the Berasit Hebrew Dictionary

כרובימ

Also known as “cherubim”, kerobim is the plural anthropomorphized derivative of kerob. But what is a 'kerob'? Commonly, the kerobim are thought to be angelic beings, typically depicted as chubby infant boys. Is there any basis for this whatsoever within the Hebrew texts?

Etymologically, it is difficult to ascertain a literal meaning for 'kerob'. It may or may not be related to qerob meaning “nearby”. If so, the literal meaning of the plural form 'kerobim' (aka cherubim) could be translated literally as “the nearby ones”. In this case, the kerobim may simply be a subset of alehim based on their location, station, or role.

The kerobim appear within the texts in only a few very specific contexts, each of which will be examined here.

The kerobim make their first appearance in Genesis 3, where they are placed to guard the entrance of Eden so that Adam and Eve may not return.

And Yahweh the alehim said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So Yahweh the alehim banished man from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim with a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

From the context, it is clear that the role of the 'kerobim' was as guards. Exodus 37:9 and Ezekiel 28:14 confirm this role, by equating the 'kerobim' with the cekekim, a somewhat less ambiguous word based on the root cekek which clearly means “to guard” or possibly “to protect”.

This is certainly one aspect of the 'kerebim', but their story is much more complex.

In 2 Chronicles 2:3-7 - King Solomon sent this message to Hiram king of Tyre: Send me cedar logs as you did for my father David when you sent him cedar to build a palace to live in. Now I am about to build a temple… [it] will be great, because our God is greater than all other gods. But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? Who then am I to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him? Send me, therefore, a man skilled to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, and in purple, crimson and blue yarn, and experienced in the art of engraving, to work in Judah and Jerusalem with my skilled workers, whom my father David provided.

The specific skills required by Solomon are an odd combination of metallurgy, engraving and weaving of specific colored threads. The project to be undertaken by these hired craftsmen was for the decorating of a specific set of objects in the new royal temple in Jerusalem. These decorations included 'kerobim'. At least, that is the classic interpretation; the 'kerobim' in the temple were purely decorative.

Most peculiarly though, decorative arts were strictly outlawed by Moses as part of his so-called Ten Commandments, arguably the foundational pillars of Judea-Christian ethics and culture to this day, the common translation of which reads “Thou shalt not make any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under earth”.

Granted, a great span of time had elapsed between the times of Moses and Solomon, so perhaps this apparent contradiction can be explained by the idea that this particular bit of the ten commandments had fallen out of favor culturally during the four-hundred years or so that elapsed. This hypothesis seems at least plausible, but only until one considers the fact that the requirements outlaid by Solomon during the construction of the Temple on Jerusalem actually mirror almost exactly the specifications for the Tabernacle laid out by none other than Moses himself, immediately following the penning of the very commandments which the specifications appear to break.

The only difference between the cases of Moses and Solomon are that whereas Solomon sought to import skilled workers from Tyre (aka, Lebanon, aka Syria), Moses had no readily available neighboring allies from which to borrow employees and was forced to train someone¹⁾ especially for the task. In fact though, it was not Moses himself who performed the training. Rather he handpicked a skilled craftsman from among his followers and sent him on a special assignment, to receive a very specifically customized training program. The teachers of this training program were the alehim, and at least some of the instructions for the project were given to Moses from ihoh himself.²⁾

We are now left with an intriguing set of dilemmas.

• Why would Moses himself fund a training program to accomplish a task that he had literally just outlawed.
• Why would the alehim be interested in getting involved in the art tutorial business?
• Why would ihoh tell Moses to outlaw visual arts, then give Moses a picture of how to make a sculpture?

Something strange is going on. Perhaps we have been missing some critical points of information in our traditional telling of these stories.

