This post draws heavily, and in some cases directly, from the work of James Jordan, Peter Leithart and Michael Bull, as well as Matthieu and Jonathan Pageau. I would also like to acknowledge the contribution of Jacob Russell, Bradley Heißmann and Eugene Schreder: their conversation provided some of the content, as well as crystallise my thinking.
In the Bible and in ancient cosmology, the cherubim are high-ranking angels. In the bible, they are described as having four heads. Moving from the top clockwise and ending at 9 o’clock, these are man, bull/ox, eagle and lion (although see below for how the faces move). As humans, we have six sides (think of a coffin), but four that relate to movement through space, since we cannot fly. This is part of the reason we have four points of the compass (the other reason is, of course, the passage of the sun and moon, which creates a line from east to west across the sky). Thus, the number four and the square is associated with defined space. Now one of the prime roles of the cherub makes sense: they are a guardian of space. Thus, we see cherubim with flaming swords as guardians around Eden, the plan or blueprint for the rest of creation. Space in this sense does not just mean a plane, though it can include that. Rather, it refers to the defined, the known and the centre (in contrast to time, which is the opposite of all those things).
The cherub faces are associated with different points of the compass in Scripture: North is the Man, South is the Eagle, East is the Bull and West is the Lion. These are all facing inwards and are in motion, so that in some places of Scripture the Eagle is positioned north and the Man south, for instance. The picture above is correct: the faces are outward. As an interesting digression, the transfer of the kingship from the Father to the Son can be seen in the smoke of the Bull being sacrificed on the eastern alter of the Old Testament Tabernacle rising to the ark-throne in the west: The lion and bull cross over in the transfer of the kingship. These also correspond to four quarter-turned signs of the zodiac (Taurus, Leo, Aquarius), the only exception being the Eagle, who is replaced by the snake/dragon/scorpion. This corresponds to the fall of Satan to earth, south being associated with earth relative to north, which is associated with heaven. God’s throne room is pictured for us in Ezekiel and Revelation as above cherubs. If God is seated in the heavens above cherubs, it makes sense that this layout is reflected in our heavens, in the signs of the zodiac and the four points of the compass. It should be noted, however, that in the Zodiac, the Taurus the Bull stands in the celestial north, Leo in East, Scorpion in the South and Aquarius in the east.
Let us now apply this to the scriptures. The Scriptures may be divided into four parts: Law, or priestly books (five books of Moses), kingly books (Conquest of Canaan, Kingdoms, Exile, Wisdom), prophetic books, and the New Testament. These cohere around the four faces of the cherubim: The law corresponds to the bull, a sacrificial animal, the kingly books to the lion, the prophetic books to the eagle, as birds and wings are imagery associated with the Spirit of God and eagles with exile (prophets often being wanderers in the desert), the New Testament to the Man, the Incarnation of Christ. If we lay this out on the compass and trace the order as arranged in the Bible, we get a movement from east to west to south to north. This is a reverse sign of the cross, which makes perfect sense when we consider this: Abraham was summoned from the east to go into the west; his children descended into Egypt, then rose up to conquer the north. This movement of Bull-Lion-Eagle-Man is the path of humanity to redemption, while the sign of the cross traces Christ’s movement down to earth.
This pattern is fractal; that is, it repeats on smaller scales. For instance, the kingly books can be divided into four sections: conquest of Canaan, Kingdoms, Exile, Wisdom. The wisdom books were almost entirely written by kings, because kings are called to make decisions that are not explicitly laid out in the Law (something we see Solomon doing in the case of the two prostitutes). To lay this out on the cross, or compass, we must consider the four creatures from the point of view of maturity. The Bull represents the Priestly office or Law, whereby the rules of life are laid out. This is our childhood: we do not understand the reason behind every command given us by our parents. The Lion is the next stage, adulthood, where we put into practice the rules we have learnt, but are also forced into situations where the rules don’t seem to apply: we must then exercise wisdom. The Eagle is old age: we have gained wisdom, we can no longer work as we used to, so we take on the role of herald and teacher for the younger generation. The Man is resurrection: the glorified and unified person, or the face of a new beginning, a seed. We see these four sections within the Kingly books, moving in the order of salvation. Israel charges into Canaan as the bull, laying down the boundaries or law of the land. The sceptre rises over the land in David and Solomon, the kings most blessed with wisdom. Israel suffers exile though her prophets continue to speak, and is borne out of exile on eagles’ wings. The man is different, in that he is not an animal, and likewise we see that the wisdom books are not histories. Instead, they form a store of tradition, a concentration of wisdom: a seed that always promises a new beginning.
The New Testament also splits easily into four parts: Gospel, Acts, Letters, Apocalypse. We now introduce a new idea. That is that different orders mean different things, and different orders of the same things can produce new meanings. If we are focused on imagery of a seed being planted, the following order emerges. The Gospel deals with the Incarnation, the seed that is Christ. Acts thus the Eagle, or earth: the apostles go forth and plant the seed in the earth, often wandering like exiles from their home. The letters articulate and begin to formalise a new law from the apostles to the whole world (it is also interesting that they form two sections: Pauline epistles, and everything else, a division that mirrors the split of major and minor prophets in the OT). Finally, the Apocalypse of St John can be seen as the Lion moving off his throne to conquer the world: it is an unveiling and unravelling of the powers that till then had governed the world. It is worth noting that this movement traces the sign of the cross: from North to South, from East to West. At the same time, though, we can see the order of the entire Bible, that of redemption, moving from Gospel, with Christ as sacrifice re-proclaiming the law, the Acts as the Apostles conquering the world as lions, the letters as the prophetic voice of the Apostles flying over the land, and the Apocalypse as heralding the resurrection and new heavens and earth. This flexibility is reflected, I think, in the Cherubim being somewhat ambiguously perceived as creatures with four heads, or as four separate creatures (as in Revelation). It is also musical: from one point of view, a note may form part of the melody, while from another it is part of a harmony: both are true at the same time.
Let us trace the fractal pattern once more with the four gospels. There has been some disagreement about which gospel corresponds to which face, which I do not see as a problem, for reasons outlined in the previous paragraph. Nevertheless, the traditional associations sees Matthew as the man, Mark as the Lion (in fact, nearly everyone sees Mark as the Lion), Luke as the Ox and John as the eagle. This traces a zigzag descent: North, West, East, South. Or, if the faces are facing outwards, it traces an ascent. Thus, I think the traditional associations are emphasising Christ's descent to earth and his subsequent ascent. By way of comparison, James Jordan associates Matthew with the Ox, Mark with Lion, Luke with Eagle and John with man, which provides the East-West-South-North path of redemption. Again, I do not think one of these interpretations is more correct than the other: they all work together to provide multiple layers of meaning.
A last thought. The points of the compass are also associated with the seasons: North is winter, East spring, South summer and West autumn. Clockwise, these trace the circle of time and thus counteract the defined space of the compass: you are lost when you go around in a circle. It is worth noting that none of these patterns I have noted trace the circle of time, and the main patterns form a cross. The cross can thus be seen as a harnessing or reigning in of the influence of time: the movement between the points retains an influence of time, but the order is rearranged and refuses to allow time to run its own course.
Further Reading:
North and South
Ox, Lion, Eagle, Man
Cherubic order
Jacob’s Ziggurat
Comments
Post a Comment