The Function of the Ark Cherubim.

The two temples described in detail in the Hebrew Bible, the Temple of Solomon and the wilderness Tabernacle, contained in their innermost chamber, the focal point of Israelite worship, the Ark of the Covenant and two sculpted representations of fantastic winged creatures, the cherubim. Understanding the symbolic function of these cherubim may be central to understanding the ancient Israelite cult. The prevailing view regarding this question is that the cherubim formed, or supported, the throne of YHWH, while the Ark beneath them served as His footstool. The Temple cherubim and Ark are thus considered together as an instance of the sphinx-throne, a known motif in Phoenician and Canaanite visual art from the biblical period. This paper challenges the prevailing view on several grounds. First, biblical sources explicitly define the cherubim as having the role of guardians, not throne-bearers. These sources cannot be down-dated and dismissed, since they are backed up by multiple sources that consistently show that the cherubim were not the primary objects in the Temple and Tabernacle, as would be expected if they served as the throne of YHWH; second, no actual throne is mentioned in the Bible in relation to the cherubim; third, the cherubim as described in the Bible stood upright, while all throne-bearing creatures in Ancient Near Eastern visual art are quadrupeds; fourth, the large dimensions attributed to the cherubim of the Temple would have left insufficient space for a proportional throne. It is shown that the cherubim as described in the Bible correspond to a different motif in Egyptian-Canaanite iconography, that of the winged protectors. In this motif, two or more winged creatures flank a deity, a person, or an object, spreading their wings toward it in a gesture of protection. A common form of this motif, in which the wings meet in a diamond pattern, appears in several Iron Age items from the Land of Israel, and corresponds specifically to the cherubim of the Tabernacle as depicted in the Bible. A less common form, in which the protecting beings appear en face with their wings spread to the sides, appears on the 14th-century BCE sarcophagus of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun, and corresponds to the cherubim of the Temple. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]