‘And I looked and behold, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub, and another wheel beside another cherub, and the appearance of the wheels was as the colour of a stone of Tarshish. And as for their appearance, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been within a wheel.'
This verse and the verses that follow are very similar to Ezekiel 1:15-18 except that now the living creatures are called cherubim. It may well be that Ezekiel had not connected the living creatures with the cherubim until he saw them connected with the temple. Alternately he may not have wished to make the connection to his hearers lest they thought Yahweh had already deserted His house. Once again the wheels are seen as individually connected with each of the cherubim. In Ezekiel 10:13 it is emphasised that they are called ‘the whirlers'. This may well be intended to signify something like whirlwinds, like ‘a wheel within a wheel'. They were like a ‘stone of Tarshish'. These would be exceedingly brilliant and beautiful. Thus they were like whirling wheels of brilliant light and power.
Tarshish was famous for its silver (Jeremiah 10:9) and from it came valuable metals (Ezekiel 27:12; 1 Kings 10:22). Thus its inhabitants dug deep in the earth and found many wonderful things (Job 28:5-6). In view of the fact that ships sailed to and from Tarshish from and to Ezion-geber (1 Kings 10:22; 2 Chronicles 20:36), and that this is connected with Ophir (1 Kings 22:48), it might suggest a place in Africa, or even India. But Jonah set out for Tarshish from Joppa (Jonah 1:3; Jonah 4:2) which may well have been Spain. Thus Tarshish (‘refinery'?) was a name given to a number of places from which precious things came.