Ezekiel Chapter 10
Friday, 01/02/26 at 08:54
Solitary Man
solitaryman.substack.com
20251018
Eze 10:1 Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament (raqiya – the expanse, from a root to mean to pound out thinly as if beaten with a hammer) that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness (dem-ooth – resemblance, similitude, model) of a throne.
This is the third of four chapters that all have to do with this second spectacular vision that God granted Ezekiel at the outset of his ministry. We often ask God for confirmation of something that we have perceived is from him. Perhaps that was one of the main reasons God granted this cherubic filled vision a second time. Due to the apocalyptic nature and the nastiness of the message, God wanted to ensure that Ezekiel’s heart would contain no doubt that this dreadful message was from the Lord, so he would not hesitate in executing the Lord’s will in pronouncing it.
This chapter strongly echoes chapter one. There is very little action in this chapter. The man in linen is commanded to scoop up the fire from within the cherubim, with the express purpose of casting this fire upon the apostate city. Fire is the most common sign of judgment. The only other action recorded is that the presence of God is said to have moved even farther from its intended resting place in the Holy of Holies.
Ezekiel does provide some extra detail that was omitted in the first vision. There is the fact that these four sided, four faced cherubim had eyes all around. The aspect of the rainbow is absent. Since the rainbow was a sign of God’s mercy after wrath, the absence of it denotes that this is not the time for repentance by God. No rainbow means no mercy shall be given, even as no mercy was to found at the time of the great flood, save for the tiny amount of people that were marked for salvation. As 8 were marked for safety in the ark, so a few were marked for deliverance in the previous chapter.
Ezekiel had just witnessed the few being marked for preservation, followed by the vast majority being slaughtered by the angels, at least in vision form. Just because the slaughter will not yet manifest in the natural for a few more years does not mean that it hasn’t already occurred, as far as heaven was concerned. The fact that Ezekiel witnessed it in the spirit, served as a kind of guarantee that this was what was to inevitably occur in the natural. Just because we have not yet seen our own nation completely destroyed, does not necessarily mean that it may not already have been decreed so in heaven.
Now the prophet is given a bit of a break by, once again, being shown the awesome sight of the cherubim. He looks up into the expanse, which most likely means the sky above, and sees the cherubim. And above the cherubim, he once again sees God’s throne.
Eze 10:2 And he spake unto the man (eesh) clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels (gal-gal – a whirlwind, rolling thing), even under the cherub, and fill thine hand (kho-fen – fists, fistful) with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight.
The ‘he’ refers to the Father. The man clothed in linen is the Son. First, the Father sent his Son to mark those few with his special sign of the cross (the ancient form of the letter tau). Now, he sends his son on his second mission, that of executing the Father’s fierce wrath.
Is this not a perfect picture of the 2 comings of Christ? The first time, he comes to mark out a people for his own, branding them with his mark, which will protect them from the Father’s wrath, even as the blood on the doorposts protected the Hebrews from the destroying angel in Egypt. But when this man shows up the second time, his inkhorn is nowhere to be found. Now he is instructed to scoop up fistfuls of fire from between the cherubim, and cast them over the beloved city. And this is exactly what Jesus comes to do when he appears a second time.
This is why the second coming of Christ is not very well understood. For the remnant, it represents vengeance upon our enemies. For the vast majority of mankind, it represents the end. The end of any chance at salvation. The end of any chance of repentance. The end of hope, and the start of an eternity of torment.
Scripture contains many passages about the beloved nature of God’s city of Jerusalem, also known as Zion. It is called the beauty of holiness, the joy of all the earth. Yet at this point in time, it is haram. Accursed, placed under the ban, it has now been devoted to destruction. And this was God’s one special place in all the earth!
If God is willing to do such a thing to his uniquely blessed and holy city, how do we think in America and the west will escape our fate? If God is willing to destroy his own favorite city, what will become of our own abodes, us Gentiles who have been graciously grafted in to the house of God? Why do we think we will somehow fare any better than God’s original chosen people?
Unless we repent, we will all likewise perish.
Eze 10:3 Now the cherubims stood on the right (yaw-meen – south) side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court.
The Hebrew word for right can also mean south. The idolatries had been seen on the north. The cherubim are standing as far away from the idols as they can, ready to bear away the glory of the Lord from this detestable place.
Eze 10:4 Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness (no-gah – brilliancy, shining) of the LORD’S glory.
