Cherub. — See Exodus 25:19. This passage alone would show how naturally the idea of winged attendants on the Divine Being grew out of the phenomena of cloud and storm. No doubt many features of the developed conception were derived from contact with Assyrian art, but for the poetry of this passage we have only to think of those giant pinions into which cloud so often shapes itself, this clause being in close parallelism with “wings of the wind.” The variation in Samuel, “appeared” for “did fly,” is, no doubt, a transcriber’s error. For the picture we may compare Oceanus’ approach in Prometheus Vinctus: —
“On the back of the quick-winged bird I glode,
And I bridled him in
With the will of a God.”
MRS. BROWNING’S translation.
It has been, however, conjectured that for kherûb we should read rekhûb, “chariot,” as in Psalms 104:3. Comp.
“And rushed forth on my chariot of wings manifold.” — ibid.