(plural, Cherubim), an angelic spirit, which in the celestial hierarchy is placed next to the seraphim. The term cherub, in Hebrew, is sometimes taken for a calf or ox. Ezekiel represents the face of the cherub as synonymous with the face of an ox. The word cherub, in Syrian and Chaldee, signifies to till or plough, which is the proper work of oxen. Cherub also signifies strong and powerful. Grotius says that the figures of the cherubim resembled that of a calf; Bochart likewise thinks that the cherubim had more likeness to the figure of an ox than to any thing besides; Spencer is of the same opinion; and St John, in the Revelation, calls cherubim beasts. Josephus says that the cherubim were extraordinary creatures, of a figure unknown to mankind. Clemens Alexandrinus believes that the Egyptians imitated the cherubim of the Hebrews in the representations of their sphinxes and other hieroglyphical animals. Indeed all the descriptions which the Scripture gives us of cherubim differ from one another, but agree in representing them by a figure composed of various creatures, as a man, an ox, an eagle, and a lion. Such were the cherubim described by Ezekiel. Those seen by Isaiah, and which he called seraphim, had the figure of a man with six wings, two of which covered their faces, and two more covered their feet, while with the two others they flew. Those which Solomon placed in the temple at Jerusalem are supposed to have been nearly of the same form. But those which St John describes in the Revelation were all eyes before and behind, and had each six wings. The first was in the form of a lion, the second in that of a calf, the third in that of a man, and the fourth in that of an eagle. The figure of the cherubim was not always uniform, since they are variously described as having the shapes of men, eagles, oxen, lions, and sometimes of all these put together. Moses likewise calls the symbolical or hieroglyphical representations which were embroidered on the veils of the tabernacle, cherubim of costly work. Such were the symbolical figures which the Egyptians placed at the gates of their temples, and the images of the generality of their gods, which were commonly statues composed of the figures of men and animals combined on metaphorical, or rather allegorical principles.