Commentary - Ezekiel 10:1-8

Bird's-eye view

What we are witnessing in Ezekiel 10 is not simply a strange vision of angelic beings and celestial furniture. This is a formal, solemn, and terrible event. It is the de-commissioning of the temple. God is packing up and moving out, and He is doing so just before the wrecking ball of Nebuchadnezzar arrives. The glory of Yahweh, which had descended and filled the tabernacle and later Solomon's temple as a sign of His covenant presence, is now pointedly and deliberately withdrawing. This is not a quiet slipping away in the night; it is a loud, visible, and thunderous departure. The throne of God is mobile, a fiery chariot, and it is not bound to any one building made with hands. When the people defile the house, God vacates the premises. But this is not just an act of abandonment. It is also an act of judgment. The same fire that represents God's holy presence is now being weaponized against the city that has spurned Him. This entire scene is a covenant lawsuit reaching its final verdict and sentence. The departure of the glory is the prerequisite for the destruction of Jerusalem.

This passage is therefore foundational for understanding how God deals with His covenant people. It is a stark reminder that the external forms of religion mean nothing when the heart is corrupt. And for the Christian, it is a crucial backdrop for understanding the events of the New Testament. The book of Revelation is, in many ways, a Christian rewrite of Ezekiel. The judgment on apostate Jerusalem in A.D. 70 was a direct echo of this event, where the glory of God, now embodied in the person of Jesus Christ, departed from the second temple, leaving it desolate just before the Romans came. The God who leaves a corrupt temple is also the God who is building a new one, a living temple made of His people, where His glory will dwell forever.

Outline

Context In Ezekiel

This chapter is not a standalone vision. It is the continuation and climax of the vision that began in chapter 8. There, Ezekiel was transported to Jerusalem to witness the grotesque idolatries being committed within the temple precincts themselves. He saw the "image of jealousy," elders worshipping creeping things, women weeping for Tammuz, and men with their backs to the altar, worshipping the sun. In chapter 9, God dispatched angelic executioners to go through the city and slay everyone who did not have the protective mark of God on their foreheads. Now, in chapter 10, the final stage of the judgment begins. Having cleansed the city of the unfaithful with the sword, God now prepares to destroy the physical structures with fire, but not before His own glorious presence has been safely and publicly removed. The vision of the cherubim and the fiery chariot-throne here is a direct callback to the initial vision of God's glory Ezekiel saw by the Chebar canal in chapter 1. The point is clear: the same glorious God who commissioned Ezekiel is now the one executing this terrible judgment.

Key Issues

Ichabod, The Glory Has Departed

The name Ichabod means "no glory," and it was given to the son of Phinehas when the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines and the glory of God departed from Israel (1 Sam. 4:21). What we are seeing in Ezekiel 10 is Ichabod on a cosmic scale. The Ark was the footstool of God's throne, but here we see the throne itself. And it is on the move. The central tragedy of this passage is not the impending destruction of a beautiful building. The tragedy is that Yahweh is leaving His house. He had bound His name to that place, and the people had come to treat His presence as a magical talisman, assuming that because the temple stood, they were safe. They confused the symbol with the reality.

God's presence is not a domestic cat that can be kept in a box. His presence is a roaring lion. His throne is a war chariot. He cannot be contained or presumed upon. When His people commit high-handed treason in His very throne room, as they were doing in the temple, He will not remain. This departure is a judicial act. It is God saying, "You have broken the covenant. You have defiled my sanctuary. Therefore, I am removing my protection and handing you over to the covenant curses you have chosen." This is the ultimate covenantal sanction. Before the Babylonians can touch a single stone, God Himself must first sign the eviction notice and move out.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 Then I looked, and behold, in the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim something like a sapphire stone, in appearance in the likeness of a throne, appeared above them.

Ezekiel's attention is directed upward. He sees the living creatures, the cherubim, who form the living chariot of God. Above them, in the "expanse" or firmament, he sees the throne. This is the seat of cosmic authority. It is described as being like sapphire, a stone of deep, celestial blue, reminiscent of the pavement under God's feet that Moses and the elders saw on Sinai (Ex. 24:10). The language is careful, full of "likeness" and "appearance," because Ezekiel is describing the indescribable. The main point is not the precise architecture, but the reality it represents: the sovereign God of heaven and earth is enthroned above all, and He is about to render His verdict.

2 And He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, “Enter between the whirling wheels under the cherubim and fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” And he entered in my sight.

