Exodus 25:18

25:18 You are to make two cherubim ¹  of gold; you are to make them of hammered metal on the two ends of the atonement lid.

Exodus 37:7

37:7 He made two cherubim of gold; he made them of hammered metal on the two ends of the atonement lid,

Exodus 32:15

32:15 Moses turned and went down from the mountain with ²  the two tablets of the testimony in his hands. The tablets were written on both sides – they were written on the front and on the back.

Exodus 37:8

37:8 one cherub on one end ³  and one cherub on the other end. ⁴  He made the cherubim from the atonement lid on its two ends.

[25:18]  ¹ tn The evidence suggests that the cherubim were composite angelic creatures that always indicated the nearness of God. So here images of them were to be crafted and put on each end of the ark of the covenant to signify that they were there. Ezekiel 1 describes four cherubim as each having human faces, four wings, and parts of different animals for their bodies. Traditions of them appear in the other cultures as well. They serve to guard the holy places and to bear the throne of God. Here they were to be beaten out as part of the lid.

[32:15]  ² tn The disjunctive vav (ו) serves here as a circumstantial clause indicator.

[37:8]  ³ tn Heb “from/at [the] end, from this.”

[37:8]  ⁴ tn The repetition of the expression indicates it has the distributive sense.