5. The Propitiatory And The Cherubim
BEDE: ON THE TABERNACLE
'testimony' might be that Moses received from the Lord to be put into the ark, listen to the Apostle, who says: And behind the second curtain was a tabernacle which is called the holy of holies, containing a golden censer and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold in which there was a golden urn holdin the manna, andAaron s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. Now the golden urn in the ark holding the manna is the holy soul in Christ which contains initselfall the fullness ofDivinity.*
Aaron's rod that budded although cut off [from the tree] is the invincible power of his priesthood, concerning which the prophet says: 'The rod of your kingdom is a rod of equiv. Even after it seemed for the time being
B to have been cut off through death, in the dawn of the resurrection mom it was found to have blossomed again all the more vigorously, and it became clear that it would remain forever imperishable and unfading. For Christ rising Pom the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.4 The tablets of the covenant in the ark indicate that all knowledge of the Father's secrets and all power of judgement are in Christ. For on the tablets of the covenant were inscribed the faith of the eternal Divinity which creates and rules the world, and the commandments through which one ought to serve God, and the discerning judgement with which he rightly condemns those who hate him and with due mercy rewards those who love him. This, then, is the testimony that the Lord gave Moses to be put into the ark. It indicated the truth that we ought to confess in Christ about his flesh, his soul, and his word; it showed that after the passion of death the same flesh would be glorified in the resurrection and lifted up to the etemal dignity of a king and priest; it taught that he alone is privy to the Father's secrets, just as truly as he is the judge of all worlds, of one and the same majesty with the Father.
THE PROPITIATORY AND THE CHERUBIM
25:17 You shall also make a propitiatory of the purest gold; two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its width.
People often ask about the propitiatory, with which it says the ark was to be covered. But since he orders it to be made of gold and to be of the same length and width as he had commanded the ark to be made, it is established beyond a doubt that he wanted the board to be made with the same amount
1 Heb. 9:3-4 2 Col. 2:9
3 Ps. 45:6 (44:7) 4 Rom. 6:9
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of gold as it took to cover the ark. From this it is clear that the propitiatory is nothing other than the Lord Saviour, but it especially designates the heart of compassion' that is in him, concerning whom the Apostle says: Godput himfirward as apropitiation through faith in his blood.2 For this reason also is it placed up above, because he exalts mercy overjudgement. For this reason the psalmist also says: The Lord is sweet to all, and his mercies are over all his works.
(IS]
25:18-21 You shall also make two cherubim of beaten gold, at the two ends of the mercy seat.4 Let one cherub be on the one side, and the other on the other. Let them cover both sides of the propitiatory, spreading their wings and covering the mercy seat: and let them look toward one another, their faces being turned toward the propitiatory with which thearkis to be covered,in which you shall put the testimony that I will give you. The prophet Ezekiel clearly declares that 'cherubim' is the name of the angelic powers6 which he describes as having appeared to him with wings, according to the pattern in which they are orderded to be deployed here. For he indicates that those others had appeared to him when he says: And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heardas far as the outer court, like the voice of God when he ~ p e a k s . ~
In the singular number it is indeed called a 'cherub' and in the plural 'cherubim', and it is a noun of the masculine gender, but according to Greek custom it is put in the neuter gender as 'cherubin', the letter m being changed to n. But our translator, following the Hebrew idiom, puts it in the masculine gender:
'You shall also make two cherubim of beaten gold, ' not 'two cherubin of beaten gold'. This [latter reading] I believe to be a corruption in his translation arising from the negligence of scribes, so that 'cherubin' was written instead of 'cherubim' in the manner of the ancients.
Now 'cherubim' or 'cherubin' is interpreted as 'multitude of knowledge' or 'understanding of knowledge',' because it is evident that the name is quite rightly appropriate to the angelic powers inasmuch as they perfectly adhere to the vision of their Maker, free from every impure impulse of thought. And on that account also the painters' fancy is accustomed to depict wings in the figure of the cherubim Moses is ordered to make, and 1 vrsceraprefafis; literally, 'bowels of piety'
2 Rom. 3:25
3 Ps. 145:9 (144:9) 4 oraculr; literally, 'of the oracle'
5 oraculuin 6 Cf. Bede, De femplo 1 (CCSL 119A: 178, 1269) 7 Ezek. 10:5
8 Jerome, Nom. (CCX 72: 74, 20-1)
BEDE: ON THE TABERNACLE
in that form of them that the prophet testified that he had seen. In this way it is signified that the angels have their dwelling place on high and are able to hasten everywhere as if with nimble flight; nor do they suffer any delay, but rather appear immediately wherever they wish. This Same tlung is certainly promised to us also after the resurrection, for we shall then be clothed with spiritual bodies. Therefore the cherubim spread their wings and cover the propitiatory because the angels dedicate to their Maker's service every power of their nature, by which they deserve to dwell on high and to enter by a smooth and joyful way all the regions of that supernal homeland. And when they contemplate the propitiatory it is as ifthey cover it over (that is, they adorn it with honourby veiling it), because they regard every rank of perpetual felicity that they attain as coming from the grace of him from whom they have received the power to will no evil.
Now there are two [cherubim] to sign@ the peaceful fellowship of the angels, because it is not possible for charity to be exercised among any
@wer than two. Then they are also ordered to look towards one another (191 and to face the propitiatory, doubtless because they agree with one another in glorifying the Divine Vision. In addition, the two testaments ccm be figured through the two cherubim; one of them proclaims the incarnation of the Lord as future, the other as having been accomplished. They look toward one another because they do not disagree with one another at all in the attestation of truth which they preach. They turn their faces to the propitiatory because they vigorously commend the Lord's mercy, which is the world's only hope. For this reason they are on each side of the mercy seat2 because they fill the times preceding the Lord's incarnation, as well as those that follow, with the preaching of spiritual knowledge.
