The descriptions of Seraphim and Cherubim found in the Bible are exotic and fascinating, but what should we make of these descriptions are these literal depictions or simply metaphor and are metaphor and reality mutually exclusive.

Let’s start with the Seraphim. Hebrew has two words pronounced seraph. One is a noun meaning serpent. The plural is Seraphim. The second is a verb meaning to burn. Many scholars believe Seraphim means burning ones based on the verb seraph and so they exclude serpent imagery, but sometimes both options can be in play at the same time as we’ll see.

This is very likely the case with the biblical Seraphim. Most of the time the noun “seraph” appears in the Bible, a regular old snake is in view, but in Isaiah 6 it clearly refers to spiritual beings.

Isaiah 6:1 “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.”

The Seraphim were situated near God’s throne. They are described as having six wings. Two of them were associated with flying and they could also speak. That’s not a lot of data, but Isaiah’s audience didn’t need a lot of information because unlike modern readers, ancient people were well acquainted with the idea of Seraphim, supernatural beings whose depiction includes at least in some respect, serpentine features. This description would have made sense to them because though supernatural, the Seraphim had a conceptual connection to the terrestrial world.

The key to understanding the Seraphim is their location, the throne room of God. They were guardians of the presence of God in the ancient near eastern mind.

In the Egyptian divine throne imagery, the guardians were described as serpentine, specifically cobras. The same sort of merging of the supernatural and natural worlds is what’s going on in Isaiah. Cobras can make the skin on the side of their and upper body’s expand. Ancient people referred to this flared skin as wings. Egyptian artists exaggerated this natural trait by depicting large bird like wings on serpents. Artwork like this would have been well known in Israel. In addition, Israelites would have known that certain Seraph serpents, like cobras could spit venom burning the eyes, and so an association with burning may also be in view.

Now let’s look at some descriptions of Cherubim.

Cherubim are described a couple of ways in the Bible. One of the most well known descriptions comes from the first chapter of Ezekial.

Ezekiel 1:5-10 “Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.”

The they are simply called living creatures in his Ezekiel 1. Later on in Ezekial 10 these beings are identified as Cherubim. The Cherubim Ezekial describes are similar to the animal mixtures Mesopotamian iconography.

In fact the biblical word Cherub, it comes from a Mesopotamian term Karibus. Not coincidentally, The Karibus were guardians of the presence of deities.

We run into similar creatures in the book of Revelation.

Revelation 4:6-9 “And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever.”

Notice that the description has changed slightly in Ezekiel. Each living creature has four faces, but in Revelation the four creatures each have a single face. These living creatures have six wings instead of four. All these creatures are described as being full of eyes all around. It’s easy to get wrapped up in these descriptions because they seem so exotic. But let’s get past the physical appearance and focus on the role these being serve all these different creatures, the Seraphim and the different kinds of Cherubim all served as God’s throne guardians.

So what’s going on here? Does God switch guardians from time to time? Do the Cherubim punch in when the Seraphim shift is over and are there multiple kinds of Cherubim identified by their different numbers of faces and wings? All that’s getting carried away with literalism and results in missing the point of the description. God has one set of thrown guardians.

Seraphim and Cherubim are spirit beings that reside in the spiritual realm, not the embodied terrestrial world. These descriptions are metaphors that tell us about the role or function of the spirits. They are in effect job descriptions. So why are the same beings described differently throughout the Bible? The answer is that different metaphors are useful to communicate the job description to different readers.

For much of Israel’s history, Egyptian iconography was widespread across the ancient near east. Even Israelites who were loyal to Yahweh and had nothing to do with other religions could comprehend Egyptian symbolism and Egyptian ideas about the spiritual world. So God’s throne guardians appear in the Egyptian form that Isaiah’s audience would have been familiar with during the times of Isaiah. There was a lot of contact with Egypt.

The same is true for Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a captive in Babylon. He and his audience for quite familiar with Babylonian imagery and ideas. So to Ezekiel, God’s throne guardians appear like the animal mixtures found in Mesopotamian artwork. Giving invisible spirits and appearance helps humans comprehend supernatural encounters, but beyond that, a spirits’ temporary appearance can also help communicate ideas through symbolism and metaphor.

Ultimately, what God wants us to know as we read these passages isn’t what a spirit being looks like. Remember, they aren’t physical beings with physical bodies. The intention is not an anatomy lesson. Rather, there are two points to catch.

First, God wants us to grasp the fact that his presence is special. His sanctity and holiness must be guarded from defilement.

Second, God is king. He is the one served by other spiritual beings, not the other way around.