Ezekiel 10:15

Eze 10:15 And the cherubims were lifted up. This [is] the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar.

Ver. 15. Were lifted up.] Or, They lift up themsdves - scil., to follow and attend their departing Lord.

That I saw by the river of Chebar.] And now saw again, for further confirmation.

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 10:15-17. And the cherubims were lifted up — To attend upon the divine glory wherever it went, and particularly at its removal from the temple. This is the living creature, &c. — Here it is spoken of as only one living creature, though before it is called the living creatures; because it was, as it were, but one creature, of the likeness of four different animals. For the spirit of the living creature was in them — There is a perfect harmony between second causes in their dependance on, and subjection to, the one infinite, wise, good, holy, and just God. The Spirit of God directs all the creatures, upper and lower, so that they all serve the divine purpose. Events are not determined by the wheel of fortune, which is blind, but by the wheels of providence, which are full of eyes.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The repeated declaration of the identity of the vision with that at the Chebar is to arouse attention to it (Eze 10:22; Eze 3:23).

the living creature--used collectively, as in Eze 10:17, Eze 10:20; Eze 1:20.

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

We shall afterwards explain in the proper place why he says the cherubim ascended. The first and principal scope of this vision was that God would no longer dwell in the temple, because he had determined to depart thence on account of the impious and wicked profanations by which the temple had been contaminated. Now for this reason he says, the cherubim ascended; but he adds, that was the living creature, which he had seen near the river Chebar He adds this for clearing up the vision, because if it had been offered only once, the Jews might doubt its tendency, and its obscurity would take away their taste for it, and render the prophetic teaching quite insipid. But since the vision is repeated, God confirms and sanctions what otherwise had not been sufficiently stamped upon the hearts of the people; for experience also teaches us this, that we increase in faith and make further progress according as God speaks with us again and again. For even if we seem to ourselves to follow up what we have learnt from the Scriptures, yet if the same sentence is repeated, we become still more familiar with it. Then again, if we read the same sentiment in two or three Prophets, God brings forward more witnesses, that so the truth may be better established; since we know our great propensity to doubt, we are always fluctuating, and although the word of God has in it sufficient energy to confirm us, we are still unsettled, unless our minds are propped up by various supports. God therefore wished to place the same thing twice before the eyes of his Prophet, that the former vision might make more impression not only on the Prophet himself, but also upon all the Jews. For we said that although there was some difference, yet there is no discordance in the Prophet’s saying that the living creature was one and the same.

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.

15. were lifted up] The prophet identifies the manifestation with that seen at the Chebar when he perceives its movement. The verse is resumed in Eze_10:19.

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.

And the cherubim were lifted up,.... From the earth; See Gill on Eze 1:19;

this is the living creature that I saw by the river Chebar: a river in Chaldea, where the prophet was when he had the vision of the living creatures recorded in the "first" chapter; and hence it is out of doubt that the living creatures and the cherubim are the same.

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

Creature. What I saw, was properly called cherubim. Charab, in Syriac means "to labour;" (Spencer) or cherubim may imply any composed and unusual figure, or "mixture," Exodus xxv. 18. (Calmet) --- Ezechiel being a priest, saw that the creatures resembled the cherubim of the temple. (Tirinus)

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).

Were lifted up; or lifted up themselves, ready to attend on the Lord of glory, who was now departing from his polluted and impenitent people.

The living creature: see Eze 1:13-15,19-22.

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

15. Were lifted up — The prophet recognizes the same peculiarity of movement as had impressed him in the wheels when the vision first appeared (Eze_1:20). There was a spirit both in wheels and cherubim which controlled their actions. The motive power of the chariot was neither wheel nor wing, but a unifying spirit.

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

Vers. 15-17. As he gazes, the recognition is complete. What he sees in the courts of the temple is identical with the living creature by the river of Chebar. It moves as that moved, wheels and wings and cherubim, all as by one harmonious impulse.

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

cherubim

See how you translated this in Ezekiel 9:3.

living creatures

See how you translated this in Ezekiel 1:13.

the Kebar Canal

This is a river that people in Chaldea had dug to give water to their gardens. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 1:1.

rose up

"went up into the air"

They still stayed beside them

"The wheels stayed with the cherubim." AT: "The wheels moved with the cherubim"

stood still

"stayed still" or "did not move"

the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels

Possible meanings are 1) Ezekiel is speaking of the "creatures" of verse 15 as if they were one creature. AT: "the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels" or 2) Ezekiel is using an idiom. AT: "the spirit of life was in the wheels" or "the living spirit was in the wheels" or 3) the spirit in the creatures and in the wheels is the same. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 1:20. AT: "the same spirit that gave life to the creatures also gave life to the wheels" (See: Idiom)

translationWords

spirit

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.