Ezekiel’s Vision – Angel, Alien, Or Cosmic Model?

1. THE PROPHET EZEKIEL

Ezekiel (c. 622–570 BCE), the son of Buzi, was a priest from the Kingdom of Judah. He lived during a time of immense political upheaval. Following King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon’s victory over the Egyptians at the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BCE, Judah became a Babylonian vassal state [1]. It was after this that the Prophet Daniel was taken to the court of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II [2].

When King Jehoiakim of Judah rebelled, Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem once again. After Jehoiakim’s death, his son Jehoiachin, who is also called Jeconiah, took over. However, he soon surrendered and was exiled to Babylon along with 10,000 captives, including Ezekiel. Nebuchadnezzar then installed Zedekiah as a puppet king [3].

Ezekiel lived among the exiles by the Kebar River in Babylon, where he became a voice of warning, judgment, and eventual hope for his people [4].

2. EZEKIEL’S CHARIOT

During his vision, Ezekiel described a storm coming from the north -“a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a brilliant light around it.” From this storm emerged the divine chariot (Merkavah), surrounded by four living beings (ḥayyot), each with a human form but possessing four faces —those of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle —and four wings. Their legs shone like burnished bronze, and under their wings were human-like hands.

They moved in perfect coordination, accompanied by “wheels within wheels,” glowing like beryl. The spirit of the living creatures was said to be within the wheels, indicating a unified movement.[4] Later, these same beings are explicitly identified as cherubim [5].

Many artists have attempted to capture Ezekiel’s vision over the centuries, with differing results. Figure 1 shows one such attempt.

3. INTERPRETATIONS

a. Jewish Interpretation

For centuries, Ma‘aseh Merkavah (“Work of the Chariot”) was regarded as one of Judaism’s most sacred and dangerous mysteries [6]. The Mishnah (Ḥagigah 2:1) forbade its public teaching[7]. Only a select few students could study it privately.

Between the 3rd and 6th centuries CE, Merkavah mystics developed visionary practices. This included chants, meditations, and “ascents” to the heavenly throne, as preserved in Hekhalot Rabbati and 3 Enoch. In the Middle Ages, Maimonides reinterpreted the vision as metaphysics and cosmology, passing its meaning to only advanced students [8]. Thus, for over a millennium, Ezekiel’s vision was seen not as literal but as symbolic of divine knowledge and cosmic order.

b. Christian Interpretation

Early Christian theologians reinterpreted Ezekiel’s vision through the lens of the four Gospels. St. Irenaeus (2nd century CE) was the first to associate the four creatures with the four Evangelists. Later, St. Victorinus of Pettau assigned their symbols: the lion to Mark, the ox to Luke, the man to Matthew, and the eagle to John. St. Jerome and Pope Gregory I formalized this association, making Ezekiel’s vision a key symbol of Christ’s universal mission [9]. The imagery became central to Christian art and iconography, adorning countless cathedrals and manuscripts.

c. Ancient Astronaut Theory

In 1968, Erich von Däniken’s Chariots of the Gods? proposed a radical reinterpretation: that Ezekiel’s “chariot” described a spacecraft. Von Däniken cited details such as “wheels within wheels,” fire, and noise as evidence of advanced technology [10].In 1974, NASA engineer Joseph F. Blumrich expanded on this idea in The Spaceships of Ezekiel, proposing that the description fit a landing craft with rotors and a command module [11].

Though speculative, this theory popularized the “Ancient Astronaut” hypothesis, that ancient people misinterpreted extraterrestrial technology as divine revelation.

But was any of the above truly what Ezekiel saw? To explore this, we must return to the world of his Babylonian exile.

4. EZEKIEL IN BABYLON

During his captivity, Ezekiel lived amid the splendour of Babylon. He may have seen the Ishtar Gate, decorated with dragons (mušḫuššu), and the brick Processional Way leading to it [12]. He might also have heard of, or glimpsed, the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon [13].

Babylonian civilization was steeped in astronomy and astrology. Their records, like the MUL.APIN tablets (c. 1000 BCE) and the Venus Tablet of Ammisaduqa (c. 1700 BCE) show sophisticated celestial observation [14,15]. Nebuchadnezzar II himself rebuilt the great ziggurat Etemenanki, possibly the inspiration for the Biblical Tower of Babel [16].

A Babylonian tablet from Nebuchadnezzar’s 37th year (568/567 BCE) records a mysterious “red glow” in the night sky, which was likely an aurora borealis [17]. Ezekiel’s world, therefore, was rich in cosmic symbolism. As a priest, he may have encountered Babylonian astronomer-priests, whose celestial imagery could have shaped his own visionary language.

5. THE LAMASSU AND THE ORIGINS OF THE CHERUBIM

a. The Earliest Origins (c. 3000–2000 BCE)

Long before the Hebrew cherubim, Mesopotamian civilizations revered the Lamassu – a hybrid guardian being with a human head, the body of a bull or lion, and the wings of an eagle. These beings embodied protection, divinity, and cosmic order.

