02_eichler_nuovoImpaginato+eliminata_nota24)_DEF_copiaaaaa_26_38 28/04/15 11:32 Pagina 37 CHERUB: A HISTORY OF INTERPRETATION 37 this position do not rely on an etymological argument but on the existence of what they see as contradictory descriptions of cheru- bim within the Hebrew Bible 43. * * * No obvious pattern emerges in the interpretation history, except that all periods share an inclination to identify the cherub with a crea- ture that was well-known at the time. Of the views surveyed, two are prevalent in contemporary scholarship. The first is that the word bwrk refers to composite creatures in general. This view is challenged by the fact that the biblical writers usually neglect to specify the form of the cherub, even when specifying other details such as materials, position, and dimensions (Exod 25,18-20 = 37,7-9; 1 Kgs 6,23-28 ≈ 2 Chr 3,10-13). This omission indicates that there was assumed to be a typical form with which the reader would be familiar 44. The second view, which seems to be the more popular of the two, identifies the cherub with the winged sphinx. The first argument raised by its advocates, that the winged sphinx is common in ancient Levantine iconography, is based on a reasonable principle: the pre- dominance of the cherub in Israelite iconography as reflected in the Hebrew Bible indeed suggests that it is a being or class of beings that can be found in ancient Near Eastern iconography, particularly from the Levant. However, the argument is invalid because, in fact, several other winged creatures appear in this corpus with equal, if not greater, frequency; these include the bird (especially the falcon), the scarab beetle, the winged snake (uraeus) and the winged human. The second argument in favor of this view, i.e., that both cherubim and winged sphinxes support thrones, has been challenged as being founded on a mistranslation of the phrase ~ybrkh bvy 45. Furthermore, several indications found in the descriptions of the sculpted cherubim over the ark (Exod 25,18-20 = 37,7-9; 1 Kgs 43 LANDSBERGER, “Angel”, 236; D.N. FREEDMAN – M.P. O’CONNOR, e “k rûḇ”, TDOT VII, 307-319 at 315-319; C. MEYERS, “Cherubim”, ABD I, 899-900; C. HOUTMAN, Exodus III (HCOT; Kampen 2000) 383; W.H.C. PROPP, Exodus 19–40 (AB IIb; New York 2006) 386-387. See also LENOR- MANT, History, 133-135; GRESSMANN, Lade, 47-67. 44 See METZGER, Königsthron, 311. 45 R. EICHLER, “The Meaning of ~ybrkh bvy”, ZAW 126 (2014) 358-371.