Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
Above it (or, Above HIM) stood - not necessarily the posture of standing; rather were in attendance on Him, hovering on expanded wings.
The - not in the Hebrew.
Seraphim, х sªraapiym (H8314)] - nowhere else applied to God's attendant angels; but to the fiery flying (not winged, but rapidly moving) serpents which bit the Israelites (Numbers 21:6): called so from the poisonous inflammation caused by their bites. Saarap (H8313) is to burn; implying the burning zeal, dazzling brightness of appearance (2 Kings 2:11; 2 Kings 6:17; Ezekiel 1:13; Matthew 28:3), and serpent-like rapidity of the seraphim in Gods service. Perhaps Satan's form as a serpent ( nachash (H5175)) in his appearance to man has some connection with his original form as a seraph of light. The head of the serpent was the symbol of wisdom in Egypt (cf. Numbers 21:8; 2 Kings 18:4). Satan has wisdom, but wisdom not sanctified by the flame of devotion. The seraphim, with six wings and one face, can hardly be identified with the cherubim, which had four wings (in the temple only two) and four faces (Ezekiel 1:5-12). But cf. Revelation 4:8, 'The four living creatures (Greek) had each of them six wings about him.' The "face" and "feet" imply a human form; something of a serpentine form (perhaps a basilisk head, as in the temples of Thebes) may have been mixed with it: so the cherub was compounded of various animal forms. However, seraph may come from an Arabic root akin to sarim, meaning prince: applied in Daniel 10:13 to Michael (Maurer); just as cherub comes from a root (changing m into b) meaning noble.
With twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. Two wings alone of the six were kept ready for instant fight in God's service; two veiled their faces as unworthy to look on the holy God, or pry into His secret counsels which their fulfilled (Exodus 3:6; Job 4:18; Job 15:15; 1 Kings 19:13); two covered their feet, or rather the whole of the lower parts of their persons-a practice usual in the presence of Eastern monarchs, in token of reverence (cf. Ezekiel 1:11, "two (wings) covered their bodies"). Man's service a fortiori consists in reverent waiting on, still more than in active service for God.