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St. Michael the Archangel guarding the entrance of the Garden of Eden^[1] by Giusto de' Menabuoi ca. 1377.

A cherub (Heb. כְּרוּב, pl. כְּרוּבִים, eng. trans kərūv, pl. kərūvîm, dual kərūvāyim lat. cherub[us], pl cherubi[m], Assyrian ܟܪܘܒܐ) is a type of spiritual being mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and cited later on in the Christian biblical canons, usually associated with the presence of God. The plural can be written as cherubim, cherubims^KJV or cherubs. In modern English the word cherub is sometimes used for what are strictly putti, baby or toddler angels in art. This article is concerned with the original sense of the word.

Cherubim are mentioned in the Torah (five books of Moses), the Book of Ezekiel, and the Book of Isaiah. They are also mentioned in the books of 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, and 2 Chronicles mainly in the construction of the House of God. There is only one mention in the New Testament, in Hebrews 9:5, referring to the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant.

Origins[link]

A Shedu.

The Hebrew term cherubim is cognate with the Assyrian term karabu, Akkadian term kuribu, and Babylonian term karabu; the Assyrian term means 'great, mighty', but the Akkadian and Babylonian cognates mean 'propitious, blessed'.^[2][3] In some regions the Assyro-Babylonian term came to refer in particular to spirits which served the gods, in particular to the shedu (human-headed winged bulls);^[3] the Assyrians sometimes referred to these as kirubu, a term grammatically related to karabu.^[2] They were originally a version of the shedu, protective deities sometimes found as pairs of colossal statues either side of objects to be protected, such as doorways.^[3][4] However, although the shedu were popular in Mesopotamia, archaeological remains from the Levant suggest that they were quite rare in the immediate vicinity of the Israelites.^[4] The related Lammasu (human-headed winged lions — to which the sphinx is similar in appearance), on the other hand, were the most popular winged-creature in Phoenician art, and so scholars suspect that Cherubim were originally a form of Lammasu.^[4] In particular, in a scene reminiscent of Ezekiel's dream, the Megiddo Ivories — ivory carvings found at Megiddo (which became a major Israelite city) — depict an unknown king being carried on his throne by hybrid winged-creatures.^[5]

A pair of shedu, protecting a doorway (the body of the creatures extending into the distance).

The Lammasu was originally depicted as having a king's head, a lion's body, and an eagle's wings, but because of the artistic beauty of the wings, these rapidly became the most prominent part in imagery ;^[2] wings later came to be bestowed on men, thus forming the stereotypical image of an angel.^[5] The griffin — a similar creature but with an eagle's head rather than that of a king — has also been proposed as an origin, arising in Israelite culture as a result of Hittite usage of griffins (rather than being depicted as aggressive beasts, Hittite depictions show them seated calmly, as if guarding),^[5] and some have proposed that griffin may be cognate to cherubim,^[6] but Lammasu were significantly more important in Levantine culture, and thus more likely to be the origin.^[2]

Early Semitic tradition conceived the cherubim as guardians, being devoid of human feelings, and holding a duty both to represent the gods and to guard sanctuaries from intruders, in a comparable way to an account found on Tablet 9 of the inscriptions found at Nimrud.^[2] In this view, cherubim, like the shedu, were probably originally depictions of storm deities, especially the storm winds.^[6] This view is offered as a hypothesis to explain the reason for cherubim being described as acting as the chariot of the LORD in Ezekiel's visions, the Books of Samuel,^[7] the parallel passages in the later Book of Chronicles,^[8] and passages in the early Psalms:^[2] "and he rode upon a cherub and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind".^[9][10]

In the Bible[link]

The most famous appearance of cherubim in the Bible is in the Garden of Eden story, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Cherubim feature at some length in the Book of Ezekiel. When they first appear in chapter one, when Ezekiel was "by the river Chebar", they are not called cherubims, but he saw "the likeness of four living creatures". (Ezekiel 1:5) Each of them had four faces and four wings, with straight feet with a sole like the sole of a calf's foot, and "hands of a man" under their wings. Each had four faces: The face of a man, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle. (Ezekiel 1:6-10)

In Ezekiel chapter ten, another full description of the Cherubims appears with slight differences in details. Three of the four faces are the same; man, lion and eagle; but where chapter one had the face of an ox, Ezekiel 10:14 says "face of a cherub". Ezekiel equates the Cherubims of chapter ten with the living creature of chapter one by saying: "This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar", in Ezekiel 10:15, and in Ezekiel 10:20 he said: "This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubims."

In a psalm of David that appears in Samuel 22:11 and Psalms 18:10, David said that the LORD "rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind."

The words Cherub and Cherubims appear many other times in the holy scriptures, referring to the Cherubims of beaten gold on the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant, and images on the curtains of the tabernacle, and in Solomon's temple, including two Cherubims made of olive wood overlaid with gold that were ten cubits high.^[11]

Post-biblical Judaism[link]

A cherub, according to traditional Christian iconography.

Many forms of Judaism teach belief in the existence of angels, including Cherubim within the Jewish angelic hierarchy. The existences of angels is generally widely contested within traditional rabbinic Judaism; there is, however, a wide range of views on what angels actually are, and how literally one should interpret biblical passages associated with them.