The glory of God has now left the Holy of Holies, and has come to the threshold of the temple. It pauses there, as if God is hoping even beyond hope that his rebellious people will yet bethink themselves even at this late, late midnight hour. He manifests his glory one more time at the entrance of the temple. He wants the people to see exactly what they are throwing away. This glory, which you have taken for granted, and now despise, is about to depart from your temple, and from your lives, permanently. It is as if Yahweh is asking them one final time: ‘Are you sure this is really what you want?’.
Eze 10:5 And the sound of the cherubims’ wings was heard (shama) even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty (shaddai) God when he speaketh.
The cherubim were in motion. They were departing, and taking the glory, or real presence, of Yehovah away with them. The sound here may represent the final prophet’s voice of judgment that God sends to this people. When the true prophets of the Lord are pronouncing judgment and destruction, do we truly hear the sound of God’s voice, calling out to us one final time? Can we perceive the sounds of the cherubim’s wings, about to fly away with the real presence of Jesus from our churches? Even those who are far off from God’s presence (the Holy of Holies), ie, those who are in the outer court (backslid), even to them the voice of the Lord is calling out, pleading with them one final time to turn from their wicked way, before the Spirit of the Lord departs your land forever. It sounds like the voice of El Shaddai, because it is the voice of El Shaddai, the Almighty One.
Eze 10:6 And it came to pass, that when he had commanded (tsaw-vaw – appointed, given a charge) the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels (gal-gal), from between the cherubims; then he went in, and stood beside the wheels (o-fawn – to revolve).
The Father has given the Son his marching orders. The remnant have been sealed with the Son’s mark, and the presence of God is getting ready to depart from out of the land. The command has been given to grab the fire of God’s judgment. Now, this verse states that the Son is now obeying the voice of the Father, by approaching the place where the holy fire of God is stored for such a time as this.
This verse seemingly repeats what was said in verse two, but that is not true. In verse two, God gave a command. In this verse, the obeying of this command is recorded. This shows the importance of always following through with instant and complete obedience to whatever you hear the Father speak. To hear is never enough. The bible says you must shama – to hear intelligently, with the idea of always following up on what you heard with obedient actions. A hearer who is not a doer is a nothing in the kingdom of God.
Eze 10:7 And one cherub stretched forth his hand (yawd) from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands (kho-fen) of him that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out.
So the man in linen (Jesus) completes the act of obedience and receives the symbol of judgment from the cherubim, who along with the seraphim, are the keepers of God’s holiness. The fire is a crucial part of the holiness of God. The fire of God must exist to burn up all that is unholy. It also purifies all that can be saved, so only holiness remains. This is why we all must be salted with fire. Everything within us must pass through the fire. If there is something of God left in us, then we will survive. If there is nothing but self and the flesh and the world in us, then all shall be consumed.
Once Jesus has gone out with the fire of God in his fists, it’s game over for the world. Repent while there is yet a little time, is the heart cry of heaven.
Eze 10:8 And there appeared in the cherubims the form (tab-neeth – likeness, pattern, similitude) of a man’s hand under their wings.
Ezekiel now spends a few verses in trying once again to describe in some detail what he was witnessing. As no man has ever been able to give a completely satisfactory explanation as to exactly what Ezekiel saw, we have to content ourselves with whatever image God grants to us, as we meditate on this text. We know that Ezekiel spoke of seeing a man’s hand under each of the cherubim’s wings. Now whether this is the same hand, or a different appendage that has taken the form of a hand, we are not sure. But I believe he is trying to describe exactly what he saw that took the fire from within, and passed it to the man in linen. It looked more like a man’s hand than anything else. But the fact that he says it took the form of a hand must mean that it was like a hand, but not exactly a hand.
Eze 10:9 And when I looked, behold the four wheels (o-fawn) by the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was as the colour of a beryl stone.
These are items that revolve. The best we can do is call them wheels. There seems to be four cherubs, and four wheels. Some commentator says the color of a beryl stone is sea green. We assume the ‘things that revolve’ have something to do with transportation, but that is speculation.
Eze 10:10 And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness (dem-ooth), as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.
Here we see that although each cherub was distinct, yet there was a unity to them that perhaps reflect the unity of the Trinity. Distinct, yet one. It was difficult for Ezekiel to ascertain when one cherub left off and the other began. Face melded into face, and wheel into wheel. One direction seemed to meld into another as they moved. He had a hard time describing exactly what he was seeing in physical terms, as these ‘living beings’ were not subject to the laws of physics as we understand them. How do you describe the indescribable?
