Bible Lexicons

χερουβιμ (R G) and Χερούβειν (L T Tr WH; in manuscripts also Χερουβιν, Χερουβειμ; (cf. Tdf Proleg., p. 84; WH's Appendix, p. 155a; and under the word εἰ, ἰ)), τά (neuter gender also in most places in the Sept.; rarely, as Exodus 25:18, 19, οἱ χερουβιμ; Χερουβεις in Exodus 25:18 (but this is a mistake; the form in Χερουβεις seems not to occur in the O. T.); in Philo τά χερουβιμ, in Josephus, οἱ Χερουβεις, Antiquities 3, 6, 5; αἱ Χερουβεις, ibid. 8, 3, 3; the use of the neuter gender seemed most suitable, because they were ζῷα; Χερουβεις ζῷα ἐστι πετεινά, μορφήν δ' ὀυδεναι τῶν ὑπ' ἀνθρώπων ἑωραμενων παραπλησια, Josephus, Antiquities 3, 6, 5), Hebrew כְּרוּבִים (hardly of Semitic origin, but cognate to the Greek γρύψ, γρυπος (for the various opinions cf. Gesenius' Hebrew Lexicon, Mühlau and Volck edition, under the word כְּרוּב)), cherubim, two golden figures of living creatures with two wings; they were fastened to the lid of the ark of the covenant in the Holy of holies (both of the sacred tabernacle and of Solomon's temple) in such a manner that their faces were turned toward each other and down toward the lid, which they overshadowed with their expanded wings. Between these figures God was regarded as having fixed his dwelling-place (see δόξα, III. 1): Hebrews 9:5. In Ezekiel 1 and Ezekiel 10 another and far more elaborate form is ascribed to them; but the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews has Exodus 25:18-20 in mind. Cf. Winers RWB, under the word Cherubim; Gesenius, Thesaurus, ii., p. 710f; Dillmann in Schenkel i. 509ff; Riehm, De Natura et Notione Symbolica Cheruborum (Basil. 1864); also his 'Die Cherubim in d. Stiftshütte u. im Tempel' in the Theol. Studien und Kritiken for 1871, p. 399ff; and in his HWB, p. 227ff; (cf. Lenormant, Beginnings of History (N. Y. 1882), chapter iii.).