Ezekiel chapters 8-10 tells of an encounter with 'kerobim'. Ezekiel tells a bizarre tale of an alien entity enters his home while he was visiting with some friends, who he describes as “a fiery figure”, “as bright as glowing metal.” The being then “stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head,”, then “lifted [Ezekiel] up between earth and heaven […] and took [Ezekiel] to Jerusalem.³⁾ After being teleported or transported by some unknown flying vehicle to Jerusalem, Ezekiel says he sees the kerobim in the temple, along with what sounds like a rocket launch or a spacecraft taking off.

When he says “above the vault that was over the heads of the cherubim” he is referring to a physical location, in the temple. These cherubim are the decorations on top of the Ark of the Covenant. This ark was one of the items made by Bezalel for the Tabernacle, and it was eventually moved to the temple in Jerusalem, where it remained at Ezekiel’s time. It is somewhat interesting that Ezekiel was allowed to see it, as the room containing it was considered sacred and only accessible to the high priests on special occasions. Nevertheless, this is what Ezekiel says happened. Yahweh is here also, sitting upon the lapiz throne, and he sends one of his strange companions to fetch some “burning coals” or “fire” from between the cherubim below him, resulting in the whole room filling with smoke. Yahweh’s ship then lifts off, moving out into the courtyard, with blinding light and a loud noise which Ezekiel refers to as the sound of the wings of the cherubim Next, Ezekiel repeats the same scene in more detail. Yahweh’s humanoid assistant (here called “the man in linen”, and who according to Ezekiel chapter 9 seems to be some type of scribe and administrative assistant to Yahweh) is told “Take fire from among the wheels, from among the cherubim” the man went in and stood beside a wheel. Then one of the cherubim reached out his hand to the fire that was among them. He took up some of it and put it into the hands of the man in linen, who took it and went out. (Under the wings of the cherubim could be seen what looked like human hands.)

So the scene is set up as the cherubim being ornamental decorations that are part of the Ark of the Covenant, but then they are described as having hands that are capable of interacting with the humanoid alien. Perhaps they are some sort of mechanism? Additionally, Ezekiel reveals the presence of wheels within or among these cherubim, despite the fact that wheels are not mentioned in the detailed plans for Bezalel to build the cherubim. Also, they are on fire. These fiery, noisy wheels are under the throne of Yahweh, which then lifts off noisily. Is this some kind of engine? Ezekiel continues:

I saw beside the cherubim four wheels, one beside each of the cherubim; the wheels sparkled like topaz. […] the four of them looked alike; each was like a wheel intersecting a wheel. As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the cherubim faced; the wheels did not turn about as the cherubim went. The cherubim went in whatever direction the head faced, without turning as they went. Their entire bodies, including their backs, their hands and their wings, were completely full of eyes, as were their four wheels. Each of the cherubim had four faces: One face was that of a cherub, the second the face of a human being, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. Then the cherubim rose upward. When the cherubim moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the cherubim spread their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not leave their side. When the cherubim stood still, they also stood still; and when the cherubim rose, they rose with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in them.

