The Bible describes both a functional use and symbolic meaning for the wheel. The wheel was indispensable for transportation. It was used on wagons, carts, and chariots, and the word wheel could be a synonym for any of these vehicles ( Ezekiel 23:24; Ezekiel 26:10; Nahum 3:2 ). In Solomon's Temple, there were ten stands upon which rested ten lavers. Each of the stands were adorned with four wheels each (1 Kings 7:30-33 ).
Ezekiel's vision of the great wheel in the sky (1 Kings 1:4-28; 1 Kings 10:1 ) was a symbol of God's presence. There were four cherubim around the throne. Beside each, there was a wheel which “sparkled like chrysolite” (1 Kings 1:16 NIV). Ezekiel described the rims of the wheel as “high and awesome,” and “full of eyes” ( 1 Kings 1:18 NIV). The exact meaning of these mysterious images is unknown. Perhaps they represented the wheels of God's invisible chariot moving across the sky (“chariots of the sun,” see 2 Kings 23:11 ) or the wheels of God's throne (Daniel 7:9 ).
Other symbolic uses of the wheel are a whirlwind (Psalm 77:18 NIV) and God's judgment, as a wheel is driven over the wicked ( Proverbs 20:26 ). Jeremiah described God's redemption as the reshaping of marred clay on a potter's wheel (Proverbs 18:13 ). See Chariots .
Brad Creed
The product of over 6 years of work by hundreds of people, the Holman Bible Dictionary manages to be readable and easy to use, yet take advantage of the finest modern Bible scholarship without heavy technical language. The over 6,600 entries includes extensive cross-referencing of related articles, and quotes from 6 different Bible translations.Wikipedia
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