Ezekiel 10
OUTLINE:
I. \\#Eze 1:1-23:49\\ Before the Siege (c.593-587)
A. \\#Eze 1:1-3:15\\ The First Message
1. \\#1:1-28\\ God
2. \\#2:1-3:15\\ The Commission of Ezekiel
B. \\#Eze 3:16-7:27\\ The Second Message
1. \\#3:16-21\\ Go as God's Watchman
2. \\#3:22-3:27\\ Hardships for Ezekiel
3. \\#4:1-5:17\\ Signs of Jerusalem's Siege
4. \\#6:1-14\\ Preach to the Mountains and Stomp
5. \\#7:1-27\\ Preach to the Land and Make A Chain
C. \\#Eze 8:1-11:25\\ The Third Message
1. \\#8:1-18\\ Secret Sins of Jerusalem
a. \\#1-6\\ The False Worship of the Priests
b. \\#7-13\\ The False Worship of the Sanhedrin
c. \\#14-15\\ The False Worship of the Women
d. \\#16-17\\ The False Worship of the Men
e. \\#17-18\\ The Results of Jerusalem's False Worship
2. \\#9:1-10:7\\ God Destroyed Jerusalem
a. \\#9:1-4\\ Decrees of Judgment and Mercy upon the
People
b. \\#9:5-11\\ The Judgment Executed
c. \\#10:1-7\\ The City Destroyed
3. \\#10:8-22\\ The Divine Image
a. \\#8\\ The Hand of the Cherubims
b. \\#9-10\\ The Wheels with the Cherubims
c. \\#11-12\\ The Cherubims Themselves
d. \\#15-19\\ Things Were Moving
e. \\#10:20-22\\ Ezekiel's Clarification
\\#Eze 8:1-11:25\\ The Third Message
I. \\#8:1-18\\ Secret Sins of Jerusalem
II. \\#9:1-10:7\\ God Destroyed Jerusalem
A. \\#9:1-4\\ Decrees of Judgment and Mercy upon the People
B. \\#9:5-11\\ The Judgment Executed
C. \\#10:1-7\\ The City Destroyed
1. God degreed judgment upon the people in the last chapter.
2. In this chapter, God prophesied Jerusalem's destruction
as a holy judgment.
a. \\#1\\ "in the firmament that was above the head of
the cherubims" - Notice that the living creatures are
clearly called cherubims now.
b. "there appeared" - As Ezekiel looked up, he saw the
throne appear above heads of the cherubims in the
firmament.
c. "a sapphire stone"
(1) The throne was mentioned in \\#Eze 1:26\\ where
it was described the same as here.
(2) Sapphire can be several different colors but
the most common appears to be blue.
d. \\#2\\ "he spake unto the man clothed with linen"
(1) \\#Eze 9:4\\ revealed it was "the Lord" that
spoke to the man in linen.
(2) The "man clothed in linen" was the merciful angel
introduced in \\#Eze 9:2\\ who set God's mark
upon those who sighed at Jerusalem's sin.
(3) Here that angel was told to "Go in between the
wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine
hands with coals of fire"
(a) The angel's mission had changed.
i. "coals of fire" are used to picture
God's judgment. \\#Ps 18:13\\
ii. "from between the cherubims" - This
would indicate a holy judgment of the
purest kind.
iii. "and scatter them over the city" - Thus
destroying and purifying the city.
iv. The six men with destroying weapons
\\#Eze 9:1-2\\ slew the people of
Jerusalem, but God justice was not
content. The city also had to be
destroyed.
v. "And he went in my sight"
aa. The angel who had mercy toward the
people now appears to be the
angel of judgment toward the
place, Jerusalem.
bb. In saying that the man when out,
Ezekiel jumped to the conclusion
of what will occur; however, in
\\#3-7\\ Ezekiel backed up to
give the details of the man
receiving the coals of fire.
(b) "between the cherubims… between the
wheels"
i. The wheels were still joined together
for they had been \\#Eze 1:16\\ and
will be \\#Eze 10:10\\ described as
"a wheel in the middle of a wheel."
ii. Remember the creatures formed a square
by their wings touching one another
with the gyroscope of wheels being
inside the square. \\See note on
Ezekiel 1:23.\\
(c) "under the cherub"
i. From the Hebrew, I am not certain from
where the location "under" comes. I
do not see a correlating word in the
concordance for it; however, it seems
that all translations incorporate the
word so I assume it is in the text
somewhere.
ii. The angel was to walk under the
outstretched wings of the cherubims.
In chapter one, two of each of the
cherubims' wings were joined together
\\#Eze 1:9\\, "the one toward the
other" \\#Eze 1:23\\. The gyroscope
configuration of the wheels were
likely inside the square that the
joined wings had created.
iii. The angel was to walk under the
outstretched wings to and into the
center of the gyroscope to find a
burning altar and from there, he was
to take hot coals of fire.
iv. Perhaps the divine image had rested
upon the brazen altar of the temple,
which having God's glory rest upon it
had ignited it with heaven's holy
fire.
e. \\#3\\ "the cherubims stood on the right side of the
house"
(1) The last location given had Ezekiel and the
divine image between the brazen altar and the
doorway into the Holy Place \\#Eze 8:16\\
\\#Eze 9:2-3, Eze 10:4\\.
