Ezekiel 1:19

And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Ezekiel 1:19-21. When the living creatures went, the wheels went by them — The living creatures and the wheels moved in concert, to show with what readiness and alacrity all the instruments of providence concur in carrying on its great designs and purposes; and that second causes here below act under the superintendence and conduct of God and his holy angels. When the living creatures were lifted up, &c., the wheels were lifted up — By the wheels being lifted up with the living creatures, may be signified, that the dispensations of God on earth, where the wheels were first seen, are connected with the things of heaven, and are all appointed and directed with a reference to the concerns of God’s church, and of the spiritual and heavenly world. Whithersoever the Spirit was to go — Namely, the Spirit of God; they went — They punctually observed his conduct, and obeyed his influence. Their wills were directed by his will. And the wheels were lifted up over against them — Proportionably to the lifting up of the living creatures. The wheels, inferior agents, and second causes, act in unison with, and under the influence of, these angelic ministers of the divine will. For the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels — Both the wheels and the living creatures were actuated by one and the same spirit. An undiscerned, yet divine, mighty, wise, and ever-living power and energy, influenced all, and governed all. When those went, these went — This is only a repetition of what is contained in the foregoing verse.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:15-25 Providence, represented by the wheels, produces changes. Sometimes one spoke of the wheel is uppermost, sometimes another; but the motion of the wheel on its own axletree is regular and steady. We need not despond in adversity; the wheels are turning round and will raise us in due time, while those who presume in prosperity know not how soon they may be cast down. The wheel is near the living creatures; the angels are employed as ministers of God's providence. The spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels; the same wisdom, power, and holiness of God, that guide and govern the angels, by them order all events in this lower world. The wheel had four faces, denoting that the providence of God exerts itself in all parts. Look every way upon the wheel of providence, it has a face toward you. Their appearance and work were as a wheel in the middle of a wheel. The disposals of Providence seem to us dark, perplexed, and unaccountable, yet are all wisely ordered for the best. The motion of these wheels was steady, regular, and constant. They went as the Spirit directed, therefore returned not. We should not have to undo that by repentance which we have done amiss, if we followed the guidance of the Spirit. The rings, or rims of the wheels were so vast, that when put in motion the prophet was afraid to look upon them. The consideration of the height and depth of God's counsel should awe us. They were full of eyes round about. The motions of Providence are all directed by infinite Wisdom. All events are determined by the eyes of the Lord, which are in every place beholding the evil and the good; for there is no such thing as chance or fortune. The firmament above was a crystal, glorious, but terribly so. That which we take to be a dark cloud, is to God clear as crystal, through which he looks upon all the inhabitants of the earth. When the angels had roused a careless world, they let down their wings, that God's voice might be plainly heard. The voice of Providence is to open men's ears to the voice of the word. Sounds on earth should awaken our attention to the voice from heaven; for how shall we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaks from thence.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Rings - The felloes (circumference) of the wheels: they were both high and terrible. The "eyes" may have been no more than dazzling spots adding to their brilliancy. But it seems more likely that they had a symbolic meaning expressing either the universal fulfillment of God's will through His creation (2 Chronicles 16:9; compare Ezekiel 10:12), or the constant and unceasing praise which His works are ever rendering to Him Revelation 4:8. The power of nature is no blind force. it is employed in the service of God's Providence, and the stamp of reason is impressed all over it. It is this very thing that makes the power of nature terrible to him who is at enmity with God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

19. went by them—went beside them.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

When the living creatures went, the wheels went by them; the wheels’ motion or standing depended on the motion and assistance of some higher agent which excited and guided them, when therefore the living creatures, the angels, ministers of God’s will, moved, then did those affairs expressed by wheels move also. There was an exact accord between these, they were as well joined in motion as they were in station.

When the living creatures were lifted up; moved higher above our ordinary reach.

From the earth; that basis on which both the wheels seemed to stand, and from which sometimes they seemed to lift up themselves, as if to fetch a new commission and order from him that sat upon the throne.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them,.... When the ministers of the Gospel begin the worship of God, and move in acts of devotion, the churches join with them; see Revelation 4:9; and in their lives and conversations they are examples to them; and churches and members ought to walk as they have them, for an example in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity;

and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up; when the ministers of the word have their affections raised, and are in lively frames of soul in preaching the Gospel, generally speaking, so it is with the churches and the members thereof, that sit under their ministrations; their hearts burn within them; their affections are raised, and their souls are lifted up heavenwards, while the Scriptures of truth are opened unto them.

