Pensiero Ebraico su Ezechiele 10:9

WHEN Ezekiel recalled to memory the form of the Chariot, which he described in the beginning of the book, the same vision presented itself to him a second time; in this vision he was borne to Jerusalem. He explains in describing it things which have not been made clear at first, e.g., he substitutes the term “cherubim” for Ḥayyot, whereby he expresses that the Ḥayyot of the first vision are likewise angels like the cherubim. He says, therefore: “Where the cherubims went, the Ofannim went by them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same Ofannim also turned not from beside them” (x. 16). By these words he shows how closely connected the two motions are [viz., that of the Ḥayyot and that of the Ofannim]. The prophet adds, “This is the Hayyah that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar: and I knew that they were cherubims” (ver. 20). He thus describes the same forms and the same motions, and states that the Ḥayyot and the cherubim are identical. A second point is then made clear in this second description, namely, that the Ofannim are spherical; for the prophet says, “As for the Ofannim, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O sphere” (ver. 13). A third point concerning the Ofannim is illustrated here in the following words: “To the place whither the head looked they followed it: they turned not as they went” (ver. 11). The motion of the Ofannim is thus described as involuntary, and directed “to the place whither the head looketh”; and of this it is stated that it moves “whither the spirit is to go” (i. 20). A fourth point is added concerning the Ofannim, namely, “And the Ofannim were full of eyes round about, even the Ofannim that they four had” (x. 12). This has not been mentioned before. In this second description there are further mentioned” their flesh, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings” (ibid.), whilst in the first account none of these is mentioned: and it is only stated that they are bodies. Though they are endowed in the second account with flesh, hands, and wings, no form is given to them. In the second account each Ofan is attributed to a cherub, “one Ofan by one cherub, and another Ofan by another cherub.” The four Ḥayyot are then described as one Hayyah on account of their interjoining: “This is the Ḥayyah that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar” (ver. 20). Also the Ofannim, though being four in number, as has been mentioned, are called “one ofan upon the earth” (ver. 15), because they interjoin, and “they four have one likeness” (ver. 16). This is the additional explanation which the second vision gives of the form of the Ḥayyot and the Ofannim.

IT is necessary to call your attention to an idea expressed by Jonathan, the son of Uzziel. When he saw that the prophet says in reference to the Ofannim, “It was cried unto them in my hearing, O gilgal” (“sphere”) (x. 13), he assumed that by Ofannim the heavens are meant, and rendered Ofan by gilgal, “sphere,” and Ofannim by gilgelaya, “spheres.” I have no doubt that he found a confirmation of his opinion in the words of the prophet that the Ofannim were like unto the colour of tarshish (ver. 16), a colour ascribed to the heavens, as is well known. When he, therefore, noticed the passage, “Now as I beheld the Ḥayyot, behold one Ofan upon the earth” (i. 15), which clearly shows that the Ofannim were upon the earth, he had a difficulty in explaining it in accordance with his opinion. Following, however, his interpretation, he explains the terms erez, employed here as denoting the inner surface of the heavenly sphere, which may be considered as erez (“earth” or “below”), in relation to all that is above that surface. He therefore translates the words ofan eḥad ba-areẓ, as follows: “One ofan was below the height of the heavens.” Consider what his explanation of the passage must be. I think that he gave this explanation because he thought that gilgal denotes in its original meaning “heaven.” My opinion is that gilgal means originally “anything rolling”; comp. “And I will roll thee (ve-gilgaltika) down from the rocks” (Jer. 51:25); “and rolled (va-yagel) the stone” (Gen. 29:10); the same meaning the word has in the phrase: “Like a rolling thing (galgal) before the whirlwind” (Isa. 17:13). The poll of the head, being round, is therefore called gulgolet; and because everything round rolls easily, every spherical thing is called gilgal; also the heavens are called gilgallim on account of their spherical form. Thus our Sages use the phrase, “It is a wheel (gilgal) that moves round the world”; and a wooden ball, whether small or large, is called gilgal. If so, the prophet merely intended by the words, “As for the Ofannim, it is cried to them in my hearing, O sphere” (gilgal), to indicate the shape of the Ofannim, as nothing has been mentioned before respecting their form and shape; but he did not mean to say that the Ofannim are the same as the heavens. The term “like tarshish” is explained in the second account, in which it is said of the Ofannim: “And the appearance of the Ofannim was like the colour of tarshish.” This latter passage is translated by Jonathan, the son of Uzziel, “like the colour of a precious stone, “exactly in the same manner as Onkelos translates the phrase ke-ma‘ase libnat ha-sappir, “like the work of the whiteness of sapphire” (Exod. 29:10). Note this.