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Encyclopedia Britannica



SERAPHIM

This article appears in Volume V24, Page 661 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: SCY-SHA
SERAPHIM , the imaginary supernatural guardians of the
threshold
  of Yahweh's sanctuary, only mentioned in Isa. vi. (
Isaiah
 's vision). Their form is not described, but they have not only six wings (verse 2), but hands (verse 6) and feet (verse 2). They are of colossal height, for they overtop Him who is seated on the high
throne
 ; and with a voice that shakes the thresholds they proclaim the Trisagion, like the four " living creatures " (cf. CHERUnns) in Rev. iv. 6-8. Probably in the lost Hebrew text of Enoch xx. 7 " seraphim " stood where the Ethiopic and the
Greek
  give " the serpents " or " the dragons ";
Paradise
 , serpents and
cherubim
  are here made subject to Gabriel. In
late
  Jewish writings, more recognized than " Enoch," they are classed among the celestials with the
cherubim
  and the 'ophannim (" wheels," cf. Ezek. i.). Now as to their origin and significance. They may originally have had a serpent form, for it is difficult not to regard " seraphim " as originally (as in Num. xxi. 8) = " serpents "; cf. also the flying serpents of Israelitish
folklore
  in Isa. xiv. 29. If so,
Isaiah
  has transformed and ennobled these supernatural guardians of sacred things and persons. The
Nehushtan " broken in pieces under Hezekiah (2 Kings xviii. 4) may have given an impulse to the
prophet
 's
imagination
 . Was it not a greater thing to ennoble them than to destroy their artistic representation ? There is no precise Babylonian or Egyptian equivalent, though attempts have been made to produce points of contact with Babylonian or Egyptian beliefs.
See further Enc. Bib. " Seraphim," and cf. Duhm's Jesaia, ed. 2 (1902), on Isa. vi. (T. K. C.)


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