The likeness here is also a visual manifestation of the will of God for his people. We are all distinct, yet should all beat with one heart, the heart of Jesus. Jesus prayed that we would be one. Talk about a prayer that needs mountains of faith to come to pass! If there is one prayer that is about as far off as anything under the sun, it is the desired oneness of the people of God. We disagree about anything and everything, it seems. We fight and squabble and slander over the stupidest stuff. As soon as we find something to disagree on, our hearts often completely close up to each other, and it’s as if we never want to speak to them again.
I know all of you have experienced such madness. I remember we were forming a budding relationship with a couple we had met in a church we had been attending for several weeks. We had been in each other’s homes and had a lot in common, spiritually speaking. Our worldview was quite compatible. But regarding the church itself, my wife and I were beginning to grow more and more uncomfortable about the direction and the emphasis that this local church was going. Not that it was in any heresy, or even serious error, we were both just receiving a check in our spirits that this really wasn’t the church we were meant to be attending. So the next time we were having fellowship in our home with this couple, we happened to mention that we were not going to be attending this church anymore. Almost immediately, they made an excuse to leave, and we have never heard from them since! Imagine our shock. We did not slander the church, or anyone in it. We spoke no evil whatsoever of it. Yet to them, it was as if we had just committed some serious act of apostasy from the faith! You could see that their attitude towards us instantly changed, and they looked for the first excuse to leave our house, as if it were on fire, or as if we had the plague! Such is the attitude of so many. They pretend they are your really good friends. But show one little sign of disagreement in their spiritual belief system, and off they go, never to be seen again!
The wheels were in the midst of the wheels. They were separate, but intermingled. They were distinct, but yet at times it appeared they were not. Is that not the way of the Trinity? Jesus said he and the Father are one. He desired that we would be one with them as well.
Eze 10:11 When they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned (saw-bab – revolved) not as they went, but to the place (spot) whither the head looked (faced) they followed it; they turned (saw-bab) not as they went.
It is almost as if that they thought to go one direction, and with no mechanical effort or outside help, that is where they ended up. They looked in one direction, and without a turn of their being or of these ‘wheels’, suddenly that is where they were. Somehow having a face that pointed in each of the four directions, they were able to move without turning.
Eze 10:12 And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.
Ezekiel 1:18 speaks of the wheels being full of eyes, but now it seems as if every part of the cherubim themselves also are full of some kind of eyes. In our imaginations, we could try and draw something like this, and it would end up looking like a horrific lab experiment gone amuck. Something that would be found in a cheesy horror movie. But we know that no mutants or aberrations are found in heaven. Nothing ugly, or malformed. Whatever these creatures look like, our minds are limited by what we know of the physical world. Who knows exactly what these creatures look like? Ezekiel is giving it his best shot. Maybe his description made more sense to his peers, but maybe it was so alien that we might be better able to imagine this vision, due to our advances in civilization. Or maybe our technology is a hindrance, as many have tried to compare this vision to some sort of imaginary alien spaceship, which Ezekiel’s generation would not have had for comparison. The idea of wheels speaks of technology in our minds, and probably serves to hinder our understanding.
Suffice it to say that our faith should not be impacted one way or another, as to whether or not we can comprehend what is depicted here. What we should take away from all this is that heaven is a mysterious, and wondrous, and even a bit of a terrifying place, but in a good way for the child of God.
Eze 10:13 As for the wheels, it was cried (addressed) unto them in my hearing, O wheel (gal-gal).
Even supposedly inanimate objects in heaven such as wheels obey the voice of the Lord. As we will see in the next 2 verses, the cherubim and their wheels begin to move, but it is at the command of the Lord’s will, not the cherubim’s. So we too are to move in response to the voice of the Lord, and not to to the voice of self. Also, if even inanimate objects are subject to God’s voice, how much more his very own children?
Eze 10:14 And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man (adam), and the third the face of a lion (pierce), and the fourth the face of an eagle (lacerate).
Remember Ezekiel 1:10?
Eze 1:10 As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.
