13. The Making Of The Cherubim
BEDE: ON THE TEMPLE
portico which was in front of the temple is said to have been gilded on the inside and the rooms too are said to have been covered over.13
Here the figure of a mystery is in evidence because the whole Church both in this world and the next abounds in the gift of charity more than in the other virtues pleasing to God, and this virtue by itself, inasmuch as it is particularly outstanding, seems to obscure the rest.
For the portico in front of the temple was gilded because the Fathers of the Old Testament pleased God by their charity; the temple was gilded because the very same charity is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to the inner house was gilded because in our heavenly homeland charity alone reigns, but there (it does so) the more truly and surely in that God himself who is charity is seen in person;15 there (it does so) the more certainly in that the very mediator of God and men'6 who alone is privy to the secrets of the Father, like the ark of the covenant is contemplated perpetually.
And the fact that the rooms too were covered over is to be taken in the same sense. For as the inner house of the Holy of Holies, where the ark was, signifies the eternal life of the saints in the sight of their creator and redeemer according to the saying of the psalmist, You shall hide them in the covert of your countenance from the disturbance ofmen,17 so the upper rooms denote that this life is above, i.e. in heaven, and not in this world, as the Apostle says, Seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth.
13. THE MAKING OF THE CHERUBIM
13.1 (6:23) And in the oracle he made two cherubim' of olivel 3 cf. 2 Paralip 3:4.9 l 4 Rm 5 5 l5 cf. 1 Jn4:16
1 Tm 2:5 l7 Ps30:21 l 8 Col 3:I-2 'The cherubim were winged animals with human heads, like the winged sphinxes of Syro-Phoenician iconography. Their name, however, Kericb, comes from the Akkadian, in which the word karibu or kuribu means a genie who was the adviser to the great gods and an advocate for the throne of Yahweh, just as in 2 S 22ll=Ps
18:11, they served as his steeds, and according to the visions of Ezk 1 and 10, drew his chariot.' de Vaux (1973). 319
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wood, ten cubits high.2 'Cherubim', as the prophet Ezekiel explicitly declares, is a title of dignity, and in the singular number the form cherub is used, but cherubim in the p l ~ r a l . ~
Hence the figures of the cherubim which were made in the oracle can be appropriately taken to mean the angelic retinues that always wait upon their creator in heaven. And they are properly said to have been made of olive-wood because, of course, angelic virtues are anointed with the grace of the Holy Spirit lest they should ever grow arid in the love of God. For they are those fellow-companions of ours of whom the prophet speaks in his praise of Christ: God your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellow^.^ In figurative terms it was quite right
[ I 791 that those whom their creator later filled with the light of heavenly wisdom, were made of olive-wood. That is why he wanted them called cherub which means in Latin 'a great store of knowledge'. And they are ten cubits high because they enjoy the denarius of eternal life having preserved ever untarnished in themselves the image of their creator by the sanctity and uprightness and truth which they received in the first creation. For a denarius is worth ten obols and customarily bore the name and likeness of the king. Consequently, it also makes a very fitting metaphor for the kingdom of heaven where, on the one hand, the holy angels ever remain in their creator's likeness according to which they were made, and on the other hand, the human elect receive his image which they had lost by inning.^ For we know, he says, that when he uppears we shall be like him (and) see him as he b6
13.2 (6:24) One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the cherub was five cubits, that is, in all ten cubits, from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. Wings when used as a figure of holy men signify their virtues whereby they delight in always flying to heavenly things and passing their lives in preoccupation with these things. But when wings are used to signify angels, what do they more aptly demonstrate than the grace of perpetual and unfailing happiness of those who persevere continually in heavenly things in the service of their creator? Or at all events because they
~ infru 16.8 ** cf. Bede, De tub. 1, 513ff; cf. Ezk 105-8 Ps44:8 cf. Jer., Nom. Hcbr: CCSL 72:63,11; 103,7
1 Jn 3:2
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are endowed with the lightness of spiritual nature so that they can get to wherever they want, as it were, by flying, they are here both figuratively represented with wings and actually shown with wings.
Now it has been well said, one wing of the cherub was five cubits and the other wing of the cherub five cubits, since the angelic powers keep with untiring devotion the law of God which is written in five books, that is, by loving the Lord their God with all their strength and by loving their neighbours as them~elves.~
For love Is thefulfilling of the law.* Now 'their neighbours' includes both the angelic spirits themselves reciprocally and elect human beings who are equally their fellow-citizens. So the reason each wing is said to be of the same dimensions is that with the same devotion as they love each other in God they also long for our company as we ascend to them, and so ten wings together take up ten cubits when, in a twofold demonstration of love, the angels rejoice in the presence of their maker.
[280] 13.3 (6:25) The second cherub also measured ten cubits. The measurement and the shape was the same in both cherubim. Two cherubim were made in order to signify a sharing in the same love of which we speak, because love cannot exist between fewer than two. Moreover, the reason why the saviour took care to send the disciples in twos9 to preach was that he might tacitly teach that those who were to preach the word of faith must before all works possess the virtue of love. And the two cherubim were of the same dimensions and shape because there is no difference of will or thought in the heavenly homeland where all are illumined by one and the same vision and glory of God there present.
