And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.
Two cherubim. The real meaning of these figures, as well as the form of them, is not known with certainty (see the note at Genesis 3:24): they were probably similar to what were afterward introduced into the temple, and described, Ezekiel 10:1-22. They stretched out their wings, and their faces were turned toward the mercyseat, probably in a bowing attitude. The prevailing opinion has been that those splendid figures were symbolical not of angelic but of earthly and human beings-the members of the Church of God interested in the dispensation of grace, the redeemed in every age-and that these hieroglyphic forms symbolized the qualities of the true people of God-courage, patience, intelligence, and activity (see the note on the primitive form, attitude, and position of the cherubim, Hengstenberg, 'Egypt and Books of Moses,' pp. 153-159; Wilkinson's 'Ancient Egypt,' Second Series, vol. 2:, p. 275; B„hr,`Symbol.,' 1:, p. 350; Donaldson's 'Christian Orthodoxy,'
p. 354; Hardwick, 'Christ and Other Masters,' 2:, pp. 324-330).
A different view from that given above is advanced by Mr. Rhind ('The Tabernacle in the Wilderness;' etc., p.
21). 'The construction as well as uses of the mercyseat seem to preclude either of the common interpretations of the type, as referring either to angels or to the Church. The cherubim are distinctly stated to be of the mercyseat, and out of the mercyseat (Exodus 25:19: cf. Exodus 37:8). And this is still more apparent in the Hebrew text, where the preposition used in Exodus 25:18-19 (as well as verses Exodus 37:7-8), and translated, "on the mercyseat," and "on the two ends," etc., should properly be translated 'from;' also, as to the word "beaten work" (Exodus 25:18) (cf. Exodus 37:7, "beaten out of one piece"), the meaning seems to be, that the cherubim were not cast or moulded separately from the mercyseat, and then attached to it, but were beaten out of the solid mass of gold which formed the mercyseat, the one being beaten from out of the one end, and the other from the other. The mercyseat and cherubim being thus all of one piece, represents, it is believed, Christ, as the one who holds all the glorious power of God, associated with mercy, and in and through whom God is able to display His power and righteousness-ever inseparably linked on with mercy and grace.'