3 of the 4 faces are the same, yet here Ezekiel calls the ox face a cherub face. Ox and cherub are not similar. One could conjecture that these divine beings had constantly changing faces, depending on the angle of view. Others try to say the ox and cherub face were one and the same. I myself concur with the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown commentary:
The chief of the four cherubic forms was not the ox, but man. Therefore “cherub” cannot be synonymous with “ox.” Probably Ezekiel, standing in front of one of the cherubim (namely, that which handed the coals to the man in linen), saw of him, not merely the ox-form, but the whole fourfold form, and therefore calls him simply “cherub”; whereas of the other three, having only a side view, he specifies the form of each which met his eye [Fairbairn]. [end]
Once again, we who are bound in this mortal coil see through a glass dimly. Is it surprising that Ezekiel has slightly different details regarding these 2 separate visions? No, in fact, it actually helps to confirm that what he saw was genuine. If you have 5 witnesses to a car accident, chances are that when you go and interview them, each witness will have a slightly different version of events. That’s what makes it authentic. If their stories agreed in every tiny detail, you would suspect they had gathered together and agreed to tell the exact same story. No two people see things exactly the same way. In the same way, the same person will not see a similar event identically. Given the extraordinary, otherworldly nature of this event, unprecedented in its appearance, and there is almost no chance Ezekiel would have remembered every last detail as exactly the same. This is what lends even more credibility to the reality of this experience. If he had wanted to impress his friends with a made up vision, he would have more likely than not described the cherubim in exactly the same way the second time as the first, to try and lend credibility to his tale.
We also see this four by four phenomenon. Four cherub, four faces each, four wheels, all moving as one.
Eze 10:15 And the cherubims were lifted up (rose, mounted up). This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar.
Because of the command of the Lord in verse 13, it is time for the cherubim to go. Although Ezekiel was taken via vision or translation to Jerusalem to witness the shenanigans of the people and the judgment of God, we are now reminded that he originally saw with his physical eyes the cherubim at the place where he was situated in Babylon.
Ezekiel says that the four cherubim in the vision are the same as the four he witnessed at the river Chebar. He then happens to affirm that what he saw was a single being. That is, this living creature, of which I saw multiples of, was a cherub.
Eze 10:16 And when the cherubims went, the wheels went by (beside) them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned (saw-bab) not from beside them.
As far as the prophet could tell, the wings of the cherub powered their movement. But yet somehow the wheels that were so intimately associated with them moved as these living beings moved. This is a perfect picture of the mysteries of the kingdom of God. The spirit moves here and there, in every direction. How he moves is a mystery. Some others see the wheels representing the ministers of the church, who should move in perfect harmony with the congregation, all at the command of the voice of the Lord. I personally think that comparison is stretching things a bit.
Eze 10:17 When they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up (rising), these lifted up (rose) themselves also: for the spirit (ruach) of the living creature was in them.
The spirit of God is behind everything that goes on in heaven. The invisible hand of the spirit – so mysterious, so invisible most of the time, yet just as the spirit was in the cherubim, it was also in the wheels themselves! Everything seems to be animated with the Spirit in heaven. So too should the church on earth, if we really desire that things on earth mirror the things in heaven. Let the Holy Spirit be in all of us, moving us in whatever direction he wills. Let us be as the cherubim, who always seem to face in the same direction that they are moving in. Let us not be looking off in a different direction than the direction the spirit is moving in.
How many believers are constantly facing ‘into the wind’, so to speak? God is wanting to move in revival, but we are stuck in our traditions and will not let him move. Or, he is moving to judge the land (as he is today), and most of the church is still stuck in the ‘bless me’ club. The spirit is whispering to our hearts ‘repent, repent’, and we hear ‘receive, receive’. And so on and so forth.
Is your face wind burnt? Perhaps that is because you are always going against the direction of the movement of the Holy Ghost! Turn around (shoob) and get with the program!
Eze 10:18 Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims.
Now we come to the next phase of the removal of God’s presence and his blessings from off the land. In preparation for the destruction of the city, all things of God are being removed, especially his direct presence. Here they are lifting off the temple, the house of God in their day. Has God lifted off from the church in our generation? You bet he has. How many churches in the west can still lay claim to the real presence of Jesus in their midst? How many even speak a good portion of the truth anymore?
God has already left the Holy of Holies, so the cherubims here are not the ones over the mercy seat, but rather the ones that Ezekiel has been watching, which were under the throne, under the firmament.
Eze 10:19 And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east (kad-mo-nee – ancient) gate of the LORD’S house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.
