Yesterday we learned about the cherubim, a fearsome angelic guard that protects God’s properties, and even the heavenly throne room itself. We looked at a description of these beings from Ezekiel 1, an edited version of the passage that eliminated the descriptions of everything else but these amazing angelic hosts. One of the items we skipped was the description of their chariot wheels, which appear to be living spiritual beings. While the word is never mentioned in Scripture, in Jewish tradition they are known as the Ophanim. Little is known about this race, but what we do know comes from the prophet Ezekiel.

Then I looked, and I saw one wheel on the ground beside each of the four beings. The appearance of the wheels and their construction was like gleaming jasper, and all four wheels looked alike. Their structure was like a wheel within a wheel. When they moved they would go in any of the four directions they faced without turning as they moved. Their rims were high and awesome, and the rims of all four wheels were full of eyes all around… Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise up beside them because the spirit of the living being was in the wheel. When the living beings moved, the wheels moved, and when they stopped moving, the wheels stopped. When they rose up from the ground, the wheels rose up from the ground; the wheels rose up beside them because the spirit of the living being was in the wheel.

Their name comes from the Hebrew word “ophan”, which means “wheel”. From Ezekiel’s description, a living spirit is inside the wheel perhaps not unlike a human spirit which is inside a physical body. Like our body, the spirit controls the wheel, which has eyes all around in order to keep vigilant. Alternatively, perhaps the word for “wheel” describes their motion and not their physical appearance. If this is so, then they would move in a twirling fashion, perhaps more like a tornado. This idea seems to make more sense than the traditional translation. As they spin, it would appear that something that is actually small in number would appear to be everywhere. Consider when moving your hand quickly back and forth in front of your eyes, it can appear as if you have more than five fingers. The same effect may be why it appears their eyes are all “all around”.

In Jewish mystic circles the Ophanim take on the work of what we today know to be the Holy Spirit. The supposedly help people learn and become more knowledgeable, assist people in applying that knowledge in practical ways, and empower people to reach their full potential. They also supposedly communicate with some people through ESP. All we know for certain, however, is that they are responsible for moving the chariot cherubim and the Angel of God ride on.

Since the Holy Spirit performs these tasks, what is the purpose of the Ophanim? They appear to be the Cherubim’s backup. Using an illustration from yesterday, the president may have bodyguards near his person at all times, but when he travels there are other Secret Service agents keeping a lookout, watching everything and everyone in the vicinity of the leader of the free world. It may be that while the Cheribum protect the Angel of God, the Ophanim protect the perimeter. This is all conjecture, of course, but I like to think probable conjecture based on what little we can glean from Ezekiel’s description.