And in the most holy house he made two cherubims of image work, and overlaid them with gold.
Two cherubim. These figures in the tabernacle were of pure gold (Exodus 25:1-40), and over-shadowed the mercy-seat. The two placed in the temple were made of olive wood, overlaid with gold. They were of colossal size, like the Assyrian sculptures; for each, with expanded wings, covered a space of 10 cubits in height and length-two wings touched each other, while the other two reached the opposite walls; their fees were inward - i:e., toward the most holy house, conformably to their use, which was to veil the ark. [There is a special idiom observable in this passage. The construction alternates; for the one wing, kªnap (H3671) haa'echaad (H259), i:e., the right wing, is masculine, and the other wing, kªnap (H3671) haa'acheret (H312), i:e., the left, is feminine. The Orientals thought everything had its duplicate: hence, they considered those parts of the body of which there are two as male and female; and this sentiment pervaded not only the Hebrew, but the Syriac and Arabic languages, which in the cases alluded to point to both sexes.]