And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
Cherub - but in Ezekiel 1:10 it is an ox. The chief of the four cherubic forms was not the ox, but man. Therefore "cherub" cannot be synonymous with "ox." Probably Ezekiel, standing in front of one of the cherubim (namely, that which handed the coals to the man in linen, Ezekiel 10:7), saw of him not merely the ox-form, but the whole four-fold form, and therefore calls him simply "cherub;" whereas of the other three, having only a side view, he specifies the form of each which met his eye (Fairbairn). As to the likelihood of the lower animals sharing in "the restoration of all things," see Isaiah 11:6; Isaiah 65:25; Romans 8:20-21: this accords with the animal forms combined with the human to typify redeemed man.