Ezekiel 10:4

Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the LORD'S glory.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) The glory of the Lord went up from the cherub.—As in Ezekiel 10:2, the singular, cherub, instead of the usual plural. Here it is thought to designate, not the four living creatures of the vision, but the cherubim overshadowing the mercy-seat, and to indicate that the manifestation of the Divine presence now left the Holy of Holies, and went to the threshold of the door of the house, preparatory to leaving it altogether. The expression is obscure, since the place of the manifestation of the Divine presence in the most holy place is usually described as “between the cherubim” (Exodus 25:22; Numbers 7:89; Psalm 80:1; Psalm 99:1, &c.). Of the main point, however, there can be no doubt—that the Divine presence is represented as in the act of leaving the Temple. “The house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord’s glory” as He departed, in striking contrast with the similar manifestations (Exodus 40:34-35; 1Kings 8:10-11), when God accepted the tabernacle and the Temple as the peculiar place of His abode.

Benson Commentary

Ezekiel 10:4-7. Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub — In token of his departure from the temple. The words may be better rendered, For the glory of the Lord had gone up, &c. For the prophet repeats here what he had related before, Ezekiel 9:3. And the house was filled with the cloud — The account here given must strike every reader as to its similarity with the description given of the Shechinah in the books of Moses and the first book of Kings. A bright cloud was the sign of God’s presence, which first filled the tabernacle, Exodus 40:35, (afterward the temple, 1 Kings 8:10,) where it fixed itself upon the mercy-seat, Leviticus 16:2. From whence God is said, so often in Scripture, to dwell between the cherubim. This glory now removed from the place where it used to appear in the inner sanctuary, and came down toward the porch of the temple, and stood, or fixed itself, partly in the temple and partly in the inner court adjoining to it: see note on Ezekiel 9:3. The glory stood, to show God’s unwillingness to leave his people, and give them time to return to him, and placed itself where it might be seen, both by priests and people, that both might be moved to repentance. And the sound of the cherubims’ wings, as the voice of the Almighty — As the sound of loud thunder. The cherubim, in the prophet’s vision, seem to have moved to attend upon the Shechinah, which now had taken its station at the threshold of the house. He went and stood beside, rather, between, the wheels.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:1-7 The fire being taken from between the wheels, under the cherubim, ch. 1:13, seems to have signified the wrath of God to be executed upon Jerusalem. It intimated that the fire of Divine wrath, which kindles judgment upon a people, is just and holy; and in the great day, the earth, and all the works that are therein, will be burnt up.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A repetition of Ezekiel 9:3. Now the glory of the Lord had gone up from the cherub to the threshold of the house. Ezekiel 10:4-6 describe what had occurred before the "man went in" Ezekiel 10:3.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. The court outside was full of the Lord's brightness, while it was only the cloud that filled the house inside, the scene of idolatries, and therefore of God's displeasure. God's throne was on the threshold. The temple, once filled with brightness, is now darkened with cloud.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The glory of the Lord; either the visible token of the presence of the God of glory; as Ezekiel 1:28 3:23 8:4; or Christ, who is the glory of the temple, and of his people, nay, is the brightness of his Father’s glory. Went up, in displeasure, and in token of his departure from the temple.

Stood over the threshold of the house; showing both his unwillingness to leave, and giving them time to bethink themselves, and return by repentance; and he stands where he might be seen both by priests and people, that both might be moved to repentance.

The house; the temple, the most venerable and privileged place.

Was filled; there had been a fulness of sin, there is now a fulness of sufferings.

With the cloud; a very great darkness followed upon Christ’s departure from the house.

The court was full of the brightness; not to reside there, but when Christ did turn his back upon the temple, and was coming through the court, a light of majesty shines before him, Psalm 18:12,13.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub,.... Or, "cherubim"; those that were upon the mercy seat, between which the Shechinah or glorious majesty of God dwelt, in the most holy place: this is a token and intimation of the Lord's leaving of the temple; and a little before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, to which this vision chiefly, if not together, refers, a voice was heard in the temple,