The earliest Lamassu appeared around 3000 BCE in Ebla [18]. In Akkadian myth, they were linked with Shamash, the Sun god, believed to hold open the gates of dawn each morning [19].

b. The Assyrian Period (c. 900–700 BCE)

The neo-Assyrian Empire lay in northern Mesopotamia and was centred around Nineveh and Assur. The Neo-Babylonian Empire arose later in Southern Mesopotamia (Fig. 2).

Fig 2: Neo-Assyrian Empire and Neo-Babylonian Empire. Source: by Zunkir CCBYSA3.0

By the Neo-Assyrian period, Lamassu sculptures guarded palace gates at Nimrud, Nineveh, and Dur-Sharrukin. At the Citadel of Sargon II (modern Khorsabad), colossal Lamassu flanked entrances, symbolizing divine protection. (See Fig. 3).

Fig 3: Gate A of the Citadel of Sargon II, Dur Sharrukin (present-day Khorsabad, Iraq). c. 721-706 BCE. Source: Alemazzi, CCBYSA4.0 Wikimedia Commons.

The purpose of the Lamassu mirrored that of the cherubim with flaming swords, who guarded the Tree of Life on the east side of Eden, following the expulsion of Adam and Eve [20]. The specification of “east” is significant: at the equinoxes, the Sun rises due east and sets due west, while at the solstices it reaches its northernmost and southernmost points, forming a solar cross that marks the four cardinal directions. Though the precession of the equinoxes gradually shifts the background constellations – creating the Ages of Taurus, Aries, Pisces, Aquarius, etc – the cardinal directions themselves remain fixed by Earth’s rotation, making east a constant point of orientation and symbolic significance.

In 2025, archaeologists unearthed a Lamassu at Tell Nabi Yunus near Mosul (ancient Nineveh), dating to Esarhaddon’s reign (680–669 BCE). It is believed to have originally been one of a pair that decorated the main gate of the hall [21].

After Assyria’s fall to Nabopolassar in 609 BCE, its people continued under Babylonian rule [22]. Ezekiel, living in Babylon, could have encountered Assyrian artisans or even Lamassu statues taken as war spoils. This would have familiarized Ezekiel with their iconography.

c. Linguistic and Theological Continuity

The Hebrew keruv (cherub) likely derives from the Akkadian karabu, meaning “to bless.” [23]. This linguistic link shows that the Hebrew cherubim were inherited from the Lamassu tradition. As Mesopotamian culture spread westward, its imagery infused Israelite religion, especially during the Babylonian Exile.

d. The Astronomy Behind the Lamassu/Cherubim

The Lamassu are depicted with the head of a bearded man with a horned crown, the wings of an eagle, and the body of an ox (See Fig 4).

Fig 4: The Lamassu from the Palace of Sargon II, Khorsabad. Photograph by Daderot (2014), (CC0).

Sometimes, the Lamassu is depicted with the body of a lion, instead of an ox, as displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art [24].

Ezekiel’s four-faced being (man, lion, ox, and eagle), as depicted as the Lamassu/Cherubim in Figure 4, represents constellations. Ezekiel himself lived during the Astrological Age of Aries (1700 BCE to 200 BCE), so the Lamassu imagery would have arisen earlier during the Age of Taurus (4300 BCE to 1700 BCE) [25]. It was during the Age of Taurus when the following constellations marked the four seasonal points of the year (See Table 1). This is due to the Precession of the Equinoxes.

Creature	Zodiac Sign	Seasonal Marker
Bull	Taurus	Spring Equinox
Lion	Leo	Summer Solstice
Eagle	Aquila / Scorpio	Autumnal Equinox
Man	Aquarius	Winter Solstice

Table 1: Seasonal markers during the Age of Taurus

During this era, Scorpio was often symbolized by an eagle rather than a scorpion, a symbolism possibly retained in Ezekiel’s vision. This suggests that his imagery was not random but cosmological, echoing the star lore of ancient Mesopotamia.

6. THE “BOWL OF HEAVEN” (THE FIRMAMENT) & THE THRONE

Ezekiel describes “a firmament, like the colour of crystal, stretched out above their heads.” To ancient eyes, the sky appeared as a luminous, bowl-shaped dome arching over the Earth, with a throne on top of it [26, 27].

Astronomical meaning:

• The firmament represents the celestial dome, the visible hemisphere of the heavens.
• Stars appear as “eyes” embedded in this crystalline structure.
• Above the dome was “a throne,” symbolizing the zenith, the highest point in the sky.

The “figure on the throne” could represent the Sun at its zenith, echoing Mesopotamian imagery of Shamash, the solar deity seated in judgment at the peak of the heavens. Alternatively, it could have depicted Yahweh, who, in some schools of thought, is a solar deity.

The imagery thus far is shown in Figure 5 below.

Fig 5: Celestial dome interpretation of Ezekiel’s vision (author’s own illustration).

7. COSMOLOGICAL MODEL

Ezekiel’s vision appears to be a conceptual cosmological model, but it remains incomplete, as he has described other elements of this model in his vision. In this regard, a comparison between Ezekiel’s model and Anaximander’s cosmological model is in order.

