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In this trailer for a secular documentary on Solomon’s Temple, the narrator claims cherubim (a kind of angel) are sphinxes
Wickedpedia claims cherubim are related to the Assyrian shedu (or kiribu) and lammasu, mythical spirit beings depicted as winged bulls or lions with the head of a man. The Assyrians believed they were protective spirits and built statues of them in pairs to guard gates and doorways.
Can you seriously imagine one of these things wielding a flaming sword (Gen 3:24)? Would they rear up on their hind legs and hold it between their front paws or hooves?
What Wickedpedia and the makers of the above documentary are trying to do is make it look like Christianity has pagan origins. We know, for example, that both the Tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple had cherubim everywhere – two above the mercy seat (Ex 25:18-20), many woven into the veil to the Holy of Holies (Ex 26:1), two over the Ark of the Covenant (1 Ki 6:23-28), and many carved into the walls and doors of the temple (1 Ki 6:29; 32; 35). Now if these cherubim were winged beasts with human heads, Solomon’s Temple would have looked very pagan indeed. The two pairs of cherubim in the Holy of Holies would have looked as if they were “standing guard” like the lammasu in the picture above.
But we know cherubim aren’t far-fetched mythical part animal, part human creatures like sphinxes, fauns and centaurs. The Bible describes cherubim for us in Ezekiel, and they’re nothing like the Assyrian lammasu.
Cherubim have four heads each.
Ezek 10:14 And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
They have four wings each, under which are human hands.
Ezek 10:21 Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.
They are covered all over with eyes.
Ezek 10:12 And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.
The Holy of Holies would have looked nothing like what was depicted in the video. It would have looked more like this:
Definitely not pagan, and much more realistic. Cherubim are not sphinxes. There is nothing pagan about cherubim or the Israelite worship of God. Cherubim are real creatures, as real as God, although like God they are (usually) invisible to humans.
Wickedpedia claims cherubim are related to the Assyrian shedu (or kiribu) and lammasu, mythical spirit beings depicted as winged bulls or lions with the head of a man. The Assyrians believed they were protective spirits and built statues of them in pairs to guard gates and doorways.
Very pagan-looking Assyrian shedu/ lammasu
Can you seriously imagine one of these things wielding a flaming sword (Gen 3:24)? Would they rear up on their hind legs and hold it between their front paws or hooves?
What Wickedpedia and the makers of the above documentary are trying to do is make it look like Christianity has pagan origins. We know, for example, that both the Tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple had cherubim everywhere – two above the mercy seat (Ex 25:18-20), many woven into the veil to the Holy of Holies (Ex 26:1), two over the Ark of the Covenant (1 Ki 6:23-28), and many carved into the walls and doors of the temple (1 Ki 6:29; 32; 35). Now if these cherubim were winged beasts with human heads, Solomon’s Temple would have looked very pagan indeed. The two pairs of cherubim in the Holy of Holies would have looked as if they were “standing guard” like the lammasu in the picture above.
But we know cherubim aren’t far-fetched mythical part animal, part human creatures like sphinxes, fauns and centaurs. The Bible describes cherubim for us in Ezekiel, and they’re nothing like the Assyrian lammasu.
Cherubim have four heads each.
Ezek 10:14 And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
They have four wings each, under which are human hands.
Ezek 10:21 Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.
They are covered all over with eyes.
Ezek 10:12 And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.
The Holy of Holies would have looked nothing like what was depicted in the video. It would have looked more like this:
Definitely not pagan, and much more realistic. Cherubim are not sphinxes. There is nothing pagan about cherubim or the Israelite worship of God. Cherubim are real creatures, as real as God, although like God they are (usually) invisible to humans.
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