10 Then I looked, and behold, on the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim there appeared above them something like a sapphire,1 in appearance like a throne. 2 And he said to the man clothed in linen, “Go in among the whirling wheels underneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with burning coals from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.”
And he went in before my eyes. 3 Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the house, when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court. 4 And the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub to the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord. 5 And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.
6 And when he commanded the man clothed in linen, “Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,” he went in and stood beside a wheel. 7 And a cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and took some of it and put it into the hands of the man clothed in linen, who took it and went out. 8 The cherubim appeared to have the form of a human hand under their wings.
9 And I looked, and behold, there were four wheels beside the cherubim, one beside each cherub, and the appearance of the wheels was like sparkling beryl. 10 And as for their appearance, the four had the same likeness, as if a wheel were within a wheel. 11 When they went, they went in any of their four directions2 without turning as they went, but in whatever direction the front wheel3 faced, the others followed without turning as they went. 12 And their whole body, their rims, and their spokes, their wings,4 and the wheels were full of eyes all around—the wheels that the four of them had. 13 As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing “the whirling wheels.” 14 And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was a human face, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
15 And the cherubim mounted up. These were the living creatures that I saw by the Chebar canal. 16 And when the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them. And when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels did not turn from beside them. 17 When they stood still, these stood still, and when they mounted up, these mounted up with them, for the spirit of the living creatures5 was in them.
18 Then the glory of the Lord went out from the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim. 19 And the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth before my eyes as they went out, with the wheels beside them. And they stood at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the Lord, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.
20 These were the living creatures that I saw underneath the God of Israel by the Chebar canal; and I knew that they were cherubim. 21 Each had four faces, and each four wings, and underneath their wings the likeness of human hands. 22 And as for the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces whose appearance I had seen by the Chebar canal. Each one of them went straight forward.
Section Overview
The vision depicted in Ezekiel 8–11 comprises two parallel panels, 8:5–10:22; 11:1–21. These are bracketed by a brief introduction (8:1–4) and conclusion (11:21–25), each of which refers to the glory of God. The structure could be outlined like this:
(A) Introduction (Divine Glory; 8:1–4)
(B) Accusation of Religious Wrongdoing, Focused on Elders (8:5–17)
(C) Divine Judgment, Beginning with Elders (9:1–10:8)
(D) Ezekiel Asks God to Preserve a Remnant (9:8)
(E) The Divine Glory Departs from Jerusalem (10:9–22)
(B') Accusation of Social Wrongdoing, Centering on Leaders of the People (11:1–6)
(C') Divine Judgment upon the Leaders of the People (11:7–13)
(D') Ezekiel Asks God to Preserve a Remnant (11:13)
(E') The Lord Will Be Present with the Exiles and Will Bring Them Home (11:14–21)
(A') Conclusion (Divine Glory; 11:22–25)
This structure demonstrates that the key message of the vision concerns the location of God’s presence, which will no longer be located in the Jerusalem temple, from which Ezekiel’s audience is far distant. Rather, because of the people’s repeated religious and social sins, the Lord will abandon his house in Jerusalem to destruction by the Babylonians and come to dwell for a while with those of his people already in exile. Then, in due time, he will bring these exiles back to their land, where he will resume his residence in their midst (cf. ch. 43).
Ezekiel 10 concludes the opening half of the vision and shows the divine glory’s reluctantly but decisively abandoning his former home because of the religious and social sins of his people.
Section Outline
II. Oracles of Doom (4:1–24:27) . . .
B. The Vision of the Defiled Jerusalem Temple (8:1–11:25) . . .
3. The Lord’s Glory Departs (10:1–22)
Response
Modern people do not generally associate the presence of God with a particular geographic location. Yet Jerusalem was the place in which the Lord himself chose to set his name in a unique way. He had promised to remain there, protecting the city from all dangers (Psalm 46), yet even at the time of the dedication ceremony under Solomon he had warned the people not to presume upon his presence. If they and their kings abandoned him, then he would in turn abandon his holy house over to destruction (1 Kings 9:6–7). This is what is happening in Ezekiel’s day. Even though the Lord promises a future return to his temple in glory through Ezekiel (Ezekiel 43), when the temple is rebuilt after the exile in the days of Haggai and Zechariah there is no glorious refilling of the restored temple with the shekinah glory. Some people find the reconstructed building distinctly anticlimactic (Haggai 2).
In the NT era the glory of God has come and “dwelt” (or “tabernacled”) in our midst in the person of Jesus (John 1:1–14). Now God’s presence is no longer tied to a mountain, not even to his formerly chosen residence in Mount Zion, as Jesus explains when he responds to a Samaritan woman’s question about approved worship locations (John 4:20–21). With the coming of Christ and the destruction of the restored Jerusalem temple in AD 70 a fixed place of residence for God is in the past. A new age has dawned in which Christians now worship God in Spirit and in truth, wherever they are located (John 4:24).
For Christians, therefore, God’s presence in our midst is tied not to a holy place but to the promise of the Lord’s presence through the Spirit, wherever two or three Christians are gathered (Matt. 18:20). The Lord will never abandon his new covenant people; he is with us always, even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20). Nevertheless, it is possible for us to grieve the Spirit through our persistent, high-handed sin, to the point at which he must discipline us in love (Heb. 12:4–6). The Lord may remove the lampstand of his presence from a community for a period of time because of its persistent refusal to repent and respond to the gospel (Rev. 2:5). He will never leave or forsake those who are his (Heb. 13:5), however, for Christ has been forsaken for our sakes on the cross. We may sometimes feel that we are abandoned and forsaken by God for a while, but even our worst sin cannot sever the deep union we have with Christ. We are his and he is ours—forever.Ezekiel 10
Ezekiel 11