Ezekiel 1:6

6 Each had four faces, and each of them had four wings.

Ezekiel 1:6 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 1:6

And or but everyone had four faces
Which are described, (See Gill on Ezekiel 1:10). The Targum multiplies the faces in a strange monstrous manner, paraphrasing the words thus,

``each had four faces, and there were four faces to everyone "of them", and every creature had sixteen faces; the number of the faces of the four creatures was sixty and four;''
and everyone had four wings;
the seraphim in ( Isaiah 6:2 ) ; and the four beasts or living creatures in ( Revelation 4:8 ) ; had six wings; and so it seems that these had also, from ( Ezekiel 1:11 Ezekiel 1:23 ) ; as will be seen there; nor is this any contradiction to the account here given, since it is not said they had only four wings. The Targum gives the same monstrous account of their wings as of their faces, saying,
``each had four wings, and there were four wings for everyone of them, sixteen wings to every face, and sixty four to every creature; and the number of the wings of the four living creatures were two hundred and fifty six.''
Jarchi is of the same opinion, and confirms it in his note on the text, which is this,
``"four faces to one"; that is, to the face of a man only were four faces, and so, to the lion, to the eagle, and to the ox, lo, sixteen to a living creature, and so to every living creature; and four wings to everyone of the faces, lo, sixty and four wings to a living creatures and which, according to the Targum of Jonathan, amounts to two hundred and fifty six wings;''
what these wings signified, (See Gill on Ezekiel 1:11);

Ezekiel 1:6 In-Context

4 As I looked, a stormy wind came out of the north: a great cloud with brightness around it and fire flashing forth continually, and in the middle of the fire, something like gleaming amber.
5 In the middle of it was something like four living creatures. This was their appearance: they were of human form.
6 Each had four faces, and each of them had four wings.
7 Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's foot; and they sparkled like burnished bronze.
8 Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus:
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.