Exodus 25:20

25:20 The cherubim are to be spreading their wings upward, overshadowing ¹  the atonement lid with their wings, and the cherubim are to face each other, ²  looking ³  toward the atonement lid.

Exodus 26:12

26:12 Now the part that remains of the curtains of the tent – the half curtain that remains will hang over at the back of the tabernacle. ⁴ 

Exodus 33:10

33:10 When all the people would see the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people, each one at the entrance of his own tent, would rise and worship. ⁵ 

Exodus 37:9

37:9 The cherubim were spreading their wings ⁶  upward, overshadowing the atonement lid with their wings. The cherubim ⁷  faced each other, ⁸  looking toward the atonement lid. ⁹ 

[25:20]  ¹ tn The verb means “overshadowing, screening” in the sense of guarding (see 1 Kgs 8:7; 1 Chr 28:18; see also the account in Gen 3:24). The cherubim then signify two things here: by their outstretched wings they form the throne of God who sits above the ark (with the Law under his feet), and by their overshadowing and guarding they signify this as the place of atonement where people must find propitiation to commune with God. Until then they are barred from his presence. See U. Cassuto, Exodus, 330-35.

[25:20]  ² tn Heb “their faces a man to his brother.”

[25:20]  ³ tn Heb “the faces of the cherubim will be” (“the cherubim” was moved to the preceding clause for smoother English).

[26:12]  ⁴ sn U. Cassuto (Exodus, 353) cites b. Shabbat 98b which says, “What did the tabernacle resemble? A woman walking on the street with her train trailing behind her.” In the expression “the half of the curtain that remains,” the verb agrees in gender with the genitive near it.

[33:10]  ⁷ tn All the main verbs in this verse are perfect tenses continuing the customary sequence (see GKC 337 §112.kk). The idea is that the people would get up (rise) when the cloud was there and then worship, meaning in part bow down. When the cloud was not there, there was access to seek God.

[37:9]  ¹⁰ tn The construction is a participle in construct followed by the genitive “wings” – “spreaders of wings.”

[37:9]  ¹¹ tn “The cherubim” has been placed here instead of in the second clause to produce a smoother translation.

[37:9]  ¹² tn Heb “and their faces a man to his brother.”

[37:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “to the atonement lid were the faces of the cherubim.”