"let us go hence (b):''

and stood over the threshold of the house; either of the holy of holies, from whence he was removing; or rather of the holy place, the court of the priests, the inward court, and so open to the outward court, and view of the people in it:

and the house was filled with the cloud; the temple, being forsaken of God, was filled with darkness; as an emblem of that blindness which is come upon the Jews, and will continue on them till the fulness of the Gentiles brought in:

and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory; either the inward court, as the glory of the Lord passed through it, from the holy of holies; or rather the outward court, of which mention is made in Ezekiel 10:4; the glory of the Lord being on the threshold Of the house, which looked towards that, and so enlightened it. This outward court signifies the Gentiles; who, when the Lord removed from the Jewish nation and people, were favoured with the glorious light of the Gospel, and ordinances of Christ; whereby they were enlightened, and filled with the knowledge of the Lord; with the knowledge of him, who is the brightness of his father's glory, and the express image of his person; so through the fall of the Jews salvation came to the Gentiles, Romans 11:11.

(b) Josephus de Bello Judaeorum, l. 6. c. 5, sect. 3.

Geneva Study Bible

Then the glory of the LORD {c} went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the LORD'S glory.

(c) Meaning that the glory of God would depart from the temple.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. Then the glory went up] This can hardly be rendered, and … had gone up; consequently the implication in Ezekiel 10:1 that the glory had returned to the cherubim from the threshold is confirmed.

Ezekiel 10:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The angel scatters coals of fire over Jerusalem. - Ezekiel 10:1. And I saw, and behold upon the firmament, which was above the cherubim, it was like sapphire-stone, to look at as the likeness of a throne; He appeared above them. Ezekiel 10:2. And He spake to the man clothed in white linen, and said: Come between the wheels below the cherubim, and fill thy hollow hands with fire-coals from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city: and he came before my eyes. Ezekiel 10:3. And the cherubim stood to the right of the house when the man came, and the cloud filled the inner court. Ezekiel 10:4. And the glory of Jehovah had lifted itself up from the cherubim to the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the splendour of the glory of Jehovah. Ezekiel 10:5. And the noise of the wings of the cherubim was heard to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when He speaketh. Ezekiel 10:6. And it came to pass, when He commanded the man clothed in white linen, and said, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubim, and he came and stood by the side of the wheel, Ezekiel 10:7. That the cherub stretched out his hand between the cherubim to the fire, which was between the cherubim, and lifted (some) off and gave it into the hands of the man clothed in white linen. And he took it, and went out. Ezekiel 10:8. And there appeared by the cherubim the likeness of a man's hand under their wings. - Ezekiel 10:1 introduces the description of the second act of the judgment. According to Ezekiel 9:3, Jehovah had come down from His throne above the cherubim to the threshold of the temple to issue His orders thence for the judgment upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and according to Ezekiel 10:4 He goes thither once more. Consequently He had resumed His seat above the cherubim in the meantime. This is expressed in Ezekiel 10:1, not indeed in so many words, but indirectly or by implication. Ezekiel sees the theophany; and on the firmament above the cherubim, like sapphire-stone to look at, he beholds the likeness of a throne on which Jehovah appeared. To avoid giving too great prominence in this appearance of Jehovah to the bodily or human form, Ezekiel does not speak even here of the form of Jehovah, but simply of His throne, which he describes in the same manner as in Ezekiel 1:26. אל stands for על according to the later usage of the language. It will never do to take אל in its literal sense, as Kliefoth does, and render the words: "Ezekiel saw it move away to the firmament;" for the object to ואראה והנּה is not יהוה or כּבוד , but the form of the throne sparkling in sapphire-stone; and this throne had not separated itself from the firmament above the cherubim, but Jehovah, or the glory of Jehovah, according to Ezekiel 9:3, had risen up from the cherubim, and moved away to the temple threshold. The כּ before מראה is not to be erased, as Hitzig proposes after the lxx, on the ground that it is not found in Ezekiel 1:26; it is quite appropriate here. For the words do not affirm that Ezekiel saw the likeness of a throne like sapphire-stone; but that he saw something like sapphire-stone, like the appearance of the form of a throne. Ezekiel does not see Jehovah, or the glory of Jehovah, move away to the firmament, and then return to the throne. He simply sees once more the resemblance of a throne upon the firmament, and the Lord appearing thereon. The latter is indicated in נראה עליהם. These words are not to be taken in connection with 'כּמראה וגו, so as to form one sentence; but have been very properly separated by the athnach under כּסּא, and treated as an independent assertion. The subject to נראה might, indeed, be דּמוּת כּסּא, "the likeness of a throne appeared above the cherubim;" but in that case the words would form a pure tautology, as the fact of the throne becoming visible has already been mentioned in the preceding clause. The subject must therefore be Jehovah, as in the case of ויּאמר in Ezekiel 10:2, where there can be no doubt on the matter. Jehovah has resumed His throne, not "for the purpose of removing to a distance, because the courts of the temple have been defiled by dead bodies" (Hitzig), but because the object for which He left it has been attained.

