Ezekiel 1, Four Living Creatures and a Throne

We begin the scroll of Ezekiel, a prophet who lived at the end of the sixth century BC, during the beginning of the Babylonia exile. 

Ezekiel 1:1-3, By the Kebar River
In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.   

On the fifth of the month--it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin--the word of the LORD came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. There the hand of the LORD was upon him.   

Ezekiel's vision begins in Babylon, during the exile. The vision begins in first person and then shifts to third person, describing Ezekiel's environment prior to details of the vision. One might suggest that verses 2 and 3 form an editorial comment by one who arranged the scroll. The author expects that the reader knows about King Jehoiachin or can look him up in the other scrolls.

The fifth year of Jehoiachin is around 593 BC. Jerusalem has not yet fallen to Nebuchadnezzar's army. The phrase "thirtieth year" probably refers to Ezekiel's age. He would have been allowed to serve as a priest in the temple when he turned thirty but now, when he reaches that precious milestone, he is instead faraway on the outskirts of Babylon. The Kebar River, says Ralph Alexander, "flowed southeast from the city of Babylon."

Ezekiel 1:4-11, A windstorm

I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north--an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was that of a man, but each of them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had the hands of a man.

All four of them had faces and wings, and their wings touched one another. Each one went straight  ahead; they did not turn as they moved. 

The third person narrative shifts to first person, with a dramatic image, a cloud of flashing fire, lighting and four living creatures. Apparently the four living creatures, arranged around the glowing metal, each has four wings and four faces? 

The center of the fire looks like "glowing metal", a translation of chashmal, a rare Hebrew word that became "elektron" in the Septuagint and eventually (see here) the Hebrew word for electricity.

Ezekiel 1:10-11, The faces

Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face  of a man, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out upward; each had two wings, one touching the wing of another creature on either side, and two wings covering its body. 

The four faces (that each had?) were those of human, lion, ox and eagle. Two of the wings of one creature spread out and touched the wings of two others, so one might imagine a four sided bright cloud with sides formed by these four creatures. Similar (but slightly different) visions appear in Isaiah 6:1-4 and, in the New Testament, in Revelation 4:6-8.

Ezekiel 1:12-14, Four living creatures

Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went.   

The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.   

The four living creatures seemed to go in any direction, without turning their heads. They are bright lights, with fire and lightning and the creatures themselves seem to move back and forth like lightning.

Ezekiel 1:15-21, Full of eyes

As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces.  This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like chrysolite, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel.   

As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not turn about as the creatures went. Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around. When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels  would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with  them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

Below each creature is a wheel. Each wheel "intersected a wheel". The wheels have very large rims that are "full of eyes." The wheels and creatures move in sync with this bright shining thunderstorm. It is apparently significant that "the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels" (whatever that means.)

Ezekiel 1:22-28,  Icy expanse

Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what  looked like an expanse, sparkling like ice, and awesome. Under the expanse their wings were stretched out one toward  the other, and each had two wings covering its body. When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings,  like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood  still, they lowered their wings. 

Then there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. Above the expanse over their heads was what looked like a throne of sapphire, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked  like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I  fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking. 

Above the creatures is an icy plane, an icy ceiling. Above that ceiling was a sapphire throne with a radiant One on the throne.

This first chapter of Ezekiel describes what theologian call a theophany, a physical appearance of God. In the Old Testament these are dramatic (eg. the fire and cloud of the Exodus, eg. Exodus 13:21-22.) In the book of Ezekiel there will be a continued emphasis on the terrifying and majestic otherwordliness of the Creator of the universe.

Tim Mackie, in the Bible Project class on Ezekiel, points out that Ezekiel is seeing, in far off Babylon, God's presence, which he would normally expect to see only in the temple in Jerusalem. For a Israelite raised to be a priest in the temple, this is a shock. (A Bible Project class video devoted to the vision of chapter 1 is here.)