It is clear that the interpretation of the symbol must be as variable as the symbol itself, and we shall accordingly find that no single explanation of the cherubim can be accepted as adequate, but that the best of the various explanations contain elements of truth which melt and fade into each other, and are each true under one aspect. Un satisfactory and vague as is the treatise of Philo ' on the Cherubim and Flaming Sword,' it has at least the merit of seizing this troth. Thus, discard ing his astronomical vagaries which are alien to the spirit of Mosaism (Kalisch on Exod,, p. 496), we may safely follow him in regarding the cherubim as emblems at once of divine perfection (Tits vol 'Opros Suvrigets TE tca2 pacou.,<-0), per sonifications in fact of natural power employed in God's service, as De Wette holds ; and emblems also of the divine attributes, his slowness to anger, his speed to love (Grotius on Exod. xxv. 18 ; Bochart, ifieroz. ii. 18 ; Rosenmfiller, Scholia in Ezele.
azivaLov Eiiipyerev Kai KOXRCITOLOY ; Philo, 7rEpl Xcpoup. Kai Thy q5Xxy. pogq5., sec. 7-9 ; De Vita p. 688). Both of these views are admissible ; the cherubim represent at once the subordination of the universe to God (Pirkc, R. Elieza, c. 3 ; Schemoth Eabba, sec. 23, ap. Schoettgen, Hor. Hebr. ad Apoc. iv. 6, 7733 gaff AdaS aurou ; Isidor., lib. iv. ep. 70 ; Alford an Rev. iv. S), and the glory of Him whose servants they are (Xcpoutliit &Up, Heb. ix. 5) ; `as standing on the highest step of created life, and uniting in themselves the most per fect created life, they are the most perfect revelation of God and the divine life.' This is the conclusion of Baehr, whose whole treatment of the subject, though over-ingenious, is the most valuable contri bution to a right understanding of this important and interesting question (Symbolik, i. 340).
As the other suggestions of their meaning are, for the most part, mere adaptations, they may simply be mentioned and passed over ; as that the cherubim represent the four archangels ; the four major Prophets ; the church (Cocceius) ; the two untreated angels, i.e., the Son and the Holy Spirit (Hulse) ; the two natures of Christ (Lightfoot) ; the four ages of the world (Kaiser, de Cherubis hunidni generis mu na'ique CP tatunz symbolic, 1827); or God's fourfold covenant with man in Christ, as man, as sacrificed, as risen, and ascended (Arndt, Wahres Christenthum, iv. r, 6). We may mention also for their curious absurdity the notions of Justin Martyr xliv.), that the cherubim represent Nebu chadnezzar in his overthrow and madness ; of Clermont, that they are the northern army of Chal deans ; and of Vatke, that they symbolise the de structive powers of the heathen gods. The very wide spread and early fancy which attached the cherubic figures to the four evangelists is equally untenable, though it first appears in the Pastor Hermas, and was adopted by the school of St. John
(Iren. adv. Bar. Hi. 2. S; Athanas. Opp. v. 2, p. 1:55 ; August. de consols. Evang. i. 6 ; Jerome Grol. ad Evv. ep. 5o ad Paulin ; Greg. Rom. 4 in Reek.; Adam de St. Vict. hymn de Ss. Evang., etc.) The four, in their union, were regarded as a symbol of the Redeemer ' Est homo nascendo, vitulusque sacer moriendo, Et Leo surgendo, ccelos aquilaque petendo.' (See Trench's Sacred Lat. Poetry, p. 61 ; Mrs. Jamieson, Sacred and Leg. Art., p. 135). The last to maintain this view is Dr. Wordsworth (on Rev. iv.), who is rightly answered by Dean Alford (ad loc).
3. What was the office ascribed to these sym bolic beings whose shape and nature we have ex amined ? It is mainly twofold, viz.—I, a protective vengeful function in guarding from man's too close intrusion the physical and moral splendours of a lost paradise and a sacred revelation ; and 2, to form the throne and chariot of the divine being in his earthly manifestations, and to guard the outskirts of his unapproachable glory (Eichhorn, Einleit. iii. sec. So). The cherubim engraved and woven in the temple decorations, while they symbolise this function, serve also as a seal of similitude,' i.e., as heraldic insignia of the divine attributes to mark Jehovah's presence by their guardian ministries (Isidor. iv., ep. 73). At the same time, from another point of view, they were no less significant of the fulness of life subordinated to him who created it. A reference to the Apocalypse enables us to combine these conceptions with a far sublimer truth, and to explain the connection of the cheru bim with the mercy-seat as a type not only of ven geance but of expiation and forgiveness. For in the vision of St. John these immortalities appear in the same choir with the redeemed innumerable multitude of the universal church (iv. 7 ; v. 13) ; no longer armed with flaming swords, with wrathful aspect, and repellant silence, but mingling with the elders, and joining in the new song. And here, too, we find the recovered Eden, the water of life flow ing freely, and the tree of life with no flame to hedge it round. Thus it is in the Apocalypse that the fullest and divinest significance is attached to this profound emblem. In the cherubim of the last book of the Bible we find the highest explana tion of the cherubim in the first. The apparent wrath which excluded man from the forfeited para dise,* was but the mercy in disguise, which secured for him its final fruition in a nobler form of life. And thus, to give the last touch of meaning to this changeful symbol, we catch in it a gleam dim at first, but growing into steady brightness, of that redeemed created perfection, that exalted spiritual body, for which is reserved hereafter the paradise of God. Beyond this we cannot go ; but we have said enough to skew the many-sided applicability of this inspired conception—a many-sidedness which is the strongest proof of its value and greatness.