The angel with the face of the man is always on the east side and looks up at the "Likeness of a Man" that drives the chariot. These wheels are not directly under the chariot but are nearby and along its perimeter. These wheel angels, which are described as "a wheel inside of a wheel", are called " ophanim" אופנים (lit. Below, but not attached to, the feet of the hayyot angels are other angels that are shaped like wheels. With the remaining two wings, each angel covers its own body. This creates a sort of 'box' of wings that forms the perimeter of the chariot. Two of these wings spread across the length of the chariot and connect with the wings of the angel on the other side. Each of the hayyot angels also has four wings. Since there are four angels and each has four faces, there are a total of sixteen faces. The faces are that of a man, a lion, an ox (later changed to a cherub in Ezekiel 10:14) and an eagle. The bodies of the creatures are "like that of a human being", but each of them has four faces, corresponding to the four directions the chariot can go (East, South, North and West). These beings are called the "living creatures" (Hebrew: חיות hayyot or khayyot). The base structure of the chariot is composed of four beings. Fresco from the 19th century.Īccording to the verses in Ezekiel and its attendant commentaries, his vision consists of a chariot made of many heavenly beings driven by the "Likeness of a Man". John the Baptist Church in Kratovo, North Macedonia. It is most closely associated with the vision in Ezekiel chapter 1 of the four-wheeled vehicle driven by four hayyot (" living creatures"), each of which has four wings and the four faces of a man, lion, ox, and eagle (or vulture).Įzekiel's Wheel in St. However, when left untranslated, in English the Hebrew term merkabah/merkavah ( Hebrew: מֶרְכַּב, מרכבה, and מִרְכֶּבֶת) relates to the throne-chariot of God in prophetic visions. The word "chariot" is found 44 times in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible-most of them referring to normal chariots on earth, and although the concept of the merkabah is associated with Ezekiel's vision ( 1:4–26), the word is not explicitly written in Ezekiel 1. The noun merkabah/merkavah "thing to ride in, cart" is derived from the consonantal root רכב r-k-b with the general meaning "to ride". A major text in this tradition is the Maaseh Merkabah ( Hebrew: מַעֲשֵׂה מֶרְכָּבָה maʿăśē merkāvā, "Work of the Chariot"). The main corpus of the merkabah literature was composed in the period 200–700 CE, although later references to the Chariot tradition can also be found in the literature of the Chassidei Ashkenaz in the Middle Ages. 100 BCE – 1000 CE, centered on visions such as those found in the Book of Ezekiel chapter 1, or in the hekhalot literature ("palaces" literature), concerning stories of ascents to the heavenly palaces and the Throne of God. Chariot mysticism) is a school of early Jewish mysticism, c. Merkabah ( Hebrew: מֶרְכָּבָה merkāvā, "chariot") or Merkavah mysticism (lit. Copy of Matthäus Merian's engraving of Ezekiel's vision (1670)
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