Finally it dawns on Ezekiel: These were the living creatures I had seen beneath the God of Israel by the Kebar River, and I realized that they were cherubim. How is it possible that Ezekiel doesn’t recognize these so-called “living creatures”? Only after some detailed observation, he realizes their identity. How does he not notice this right off the bat? It’s quite simple. When Ezekiel is transported to Jerusalem, he is taken into the holy sanctuary of the temple. Nobody is allowed in there, so apart from the rare visits by the high priest, no one has seen the Ark of the Covenant for hundreds of years. Additionally, Jewish law forbids graphic arts. No pictures existed of the Ark of the Covenant. Be that as it may, Hebrew culture included a lot of educational material, particularly verbal education on religious topics, so every Hebrew kid from Jerusalem to Babylon would have known about the Ark of the Covenant and the cherubim adorning it. They would have heard many stories about it and would have been familiar with its history. They could probably even recite descriptions of its design that had been handed down since the days of Moses. They may even be the exact same descriptions we have, albeit he would have been reading them in the original language. But these descriptions were apparently woefully inadequate. Ezekiel had heard the descriptions. He knew the name. He knew the word ‘cherubim’ and the theoretical knowledge around it. But he had never seen it. Not even in a picture. He never put two and two together until he saw the Ark of the Covenant himself, with the actual “throne of god” spaceship hovering above it. He was standing there staring at this revered artifact, and the parts on top which were designed to resemble or in some way replicate the real life version of the cherubim. He saw the spaceship hovering above them. He saw the resemblance of certain parts of the spaceship to the parts on the Ark of the Covenant. He saw their correspondence. Perhaps he saw their physical interaction. Only then could he recognize these parts of the spaceship as the thing he had been taught about all his life from a decidedly religious standpoint. He then could suddenly recognize that the weird spaceship thing bore a striking resemblance or correspondence to the cherubim. Only then could he recognize the cherubim for what they truly were—parts of an ancillary device that involved a docked spaceship. It is still not clear what role these cherubim play, but it becomes obvious to Ezekiel that the cherubim are for the spaceship. There is little other technical evidence to go on, but it is clear that the ship lands or docks over the cherubim. Perhaps they are part of a charging system or some kind of control unit. We just do not know. It is here that Ezekiel gets more technical data, including some technical jargon and the names of certain of these components. He had already known the term “cherubim”, and now he gets the opportunity to learn some of the actual names of certain other parts which had not been included in his religious teaching: I heard the wheels being called הַגַּלְגַּ֖ל (haggalgal). He overhears someone (perhaps the pilot and crew?) speaking about certain technological components as they prepare to launch. This is analogous to the type of chatter one would still hear before the launch of any aircraft. “Engines ready?” “Confirm, engines ready.”

Then the glory of Yahweh departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them. Suddenly, I have more respect for the English translators of the Bible. They were in the same boat as Ezekiel. Or perhaps they were in the opposite boat. Ezekiel had a lot of experience with a technological object. He had seen this UFO not once but twice, plain as day, in broad daylight, from a very clear vantage point, and with plenty of time to take it in and really absorb what he was seeing. He had no language for it and had to try to make some kind of sense out of it, which he actually did a commendable job on. He described in great detail its appearance, its movements, and even, to the best he could figure out, how it worked. He just had no reason to think it was in any way related to his religious lessons.

The cherubim could be interpreted as some kind of robots, just as easily as some type of transdimensional spiritual beings, or even aliens. Is there enough new information to answer the question at hand? The question under pursuit is this—what were these cherubim that Bezalel was supposed to program? One must return to the design specifications listed in Exodus 25.

Make a כַפֹּ֖רֶת (kapporet) of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the kapporet. Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends.

Firstly, a note is in order regarding the naming of this object. We have already seen a few instances where a novel technical term is given. Ezekiel learned the name of a few specialized components, including the cherubim, and the haggalgal. This is another case. Moses is being directed to oversee the building of a certain specific object called the ‘kapporet’. This is a specific technical term given to Moses and Bezalel directly from Yahweh. There is no normal Hebrew word for it. It is a technical term which appears only in reference to this exact object. To call it anything else is purely misleading. Yet, attempts have been made to translate the name. Such names as “mercy seat” and “atonement cover” are typically applied, and in fact, these names may actually provide some useful information to the function of this strange object, as shall be expanded upon momentarily. We see, further that: The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, covering the kapporet with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover.

There are several aspects here which are directly echoed in the UFO encounters of Ezekiel. Specifically, the words translated here as ‘wings’ and ‘face’. We have already examined how each of the cherubim is said to have had “four faces and four wings.” We then examined the Hebrew words פָנִ֖ים (panim), and and כְּנָפַ֖יִם (kenapayim) which we found they yielded a better translated as “four surfaces or edges”. The same word ‘panim’ is also used in Genesis 1:2, where the ruach of elohim is said to hover over “the surface” (panim) of the deep.

