"God would not share His dwelling place with other gods,' and the sanctuary had been polluted with idolatry. God's worship center at Shiloh was removed shortly after His glory had departed from it (1 Sam. 4:1-4, 10-11, 19-23; Jer. 7:12-14); and the same fate awaited the Jerusalem temple."166
10:9-11 Ezekiel again saw the wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each of the four cherubim. This time he compared the wheels to Tarshish stones in appearance (cf. 1:16).167Secondary vertical wheels evidently intersected the primary wheels and made it possible for these wheels to move in any direction horizontally (cf. 1:16-17).
10:12-14 Eyes covered the cherubim and the wheels symbolizing the great perception and knowledge of these beings (1:18; cf. Gen. 16:13; Zech. 4:10; Rev. 4:6). Ezekiel heard the wheels called whirling (Heb. galgal, "rotating,""rolling,"or "revolving") wheels, described in terms of their function. Each of the cherubim had four faces--the faces of a cherub, a man, a lion, and an eagle (cf. 1:10).168
10:15-17 Then Ezekiel saw these same cherubim, which he had seen in his vision by the river Chebar, rise up. As they moved, the wheels beside them stayed right with them. Likewise when they stood still the wheels also stood still beside them. The spirit of the cherubim extended to the wheels so that whatever one did the other did. Perhaps the mobility of these creatures to do whatever God commanded them to do is what the wheels represented.
10:18-19 Ezekiel then saw God move from the front door of the temple (v. 4) to a position above the cherubim.169He was mounting his throne-chariot, which the cherubim would carry, to ride out of the temple and the city. The cherubim carried God in His throne-chariot up to a position above the east gate of the temple (cf. 1 Sam. 4:4; 2 Sam. 6:2; 2 Kings 19:15; 1 Chron. 13:6; 28:18; Ps. 18:10; 80:1; 99:1). This was the main entrance into the temple courtyards from the outside world. The Lord in His glory and the cherubim then hovered above this gate.
God had warned His people that He would remove the glory of His presence from them if they departed from His will (cf. Deut. 31:17; 1 Sam. 4:21; Hos. 9:12). One of the greatest blessings that Christians enjoy is that God has promised never to withdraw His indwelling presence from our bodies, His present temples (Matt. 28:20; cf. John 14:17; 1 Cor. 6:19).
10:20-22 Ezekiel explained that the cherubim were the same creatures that he had formerly called living beings in his description of his earlier vision (1:5).170Each one had four faces, four wings, and human-like hands under their wings (1:6, 8). The faces of the cherubim were the same as the faces of the living creatures in the previous vision. Each cherub moved straight forward, in the direction of the front of its body (1:9, 12). This description may stress the purposefulness with which the cherubim moved to carry out God's will.
"Once God passed from the gate, the name Ichabod ("the glory has departed") could have been applied to Jerusalem just as it had been applied earlier to Shiloh (1 Sam. 4:21-22)."171
