Expert: Mike Muya - 6/2/2009

Question
What exactly does the scripture Ezekiel 41vs19 refers to when describing the cheribum ? I noticed on the site that someone indicated that the lion represented Christ but upon reading the a copy verses before Ezeliel was describing the temple could you please clarify.

Answer
hi wendy

Your text and question are part of a large plan God had for a restored Israel after their seventy year captivity in Babylon and Assyria.

Chapters 40 - 48 are a unit of what God had intended for the returning children of God on conditions that they would reform and henceforth obey the God of Heaven.

It never materialized because the Jewish people refused to reform. Instead when they returned to Palestine they concentrated their energies and hopes in their own homes rather than God's house and His olans for a new temple. See Haggai 1 and 2.

Now to your specific question in Ezekiel 41: 19. The references to Cherubims is not  real live angels called Cherubims. This text in context is describing the artistic work of
builders who knew how to make likenesses of Cherubims and palm trees in the structure the Bible calls the house which was but one of the many rooms in the proposed temple that never was built.

I would refer you to the building of the sanctuary by Moses and the children of Israel
back in Exodus 25: 8 and specifically the beautiful needle work in Exodus 26: 1 - 6. The art work was to be representations of real angels. In the first sanctuary they were present  but Ezekiel's dream never was realized.

God bless you and thank you for your questions.