the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Seraphim
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
or Ser´aphim, or Seraphs, the plural of the word saraph, 'burning,' or 'fiery:' celestial beings described in , as an order of angels or ministers of God, who stand around his throne, having each six wings, and also hands and feet, and praising God with their voices. They were therefore of human form, and, like the Cherubim, furnished with wings as the swift messengers of God.
There is much symbolical force and propriety in the attitude in which the Seraphim are described as standing; while two of their wings were kept ready for instant flight in the service of God, with two others they hid their face, to express their unworthiness to look upon the divine Majesty (comp. ), and with two others they covered their feet, or the whole of the lower part of their bodies—a practice which still prevails in the East, when persons appear in a monarch's presence.
Public Domain.
Kitto, John, ed. Entry for 'Seraphim'. "Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature". https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/kbe/s/seraphim.html.