Ezekiel (c. 622–570 BCE) was a contemporary of Anaximander (c. 610 – c. 546 BCE), who lived in Miletus, Ionia, located in modern-day Türkiye. While Ezekiel lived in Babylon, Anaximander, though never having travelled there nor dealt directly with Babylonians, likely absorbed astronomical concepts that had spread westward from Babylon through intermediaries.

Ezekiel’s model is a prophetic vision, not a scientific description. Its purpose is theological and to reveal the glory and presence of God, and not to explain how the heavens are structured. Anaximander’s model, on the other hand, is explicitly cosmological. Anaximander is credited with creating one of the earliest conceptual models of the heavens, which laid the groundwork for the later idea of celestial spheres.

A point-to-point comparison between Ezekiel’s and Anaximander’s models is presented in Tables 2-6 below. Interestingly, both Ezekiel and Anaximander use the word “chariot”, which is discussed in Table 2 below [ 4, 28].

FEATURE	EZEKIEL ‘S CHARIOT	ANAXIMANDER’S CHARIOT
Meaning of the chariot	A divine throne-chariot (Merkabah) symbolizing God’s presence and mobility – “wheels within wheels” full of eyes, moved by the spirit.	A cosmic wheel model explaining the structure of the heavens – celestial bodies as fiery chariot wheels revolving around the earth.
Function of the chariot	Spiritual and symbolic: reveals divine glory, omnipresence, and movement of God’s throne.	Philosophical and explanatory: describes how the sun, moon, and stars move in circular paths within the cosmos.

Table 2: Description of Chariots

FEATURE	EZEKIEL’S WHEELS	ANAXIMANDER’S WHEELS
Motion	The wheels move in unison with the living creatures; can go in any direction without turning.	Wheels rotate in fixed circular paths around the Earth; light appears through their openings.
Energy / Life Source	“The spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels” – motion is animated by divine or spiritual force.	Motion is inherent and natural – the wheels move in perfect circles due to symmetry, not divine animation.
Appearance of Light	The rims are “full of eyes” (interpreted as brightness, awareness, or celestial lights).	The fire within the wheels shines through openings; eclipses and lunar phases occur when openings close.
Material Composition	Visionary and luminous – possibly metallic or crystalline in symbolic terms (“sparkled like topaz”).	Physical — made of “opaque vapor,” hollow, and filled with fire (natural elements, not divine metal).
Directionality	Multidirectional: can move north, south, east, west	Fixed circular rotation around Earth; one-directional orbital motion.

Table 3: Description of Wheels

FEATURE	EZEKIEL’S FIRE	ANAXIMANDER’S FIRE
Role of fire	Signifier of divine presence; an awe-filled vision; symbolic of holiness, light, glory.	Natural/cosmological force; a physical/metaphysical element in cosmic origin and structure.
Fire’s dynamism / movement	Fire moves among creatures; flashes of lightning; burning coals; brilliant light; dynamic in the vision	Fire emerges, grows, separates; forms a sphere; breaks apart; is involved in cycles of generation and decay.

Table 4: Description of Fire

FEATURE	EZEKIEL’S EARTH	ANAXIMANDER’S EARTH
Description of Earth	Ezekiel sees “a wheel on the ground beside each creature,” and the surface beneath them looks like glowing metal (bronze).	The Earth is cylindrical, like a drum, suspended freely in space. Its height is one-third its width.

Table 5: Description of Earth

FEATURE	EZEKIEL’S SEASONAL MARKERS	ANAXIMANDER’S SEASONAL MARKERS
Seasonal Marker	Four creatures facing the four directions (man, lion, ox, eagle) – moving without turning; associated with the four seasons	Describes the earth suspended at the centre; the sun, moon, and stars revolve around it in circular paths; the Sun has a higher arc in summer, lower arc in winter

Table 6: Description of Seasonal Markers

It is clear from Tables 2 to 6 that both Ezekiel and Anaximander were describing conceptual cosmological models.

Subsequent thinkers expanded upon these early insights: Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 390–337 BCE) introduced nested spheres to account for planetary motions [29]. Archimedes (c. 287–212 BCE) constructed a mechanical planetarium replicating the movements of celestial bodies [30]. Finally, Hipparchus (c. 190 – c. 120 BCE) developed the first true celestial globe [31].

8. CONCLUSION

Ezekiel’s vision stands at the intersection of theology, mythology, and cosmology. Whether viewed as divine revelation, mystical ascent, or ancient cosmology, it reflects humanity’s enduring attempt to understand the structure of the universe.

The imagery of the cherubim, rooted in the Lamassu of Mesopotamia, bridged religion and the stars, uniting heaven and Earth through symbolic forms. His “firmament,” “throne,” and “wheels within wheels” prefigure the celestial models of early Greek thought, showing that both Hebrew prophets and Ionian philosophers were reaching toward the same cosmic truth: that the heavens move with divine order.

Thus, Ezekiel’s vision was neither merely angelic nor alien. It was cosmological. It was an ancient attempt to describe the mechanics of heaven in the language of faith, myth, and light.