In the time of the prophets, the focal point of all prayer was the Great Temple that stood in Jerusalem. The innermost chamber of the Temple was the Holy of Holies. So great was the sanctity of this chamber that no person was ever allowed to enter into it, other than the High Priest (Cohen Gadol) on Yom Kippur. This was part of a most impressive service, and people from all over the world would gather to see the High Priest emerge in peace after having worshiped in this inner sanctuary.
In the center of the Holy of Holies stood the Ark of the Covenant, which was made of wood covered with gold. On this ark was a cover of pure gold, and attached to this cover were two golden Cherubs. The entire structure of the Ark, its cover and the cherubs are described in detail in the Bible, and they were made under the personal supervision of Moses.38
But even more important was what the Ark contained. In it were the two most sacred objects mentioned in the Bible. First, it contained the two Tablets, inscribed with the Ten Commandments, which God had given to Moses. Besides this, it also contained the original scroll of the Torah which Moses himself had written as dictated by God.39
When King Solomon built the Temple, he constructed a deep labyrinth going under the Temple Mount, where the holy vessels could be hidden in time of danger. Foreseeing that Jerusalem would be threatened, King Josiah ordered that the Ark be concealed in this labyrinth, sealing it off so that it would not be discovered by the enemy. Thus, even to this day, the Ark is hidden somewhere under the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.40
The source of all prophetic inspiration was the Temple in Jerusalem, particularly the two Cherubs on the Ark of the Covenant, which stood in the Holy of Holies.41 In describing the Ark, God told Moses, “I will commune with you, and I will speak with you from above the ark-cover, from between the two Cherubs, which are on the Ark of testimony” (Exodus 25:22).42 What was true of Moses was also true of the other prophets, and the primary influence of prophecy came through these two Cherubs in the Holy of Holies. There is some evidence that the prophetic experience, in some cases, came about through intense meditation on these two Cherubs.43
Each of the Cherubs had the form of a very young child with wings.44 Even though God had in general forbidden the construction of such images, it was God Himself who had commanded that these two forms be placed over the Ark.45 Rather than facing the people, the Cherubs faced each other, clearly indicating that they were not meant to be worshiped, but rather that they designated a place where spiritual force was concentrated.46 The fact that the Cherubs stood on the Ark containing the Tablets and the original Torah scroll indicated that these were the source of this spiritual power.
In general, the fact that the Cherubs had the form of winged human beings indicated that man has the ability to transcend his earthly bonds. Although man is bound to the earth by his mortal body, he can fly on the wings of his soul, soaring through the highest spiritual universes. This concept was embodied in the very shape of the Cherubs, and by meditating on them, a person could indeed fly with his own spiritual wings.
In order to explore this on a deeper level, we must look at the other important places where the Cherubs are mentioned in the Bible. The first such place is after Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, where the Torah states, “[God] expelled the man, and He placed the Cherubs to the east of the Garden of Eden … to guard the way of the Tree of Life” (Genesis 3:24). The “Tree of Life” here refers to the most profound spiritual experience, and therefore, before one can enter into this experience, he must first encounter the Cherubs.47 These Cherubs, of course, are a type of angel.
The second place where we find the Cherubs is in Ezekiel's vision, which, according to the commentaries, is a paradigm of the prophetic experience in general. The first thing that Ezekiel saw were the Chayot, but these are later identified as being the Cherubs. The prophet reaches the highest levels of the mystical experience, actually transcending the bonds that tie his mind and soul to the physical world. In accomplishing this, he is actually approaching the “Tree of Life,” and the first thing that he encounters are its guardians, which are the Cherubs.
The Cherubs on the Ark were meant to be a counterpart of the Cherubs on high, and thus, in a sense, the space between these two forms was seen as an opening into the spiritual dimension. In concentrating his thoughts between the Cherubs on the Ark, the prophet was also able to pass between the angelic Cherubs, and then ascend on the path of the Tree of Life. Conversely, when God's message was sent to the prophet, it would also follow this same path, first passing through the spiritual Cherubs, and then through the ones on the Ark. The space between the Cherubs was therefore the source of all prophetic inspiration.48
Through this, we can understand what would otherwise be a rather difficult episode in the Bible involving Samuel's first vision. Looking at the scripture, it would appear that this vision came to Samuel without any preparation whatsoever, almost inadvertently. There is one clue, however, that is virtually ignored by all the commentators, and this is the verse, “The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel lay in the Temple of God, where the Ark of God was” (1 Samuel 3:3). Another difficulty here, noted by a number of commentaries, is how Samuel could have slept in the Temple, when it was forbidden to even sit there.
One major commentator resolves both these difficulties by noting that the word “lie” (Shakhav), besides having the usual connotation of physical lying down or sleeping, also has the connotation of the total relaxation of the mind that comes through meditation. What this verse then indicates is that Samuel received his first prophetic vision after intense meditation on the Ark, the place of the Cherubs.
God told Moses that he should place on the Ark the cover containing the Cherubs making them all into one thing. In the Ark were the Tablets that God gave to him.
God said, “This will be for Me as a Throne of Glory, since it is from here that I will commune with you. I will place My Divine Presence here, and I will speak to you from above the Ark-cover, from between the two Cherubs.” The reason for this is that they were on the Ark of Testimony.
This very same vision is the Chariot (Merkava) seen by Ezekiel. He thus said, “This is the Chayah that I saw beneath the God of Israel by the river Chebar, and I then knew that they were the Cherubs” (Ezekiel 10:20).
It is for this reason that God is called the One who “sits over the Cherubs” (1 Samuel 4:4, 2 Samuel 6:2).
The Cherubs had their wings outstretched, indicating that they are a Vehicle (Chariot, Merkava) for the Glory. This is indicated by the verse, “Gold for the pattern of the Chariot (Merkava), the Cherubs which spread their wings and covered the Ark of God's Covenant” (1 Chronicles 28:18)….
It was fitting that they have their wings spread upward, since they are a Throne for the transcendental, and they also cover the Tablets, which were written by God Himself. It is for this reason that the Cherubs were called the “Structure of the Chariot (Merkava).” This is because the Cherubs seen by Ezekiel as a vehicle for the Divine Glory were in the same form as the [physical] Cherubs, which was a form of glory and beauty.
The Cherubs in the Tabernacle and [later in] the Temple had the same form (as those on high). It is thus written, “For one above the other watches, and there are higher ones than they” (Ecclesiastes 5:7).
Rabbi Moses ben Nachman (1194-1270), Legalist, Commentator and Mystic.49
It is written, “Samuel lay in the Temple of God, where the Ark of God was” ( 1 Samuel 3:3). The word “in” here does not refer to place, as many commentaries think, but it refers to a concept. … This verse thus means that Samuel lay there, meditating (hitboded) on the concept of the Temple, on the place of God's Ark. When his thoughts soared through the concept of the Ark, prophecy then came to him. …
The word “lay” in this verse indicates that he was meditating on a certain concept, as in the verse, “Also at night, his heart does not lie” (Ecclesiastes 2:23).
Rabbi Isaac Abarbanel (1437–1508), Commentator and Philosopher.50