Ezekiel 1:8

8. Each living creature appears to have had four hands or arms, cf. ch. Eze_10:21. The last words of Eze_1:8 must be joined with Eze_1:9 : “and their faces and their wings, of them four—their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went, they went every one straightforward.” The meaning is that as each creature with his outstretched wings formed one side of the square his wings touched or were joined to those of two other creatures, one on his right and another on his left. The words “they turned not” refer to the faces. The above sentence is very awkward, and the whole is given by LXX. in a much shorter form: Eze_1:8 and the faces of them four Eze_1:9 turned not when they went, they went every one straightforward. The clauses in Eze_1:9 (Heb.) correspond respectively to Eze_1:11-12.

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.

Eze 1:8 And [they had] the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.

Ver. 8. And they had the hands of a man under their wings.] Faces, wings, hands, all to express, saith one, the sufficiency of God’s providence for all means of help. A little of the angels, saith another, is set forth by these faces, wings, hands, feet, but the distinct knowledge of angels, as angels, is reserved till we are like the angels in heaven. Great angels they are, but act invisibly for the most part; their hands are under their wings.

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_1:8-9

The hands of a man under their wings.

Suppression of self

We are to do Gods works without noise or notice of ourselves. Angels, that are agents for God, have their hands under their wings; their actions are seen, but not their hands. When Manoah catechised the angel, and asked him, What is thy name? the angel would not tell him, but said, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? And you shall not find the names of above two angels in Scripture, Gabriel and Michael. Angels are jealous of Gods glory, and had rather conceal their hands and names than God should lose the least degree of His glory; for Manoah would therefore have known his name, that he might have honoured the angel afterward: and we are very apt to look at the instrument, and neglect the principal. It is wisdom to muffle up ourselves and to hold forth God as much as may be: Mat_5:16, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, etc.; He doth not say, that they may see you, but see your good works, and glorify your Father, not you. (W. Greenhill, M. A.)

The hand under the wing

I. As a symbol of the ideal life of man. Perfect blending of serving and soaring. Man is a child of the skies as well as of the soft.

II. As a symbol of superhuman energy and force in connection with the human instrumentality. Human skill, tact, and eloquence are powerless unless winged by superhuman might.

III. The right place for the hand of service is under the wing of faith. Whether ye eat or drink, etc.

IV. In the noblest service there is need for swiftness and grace. If there were more delight in service there would be no need to repeat appeals and resort to contrivances and schemes to get work done.

V. The hand of service partly hidden by that which gives it speed. Often those whose days are filled with business find time for Christian labour of most varied kinds. (H. Starmer.)

And they went everyone straight forward.--

The straightforward direction

If you look at a map of Russia, you will find that the railroad between the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg is a straight line. It happened in this way. When the engineers were about to survey for making the railway, they asked the Czar which way he wished the line to take. He asked for a map, and, without a moments hesitation, he took a ruler and drew a straight line between the two cities, and said, That is the way I wish the line to be made. And has not God in the same manner drawn a straight line from the soul to Himself, its true goal, and is not Conscience the bright and shining light that signals the way clear between earth and heaven? (Sunday Circle.)

Going straight toward the goal

The man who says, I am going straight for glory, and if anybody is in my way, so much the worse for him, for I am bound to take the right road; such a man will find a pretty clear track. Mr. Moody would say, Make a bee line for heaven. A bee knows the nearest way, and keeps to it with all its force. Let me hear each one of you say, I am not going to take any corners, or twists, or windabouts; but straight away, what God bids me to do I am going to do; what He bids me believe I am going to believe, and if there is anything to be suffered for it, all right. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

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

The hands of each were the hands of a man. The hand is the symbol of active power, guided by skilfulness (Psa 78:72).

under their wings--signifying their operations are hidden from our too curious prying; and as the "wings" signify something more than human, namely, the secret prompting of God, it is also implied that they are moved by it and not by their own power, so that they do nothing at random, but all with divine wisdom.

they four had . . . faces and . . . wings--He returns to what he had stated already in Eze 1:6; this gives a reason why they had hands on their four sides, namely, because they had faces and wings on the four sides. They moved whithersoever they would, not by active energy merely, but also by knowledge (expressed by their faces) and divine guidance (expressed by their "wings").

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 8. They had the hands of a man under their wings] I doubt much whether the arms be not here represented as all covered with feathers, so that they had the appearance of wings, only the hand was bare; and I rather think that this is the meaning of their having "the hands of a man under their wings."

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

Now the Prophet says: hands were under their wings Since hands are the principal instruments of action, we know that all actions are often denoted by this word: whence hands, either pure or defiled, signify the works of men either clean or unclean. When the Prophet says that the animals were endowed with hands, he signifies that they were ready for the performance of any duty enjoined upon them: for he who is without hands lies useless, and cannot execute any work. Therefore that the Prophet may express angelic vigor, he says that they had hands. This also refers to their human figure, but hands denote something peculiar: namely, that they have such agility that they can execute every commandment of God. For he says: they were under their wings, by which words he signifies, that the angels have no motions in themselves, so that they cannot be carried where they please, except they are divinely impelled, and their every action guided by the will of God. For without doubt by wings, as in this place so in others, we must understand something more than human, Since therefore the wings, with which the animals are clothed, signify nothing else but the secret instinct of God, it follows, that hands hidden under the wings denote nothing else than that angels do not move, as we say, intrinsically, but are impelled from without, namely, by the power of God himself: hence they are not carried about rashly hither and thither, but all their actions are governed by God, since he bends and directs them whithersoever he pleases. This is the reason why the Prophet says that he saw hands on the animals, and then that those hands were under their wings He repeats again, they had faces, and four wings to them The use of the phrase four sides is worthy of notice, just as if he had said that the animals have the power of acting equally in all directions, not that they had four hands each, although at first sight this may appear to be the meaning of the words on four sides, or in each corner, but it simply means that the hands so appeared on the animals, that they were ready for action whensoever God wishes to impel these animals. Now follows —

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.

