02_eichler_nuovoImpaginato+eliminata_nota24)_DEF_copiaaaaa_26_38 28/04/15 11:32 Pagina 27 CHERUB: A HISTORY OF INTERPRETATION 27 3,13); in other passages, cherubim each have one face (Exod 25,20 = 37,9; 2 Chr 3,13) and two wings (1 Kgs 6,24.27), while arms and wheels are not mentioned. Third, in Ezekiel’s parallel inaugural vi- sion (Ezek 1,1 – 3,14), creatures described in the same manner are never called cherubim but twyx, “living beings”. According to many critical interpretations of the destruction vision, the very conjunction of these creatures’ description with the label “cherubim” is not original to the text but results from later editorial activity 1. The one formal feature of cherubim that is fairly consistent through- out the Hebrew Bible is their wings. That cherubim had wings is either noted in passing or can be inferred with regard both to the sculpted cherubim over the ark (Exod 25,20[2x] = 37,9[2x]; 1 Kgs 6,24[4x].27[6x] ≈ 2 Chr 3,11[4x].12[3x].13; 1 Kgs 8,6-7 = 2 Chr 5,7-8) and to the living cherubim associated with YHWH (2 Sam 22,11 = Ps 18,11; note also Ezek 10,5.8.12.16.19.21). For this reason, virtually all attempts to identify the cherubim have been limited to winged creatures, be they fantastic or natural. The earliest sources that might have taken a stand on the issue refrained from doing so. In the Greek Bible (including the Apoc- rypha and New Testament) and its revisions, as well as the Targu- mim, the Peshitta and the Vulgate, the word bwrk is simply transliterated and no attempt is made to identify which creature it designates. Philo, despite devoting an entire work (De cherubim) to the cherubim, also failed to discuss their form and merely ex- plained their name midrashically as “vast knowledge and science” (De vita Mosis II 20), presumably reading ~ybrk(h) as ~ybr rkh. Jose- phus explicitly professed ignorance in the matter, saying that cherubim “are flying creatures, but their form is not like to that of any of the 1 W. EICHRODT, Ezekiel. A Commentary (OTL; London 1970 [1965-1966]) 105-134; W. ZIMMERLI, Ezekiel 1. A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, Chapters 1–24 (Hermeneia; Philadelphia, PA 1979 [1969]) 230-254; C.B. HOUK, “The Final Redaction of Ezekiel 10”, JBL 90 (1971) 4-54; O. KEEL, Jahwe-Visionen und Siegelkunst. Eine neue Deutung der Majestätsschilderungen in Jes 6, Ez 1 und 10 und Sach 4 (SBS 84/85; Stuttgart 1977) 125-273; A. WOOD, Of Wings and Wheels. A Synthetic Study of the Biblical Cherubim (BZAW 385; Berlin 2008) 95-138. Some scholars, however, do accept the conjunction as authentic: G.A. COOKE, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Ezekiel (ICC; Edinburgh 1936) 111-121; M. GREENBERG, Ezekiel. A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (AB; Garden City, NY 1983) 192-206; D.I. BLOCK, The Book of Ezekiel. Chapters 1–24 (NICOT; Grand Rapids, MI 1997) 314-327.