02_eichler_nuovoImpaginato+eliminata_nota24)_DEF_copiaaaaa_26_38 28/04/15 11:32 Pagina 38 38 RAANAN EICHLER 6,23-26) reveal that their authors presupposed upright creatures 46. Arguments claiming otherwise 47 have been countered 48. The up- rightness of the cherub precludes its identification with the winged sphinx, as well as the winged bovine and griffin, which are all non- upright, four-legged creatures. The solution that the ark cherubim are winged sphinxes standing on their hind legs 49 cannot be ac- cepted, because it is implausible that the writers would omit such a peculiar detail, especially since they do provide other particulars regarding the position of the cherubim. Thus, it seems that the candidates for the cherub are those crea- tures that are winged, common in ancient Levantine iconography and normally depicted upright. Five creatures fit these criteria: two have been identified at some point with the cherub — the bird and the winged human; and three have not — the scarab beetle, the winged snake and (if it can be called a creature) the winged disk. I hope to evaluate these five candidates in detail in a subsequent paper. Hebrew University Raanan EICHLER Har ha-Tsofim Jerusalem 91905 Israel SUMMARY 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 twenty- first. 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. 46 GRESSMANN, Lade, 6-14, 47-67; CASSUTO – BARNETT, “Cherub”, 242; R. EICHLER, “The Function of the Ark Cherubim”, Tarbiz 79 (2011) 165-185 at 174-175 [Hebrew]. 47 KEEL, Jahwe-Visionen, 18-21. 48 EICHLER, “Function”, 174-175. 49 See METZGER, Gottesthron, 326-351.