As the cherubims departed, they were taking the shekinah presence with them. God had had enough of this sinful people. They had defiled and polluted themselves to such an extent that there was no more here for God to do. Not only was his presence not wanted, but a holy God cannot dwell in such a defiled place.
In essence, Yahweh has just called a cab to take him back home.
It is noted that the glory is leaving by the east gate. This is significant, as this is the direction that the glory of God will return:
Eze 43:4 And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.
What house is this? Well, we don’t want to touch on that aspect of Ezekiel until we get there, but suffice it to say that the east is the direction of the departure of God, and the eventual return.
So here we witness the presence of God leaving in stages. He had lingered at the entrance to the temple. Finally, when all hope of repentance has passed, he instructs the wheels of the cherubim to lift off, and take his presence away, away from this place where he cannot abide anymore.
We are not afraid to make mention of those fallen churches that have removed God from off their premises due to their compromise and rebellion. But what about our own temples? Have we made a place for the presence of God that he feels at home with? Or have we defiled our own temples with any and every sort of uncleanness? If God does not seem real in your life, perhaps it’s because your own house is so messy that he simply cannot abide to step foot in there! Perhaps he is standing on the threshold of your heart, waiting until you prepare a place for him that is worthy of him.
Eze 10:20 This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubims.
Some say Ezekiel knew that these were the cherubim because they were similar to the forms of them carved into the doors and walls of the temple. I do not agree with that. I believe that this was a divine revelation given to the prophet. Only by revelation can one perceive and understand heavenly things. How could any two dimensional image even remotely represent these multi dimensional beings? No one up to today has ever satisfactorily depicted what Ezekiel saw in a drawing. The idea of multi dimensions bears a brief discussion.
Some physicists today believe that mathematical models, and experimentation in quantum mechanics lead to the idea that reality consists of more than our 4 known dimensions of height, width, length and time. Some speculate up to 10 dimensions. A three dimensional object is indescribable inside a 2 dimensional universe (think of what a finger poking through a piece of paper would look like to the inhabitants in that piece of paper – it would look like a circle, and nothing more). Therefore, if the spirit realm is a 5th dimension, then how would that extra dimension express itself inside our 3 physical dimensions? Would a 4 dimensional face look like 4 faces in our 3 dimensional reality? Is this why so called ‘flying saucers’ have such odd shapes? I am not claiming that UFO’s are real, but if they are some sort of technology that the fallen ones are trying to bring across from the spiritual realm, they may appear very exotic if they somehow are brought through to our 3 dimensional world.
We are nearing the end of Ezekiel’s singular and extraordinary visions. Nothing else in the bible comes close to these descriptions (with the possible exception of Isaiah chapter 6, where seraphims are mentioned in a bit of detail). Do not expect to comprehend everything there is to know about these creatures, as God has chosen to reveal comparatively little about them.
Eze 10:21 Every one had four faces apiece (ar-bah ar-bah pawneem – four four faces), and every one four (ar-bah – from a root meaning to be four sided) wings; and the likeness (dem-ooth) of the hands of a man (adam) was under their wings.
Ezekiel wants to summarize what he has seen (now twice). Each of the 4 had 4 faces. Each one had 4 wings (unlike the 6 wings of the seraphim in Isaiah chapter 6). And each one had something that most looked like a man’s hand under each wing.
Eze 10:22 And the likeness (dem-ooth) of their faces was the same faces which I saw by the river of Chebar, their appearances (mar-eh – shape, form) and themselves: they went every one (eesh – man) straight forward (ale ay-ber paw-neem – straight across towards the face of).
The faces that he saw were the same faces that he saw the first time. So even if he said one of the four faces was on ox and the next time it was a cherub, I believe we handled that anomaly satisfactorily above.
It is interesting to note that Ezekiel uses the word eesh (man) for ‘every one’. So it seems that the face of the man was the lead face, and that was the direction that they chose to undertake in a very straight and unwavering direction. Perhaps this indicates that man is the topic under consideration. Man is being examined here in Jerusalem and Judah, and has been found wanting. It is comforting and disquieting to know that the face of man is on these strange creatures, these mystery creatures from heaven itself. I am sure that there is symbolism upon symbolism to be gleaned by greater minds than mine, but I do hope that I have provided at least a little bit more of an insight than is generally known, in order to help make this ancient text come alive, and become relevant for the believer of the 21st century.
Solitary Man
solitaryman.substack.com
