The Anointed Cherub

Q

I am a little confused about this bit of the commentary on the fourth chapter of Revelation:

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” (Rev. 4:6-8) These are the four cherubim who guard the throne of God.

In the beginning there were five, but their leader betrayed both them and his trust, rebelling against God and causing the introduction of a second will in the universe. We call him by his primary activity, Satan, (it means accuser in Hebrew) but in Ezekiel 28:14 he’s called “the anointed cherub.”

Where did you get your information for this statement? I have looked in the word and I haven’t seen anything, I might be looking in the wrong place. Could you help?

A

Ezekiel begins chapter 28 with a prophecy against the Prince (or ruler) of Tyre. At verse 11 He starts talking to the King of Tyre, the power behind the throne, saying things that could only be true of a supernatural being who had fallen. Most scholars identify this person as the one we call Satan.

In verse 13 the Lord says he’d been in Eden, and in verse 14 that he was anointed as the guardian cherub on the Holy Mount of God. This means that he was placed in charge of the detail that guards the throne of God. Then wickedness was found in him and he was thrown to Earth.

Ezekiel 28:11-19 is a description of the origin and fall of Satan. It parallels Isaiah 14: 12-20 that describes Satan’s pride in more detail. In some translations of the Isaiah passage he’s called Lucifer, the name he was given when the bible was translated into Latin in the 4th Century.