Ezekiel 10:15

"And the cherubim mounted up: this is the living creature that I saw by the river Chebar. And when the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels also turned not from beside them. When they stood, these stood, and when they mounted up, these mounted up with them: for the spirit of the living creature was in them. And the glory of Jehovah went forth from over the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim. And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight when they went forth: and they stood at the door of the east gate of Jehovah's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above."

THE DEPARTURE OF GOD'S GLORY

"Cherubim ... this is the living creature ..." (Ezekiel 10:15). Note how the cherubim (plural), along with all of the other details of the vision, nevertheless refer only to One, namely, the enthroned One, who is God.

"The living creature that I saw by the river Chebar ..." (Ezekiel 10:15). "It was a matter of importance that the identities of these two theophanies should have been established, in order to show their real meaning."[15] Bluntly stated, those appearances meant simply that God's glorious presence was forsaking the old racial Israel, and forever afterward concentrating upon the "righteous remnant," at that time identified with the captives in Babylon.

Only when we come to Ezekiel 10:15, here, does Ezekiel identify the "living creatures" of Ezekiel 1:5ff as "cherubim."[16] It is not surely known exactly why this was not made known earlier. See article at end of this chapter regarding the creatures called "cherubim,"

"The cherubim lifted up from the earth ..." (Ezekiel 10:18). As Plumptre noted, "From that hour, the temple would be what Shiloh had been, a God-deserted place."[17]

As for the notion that the second temple received the same honor as the first as the resting place of the Glory and the Spirit of God, Jesus Christ took care of that falsehood forever when he denominated the temple as "a den of thieves and robbers," which it most assuredly was. Furthermore the sons of Satan who had charge of that Second Temple were the principal agents in the contrived execution of the Son of God.

In Ezekiel 10:18, "The glory of Jehovah now moves from the threshold of the temple and stands upon the Cherubim, ready to leave."[18] Indeed, God's presence had forsaken the temple, but it would not depart from the area until the event recorded in the next chapter (Ezekiel 11:22-23). The episode recorded in Ezekiel 11:1-21 have the effect of delaying the account of the final departure.