Ezekiel 10

Ezekiel 8–11 is an extended section in which Ezekiel sees the Jerusalem temple in a vision. Chapter 10 is the third chapter of this section. In chapter 9 the man clothed in linen set a mark on the foreheads of those who sighed and cried; in chapter 10 he appears again and takes the fire of judgment.

Outline

• Verses 1–2 The likeness of a throne appears above the heads of the cherubim. God commands the man clothed in linen to take coals of fire from between the wheels and scatter them over the city.
• Verses 3–5 The glory of the LORD goes up from the cherub and stands over the threshold of the temple. The cloud and the brightness fill the house and the court, and the sound of the cherubim's wings is heard as far as the outer court.
• Verses 6–8 One cherub stretches out his hand, takes fire, and puts it into the hands of the man clothed in linen.
• Verses 9–14 The text describes the four wheels, which look like beryl and appear as "a wheel in the middle of a wheel," together with bodies full of eyes and four faces.
• Verses 15–17 The cherubim are identified with the living creatures Ezekiel saw by the river Chebar. The spirit of the living creature is in the wheels, so the wheels move together with the cherubim.
• Verses 18–22 The glory departs from the threshold and rests above the cherubim, and the cherubim stand at the east gate of the temple. Ezekiel realizes that the living creatures are cherubim.

Key Verses

• Ezekiel 10:4 "Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house" — the first stage in the movement of the glory.
• Ezekiel 10:18 "Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house" — depicts God's presence in the process of leaving the temple.
• Ezekiel 10:20 "and I knew that they were the cherubims" — reveals the identity of the living creatures of chapter 1.

People and Places

• Ezekiel: the prophet of priestly descent who sees the vision.
• The man clothed in linen: the figure who set the mark in chapter 9; here he receives fire and scatters it over the city.
• Cherubim: winged heavenly beings. See Seraphim and Cherubim.
• Temple in Jerusalem: the setting of the vision.
• The river Chebar: a river in Babylonia, where Ezekiel lived in exile and where he saw the vision of chapter 1.

Points to Consider

• In verse 14 the first face is "the face of a cherub," whereas in Ezekiel 1:10 the face of an ox appears in the same position. Many interpreters take the face of a cherub to mean the face of an ox, but commentators explain the difference in various ways.
• The four-faced creatures are often compared with the four living creatures of Revelation 4:7. There is reportedly a tradition, dating to the patristic era, of pairing these four with the four Gospels.
• The departed glory returns to the temple through the east gate in Ezekiel 43. For this reason chapter 10 is read together with the promise of restoration.
• Some popular claims interpret the vision of the wheels as a description of a modern flying craft. This is not what the text says, and such readings are not accepted in mainstream biblical interpretation.