He now commands the man clothed in white linen to go in between the wheels under the cherubim, and fill his hands with fire-coals from thence, and scatter them over the city (Jerusalem). This he did, so that Ezekiel could see it. According to this, it appears as if Jehovah had issued the command from His throne; but if we compare what follows, it is evident from Ezekiel 10:4 that the glory of Jehovah had risen up again from the throne, and removed to the threshold of the temple, and that it was not till after the man in white linen had scattered the coals over the city that it left the threshold of the temple, and ascended once more up to the throne above the cherubim, so as to forsake the temple (Ezekiel 10:18.). Consequently we can only understand Ezekiel 10:2-7 as implying that Jehovah issued the command in Ezekiel 10:2, not from His throne, but from the threshold of the temple, and that He had therefore returned to the threshold of the temple for this purpose, and for the very same reason as in Ezekiel 9:3. The possibility of interpreting the verses in this way is apparent from the fact that Ezekiel 10:2 contains a summary of the whole of the contents of this section, and that Ezekiel 10:3-7 simply furnish more minute explanations, or contain circumstantial clauses, which throw light upon the whole affair. This is obvious in the case of Ezekiel 10:3, from the form of the clause; and in Ezekiel 10:4 and Ezekiel 10:5, from the fact that in Ezekiel 10:6 and Ezekiel 10:7 the command (Ezekiel 10:2) is resumed, and the execution of it, which was already indicated in ויּבא לעיני (Ezekiel 10:2), more minutely described and carried forward in the closing words of the seventh verse, ויּקּח . הגּלגּל in Ezekiel 10:2 signifies the whirl or rotatory motion, i.e., the wheel-work, or the four ōphannim under the cherubim regarded as moving. The angel was to go in between these, and take coals out of the fire there, and scatter them over the city. "In the fire of God, the fire of His wrath, will kindle the fire for consuming the city" (Kliefoth). To depict the scene more clearly, Ezekiel observes in Ezekiel 10:3, that at this moment the cherubim were standing to the right of the house, i.e., on the south or rather south-east of the temple house, on the south of the altar of burnt-offering. According to the Hebrew usage the right side as the southern side, and the prophet was in the inner court, whither, according to Ezekiel 8:16, the divine glory had taken him; and, according to Ezekiel 9:2, the seven angels had gone to the front of the altar, to receive the commands of the Lord. Consequently we have to picture to ourselves the cherubim as appearing in the neighbourhood of the altar, and then taking up their position to the south thereof, when the Lord returned to the threshold of the temple. The reason for stating this is not to be sought, as Calvin supposes, in the desire to show "that the way was opened fore the angel to go straight to God, and that the cherubim were standing there ready, as it were, to contribute their labour." The position in which the cherubim appeared is more probably given with prospective reference to the account which follows in Ezekiel 10:9-22 of the departure of the glory of the Lord from the temple. As an indication of the significance of this act to Israel, the glory which issued from this manifestation of divine doxa is described in Ezekiel 10:3-5. The cloud, as the earthly vehicle of the divine doxa, filled the inner court; and when the glory of the Lord stood upon the threshold, it filled the temple also, while the court became full of the splendour of the divine glory. That is to say, the brilliancy of the divine nature shone through the cloud, so that the court and the temple were lighted by the shining of the light-cloud. The brilliant splendour is a symbol of the light of the divine grace. The wings of the cherubim rustled, and at the movement of God (Ezekiel 1:24) were audible even in the outer court.

After this picture of the glorious manifestation of the divine doxa, the fetching of the fire-coals from the space between the wheels under the cherubim is more closely described in Ezekiel 10:6 and Ezekiel 10:7. One of the cherub's hands took the coals out of the fire, and put them into the hands of the man clothed in white linen. To this a supplementary remark is added in Ezekiel 10:8, to the effect that the figure of a hand was visible by the side of the cherubim under their wings. The word ויּצא, "and he went out," indicates that the man clothed in white linen scattered the coals over the city, to set it on fire and consume it.