Geneva Study Bible

And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19–21. The movement of the wheels corresponded with that of the living creatures. They were animated by the same spirit as the creatures, and were part of the whole living phenomenon. In the Book of Enoch “wheels” (Ophannim) are a class of angels, named along with Seraphim and Cherubim, ch. lxi. 10; lxx. 7.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - The wheels went by them; better, with Revised Version, beside them; i.e. moving in parallel lines with them. And when the living creatures went, etc. The truth embodied in the coincident movements of the "living creatures" and the "wheels," is the harmony of the forces and laws of nature with its outward manifestations of might. In the two directions of the movement, onward and upward - when the living creatures were lifted up - we may see

(1) the operations of the two when they are within the range of man's knowledge, and, as it were, on the same plane with it; and

(2) those which are as in a higher region beyond his ken. Ezekiel 1:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The four wheels beside the cherubim. - Ezekiel 1:15. And I saw the creatures, and, lo, there was a wheel upon the earth beside the creatures, towards their four fronts. Ezekiel 1:16. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like the appearance of the chrysolite; and all four had one kind of figure: and their appearance and their work was as if one wheel were within the other. Ezekiel 1:17. Towards their four sides they went when they moved: they turned not as they went. Ezekiel 1:18. And their felloes, they were high and terrible; and their felloes were full of eyes round about in all the four. Ezekiel 1:19. And when the creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them; and when the creatures raised themselves up from the earth, the wheels also raised themselves. Ezekiel 1:20. Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went in the direction in which the spirit was to go; and the wheels raised themselves beside them: for the spirit of the creatures was in the wheels. Ezekiel 1:21. When the former moved, the latter moved also; when the former stood, the latter stood; and when the former raised themselves from the ground, the wheels raised themselves beside them: for the spirit of the creatures was in the wheels. - The words, "and I saw the creatures," prepare the way for the transition to the new object which presented itself in these creatures to the eye of the seer. By the side of these creatures upon the ground he sees a wheel, and that at the four fronts, or front faces of the creatures. The singular suffix in לארבּעת פּניו can neither be referred, with Rosenmller, to the chariot, which is not mentioned at all, nor, with Hitzig, to the preposition אצל, nor, with Hvernick, Maurer, and Kliefoth, to אופן, and so be understood as if every wheel looked towards four sides, because a second wheel was inserted in it at right angles. This meaning is not to be found in the words. The suffix refers ad sensum to חיּות (Ewald), or, to express it more correctly, to the figure of the cherubim with its four faces turned to the front, conceived as a unity - as one creature (החיּה, Ezekiel 1:22). Accordingly, we have so to represent the matter, that by the side of the four cherubim, namely, beside his front face, a wheel was to be seen upon the earth. Ezekiel then saw four wheels, one on each front of a cherub, and therefore immediately speaks in Ezekiel 1:16 of wheels (in the plural). In this verse מראה is adspectus, and מעשׂה "work;" i.e., both statements employing the term "construction," although in the first hemistich only the appearance, in the second only the construction, of the wheels is described. תּרשׁישׁ is a chrysolite of the ancients, the topaz of the moderns, - a stone having the lustre of gold. The construction of the wheels was as if one wheel were within a wheel, i.e., as if in the wheel a second were inserted at right angles, so that without being turned it could go towards all the four sides. גּבּיהן, in Ezekiel 1:18, stands absolutely. "As regards their felloes," they possessed height and terribleness-the latter because they were full of eyes all round. Hitzig arbitrarily understands גּבהּ of the upper sides; and יראה, after the Arabic, of the under side, or that which lies towards the back. The movement of the wheels completely followed the movement of the creatures (Ezekiel 1:19-21), because the spirit of the creature was in the wheels. החיּה, in Ezekiel 1:20 and Ezekiel 1:21, is not the "principle of life" (Hvernick), but the cherubic creatures conceived as a unity, as in Ezekiel 1:22, where the meaning is undoubted. The sense is: the wheels were, in their motion and rest, completely bound by the movements and rest of the creatures, because the spirit which ruled in them was also in the wheels, and regulated their going, standing, and rising upwards. By the רוּח the wheels are bound in one with the cherub-figures, but not by means of a chariot, to or upon which the cherubim were attached.