The name 'multitude of knowledge' or 'knowledge m~ltiplied'~ is also appropriate for them, because Sacrcd Scripture is clearly filled with spiritual and &vine knowledge, and the same knowledge from which Scripture itself was originally composed is always increased and never ceases to be multiplied. Hence the angel also said to Daniel, 'Many shall pass by, and knowledge shall be manfold. Surely the Lord himself bears witness that Moses acquired more knowledge than the patriarchs, for when he appears to him he says: 'I am the God who appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as GodAlmighQ, but my name Adonai I did not make known to 1 Gregory the Great, Horn. in evang. 17, 1 (PL 76: 1139A)
2 oraculr 3 Jerome, Norn. (CCSr, 72: 63, 11; 74, 20) 4Dan. 12:4
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them." Therefore the understanding of divine knowledge was multiplied from the time when the Lord showed Moses this h n g concerning his own self, which he had not made known to the patriarchs.
Let us consider whether David, who was meditating on the law of the Lord day and night, might have perceived himself to have understood somethmg more about the Lord than had Moses who wrote the law. He says: 'How I have loved your law, 0 Lord; it is in tny nieditation all the day; and he immediately added: 'I have understood above all my teachers. '
Hence he also glorifies the Lord elsewhere, saying: 'You have made known to me the hidden things and the secrets ofyour wisdom. A Likewise the Lord himself declares the apostles to have known greater things than the prophets, for he speaks to them, saying: il4anyprophets and righteous people desired to see the things you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things you hear. and did not hear them. '5 But he also promises them still greater grace of knowledge after his resurrection and ascension, saying:
'I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear thein now; but when the Spirit of truth cotnes he will teach you all truth. '
He also assures them that in the future he will reveal to them greater things than all those that they are able to know in this life, saying: 'And those who love me will be loved by niy Father, and I will love thein and rnaniJ2st ni.vse!fto thein. '
(201 Rightly, then, does 'cherubim' mean 'knowledge multiplied', because in both testaments knowledge of the truth became known to the faithful more and more as time went by. Rightly are the cherubim said to cover the propitiatory of glory, because as knowledge grows through time and is multiplied, the testaments preach to us the propitiation of the Lord Saviour and do not cease to honour it always with grateful voices, as if they were spreading their wings to fly. For since the words of those who talk come from the speakers' mouths into the hearts of their hearers as if they were flying through the air, they can deservedly be designated by the cherubim with spreading wings, who are, as it were, prepared to fly.
1 Exod. 6:2-3. The sacred nanie that God revealed to Moses was given as nln'('Yahweh'; the Tetragrammaton) in the Hebrew t e q which the Greek translation known as the Septuagint rendered as KCPL~C ('Lord'). The Vulgate reading Adonai, which Bede gives here, is the transliterated Latin form of the Hebrew '1%
('Lord'), which was substituted in Jewish tradition for the Tetragrainmaton when the text was read aloud because the Divine Name itself was considered too holy to be pronounced.
2 Ps. 119:97 (1 18:97) 3 Ps. 119:99 ( I 18:99) 4 Ps. 51:6 (50:s) 5 Matt. 8:17
6 John 16:12-13 7 John 14:25
BEDE: ON THE TABERNACLE
25:22 I will speak to you from above the propitiatory, and from the midst of the two cherubim,which shall beupon thearkof the testimony, and from there I will enjoin all the things that I will command the children of Israel by you. From above the propitiatory the Lord speaks to Moses all the things that he commands the children of Israel by him because through the grace of God's propitiation it happened that he deigned to appear to humankind after the crime of transgression and to show them the way of truth after they had gone astray. He speaks from the midst of the cherubim because the Lord appeared and spoke to Moses through an angelic vision and not in his own substance, as the Apostle attests that the law was put forth because of transgressions, until the ofsspring should come to whom he had made the promise; and it was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. Or, alternatively, the Lord speaks from the midst of the two cherubim because through the words of the two testaments he instructs us in the true faith with one harmonious voice; or perhaps he speaks from the midst of the cherubim because God the Father deigned to manifest his will to the human race through his Only-begotten who appeared in flesh between the two testaments. What Habakkuk said can also be taken in this sense: 'In the midst of two living beings you will be known. l2
The ark can also be taken figuratively as the Holy Church which is constructed from incormptible wood (that is, from holy souls). Extended throughout the four quarters of the world, with faith in the holy gospel [the Church] expects from God the ctemal crown of life.3 It contains in itself the tables of the covenant by continual meditation on the law of God; it also contains thc golden urn with the manna as a guarantee of the Lord's incarnation, and Aaron's rod that budded as a shanng in the kingship and priesthood of the Lord; for the apostle Peter says: 'But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood. A Up above, it has the propitiatory to remind it that every good thing it possesscs it has received from the generosity of divine grace; and on the propitiatory it has the glorious cherubim, signifying
1 Gal. 3:19
2 Hab. 3:2. Bede quotes from the Old Latin version, which reads in medio duorum animalium innotexens. Jerome, in his commentary InHab. 2 (CCSr. 76.4: 619,52 - 621, 1 14), expressed a preference for the reading in medio annorum ('in the midst of the years'), which he had used in his own Vulgate translation. At the same time, however, Jerome recorded several possible interpretations of the older version, including those referring to the cherubim and to the two testaments which Bede gives here. In his own commentary In Hab. 3,2 (CCSL 119B:
383,60 - 384, 77), Bede interprets the phrase in medio duorum animalium as referring to the manifestation of Jesus, either between Moses and Elijah at his transfiguration or between two thieves at his crucifixion.
3 Jas. 1:12
4 1 Pet. 2:9