ace of an eagle; "they had the hands of a
man under their wings, ... their wings were joined one to another; ...
their wings were stretched upward: two wings of every one were joined
one to another.... Their appearance was like burning coals of fire and
like the appearance of lamps.... The living creatures ran and returned
as the appearance of a flash of lightning."[386]

Elsewhere, referring to the sisters, Aholah and Aholibah, who had been
in Egypt and had adopted unmoral ways of life Ezekiel tells that when
Aholibah "doted upon the Assyrians" she "saw men pourtrayed upon the
wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion, girded
with girdles upon their loins".[387] Traces of the red colour on the
walls of Assyrian temples and palaces have been observed by
excavators. The winged gods "like burning coals" were probably painted
in vermilion.

Ezekiel makes reference to "ring" and "wheel" symbols. In his vision
he saw "one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his
four faces. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto
the colour of beryl; and they four had one likeness; and their
appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a
wheel.... As for their rings, they were so high that they were
dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four. 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. Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their
spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them; _for
the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels_....[388] And the
likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as
the colour of terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads
above.... And when they went I heard the noise of their wings, like
the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of
speech, as the noise of an host; when they stood they let down their
wings...."[389]

Another description of the cherubs states: "Their whole body, and
their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were
full of eyes (? stars) round about, even the wheels that they four
had. As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O
wheel!"--or, according to a marginal rendering, "they were called in
my hearing, wheel, or Gilgal," i.e. move round.... "And the cherubims
were lif