CHERUB, in the plural cherubim or cherubs, is the Hebrew name of a winged creature with a human countenance, which in the Scriptures is almost always represented in connection with Jehovah, and especially as drawing his chariot-throne. Cherubim are first mentioned in the Old Testament as guards of paradise; a C. with a flaming sword hindered the return of the expelled human pair. In the Holy of Holies in the taberna cle, and afterwards in the temple, cherubim wrought in embossed metal were represented above the mercy-seat, or covering of the ark of the covenant, so that they appeared to rise out of it. Figures of cherubim were also wrought into the hangings of the Holy of Holies. The cherubim that appear in the visions of Ezekiel and the revelations of John depart much from the early representations. In Ezekiel they have the body of a man, whose head, besides a human countenance, has also that of a lion, an ox, and an eagle; they are provided with four wings, two of which support the chariot of Jehovah, and serve to fly, while the other two cover the body; the hands are under the wings, and the whole body is spangled with innumerable eyes. In the revelation, four cherubim,
covered with eyes, and having six wings, surround the throne of Jehovah; the first has the face of a lion, the second of an ox, the third of a man, and the fourth of an eagle. This gave rise at a very early period to the symbolical figures of the four evangelists, the human countenance being associated with Matthew, that of the lion with Mark, of the ox with Luke, and of the eagle with John. Most Jewish writers and Christian fathers conceived the cherubim as angels; and Dionysius the Areopagite, in his Celestial Hierarchy, makes them a separate class in the first hierarchy. Most theologians also considered them as angels, until Michaelis showed them to be a poetical creation; and Herder, in his Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, compared them tothe griffins that watch treasures, and other fabulous figures. In Christian art, they are generally represented as sexless figures, with wings from the shoulders, the legs also being either covered by wings, or having wings substituted for them. Very often they have also a glory round the head.