(2) The "right side" - If Ezekiel was looking at the
temple door, the right side would have been on
to the north side of the temple, the side where
the false worship was taking place.
f. "when the man went in"
(1) An Assumption - This one is always referred to
as a man. While I assume him to be an angel in
man's form, that is merely my assumption. If he
is a man, who would he be?
(2) A Visual Picture - When the man clothed in linen
went "under" the wall created by the angel's
wings, a sequence of events began.
(3) \\#3-7\\ The Events
(a) \\#3\\ "the cloud filled the inner court"
i. Ezekiel mentioned "the cloud" as if it
was a specific cloud.
ii. When Ezekiel first described the divine
image, it first appeared cloaked in a
cloud \\#Eze 1:4\\ which was the color
of "amber. (Amber is the color of
fire: red, orange, yellow.)
iii. Although Ezekiel had not specifically
mentioned the cloud since that time,
it apparently had always been around
the divine image.
(b) \\#4\\ "Then the glory… stood over the
threshold of the house" - Then God's glory
moved from being NEAR the entry way into
the Holy Place \\#Eze 9:3\\ to being OVER
the threshold, standing in the doorway.
There the glory again stopped.
(c) "…the court was full of the brightness of
the Lord's glory." - As the man in linen
moved inside the cherubim's winged wall,
God's glory grew exceedingly bright.
(d) \\#5\\ "the sound of the cherubims wings was
heard" - Ezekiel did not say he saw the
wings of the living creatures moving, but
he did say he heard them.
i. Again, the wings were very loud, "as
the voice of the Almighty God…."
ii. Loud enough to be heard to the outer
court. The outer court, at its
nearest point, would be around 100'
away. (My computations!)
(e) \\#6\\ While all of this was occurring, "the
man clothed with linen… went in, and
stood beside the wheels." Notice the text
used the plural form of "wheels." He was
not standing beside a single wheel but by
at least two wheels.
(f) \\#7\\ "one cherub stretched for his hand…
took thereof, and put it into the hands" of
the man.
i. The cherubim's hands were mentioned
in \\#Eze 1:8\\. Apparently, they
were not always visible as they were
"under their wings."
ii. "unto the fire that was between the
cherubims"
aa. This is the first reference to
this fire.
bb. There was a fire in the cloud
that covered the divine image
\\#Eze 1:4\\ and many aspects of
their appearance had been
compared to a fire, but here
Ezekiel spoke of a literal fire
which was between the living
creatures.
iii. Some speculate that the fire may have
come from the brazen altar in the
courtyard.
III. \\#10:8-14\\ The Divine Image - Ezekiel gave more details of the
divine image he saw, especially focusing on the living
creatures.
A. \\#8\\ The Hand of the Cherubims
1. \\#8\\ "And there appeared in the cherubims… a man's
hand… under their wings."
2. Again, Ezekiel saw that the cherubims had hands under the
wings in \\#Eze 1:8.\\
3. It is curious that the hands became visible at this
point.
B. \\#9-10\\ The Wheels with the Cherubims
1. \\#9\\ "behold the four wheels… one wheel by one
cherub, and another wheel by another cherub"
a. "behold"
(1) The word "behold" would indicate that Ezekiel
was just noticing something or that something
new or different had just occurred.
(2) I do not thing the divine image had changed but
that Ezekiel was still noticing features he had
not realized before. The image he was seeing
was very complex.
b. Ezekiel went into great detail to tell us that each
cherub was standing beside a wheel, one cherub to
one wheel.
(1) In \\#Eze 1:16\\ "their work was as it were a
wheel in the middle of a wheel," a phrase that
suggested all the wheels were bound together as
a gyroscope.
Eze 10:10 …as if a wheel had been in the midst
of a wheel
(2) \\Eze 10:10\\ seems to suggest that is still the
case. This would suggest that the divine image
had not changed but that Ezekiel was just then
noticing the close proximately of each living
creature to a wheel.
(3) Some believe having "one wheel by one cherub"
in this verse means that the wheels were now
spread out with a cherub in-between each wheel,
which is certainly possible.
(4) However, it is also possible, and I think more
probable, that the wheels are still joined in
the center as a gyroscope but that the Ezekiel
was now noticing that each cherub was standing
much closer to a different wheel rim.
2. \\#9\\ "the colour of a beryl stone"
a. This is the color of the wheels.
b. Pure beryl is colorless but it is frequently tinted by
its impurities to be green, blue, yellow, red, or
white.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl
c. Since this is an image of God and His glory, the
wheels are likely clear or translucent.