13.4 (6:27) And he set the cherubim in the middle of the inner temple, and the cherubim stretched forth their wings. And the wing of the one touched one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall, and the other wings in the middle of the temple touched one another. From what has been said already it is clear why the cherubim, whose abode is always in heaven, were placed in the middle of the interior of the temple. The cherubim, moreover, stretch out their wings as if to fly because angelic spirits always have
' cf. Lk 10:27
Rm 13:lO cf. Lk 101; Bede in Luc. 3,1897-1905; Greg., Horn in EL PL 76,1139A
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their mind in readiness to comply with the divine will. But the fact that one cherub's wing was touching one wall and the second cherub's wing the other wall has to do with that ministry of love which the angels perform for us. The fact that the other wings in the middle of the temple touched each other expresses that grace of love with which they embrace each other.
13.5 The text which follows, (6:28) And he overlaid the cherubim with gold, is apposite because their creator both elevated their nature with immortal glory and filled their minds with the true light of love and humility. True, it should be noted that Moses, while making the tabernacle, also made two golden cherubim which he placed on the mercy seat which was above the ark,1° but Solomon added two more much bigger ones to place in the temple so that he might put the ark under their wings in the middle with the mercy seat and the first cherubim, and so it happened that whereas there were two cherubim in the tabernacle, in the temple there were four. However, they both had the same significance but the work was repeated and made more majestic by Solomon also in order that it might be shown in figure that when the Church had multiplied after the Lord's incarnation, the sublimity of the citizens of heaven was to be made more widely known to the gentiles, and these (heavenly citizens) extol their creator so highly for the gift of their own blessedness bestowed on them, that they also rejoice with us over our rescue and reception into the same beatitude. For they stretch their wings towards each other over the ark" when they refer to the praise of their Lord and saviour every good thing they have received. They stretch the (two) other wings to the walls of the oracle when they are glad to see holy people also with them, and touch, as it were, with the tips of their wings those who, to their delight, have been sharers and imitators of their purity in this life. But equally they touch the two walls with their wings because they consider the faithful of both peoples, i.e. the Jews and the gentiles, to be possessors with them of the heavenly court; not because in that homeland there is distinction of place between each of the two peoples but because the celebration of their inner happiness is enhanced by the fellowship of fraternal union. Why the cherubim stretch their wings to each of lo cf. Ex 25:18-20; 37:7-9 '' Libri Carolini 1.20 MGH, Legum S. 3, Concilia 2, Suppl. ed. Bastgen, 46-48
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the two walls of the oracle is that, while rejoicing in their heavenly homeland, they spur on the upright among both peoples to the praise of the creator by the vision of their own glory also. And not only do they rejoice at the happiness of those righteous people whom they inwardly regard as being with themselves the heavenly hosts, but they also show unremitting concern for us who are still on the outside crying from the depths to the Lord.12
13.6 Hence in the Book of Paralipomenon it is aptly written of these cherubim: And they stood upright on their feet, and their faces were turned towards the house outside. l3 The cherubim, indeed, stood upright on their feet because the angels never strayed from the way of truth in which they were once created. They have their faces turned towards the outer house because they desire us to attain to fellowship with them after we have been rescued from the hardships of this sojourn. The reason why they stand upright on their feet like this and stretch out their wings to the gold-covered oracle walls in such a way that they have their faces turned towards the outer house is that this is how the angels forever preserve their innocence; and they rejoice so much together over the happiness of the holy souls in heaven that they never cease giving assistance to those chosen ones also whom they see still in exile on earth until they bring them too to their heavenly homeland. For they are all ministering spirits, sent to serve for the sake of those who are to receive the inheritance of salvation ?14
13.7 The two cherubim can also stand for the two testaments. These cherubim, no doubt, were made in the oracle because in the design of God's providence, which is, of course, inaccessible and incomprehensible to us, it was arranged before the world began, when and how and by what authors sacred scripture was to be written. They were made of olive-wood because the divine books were composed
(1821 by men of mercy, whose godly deedr have not failed, l5 men who were enlightened by the unction of the Holy Spirit. They were made of olive-wood because they afford us the light of knowledge with the cf. Ps 129:l l 3 2 Paralip 3:13 l 4 Heb1:14 l5 Sir 44:lO
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help of the flame of God's love which is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.16 They are ten cubits high because by the observance of the decalogue of the Law they preach that God is to be served since they show that those who serve God faithfully are to be rewarded with the denarius of an everlasting kingdom. They have twin sets of wings because they proclaim that the testaments have always, both in adversity and in prosperity, pursued heavenly things with tireless resolve and attained to them, because they point out to their listeners that they must do exactly the same. Five cubits is the length of one cherub's wing and five the length of the other's since in all the fluctuations of transient things the saints lay all the senses of their body under contribution to the service of their creator17 with their eyes ever on the Lord," desiring to hear the sound of his praise and to recount all his wonderful works,lg considering his words sweeter to their throats than honey and the honeycomb to their rnouths?O running after the odour of his ointments,21 and while there is breath left in them and the spirit of God in their nostrils, they do not speak evil with their lips nor utter folly with their tongue,22 and thus going on their way with the amour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left23 they succeed in receiving the heavenly denarius which the supreme master of the household has promised to the workers in his vineyard.24
13.8 And the two cherubim formed one work because the writers of both documents served God with one and the same purity of work and devotedness of love and proclaim God with one harmonious voice and belief, and what the New Testament relates as accomplished facts regarding the Lord's incarnation, passion, resurrection and ascension, the calling of the gentiles, the expulsion of the Jews and the manifold affliction of the Church, these same facts the Old Testament, rightly l6 cf. Rm 5:5 l7 infra 15 ** cf. Ps 24:15 l9 cf. Ps25:l 2o cf. Ps 118103 21 cf. Sg 1:3
22 cf. Jb 27134 and Jb 6:30
23 2Co6:7
24 cf. MI 2O:l-2