And thou shalt make two cherubim of gold; [of] beaten work shalt thou make them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat.
Two figures of gold stand on the lid of the ark, above the seat called mercy. The first question is why figures last seen guarding Eden with a flaming sword now stand there.
Wherever cherubim appear in Scripture, they carry God's authority to judge and rule. One writer sums up their role and adds that they need not be one fixed class of creature.
Others have described the cherubim well: "God's judicial executive, whoever carries it out, and in whatever circumstances it appears." They do not seem to be a distinct order of creature that God made. They are symbolic figures instead. In His ways of government and judgment God sometimes uses angels and sometimes men. Whichever it may be, the instruments He uses would be God's cherubim for the moment.
Commentators differ here: others read them as real beings, not symbols. Both agree that the text tells us next to nothing about how they looked.
Genesis 3:24 shows plainly that the cherubim are a special order of angelic beings. Their work is to carry out God's righteous judgments. Scripture mentions them next in our chapter, where they are to be made in gold. Beyond their wings and their faces, the text makes no attempt to describe their form.
At Eden the cherub's sword flashed in judgment. Here the same figures look down at the mercy seat, and that direction is the whole point.
People sometimes say that the cherub means the executive function. Quite true — but executive of what? In Ezekiel it is beyond doubt the executive of judgment. In Genesis 3 too its flashing sword shows the same work, though for a merciful purpose, no doubt. Someone may object that the cherubim on the ends of the mercy seat create a difficulty. But I see singular beauty in Judgment and Mercy combined as the basis of God's dealings with sinners. Notice above all that the faces of the cherubim were to look down at the mercy seat — not at the sinful person. So they always saw the blood which the mercy seat provided as the sinner's atonement. Judgment looks upon what Mercy provides and maintains.
The verse calls this "hammered work". The lid and the two figures came from one block of gold, with nothing cast apart and joined on.
From either end of the mercy seat rose a cherub, beaten out of the one solid piece of gold. So mercy seat and cherubim were one in the sense of divine glory. Scripture mentions the cherubim in connection with the execution of judgment, or at least with the display of God's righteous ways concerning man's sin. That single piece of gold, hammered into the forms of both cover and cherubim, makes divine glory in mercy and divine glory in judgment one. The glory was undivided. Now not only the mercy of God, but the mercy and the judgment of God, are exactly revealed in Christ.
The law lay safe underneath and these figures rose at either side. God could take His seat there, and speak from there.
Here the LORD expresses His gracious intention of coming down from the fiery mountain to take His place upon the mercy seat. He could do this because the tables of testimony lay safe and unbroken beneath. The symbols of His power, in creation and in providence, rose on the right hand and on the left. They were the inseparable companions of the throne where the LORD had seated Himself. It was a throne of grace founded upon divine righteousness and supported by justice and judgment. Here the glory of the God of Israel shone out. From there He gave His commands, softened and sweetened by the gracious source they came from and the medium they came through. They were like the beams of the midday sun passing through a cloud: we can enjoy their warmth without being dazzled.
Because the gaze of judgment rests on blood and not on the guilty, God's whole attitude toward people is settled.
Taking account of the infinite value of the blood of Christ, God's attitude toward men is one of unqualified grace. Through the work of redemption God has been glorified as a Saviour‑God, and His righteousness displayed in the exercise of His rights of mercy toward men… God is against sin, but for the sinner. All His attributes, pictured in the cherubim, act in perfect harmony to carry out all His purposes of grace toward men.
- Judgment. The cherubim carry out God's righteous rule — with a flaming sword at Eden's gate, and here as the guard of His throne.
- Reversal. The same figures that once barred the way now look down at the mercy seat. Judgment sees what mercy provides.
- Union. Hammered from one piece with the lid, they show one undivided glory: God's mercy and His judgment, both revealed in Christ.