The one on the throne speaks. His command is given to the "man clothed in linen," the same angelic figure from chapter 9 who had marked the faithful for salvation. Now his task is judgment. He is to take coals of fire from between the wheels of the divine chariot. This is holy fire. It is the fire of God's own presence, the same kind of fire that was on the altar. But now, this fire of holiness is to be used as an instrument of destruction. It is to be scattered over Jerusalem. This is a divine sentence of death by fire. The city that was meant to be a light to the nations will be consumed by the very light it rejected. The command is given, and the angelic minister obeys immediately, in Ezekiel's full view.

3 Now the cherubim were standing on the right side of the house when the man entered, and the cloud filled the inner court.

The geography is significant. The cherubim, this entire throne-chariot apparatus, are positioned on the "right side," or the south side, of the temple. This is the initial stage of the departure. At the same time, the inner court is filled with the cloud. This is the Shekinah, the visible manifestation of God's glorious presence that had filled the temple at its dedication (1 Kings 8:10-11). The glory is being concentrated, gathered up, as it were, before its final exit. The house is having one last experience of the overwhelming presence of the God it has forsaken.

4 Then the glory of Yahweh rose up from the cherub to the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of Yahweh.

Here is the first step in the departure. The glory "rose up" from its place enthroned upon the cherubim and moved to the threshold, the very doorway, of the temple. It is pausing at the exit. This is a dramatic, deliberate movement. God is not being forced out; He is leaving on His own terms. As He pauses, the effect is twofold: the inner sanctuary ("the house") is filled with the dark, mysterious cloud of His presence, while the outer area ("the court") is filled with the unbearable brightness of that same glory. God's glory is both concealing and revealing, both dark and light, and it is utterly overwhelming.

5 Moreover, the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks.

This is not a silent, ghostly departure. It is accompanied by a deafening sound. The wings of these mighty creatures make a noise that can be heard all the way out to the furthest court of the temple complex. Ezekiel compares it to the voice of El Shaddai, God Almighty. This is the sound of cosmic power, the sound of creation, the sound of judgment. It is a public announcement. Everyone in the vicinity would know that something of immense significance was happening. The King is leaving His palace, and the roar of His chariot's engines is shaking the foundations.

6-7 Now it happened that when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,” he entered and stood beside a wheel. Then the cherub sent forth his hand from between the cherubim to the fire which was between the cherubim, took some up, and put it into the hands of the one clothed in linen, who took it and went out.

The narrative returns to the commissioning of the man in linen, providing more detail. He approaches the fiery chariot and stands by one of the wheels. Then, one of the cherubim itself acts as the agent. It reaches a hand into the fire at the center of the divine chariot, takes some of the burning coals, and places them into the hands of the linen-clothed angel. This shows the complete unity of the divine court. The cherubim are not just transportation; they are active participants in executing God's will. The fire is transferred, the instrument of judgment is now armed, and the angel "went out" to perform his task.

8 And the cherubim appeared to have the form of a man’s hand under their wings.

This is a parenthetical note, an observation Ezekiel makes after seeing the cherub act. Underneath the awesome and otherworldly appearance of these winged creatures, there is something familiar: the form of a human hand. This is a reminder that man is made in the image of God. These highest of angelic beings, who serve in the very throne room of God, share a feature with mankind. It speaks to the dignity of man as God's appointed agent on earth, and it also shows that the actions of these celestial beings are personal and deliberate, like the actions of a hand. They are not impersonal forces of nature, but intelligent ministers of the living God.

Application

The temptation for any established religion is to begin to trust in the religious machinery. We can have the building, the programs, the budget, the right books on the shelf, and the correct theology in our statements of faith, and all the while, the glory of God could be at the threshold, on His way out. This passage is a terrifying warning against institutional pride and spiritual complacency. God does not live in buildings we make for Him; He lives in the hearts of His people. And if those hearts become dens of idolatry, He will leave. The cloud and the brightness will depart, and all we will be left with is an empty shell, a hollow institution, ripe for judgment.

But the good news of the gospel is that God did not simply abandon His temple project. After the glory departed from the first temple, and then later from the second temple when they rejected His Son, He did something far more glorious. On the day of Pentecost, the glory returned. The sound of a mighty rushing wind filled the house, and tongues of fire came to rest not on a building, but on the disciples. The glory of God came to indwell His new temple, the Church. We are now the place where God dwells by His Spirit. This is an incalculable privilege, but it also comes with a sober responsibility. As Peter says, judgment begins at the household of God (1 Pet. 4:17). We are to be holy, for He is holy. We must be ruthless in rooting out the idols in our own hearts and in our churches, lest we grieve the Spirit and find that the glory has, once again, moved to the threshold.