Ezekiel 1:20

Eze 1:20 Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither [was their] spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature [was] in the wheels.

Ver. 20. Whithersoever the spirit was to go.] See Eze 1:12; and take notice that whatever the instrument is, or means of this or that occurrence, God is the main agent. It is Christ who by his Spirit, Spiritus vitalis, worketh all in all in his Church. {1Co 12:16 Eph 1:11 Col 3:21} There falleth not a hair from a man’s head, nay, not a bristle from a sow’s back, saith Tertullian, without God.

For the spirit of the living creatures.] Or, Of life. The Divine inspiration was the procreant cause of the wheels’ motion. This is here called haruach, that spirit by an excellence: est Deus in nobis. The spirit is in the wheels, as an invisible but irresistible agent. "The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord, he turneth it whithersoever he will." {Pro 21:1}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze_1:20

Whithersoever the Spirit was to go, they went.

The nobility of a devout soul under the Spirits influence

Oh for conquering grace to crush down self. I would be as a grain of dust blown in the summer gale without power to change my course, carried by the irresistible breath of God; forever made willingly unwilling to will anything but the will of my Lord. I would be as a tiny straw borne along by the Gulf Stream, carried wherever the warm love of God shall bear me, self delighting to lie low and see the Lord alone exalted. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

For the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

The unity of Providence

The bosom of Providence is the great moral crucible in which things work, in which they work together. They assimilate, repel, interpenetrate, change each other; and then leave as resultant one grand influence in the main for each character, for each man. All things work together, not in an aimless and capricious manner, for this end and for that, now in one way and now in another, as though a stream should one day flow seaward, and the next back toward its fountain among the hills, but in one volume, along one channel, in one direction, toward one end. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

the spirit was to go--that is, their will was for going whithersoever the Spirit was for going.

over against them--rather, beside or in conjunction with them.

spirit of the living creature--put collectively for "the living creatures"; the cherubim. Having first viewed them separately, he next views them in the aggregate as the composite living creature in which the Spirit resided. The life intended is that connected with God, holy, spiritual life, in the plenitude of its active power.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 20. The spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.] That is, the wheels were instinct with a vital spirit; the wheels were alive, they also were animals, or endued with animal life, as the creatures were that stood upon them. Here then is the chariot of Jehovah. There are four wheels, on each of which one of the compound animals stands; the four compound animals form the body of the chariot, their wings spread horizontally above, forming the canopy or covering of this chariot; on the top of which, or upon the extended wings of the four living creatures, was the throne, on which was the appearance of a man, Eze 1:26.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Thus I arrange the clauses, for though others join the first; clause with the second part of the verse, it is too forced. Therefore the Prophet repeats what he had said, though he is rather prolix. Afterwards he adds, that the wheels were raised, taking the word generally for elevated, but not exactly as in the last and next verse. I now add the next verse —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(20, 21) The spirit of the living creature—Not, as in the margin, “the spirit of life.” The object of Eze_1:19-21 is by every repetition and variety of expression to represent “the living creatures” and “the wheels” as one, animated by one spirit, and moved by one impulse. The word is the same throughout, and there was no “spirit of life” in the wheels independent of that of the living creatures. All formed together one strange, symbolic whole.

The mention in Eze_1:19-21 of the wheels being “lifted up from the earth” simultaneously with the living creatures is not in opposition to the symbolism already explained, of the wheels resting upon the earth. That was to show that God’s purposes are carried out as He wills in this world. This brings out, in addition, the perfect harmony of these purposes, whether relating to earth or to heaven.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20. thither was their spirit to go] Rather, the spirit, i.e. the general spirit moving the whole manifestation. The words are wanting in LXX., and are possibly an accidental repetition of those in the beginning of the verse; or they are a somewhat loose and elliptical repetition attached to “they went,” in which case they should rather be rendered, whither the spirit was to go.

spirit of the living creature] The marg. “spirit of life” is to be deleted. The “living creature” is hardly the complex being formed by the four living creatures; the four were exactly alike, and the term is used generically (Eze_1:22, ch. Eze_10:20) to express the kind of creature.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whithersoever the spirit was to go they went,.... That is, the Spirit of God; wherever that leads and directs, whether in the paths of faith or duty, they follow; they walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit; he guides their feet in the way of peace, and into all truth; and leads them in a right way to the land of uprightness:

thither was their spirit to go; their spirits or souls being regenerated by the spirit of God, are moved and actuated by him, and readily go where that directs:

and the wheels were lifted up over against them; that is, over against the living creatures; being by their sides going where they go, and being lifted up when they are:

for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels; the same Spirit of God, which is a spirit of life, a quickening spirit, and a free spirit; which gives motion and liberty in religious exercises; that which is in the ministers of the Gospel is in the churches of God; there is but one Spirit, and ministers and members are actuated and influenced by it; see Eph 4:4.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Whithersoever the spirit of the four living creatures was to go, the wheels went - there was the spirit of the wheels to go. All four creatures together with their wheels are here called “the living creature,” because they formed a whole, one in motion, and in will, for one spirit was in them.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Life. They were moved like the rest by the whirlwind, or by living creatures. They seemed to be animated, as Homer describes Vulcan’s tripods.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Whithersoever the spirit; either the will and inclination of the living creatures, or rather the Spirit of God which moved the living creatures, gave them motion and guided it; these angels in their ministry punctually observed both the impulse and the conduct of God’s Spirit.

Was to go: of this phrase applied to the Spirit, see Eze 1:12. They went; the wheels, those inferior agents and second causes.

Thither was their spirit to go; the inclination and will of the wheels concurred with the spirit of the living creatures, so that there was a hearty accord between those superior and inferior causes, they agreed in the same design.

And the wheels were lifted up over against them: there seems to be an ellipsis here, the latter part of the speech expressed, and the former implied only; as it was in the progressive motion, so in the motion upward, they accorded, and kept the same order.

For the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels; one and the same spirit was in both the wheels and living creatures, and so the same inclination and motion too.

Of the living, Heb. of life, the quickening, enlivening Spirit; hence some will have the wheels to be living creatures, but without this it is enough to represent to the prophet what was the frame and course of Providence, and who did preside and manage all. An undiscerned, yet Divine, mighty, wise, just, and holy, and ever-living, Power, Spirit, and Being actuated all, and governed all, to the execution of justice on the wicked, and protection of the godly.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20, 21. Over against them — That is, beside them.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whithersoever the spirit was to go, etc. The secret of the coincidence of the movements of the "living creatures" and of the "wheels" was found in the fact, which the prophet"s intuition grasped, that the phenomena of life and law had one and the same originating source. For "the spirit of the living creature" (singular, because the four are regarded as one complex whole), the LXX, Vulgate, and Revised Version margin, give "the spirit of life," a rendering tenable in itself, but the contextual meaning of the word is in favour of the Authorized Version and the Revised Version text.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The spirit - The Spirit of God. These angels in their ministry punctually observed both his impulse and conduct. They - The wheels, inferior agents and second causes. Their spirit - The wheels concurred with the spirit of the living creatures, so that there was an hearty accord between those superior and inferior causes. For - An undiscerned, yet divine, mighty, wise, and ever- living power, spirit, and being, actuated all, and governed all.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

the will The will of the Holy One, blessed be He.

there was the will to go It was not necessary to tell them [to go] to this side [or that] because the will of the Holy One, blessed be He, was in the living beings, and the will of the living beings was in the wheels.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.