C. \\#11-12\\ The Cherubims Themselves
1. "When they went" - The additional description of the
next verse indicates that the "they" referred to the
living creatures not the wheels.
2. \\#11\\ repeated the description of the creatures and the
wheels as was given in \\#Eze 1:9, 12, 17\\.
Eze 10:11 When they went, they went upon their
four sides; they turned not as they went, but
to the place whither the head looked they
followed it; they turned not as they went.
a. Neither the creatures (having four sides, each side
having its own face) or the wheels (being four in
number with rims pointed in eight different
directions) ever turned.
b. They are always ready to travel in any given
direction.
c. This represents the unchangeableness of God.
3. "were full of eyes"
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.
a. This is a detail not given in the chapter one.
b. In chapter one, we were told that the rings or rims of
the wheels were full of eyes, but no mention was
given of the creatures having eyes.
Eze 1:18 As for their rings, they were so high
that they were dreadful; and their rings were
full of eyes round about them four.
c. Here we are told that the wheels and the creatures are
covered with eyes, including the creatures' backs,
hands, and wings.
d. The eyes represent the all-seeing, all-knowing God.
Nothing escapes His attention.
4. \\#13\\ "it was cried unto them in my hearing, O wheel."
a. Ezekiel made it clear that he heard someone call to
the wheel. It would seem that someone was directing
it.
b. This would likely be the cherubims for Ezekiel chapter
one made it clear that "the spirit of the living
creatures was in the wheels" \\#Eze 1:12, 20, 21\\.
5. \\#14\\ The Faces of the Cherubims
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, and the
third the face of a lion, and the fourth the
face of an eagle.
a. At first glance, the faces of the image seem to be
different.
1. Cherub
2. Man
3. Lion
4. Eagle
b. In chapter one, they were said to be:
1. Man
2. Lion
3. Ox
4. Eagle
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.
c. The difference being the ox face is now replaced with
the cherub's face.
d. However, Ezekiel goes on to tell us that the faces he
saw in chapter 10 were the SAME faces he saw in
chapter 1.
Eze 10:21 Every one had four faces apiece, and
every one four wings; and the likeness of the
hands of a man was under their wings.
22 And the likeness of their faces was the same
faces which I saw by the river of Chebar, their
appearances and themselves: they went every one
straight forward.
e. My conclusion - A Cherub looks like an ox.
D. \\#15-19\\ Things Were Moving
1. \\#15-17\\ The Divine Image Moved
a. \\#15\\ Two truths Given
(1) "the cherubims were lifted up" - The living
creatures went up into the air.
(2) "This is the living creature that I saw by…
Chebar" - This is the same image that Ezekiel
saw in chapter 1.
b. \\#16\\
(1) "when the cherubims went, the wheels went" - The
cherubims and the wheels all went together.
(2) "the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up"
The living creatures were being carried by their
wings.
(3) "the same wheels also turned not" - Neither the
wheels nor the creatures had to turn to proceed
in whatever direction they desired. Here the
direct was east \\#19\\.
c. \\#17\\ Emphasizes the unison between the cherubims
and the wheels as was recorded almost verbatim in
\\#Eze 1:21\\.
2. \\#18\\ The Glory of God Moved
a. Ezekiel had tracked the movements of God's glory while
in Jerusalem.
(1) \\#Eze 9:3\\ The glory left the cherub to move
"to" (near) the threshold of the Holy Place.
(2) \\#Eze 10:4\\ The glory moved "over the
threshold" of the Holy Place.
b. Now, the glory of the Lord moved from the threshold to
stand "over the cherubims."
c. I see no textual reason why God referred to "the
cherub" sometimes and "cherubims" at others. No
single cherub has been singled out that I can tell so
I will assume God refers to all the cherubims
sometimes in the plural (because they are four in
number) and sometimes in the singular (because they
move and work as one).
3. \\#19\\ A Summary
a. So "the cherubims lifted up their wings and mounted up
from the earth… the wheels also were beside them…."
b. But "every one stood at the door of the east gate of
the Lord's house" - They stopped at the east gate,
probably the gate between the inner and outer courts.
c. "and the glory of God of Israel was over them above."
And God's glory was over them, moving away from the
Holy Place of Israel, His place of residence in
Israel.
E. \\#10:20-22\\ Ezekiel's Clarification
1. \\#20\\ "This is the living creature" - Ezekiel wanted to
be certain we understood that this was the same image he
had recorded in chapter 1.
2. "I knew that they were the cherubims." - Ezekiel now
understood that the winged, living creatures were God's
cherubims, a detail not given in chapter 1.
3. \\#21-22\\ To be sure we understood who he was referring
to as the cherubims, he gave some description. It was
the part of the vision that:
a. \\#21\\ "had four faces apiece"
b. "Every one" having "four wings"
c. with "the likeness of the hands… under their wings"
d. \\#22\\ and they had "the same faces which I saw by
the river Chebar"
e. and "they went every one straight forward."
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