- Throne. The law lies unbroken below and justice rises on either side. So the seat is a throne of grace built on righteousness, and God speaks from it.
- Welcome. The result is not a softened God but a satisfied one: against sin, and for the sinner.
And make one cherub at the end of the one side, and one cherub at the end of the other side; out of the mercy-seat shall ye make the cherubim at the two ends thereof.
Verse 19 looks like a simple repeat — one cherub here, one cherub there — until the last clause says how the figures were made: not fastened on, but hammered out of the same gold as the mercy seat. That raises a question: why do figures tied to judgment stand on the seat of mercy?
These figures appear in the Bible long before Israel's tent of worship. Commentators link them with God carrying out His sentence, and note how little the text says about their form.
Genesis 3:24 clearly shows that the cherubim are a special order of angelic beings, concerned with carrying out God's righteous judgments. The next time Scripture mentions them is in our chapter, where they are to be shown in gold. Apart from their wings and their faces, the text does not describe their form.
Commentators differ on what the two figures stand for. Some read them as created beings. Others take them as symbols of God's own attributes. One writer looks at the gold and sees a picture of Christ, since the cherubim were of one piece with the mercy seat and bear witness "to the perfect execution of the will of God by His perfect Servant" (H. F. G. Cole).
The gold of verse 19 is not decoration. Because the cherubim rise out of the same metal as the covering, the throne and its supporters are one object.
The ark of the covenant was the throne where God showed Himself, and the seat of His rule over every living man — the God of the whole earth. It was also the throne of His relationship with His people. The law — the testimony of what He required of men — was to be placed there. Over it was the mercy-seat, which covered it in and formed the throne, or rather the base of the throne, while the cherubim, made of the same piece, were its supporters and formed its sides.
Because they cannot be detached, mercy is never a mood that overrides God's power to act. The same hand that would execute judgment is the hand that carries out the blessing.
But the cherubim and the mercy seat are inseparable. God does work rich blessing. The grace is His, its bestowal is His, and its duration is as its source.
Verse 19 fixes their position; the next verse fixes their gaze. Both look down at the lid, not out at the people. That direction answers the difficulty of finding judgment seated on mercy.
Someone may think that placing the cherubim on the ends of the mercy seat creates a difficulty. But I think there is a rare beauty in Judgment and Mercy joined together as the basis of God's dealing with sinners. Notice above all that the faces of the cherubim were to be turned down towards the mercy seat — not towards the sinful person. So they always saw the blood which the mercy seat provided as the sinner's atonement. Judgment looks upon what Mercy provides and maintains.
The blood goes onto that lid. What the watching figures see there settles how anyone can approach God.
The cherubim formed part of the mercy-seat. These are symbols of the divine attributes and, as such, of judicial power. But since the blood on the mercy-seat has glorified God, all His attributes are in harmony, and all of them act on behalf of believers... All that God is, is against sin; and now all that God is, is for the believer. The blood on the mercy-seat has brought about this mighty change.
Two golden figures stand at the ends, and the space between them holds nothing. Other nations put an image in that place; here God left it empty.
We are told that the pagan nations had something similar to the ark and mercy-seat with the cherubim, but ugly and repulsive in character. What stands out in these pagan arks is that an idol rested on the lid — man's own work and man's own god — and the cherubim gazed at it in worship... But on the mercy-seat there was no image of God.
God takes His place on that seat and speaks from it. Where the words come from changes how they land.
Here the LORD announces His gracious plan to come down from the fiery mountain and take His place on the mercy seat. He could do this because the tables of the testimony lay unbroken underneath, and the symbols of His power, in creation and in providence, rose on the right hand and on the left... "His commandments are not burdensome," when we receive them from the mercy-seat, because they come together with grace, which gives the ears to hear and the power to obey.
- One piece. The cherubim are hammered from the same gold as the lid. Judgment and grace are one throne, not two.
- One gaze. Both faces turn inward and down. The ones who carry out God's judgment look straight at the place of atonement.
