CHERUBIM. A class of angels often referred to in the Old Testament. In Genesis iii. 24 it is said that God " placed at the east of the garden of Eden the Cherubim, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." According to primitive Hebrew myth, therefore, they were powerful superhuman creatures who guarded the entrance to the earthly abode of the god or gods. Prof. Cheyne points out that " when the range of the supreme god's power became wider, when from an earth-god he became also a heaven-god, the cherub too passed into a new phase; he became the divine chariot " (Encycl. Bibl.). In I. Kings vi. 23 ff. there are said to have been huge figures of Cherubim in Solomon's temple, and according to Exodus xxv. 18 ff. there were small golden Cherubim on the lid of the ark in the Tabernacle. The derivation of the word is doubtful. It has been connected with the Greek word gryps " griffin." Lenormant thought he had found the word kirubu on a Babylonian amulet used as a synonym for tiidu which denotes the winged bull of Assyrian palaces and temples. His theory has not been
confirmed. But, whatever the etymology of the word, the Cherubim seem to resemble the winged genii which are often represented in Babylonian Art by the side of the tree of life. " These figures are usually human in form with human heads, but sometimes combine the human form with an eagle's head, and occasionally the human head with an animal body. They are shown iu the act of fecundating the date-palm by transferring the pollen of the male tree to the flower of the female; and hence it has been conjectured that they are per sonifications of the winds, by whose agency the fertilisa tion of the palm is effected in nature (Tylor, PSBR, xii. 383 ff.)." The quotation is from Skinner. See D. Schenkel,Bibel-Lexikon, 1869; Encycl. Bibl.; J. Skinner, Genesis, 1910.