In Kabbalah there has long been a strong belief in Cherubim, with the Cherubim, and other angels, regarded as having mystical roles. The Zohar, a highly significant collection of books in Jewish mysticism, states that the Cherubim were led by one of their number, named Kerubiel.^[2]

On the other end of the philosophical spectrum is the view of Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, better known as Maimonides. He had a neo-Aristotelian interpretation of the Bible. Maimonides writes that to the wise man, one sees that what the Bible and Talmud refer to as "angels" are actually allusions for the various laws of nature; they are the principles by which the physical universe operates. "Guide of the Perplexed" II:4 and II:6.

For all forces are angels! How blind, how perniciously blind are the naive?! If you told someone who purports to be a sage of Israel that the Deity sends an angel who enters a woman's womb and there forms an embryo, he would think this a miracle and accept it as a mark of the majesty and power of the Deity, despite the fact that he believes an angel to be a body of fire one third the size of the entire world. All this, he thinks, is possible for God. But if you tell him that God placed in the sperm the power of forming and demarcating these organs, and that this is the angel, or that all forms are produced by the Active Intellect; that here is the angel, the "vice-regent of the world" constantly mentioned by the sages, then he will recoil.

For he {the naive person} does not understand that the true majesty and power are in the bringing into being of forces which are active in a thing although they cannot be perceived by the senses....Thus the Sages reveal to the aware that the imaginative faculty is also called an angel; and the mind is called a cherub. How beautiful this will appear to the sophisticated mind, and how disturbing to the primitive."

Maimonides says (Guide for the Perplexed III:45) that the figures of the cherubayim were placed in the sanctuary only to preserve among the people the belief in angels, there being two in order that the people might not be led to believe that they were the image of God.

Reform Judaism and Reconstructionist Judaism generally either drop references to angels or interpret them metaphorically^{[citation needed]}.

Cherubs are discussed within the midrash literature. The two cherubayim placed by God at the entrance of paradise (Gen. iii. 24) were angels created on the third day, and therefore they had no definite shape; appearing either as men or women, or as spirits or angelic beings (Genesis Rabbah xxi., end). The cherubim were the first objects created in the universe (Tanna debe Eliyahu R., i. beginning). The following sentence of the Midrash is characteristic: "When a man sleeps, the body tells to the neshamah (soul) what it has done during the day; the neshamah then reports it to the nefesh (spirit), the nefesh to the angel, the angel to the cherub, and the cherub to the seraph, who then brings it before God (Leviticus Rabbah xxii.; Eccl. Rabbah x. 20).

A midrash states that when Pharaoh pursued Israel at the Red Sea, God took a cherub from the wheels of His throne and flew to the spot, for God inspects the heavenly worlds while sitting on a cherub. The cherub, however, is "something not material", and is carried by God, not vice versa (Midr. Teh. xviii. 15; Canticles Rabbah i. 9).

In the passages of the Talmud that describe the heavens and their inhabitants, the seraphim, ofannim, and ḥayyot are mentioned, but not the cherubim (Ḥag. 12b); and the ancient liturgy also mentions only these three classes.

One traditional depiction of the cherubim and chariot vision, based on the description by Ezekiel.

In the Talmud, Yose ha-Gelili holds,^[12] when the Birkat HaMazon (Grace after Meals) is recited by at least ten thousand seated at one meal, a special blessing, "Blessed is Ha-Shem our God, the God of Israel, who dwells between the Cherubim", is added to the regular liturgy.

Catholicism[link]

In Catholic theology, following the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius, the cherubim are the second highest rank in the angelic hierarchy, following the Seraphim.^[13] In western art, Putti are sometimes mistaken for Cherubim, although they look nothing alike.

Depictions[link]

There were no cherubim in Herodian reconstruction of the Temple, but according to some authorities, its walls were painted with figures of cherubim.^[14] In Christian art they are often represented with the faces of a lion, ox, eagle, and man peering out from the center of an array of four wings (Ezekiel 1:5-11, 10:12,21 Revelation 4:8); (seraphim have six); the most frequently encountered descriptor applied to cherubim in Christianity is many-eyed, and in depictions the wings are often shown covered with a multitude of eyes (showing them to be all seeing beings). Since the Renaissance, in Western Christianity cherubim have become confused with putti—innocent souls, looking like winged children, that sing praises to God daily—that can be seen in innumerable church frescoes and in the work of painters such as Raphael.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cherubs

See also[link]

• Cupid and Kamadeva
• Cherubism (medical condition)
• Hierarchy of Angels
• Putto
• Seraph

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Yaniv, Bracha, The Cherubim on Torah Ark Valances, Jewish Art Department, Bar-Ilan University, published in Assaph: Studies in Art History, Vol.4, 1999

External links[link]

• Jewish Encyclopedia: Cherub
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Cherubim
• The Cherubim - some pointers and problems by Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple

Christian angelic hierarchy v t e
First Sphere (liberated)	Seraphim • Cherubim • Ophanim • Thrones
Second Sphere (active)	Dominions • Virtues  • Powers or Authorities
Third Sphere (active)	Principalities or Rulers • Archangels • Angels

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (September 2011)

Robert Kilgore Muchamore
Robert at a CHERUB Book Signing in Lisbon (2011)
Born	(1972-12-26) 26 December 1972 (age 39) London, England
Occupation	Novelist
Genres	Spy Adventure Thriller
Notable work(s)	CHERUB and Henderson's Boys
www.muchamore.com

Robert Kilgore Muchamore (born 26 December 1972) is an English author, most notable for writing the CHERUB and Henderson's Boys novels.

