The wheels and their movement 1:15-21

 

1:15 Ezekiel also saw a prominent wheel standing upright on the ground beside each of the four living creatures.

1:16 These wheels appeared to have been skillfully made of some valuable material, the exact identity of which is unknown today. They all looked alike, and each wheel appeared to have another wheel, which seem to have been the same size, within it (attached to it). Evidently the axis of these wheels was the same and was vertical. Chariot wheels seem to be what Ezekiel saw with other equally large chariot wheels intersecting the main wheels. These second wheels would have enabled the previously mentioned wheels to rotate left and right as well as forward and backward.

1:17 These wheels moved in every direction, but they did not appear to rotate when they moved. Ease of movement seems to be the point. They did, however, make rumbling sounds when they moved, as large wheels would do (cf. v. 24; 3:12-13; 10:5, 13).

1:18 The rims around these wheels had eyes all around them (cf. Rev. 4:6). This gave the wheels an even more awesome appearance. Many eyes elsewhere in figurative language represent great intelligence and perception (cf. 2 Chron. 16:9; Prov. 15:3; Zech. 3:9; 4:10; Rev. 4:6).

1:19 There was some coordination between the living beings and these wheels because whenever one of the living creatures moved its corresponding wheel moved with it. The creatures and wheels could move vertically above the ground as well as horizontally along the ground.

1:20-21 Just as the creatures moved at the impulse of the Spirit (v. 12), so their corresponding wheels also moved at its impulse. The creatures and the wheels always moved or rested together regardless of the direction in which they moved because the Spirit controlled them.

Most expositors view these cherubim as forming, supporting, or pulling a throne-chariot on which Ezekiel saw God riding (cf. Exod. 25:10-22; 2 Sam. 22:11; 1 Chron. 28:18; Ps. 18:11; Dan. 7:9; Heb. 8:5; Rev. 4). I think this makes sense. Perhaps the mobility of the wheels suggests God's omnipresence, the eyes His omniscience, and the elevated position His omnipotence.⁶⁴

"God had wheels! He was not limited. He could go anywhere anytime. . . .

"Thus ultimately the chariot vision is a vision of hope for a people who needed encouragement to hope once again. A vision of God's mobility was for them a message not to despair but to anticipate: in what way was God on the move and how did it concern them? The following passages provided the answer."⁶⁵