Thanks to Ezekiel’s second UFO encounter in Jerusalem, it is now clear that the cherubim have four surfaces. Suddenly, a geometric figure springs to mind—a solid object with four surfaces: a tetrahedron.

Edit Six Wings The figure above is said to be four sided, since it contains four surfaces. However, it could also be described as having six edges. The Hebrew word ‘panim’ is not exactly clear. It might mean ‘surface’ or ‘edge’. The ruach of the Elohim may just as well have been hovering over the edge of the deep. This ambiguity is particularly interesting when we consider another UFO encounter. That of the prophet Isaiah. His description is very similar to certain aspects described by Ezekiel but differs in one regard: Whereas Ezekiel counts four “wings”, Isaiah counts six. In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings […] and the doorposts shook at his voice, and the house was filled with smoke. Granted, Isaiah also gives these objects a different name, which is not terribly surprising, given the proclivity of names for such objects already. The שְׂרָפִ֨ים (seraphim) described by Isaiah may or may not be equivalent to the cherubim. Suffice it to say that these objects, whether the same or not, are both seen to fly in close proximity with the “throne of Yahweh” and differ primarily in the number of edges or surfaces. This might be entirely due to the counting of geometric edges versus surfaces. Why does it matter? This brings us back to the book

Edit The Merkabah A tetrahedron has been mentioned briefly, however, it requires further analysis. Consider the arrangement of the cherubim. There are to be two cherubim, and they are to face each other. In other words, they are facing opposite directions. Consider what geometrical wonders occur when two tetrahedrons are superimposed, facing opposite directions.

These two superimposed tetrahedrons now form a unique shape, and arguably the most important symbol in Hebrew history and culture. A couple hundred years after Ezekiel penned his book, Jewish scholars became increasingly interested in analyzing his account, eventually creating a large body of works focussing on the vehicle he described, which they began to refer to as the ‘merkabah’ (meaning ‘chariot’). They recognized the object for what it is, a flying vehicle. The same vehicle that David describes in his psalms, with Yaweh travelling upon it. The Hebrew scholars developed a whole set of commentary and theology based around this object, as well as a rich symbology. Their primary symbol continued to be this superposition of two tetrahedrons, shown sometimes from slightly differing angles, indicating a three-dimensional object that can be seen to rotate. The rotation of the object was recognized as a critical feature. As already discussed in an earlier chapter, Ezekiel described the cherubim as “wheels within wheels” with flashes of lightning and fire. Combining this imagery with the three-dimensional, geometrical tetrahedral qualities of the merkabah traditions, we get a clearer picture that strongly resembles a gyroscope. This similarity is further enforced by Ezekiel’s observation that they “do not turn as they move” but only “move straight ahead” in any direction they choose. This is in fact the key feature of a gyroscope. A gyroscope is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity, exactly as Ezekiel indicates. It is a critical piece of the navigation systems of modern helicopters, submarines, and space satellites. Could this explain the presence of such a device in Ezekiel’s UFO encounter? Unfortunately, there is just not enough information to truly know the purpose of this device, which leaves the reader to speculate. Spinning components are used in all kinds of modern technology including electromagnetic generators and motors and they give rise to centrifugal and vortex forces. Could these or other as yet unknown forces and technologies be the real purpose of the wheels within wheels? At any rate, there is no question that the merkabah symbology encapsulates great power. Unlike the majority of obscure ancient esoteric cults which have eventually waned and been lost to the faded memories of history, the merkabah lives on as a powerful symbol. Although it may be tempting to dismiss it as a fringe obsession, perhaps caution would be advised against such a cavalier attitude. After all, only a very obvious graphical simplification is required to achieve the most obvious and intrinsic symbol of all of Judaism: one that will be immediately recognizable to every reader—the well-known Star of David, that today adorns the flag of Israel.

One must ask then, how is it that this graphical representation of a UFO came to be the enduring symbol of an entire nation? One that symbolizes unimaginable repression and suffering as well as an unquenchable hope.

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