Prior to writing[link]

Muchamore was born in London, and is the youngest of four children.^[1] Muchamore left school with a D in A Level economics, with the hope of becoming an architect, photographer or writer.^[2] After realising training as an architect would require "too much work," and a Saturday job in a camera shop put him off being a photographer, he turned to writing. However, when he found his writing was not to a quality he would have liked, he gave up and secured a job as an office junior for a private investigation firm in 1991. He describes the 1990s for him as "pretty dull".^[2]

Book series[link]

CHERUB[link]

Robert Muchamore started writing the CHERUB novels because his nephew in Australia could not find any novels that he liked reading.^[3] He tried to write novels that he would have enjoyed reading when he was an adolescent, a time when he remembers being too old for children's novels but not old enough to read adult novels.^[4]

The CHERUB series follows the life of a character named James Adams (formerly James Choke), a member of CHERUB, a top-secret branch of the British Secret Service. The organisation recruits orphan children and trains them as intelligence officers. Once qualified, they are used to investigate targets ranging from international terrorists to gang leaders. As children, they are considered innocent by their targets. CHERUB agents start basic training at aged 10. Basic training is a 100 day course that prepares CHERUBs for the dangers they may face during missions. CHERUB agents are then eligible for missions. Once passed basic training, agents take part in missions, before retiring at age 17.^[5]

Muchamore has written and published thirteen CHERUB novels,the last one being Shadow Wave - which was the last book in the series.^[6] In 2008 he also released Dark Sun as a World Book Day novella. This book is no longer available in print but can be bought off ITunes Bookstore IBooks for £1.99 or a member of Cherub Campus can get it for free.

The CHERUB series has been sold in more than 20 different countries^[7] and has won various awards. Most notably, The Recruit has won 8 literature awards.

Henderson's Boys[link]

Muchamore has written five novels (with more planned) about the beginning of CHERUB entitled Henderson's Boys. The first, The Escape, was released on 5 February 2009 in the UK.^[8] It was followed by Eagle Day and Secret Army, released in June 2009 and March 2010 respectively.^[9] The fourth, Grey Wolves was released in early 2011. The fifth book, The Prisoner, was released in February 2012 and a sixth book 'One Shot Kill' is currently in the pipeline and is due to be released in November of this year.

The Henderson's Boys novels are set during World War II and follow Charles Henderson, a British secret agent, as he creates the organisation later featured in the CHERUB series. The novels centre around four children: Marc Kilgour, Paul, Rosie Clarke, and PT Bivott.^[10]

Aramov[link]

A third series has been published as a sequel to the cherub series. The first Novel, People's Republic^[11], was released in August 2011. There will be 2 more books after People's Republic: Guardian Angel^[12] (to be released in September 2012) and Black Friday^[13] (to be released in September 2013).

Other novels[link]

Home is another novel written by Robert Muchamore. It was deemed too violent to be published by a children's publisher and a publisher was never found. The story follows civil war in an unstated central African state, but most probably the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The full novel has been released by the author online.^[14]

In between writing The Recruit (in which the main character James learns of Cherub and becomes a recruit with his partner Kerry) and Class A, Muchamore wrote a novel called Little Criminals. He posted the first two chapters onto the CHERUB series official forum, to see what his fans thought. Unlike Home, Muchamore has not published the rest of the text on his fan forum because he still holds out some hope that it will be published^{[citation needed]}.

Bibliography[link]

CHERUB[link]

• CHERUB: The Recruit (April 2004)
• CHERUB: Class A (October 2004) (also known as The Dealer in USA and The Mission in the UK bookclub edition)
• CHERUB: Maximum Security (April 2005)
• CHERUB: The Killing (October 2005)
• CHERUB: Divine Madness (April 2006)
• CHERUB: Man Vs. Beast (October 2006)
• CHERUB: The Fall (March 2007)
• CHERUB: Mad Dogs (October 2007)
• CHERUB: The Sleepwalker (February 2008)
• *CHERUB: Dark Sun (World Book Day novella) (March 2008)
• CHERUB: The General (September 2008)
• CHERUB: Brigands MC (September 2009)
• CHERUB: Shadow Wave (August 2010)

Henderson's Boys[link]

• The Escape(L'evasion) (February 2009)
• Eagle Day (June 2009)
• Secret Army (February 2010)
• Grey Wolves (February 2011)
• The Prisoner (February 2012)
• One Shot Kill (November 2012)
• Book Seven (2013)

Aramov[link]

• People's Republic (August 2011)
• Guardian Angel (September 2012)
• Black Friday (September 2013)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Robert Muchamore

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