Raanan Eichler, «Cherub: A History of Interpretation», Vol. 96 (2015) 26-38
The cherub is a type of creature mentioned some 90 times in the Hebrew Bible, where it is portrayed as a predominant motif in Israelite iconography. This paper surveys the attempts to determine the form of the cherub, in both textual and iconographic sources, from the fourth century to the twentyfirst. The cherub has been interpreted as a winged human (child or adult), a bird, a winged bovine, a griffin, a winged sphinx, and a composite creature in general. The last two identifications, which prevail in contemporary scholarship, are rejected, and a path to a correct identification is proposed.
02_eichler_nuovoImpaginato+eliminata_nota24)_DEF_copiaaaaa_26_38 28/04/15 11:32 Pagina 35
CHERUB: A HISTORY OF INTERPRETATION 35
pears in ancient Levantine iconography, for example, on a thir-
teenth-century BCE ivory plaque from Megiddo 35.
VI. Winged Sphinx
The predominant opinion in current scholarship is that the
cherub is a winged sphinx, i.e. a human-headed winged lion 36. Two
arguments are presented in favor of this view. First, the winged
sphinx is common in ancient Levantine iconography, just as the
cherub, according to the Hebrew Bible, was common in Israelite
iconography. Second, pairs of winged sphinxes are depicted in the
Phoenician-Canaanite sphere supporting the thrones of kings and
occasionally those of gods, as, for example, on the late second mil-
lennium Ahiram sarcophagus 37; thus winged sphinxes and biblical
cherubim perform a similar function, as these scholars understand
the aforementioned epithet of YHWH, ~yb(w)rkh bv(w)y / ~ybwrk bvy,
as meaning “who is seated upon the cherubim” 38.
304; R. DE VAUX, “Les chérubins et l’arche d’alliance”, Bible et Orient (Paris
1967) 231-259 (= MUSJ 37 [1961] 93-124) at 238.
35
G. LOUD, The Megiddo Ivories (Chicago, IL 1939) pl. 9:32a.
Online photograph: http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0502/features/
boon_pic04.html [cited 15 June 2014].
36
W.F. ALBRIGHT, “What Were the Cherubim?” BA 1 (1938) 1-3; G.E. WRIGHT,
Biblical Archaeology (Philadelphia, PA 1957) 141; DE VAUX, “Chérubins”, esp.
234-238; KEEL, Jahwe-Visionen, 18; ID, Die Geschichte Jerusalems und die
Entstehung des Monotheismus (Göttingen 2007) I, 294-301; M. METZGER,
Königsthron und Gottesthron. Thronformen und Throndarstellungen in Ägypten
und im Vorderen Orient im dritten und zweiten Jahrtausend vor Christus und deren
Bedeutung für das Verständnis von Aussagen über den Thron im Alten Testament
(AOAT XV; Kevelaer 1985) 323; T.N.D. METTINGER, “Cherubim”, Dictionary of
Deities and Demons in the Bible (DDD) (eds. K. VAN DER TOORN et al.) (Leiden
1995) 189-192; WOOD, Wings, 202-203; T. STAUBLI, “Cherub(im)”, Encyclopedia
of the Bible and Its Reception V (eds. H.-J. KLAUCK et al.) (Berlin 2012) 55-59.
37
Beirut National Museum; online: http://beirutnationalmuseum.org/
?page_id=103 [cited 15 June 2014].
38
This is the understanding of, in addition to scholars cited in note 36:
DHORME – VINCENT, “Chérubins”, 485; G. VON RAD, “The Tent and the Ark”,
The Problem of the Hexateuch and Other Essays (Edinburgh 1966) 103-124
at 108; Y. KAUFMANN, The Religion of Israel. From Its Beginnings to the
Babylonian Exile (New York 1972) 239; F. LANDSBERGER, “The Origin of
the Winged Angel in Jewish Art”, HUCA 20 (1947) 227-254 at 235.
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