And for the altar of incense refined gold by weight; and gold for the pattern of the chariot of the cherubims, that spread out [their wings], and covered the ark of the covenant of the LORD.
Ver. 18. The chariot of the cherubims.] So called, because God sat between them, Psa 99:1 rode upon them; Psa 18:10 the angels - represented by those cherubims - are called the chariots of God; Psa 68:17 and the Hebrews have a saying, that such as saw God of old saw only Merehavah velo harocheb, the chariot in which God rode, but not the rider in it; some created image and glory testifying his presence they saw, but himself they saw not. It is a good note also that is given here by some expositors - viz., that by this chariot of the cherubims God gave his people to understand that his presence in the ark was not so fixed among them, but that he would leave them, and ride clean away from them, if they should thereunto provoke him by their sins. In the 9th, 10th, and llth Chapter s of Ezekiel, God maketh various moves: as first, From the cherubims in the oracle to the threshold; Eze 9:3 secondly, To the cherubims on the right side of the house; Eze 10:1 thirdly, To the east gate of the house and the first entrance into the temple; Eze 10:19 fourthly, To Mount Olivet, quite out of the city; - and Eze 11:23 then followed the fatal calamity of that state.