*Blog from mythology.com

So, not too long ago, I came across this picture.  It was a pretty typical image of some cherubs lounging on a cloud or something.  It wasn’t, in any way out of the ordinary as far as cherubs are concerned.  But, it got me thinking about cherubs and angels and all sorts of divine things that I’ve heard so much about over the years.

I remember hearing somewhere, that the Cherubim were actually pretty bad-ass, as far as the hierarchy of heavenly creatures goes.  So, I looked a bit deeper into it and it’s true.

In the bible, it was cherubim who guarded the Garden of Eden.  And, as far as bad-ass goes, they brandished a sword of fire.  Now, it may not be as cool as Scarface’s “little friend,” but it’s still pretty tough and sure to get the job done.

I also found out that the Angel hierarchy is divided into three categories, called “spheres,” each of which contains three choirs.  The top sphere is where the choir of the cherubim lies on the holy corporate ladder.  This sphere are God’s go to guys.  The second sphere is kind of like middle management, they look after the third sphere.  Classified in the final sphere, and lowest in divine importance, are the angels and archangels who do all of the grunt work.

Although there are many different versions of this hierarchy, depending on what time and author you go by, this one seems to be pretty popular within Christian belief.  The Cherubim are the second most powerful in the chain of command.  The first are the seraphim, whose bodies shine a light so bright that not even heavenly beings can look directly at them.  Also, I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that they surround God’s throne eternally singing his praises – suck-ups.

We always see cherubs depicted as rosy-cheeked, happy children, but we never see these little rouge-faced babes holding a flaming sword.  As it turns out, those pictures we all know so well of the baby cherubs are, in fact, not cherubs.  They are called Putti, which emerged in renaissance art.

Actually, the Cherubim looked like this:  They had four wings (covered in eyes, to show that they saw all), and four faces.  One face was that of a man, while the others were an ox, an eagle and a lion (as described in Ezekiel 1).  Even though it’s a thought provoking illustration, and even pretty cool, we haven’t seen much of this kind of imagery.  I guess an eagle-ox-lion-man with a giant flaming sword and two sets of wings covered in eye balls wouldn’t sell as many greeting cards.