- One blood. The blood on the lid changes everything: all that God is was against sin, and now all that God is stands for the believer.
- One void. No image sits between them. God kept His people from picturing Him, and met them at the mercy seat.
- One voice. God speaks from that seat. Commands that come from a place of grace also bring the power to obey.
And the cherubim shall stretch out [their] wings over it, covering over with their wings the mercy-seat, and their faces opposite to one another toward the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubim be [turned].
God's command to Moses fixes more than the shape of the two gold figures over the ark's cover. It fixes the way they face: wings lifted and spread, eyes turned down to the lid between them. Commentators focus on that posture: what the figures look at, and what they no longer look at.
Cherubim did not first appear in the tabernacle. One writer traces where they stand, and the first place faces the wrong way for a sinner:
We first read of the cherubim in Genesis 3:24: "He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life." Here they act for God in judgment. They appear looking outward toward man in his sin.
The verse gives two details: the outstretched wings and the turned faces. One writer weighs both, and marks the faces by where they do not look:
Their faces show that they had perception — eyes to see. Their wings declared that they would be swift to act in righteousness against sin. But their faces were to be "toward the mercy seat," and not looking outward toward the sinful people. They were to be shown gazing at the spot where the blood of propitiation would be. So in Genesis 3, we see them with the flaming sword of judgment against sin. Here they are at rest, because their eye is on the blood.
The lid they stare at was not left bare. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, blood was sprinkled on it. That is what holds their gaze:
In Scripture the cherubim are always connected with the judicial power of God, or they carry out the will of that power. They too are made of gold, and the direction of their faces is important. Inward, toward the mercy seat. Why? Because from there they could see what the moral nature of God demanded to be on the mercy seat, if man, a sinner, is to draw near. For God is holy: He hates sin and must judge it. But what do they see on the mercy seat? Blood… The claims of His throne must be met, and only blood can meet them — the sign that death has taken place.
Another writer notes what they are not looking at:
The mercy seat covered the tables of the law, so it was not at these that the cherubim were gazing. They had been associated with the giving of the law at Sinai, amid the thick darkness, lightning and thunder. They stood ready to take vengeance for "every transgression or disobedience." But it is the blood on the mercy seat that fixes the gaze of these ministers of justice and judgment. It is the blood of the sacrifice, sprinkled there on the great Day of Atonement. The blood speaks of judgment already carried out on the Substitute, and it arrests the adoring gaze of these holy servants of God.
The figures are of one piece with the lid. Commentators differ on what they stand for: some read them as holy servants of God, others as symbols of God's own attributes in His throne:
The cherubim formed part of the mercy seat. These, as already said, are symbols of the divine attributes, and, as such, of judicial power. But God has been glorified by the blood on the mercy seat. So all His attributes are in harmony, and all of them act on behalf of believers… The cherubim therefore favour the showing of mercy to all who approach trusting in the value of the blood. Blessed truth! All that God is, is against sin, and now all that God is, is for the believer.
This posture was not the last word. Solomon set the cherubim in his temple another way, and one writer draws the contrast:
It is the throne of God, and the cherubim are of one piece with it. They look toward one another, but their gaze is fixed downward on the covenant. Their wings stretch out to cover the mercy seat. When Solomon put his cherubim in the temple, they stood up… and they looked outward, because all the attributes of God were going out to man.
- Outward — In Eden the cherubim faced man in his sin, holding a sword that guarded the way back.
- Inward — Here they turn from the people and look down on the lid. Their wings show speed to act; their faces show one fixed object.
- Blood — There they see the blood on the mercy seat. It meets the claims of God's throne, so a sinner may come near.
- Harmony — Of one piece with the mercy seat, they picture God's own attributes. All that God is, is against sin; and now all that God is, is for the believer.
- Outward again — In Solomon's temple they stand looking out, because all that God is now goes out toward man.