Living creatures (Bible)

"Hayyoth" redirects here. For the name, see Chajes.

The living creatures, living beings, or hayyot (Hebrew חַיּוֹת ḥayyōṯ) are a class of heavenly beings in Jewish religion. They are described in the prophet Ezekiel's vision of the heavenly chariot in the first and tenth chapters of the Book of Ezekiel. References to the sacred creatures recur in texts of Second Temple Judaism, in rabbinical merkabah ("chariot") literature, in the Book of Revelation in the Christian New Testament, and in the Zohar.

Ezekiel's "chariot vision", by Matthaeus Merian (1593–1650)

Ezekiel's Wheel

Ezekiel's encounter with the Merkabah and the Living Creatures

According to Jewish and Christian traditions, there are four living creatures, although their description varies by source. The symbolic depiction of the four living creatures in religious art, especially Christian art, is called a tetramorph.

Ezekiel's four living creatures

Ezekiel's vision of the four living creatures in Ezekiel 1 are identified as cherubim in Ezekiel 10. Each of Ezekiel's cherubim have four faces, that of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle.

Revelation's four living beings

In the New Testament book of Revelation 4:6–8, four living beings (Greek: ζῷον, zōion)^[1] are seen in John's vision. These appear as a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle, much as in Ezekiel but in a different order. They have six wings, whereas Ezekiel's four living creatures are described as having four.^[1] In verse 6, they are said to have "eyes all over, front and back", suggesting that they are alert and knowledgeable, that nothing escapes their notice.^[1] The description parallels the wheels that are beside the living creatures in Ezekiel 1:18; 10:12, which are said to be "full of eyes all around". The Hebrew word for "wheel" (galgal) was also used in later Jewish literature to indicate a member of the angelic orders and is also defined by the Strong's Concordance to the King James Version of biblical scriptures as "A Whirlwind", "Heaven", or "a rolling thing".(1 Enoch 71:7; 3 Enoch 1:8; 7:1; 25:5–6, etc.). In this passage in Revelation, the four beasts surround "The One" on the red throne (which is of ruby and sardius).

Comparing the living creatures in Ezekiel with Revelation's is a prominent apocalyptic study in Western Christianity.^[2] An example is the 18th century works of Jonathan Edwards' recorded interpretation of 1722/23.

Religious views

In Judaism, the living beings are considered angels of fire, who hold up the throne of God.^[3] According to the Zohar, they hold up the firmament itself.^[3][4] They are ranked first in Maimonides' Jewish angelic hierarchy. They have also been correlated with four archangels: "Michael is the 'lion-headed', Raphael the "human-headed", Uriel the "ox-headed", and Gabriel the "eagle-headed".^[5]

In Christianity, the four living creatures are Cherubim.^[6] A prominent early interpretation, variously modified by different interpreters, has been to equate the four creatures with the Four Evangelists. Throughout church history, the most common interpretation (first laid out by Victorinus), but not the original or the only, is that the lion represents Mark, the calf Luke, the man Matthew, and the eagle John. Irenaeus was the first to make the association with the evangelists, but the interpretation laid out by Victorinus and adopted by Jerome, Gregory the Great, and the Book of Kells became dominant.^[7] Its influence has been on art and sculpture^[8] and is still prevalent in Catholicism^[9] and Anglicanism.^[10] A view held by many modern commentators is that the four living creatures of Revelation are agents of God and heavenly representatives of the created order, who call every living thing to worship the Creator.^[11]

See also

• Anemoi – Group of Greek gods
• Eye of Horus – Ancient Egyptian symbol of protection, royal power and good health
• Four Dwarves (Norse mythology) – Four dwarfs who hold up the sky in Nordic mythologyPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Four Heavenly Kings – Buddhist gods
• Four Holy Beasts – Four sacred animals in Chinese mythology
• Four sons of Horus – Ancient Egyptian gods
• Four Stags (Norse mythology) – Four stags in the Poetic Edda
• Four Symbols – Mythological creatures in Chinese constellations
• Four temperaments – Proto-psychological theory
• Guardians of the directions – Deities of the eight directions in Hinduism and Buddhism
• Lokapala – Guardians or kings of the cardinal directions
• Royal stars – Persian definition in astronomy
• Tetramorph – Symbolic arrangement of four differing elements

Quotes

Notes

1. Mounce (1997), pp. 123–125.
2. Pate (2009), p. 19.
3. Davidson (1967), p. 137.
4. Noach 261–265, Zohar.
5. Stafford (1979), p. 72.
6. Senior, Collins & Getty (2011), p. 1162, fn. 1:5.
7. Kovacs & Rowland (2004), p. 66.
8. Woodman (2008), p. 128.
9. Barber (2005), p. 86.
10. Stevenson (2001), p. 470.
11. Koester (2014), p. 353.

References

• Barber, Michael (2005). Coming Soon: Unlocking the Book of Revelation and Applying Its Lessons Today. Emmaus Road Publishing. ISBN 9781931018265.
• Davidson, Gustav (1967). A Dictionary of Angels, Including The Fallen Angels. New York: Free Press.
• De Conick, April D. (2006). Paradise Now: Essays on Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism. Society of Biblical Literature. ISBN 9781589832572.
• Duguid, Iain M. (2011). Ezekiel: The NIV Application Commentary. Zondervan. ISBN 9780310866107.
• Eichrodt, Walther (2003). Ezekiel: A Commentary. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664227661.
• Koester, Craig R. (2014). Revelation. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press.
• Kovacs, Judith; Rowland, Christopher (2004). Revelation: The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ. Oxford: Blackwell publishing. ISBN 9781405143219.
• Kreider, Glenn (2004). Jonathan Edwards' Interpretation of Revelation 4:1–8:1. University Press of America. ISBN 9780761826705.
• Mounce, Robert H. (1997). The Book of Revelation (rev. ed.). Grand Rapids, Michigan: W. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0802825370.
• Pate, C. Marvin (2009). Reading Revelation: A Comparison of Four Interpretive Translations of the Apocalypse. Kregel Academic. ISBN 9780825433672.
• Senior, Donald; Collins, John J.; Getty, Mary Ann (2011). Catholic Study Bible-NABRE. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195297751.
• Smalley, Stephen S. (2012). The Revelation to John: A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Apocalypse. InterVarsity Press. ISBN 9780830829248.
• Stafford, Barbara Maria (1979). Symbol and Myth: Humbert de Superville's Essay on Absolute Signs in Art. University of Delaware. ISBN 978-0874131208.
• Stevenson, Kenneth (2001). Biblica. Vol. 34: Animal Rites: The Four Living Creatures in Patristic Exegesis and Liturgy. Peeters Publishers. ISBN 9789042908819.
• Woodman, Simon P. (2008). The Book of Revelation. Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd. ISBN 9780334041047.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Living creatures (Bible).

• Jewish Encyclopedia: Angelology