(1) As it were a sapphire stone.--Comp. Ezekiel 1:26. No mention is here made of a being upon the throne, but it is implied by the "he spake" of the following verse. The word cherubim corresponds throughout this chapter to the living creatures of Ezekiel 1.
Verses 1, 2. - Then I looked, etc. There follows on the work of judgment another theophany, like that of Ezekiel 1:15-28. In the "expanse," or firmament, like the "terrible crystal," there is seen as before the likeness of a sapphire throne (see Ezekiel 1:26, note). The form of the man who is the manifestation of Jehovah is implied, though not named. It is he who speaks to the captain of the six ministers of vengeance, himself the seventh, and bids him go in beneath the "whirling wheels" that are beneath the cherub (collective singular, as in Ezekiel 9:9), and fill his hands with coals of fire (Ezekiel 1:13), and scatter them over the city, as the symbol of its doom. We are reminded of Isaiah's vision (Isaiah 6:6); but there the work of the fire was to purify, here simply to destroy. Vers 3, 4. - Now the cherubim stood, etc. The position of the cherubim is defined, with a vivid distinctness of detail, which once more reminds us of Dante. They had been standing on the right, i.e. the southern side of the sanctuary. What follows is probably a reproduction of the change of positions described in Ezekiel 9:3, and the verbs should be taken, therefore, as pluperfects. The cloud of glory, as in 1 Kings 8:10, 11 and Isaiah 6:1, 2, the Shechinah, that was the taken of the Divine presence, filled the court, but the glory itself had moved to the threshold at the first stage of its departure.
10:1-7 The fire being taken from between the wheels, under the cherubim, ch. 1:13, seems to have signified the wrath of God to be executed upon Jerusalem. It intimated that the fire of Divine wrath, which kindles judgment upon a people, is just and holy; and in the great day, the earth, and all the works that are therein, will be burnt up.
Then I looked, and, behold,.... After the vision of the destruction of the greater part of the inhabitants of Jerusalem by the six men with slaughter weapons, and of the preservation of a few by the man clothed with linen; another vision is seen by the prophet, in some things like to that he saw, of which there is an account in the first chapter; though in some circumstances different, and exhibited with a different view; partly to represent the destruction of Jerusalem by fire, and partly the Lord's removal from it, before or at that time:
in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubim; the same with the living creatures, Ezekiel 1:22; where the firmament or expanse of heaven is said to be over their heads, as here; See Gill on Ezekiel 1:22,
there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne; See Gill on Ezekiel 1:26.
in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubim; the same with the living creatures, Ezekiel 1:22; where the firmament or expanse of heaven is said to be over their heads, as here; See Gill on Ezekiel 1:22,
there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne; See Gill on Ezekiel 1:26.