the angels around the throne (cherubim).[43]
TheQuran mentions theMuqarrabin inAn-Nisa verse 172, angels who worship God and are not proud. Further, cherubim appear inMiraj literature[44] and theQisas al-Anbiya.[45] The cherubim around the throne are continuously praising God with thetasbih: "Glory to God!"[46] They are described as bright as no one of the lower angels can envision them.[47] Cherubim as angels of mercy, created by the tears of Michael, are not identified with the angels in God's presence, but of lower rank. They too, request God to pardon humans.[48]: 33–34 In contrast to the messenger angels, the cherubim (and seraphim) always remain in the presence of God.[39] If they stop praising God, they fall.
TheTwelver Shi'a scholarMohammad-Baqer Majlesi narrates about afallen cherub encountered byMuhammad in the form of a snake. The snake tells him that he did not performdhikr (remembrance of God) for a moment so God was angry with him and cast him down to earth in the form of a snake. Then Muhammad went toHasan andHusayn. Together they interceded (tawassul) for the angel and God restored him to his angelic form.[49] A similar story appears in Tabari'sBishara. An angel calledFutrus, described as an "angel-cherub" (malak al-karubiyyin), was sent by God, but since the angel failed to complete his task in time, God broke one of his wings. Muhammad interceded for the cherub, and God forgave the fallen angel, whereupon he became the guardian forHussain's grave.[50]
From the archaeological perspective, origin in Asia Minor (and the Near East:Elam) is very probable.
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