Ezekiel 10:6

And it came to pass, that when he had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims; then he went in, and stood beside the wheels. WHEN HE HAD COMMANDED THE MAN CLOTHED WITH LINEN ... TAKE FIRE FROM BETWEEN ... THE CHERUBIM; THEN HE WENT IN - not into the temple, but between the cherubim. Ezekiel sets aside the Jews' boast of the presence of God with them. The cherubim, once the ministers of grace, are now the ministers of vengeance. When "commanded," he without delay obeys (Psalms 40:7; )....

Here the Prophet teaches the end of the vision. The Jews thought that they should always be safe and secure under God’s _presence; _they thought that the sacred fire on the altar availed for the expiation of all wickedness. But God showed that he so resided in the temple that he clothed himself with wrath against them, and that the cherubim were keepers of his arms by which they were at length to be destroyed. We see, therefore, that this false and perverse glowing by which the Jews were intoxicated was cut from under them, since they thought that God was in some way bound to themselves exclusively. Hence the angel is ordered to take fire and to sprinkle it about the city, that it may be destroyed by the burning. But this was necessary, because the Jews_, _while they for a long time obstinately abused the forbearance of God, could not be induced to repent by any fear of his wrath. For th...

1-7 The fire being taken from between the wheels, under the cherubim, ch. Ezekiel 1:13, seems to have signified the wrath of God to be executed upon Jerusalem. It intimated that the fire of Divine wrath, which kindles judgment upon a people, is just and holy; and in the great day, the earth, and all the works that are therein, will be burnt up....

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 10:1, EZEKIEL 10:2 THEN I LOOKED, etc. There follows on the work of judgment another theophany, like that of Ezekiel 1:15. In the "expanse," or firmament, like the "terrible crystal," there is seen as before the likeness of a sapphire throne (see Ezekiel 1:26, note). The form of THE MAN who is the manifestation of Jehovah is implied, though not named. It is he who speaks to the captain of the six ministers of vengeance, himself the seventh, and bids him go in beneath the "whirling wheels" that are beneath the cherub

AND IT CAME TO PASS, [THAT] WHEN HE HAD COMMANDED THE MAN CLOTHED WITH LINEN,.... After the orders were given by him that was upon the throne to the man thus described: SAYING, TAKE FIRE FROM BETWEEN THE WHEELS, FROM BETWEEN THE CHERUBIM; as in Ezekiel 10:2; THEN HE WENT IN; immediately, into the place where the wheels and cherubim were; even under the firmament of heaven, and the throne that was in it: AND STOOD BESIDE THE WHEELS, or "wheel"; to see what it was, as Kimchi thinks; or rather in order to go in between them, as he was bid to do, Ezekiel 10:2....

Ezekiel 10:1. Once more the glory vision appears. The linen clothed man who had done the marking in the previous chapter is now executing judgment. Who is He? Evidently more than an angel. That he is a supernatural being is clear. He held the place of pre-eminence among the other angels (Ezekiel 9:2). This angel is the Angel of the Lord, the same who appeared to the patriarchs, to Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Manoah, and to others. It is the Son of God in the garb of an angel. In the same form he also appeared to Daniel on the banks of the river Hiddekel. “Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz. His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet

THE BURNING OF THE CITY. But the guilty city must be destroyed as well as the people: so the awful carnage is followed by a no less awful conflagration prophetic of the fire, kindled later by Babylonian hands, which reduced the city to ashes (2 Kings 25:9). But this fire was kindled by supernatural hands which took it from among the flames that flashed and blazed between the strange creatures in the Divine chariot (Ezekiel 1:13); and again (_cf._ Ezekiel 9:3) the ominous note is struck of the departure of Yahweh, confirmed by the loud whirr of the wings. Very solemn was the moment when the linen-clad angel took the fire and went forth to scatter it over the guilty city. But over this scene, as over the other ...

THE WHEELS. the wheel. Hebrew 'ophan. See note on Ezekiel 10:2...

On the fire between the cherubim, cf. Ezekiel 1:13....

B. Jerusalem Destroyed by Fire 10:1-8 TRANSLATION (1) Then I looked, and behold, upon the platform which was above the head of the cherubim there appeared something like a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne. (2) And He spoke unto the man clothed in linen and said, Go in between the wheels under the cherubim[236] and fill your hands with coals of fire found between the cherubim and scatter them over the city. And he went in my sight. (3) Now the cherubim were standing on the right of the house as the man entered; and smoke filled the inner court. (4) And the glory of the LORD had arisen from over the cherubim and was over the threshold of the house. And the house was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was filled with the brightness of the glory of the LORD. (5) And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard to the outer court, like the voice of alm...