(8) The hands of a man.—Implying, of course, also human arms. This particular adds to the generally human appearance of the cherubim, yet we must understand (see Eze_1:11) that there were four hands corresponding to the wings for each cherub. These hands were “under their wings on their four sides.” Hence the wings must have been attached at the shoulder. The repetition, “they four had their faces and their wings,” is for the sake of emphasis and distinctness.

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

And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides,.... "Hands of a man" denote action, according to knowledge; ministers of the Gospel are men of practice and business, as well as have the theory and knowledge of things; and they act like men in a rational way, according to the will of God revealed in the word: and these being "on their four sides", show that they have much work to do all around, on every side; in ministering the word, administering ordinances; visiting their people; giving counsel, caution, comfort, exhortation, instruction, &c. and that they have many hands to do, it with, much grace and strength from above; and they have need of all the hands they have; and what they have they constantly employ, and are steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Briareus, a man of business, is represented by the poets as having a hundred hands. These being "under their wings", show that, besides their public ministrations, they do much work secretly and privately, in their closet and studies, where no eye sees them but the eye of God, as well as in private houses, by their visits and conversation; and is also expressive of their modesty and humility, not doing what they do to be seen of men, nor boasting of their works; but ascribing all to the grace of God, and strength of Christ, by which they perform them, and which give them success The Jews, in the Talmud (m), interpret this of the hand of God himself which is stretched out under the wings of the living creatures, to receive penitent persons; because it is written "his hand", but read "hands". And they four had their faces and their wings; that is, on their four sides; a face and a wing before, and a face and a wing behind, and a face and a wing on each side; and under each wing a man's hand and arm. The Targum of the whole is,

"and hands, as the hands of a man, were made for them under their wings on their four sides; to take in them coals of fire from between the cherubim under the firmament, which was over their seats, to, put them into the hands of the seraphim, to scatter upon the place of the ungodly, to destroy the wicked that transgress his word; and their faces and their wings were equal to them four;''

see Eze 10:2.

(m) Bab. Pesachim, fol. 119. 1.

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

Or, “They had the hands of a man under their wings on all four sides, just as they had wings and faces on all four sides.”

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

Wings. Their arms were covered with feathers, and the hand appeared at the extremity; or they had four arms under the wings, chap. x. 8. They all came from the shoulders, so as to correspond with the four faced animal, ver. 6. (Calmet) --- Others believe that each face had four wings, so that the animal would have sixteen. (Maldonat) --- In Isaias ix. 2., the cherub has six wings. The form was variable, as there was nothing in nature similar. They were perhaps designed to represent the eternity and dominion of God over the whole creation, ver. 28. (Haydock)

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).

They; each of the four living creatures.

Had the hands: hands in every language, especially in the Oriental, imply power; and being the chief instruments of action, are here ascribed to these active instruments that execute the commands of God.

Of a man: this is added to denote the wisdom, dexterity, and vigilance wherewith they discharge their ministry.

Under their wings; their power and manner of exerting it is secret and invisible, and it is put forth as God pleaseth to move them.

On their four sides; on each side of the chariot one of these living creatures stood, and so on each side hands were ready to act as they were moved; and though it was to all parts of the world, yet were they most ready and prepared.

And they four had their faces and their wings; it is doubled to confirm the truth and certainty of the thing, and to intimate the greatness of their power, agility, and wisdom.

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

8. Hands of a man — Each creature had four wings and beneath the wings “the hand of a man” — whether two or four hands is not stated. The thing to be noted is the symbolic expression of humanity. Surely Ezekiel could not have dreamed even then of a divine incarnation — the hands of a man beneath the activities of the universe?

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

They had the hands of a man, etc. The prophet seems to describe each detail in the order in which it presented itself to him. What he next sees is that each of the four forms has two hands on each of its four sides. Nothing could supersede that symbol of activity and strength.

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

Under - Their power and manner of exerting it is secret and invisible. Sides - On each side of the chariot one of these living creatures flood, and so on each side hands were ready to act as they were moved. They four - It is doubled to confirm the truth and certainty of the thing.

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

And human hands were beneath their wings As the Targum paraphrases: to pick up coals of fire with them, etc. Likewise, we find in this Book (10:7): “And the cherub stretched forth his hand, etc. to the fire that was between the cherubim, and he picked it up and gave it to the hands of the one dressed in linen.” And so, [in the verse] after it, “And there appeared to the cherubim the form of a human hand, etc.” The human hands pick up the fire and give it to the cherub, and the cherub [gives it] to the messenger, in order [to allow] the coals to cool off [as they pass] from hand to hand, to mitigate Israel’s punishment.

on their four sides To the four directions of the world, for they have faces and wings in every direction.

and their faces and their wings were the same to all four of them As the Targum renders: were the same to all four of them.

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.