2Sa 22:12 | KD | STEP | He rode upon a cherub and flew hither, And appeared upon the wings of the wind. 12 He made darkness round about Him as pavilions, Water-gathering, thick clouds. 13 Out of the splendour before Him Burned red-hot coals of fire. These three verses are a further expansion of , and of . The cherub is not a personified earthly creature, for cherubim are angels around the throne of God (see at ). The poetical figure “riding upon the cherub” is borrowed from the fact that God was enthroned between the two cherubim upon the lid of the ark of the covenant, and above their outspread wings ( ). As the idea of His “dwelling between the cherubim” ( ; ; ) was founded upon this typical manifestation of the gracious presence of God in the Most Holy place, so here David depicts the descent of Jehovah from heaven as “riding upon a cherub,” picturing the cherub as a throne upon which God appears in the clouds of heaven, though without therefore imagining Him as riding upon a sphinx or driving in a chariot-throne. Such notions as these are precluded by the addition of the term ויּעף, “did fly.” The “ flying ” is also suggested by the wings of the cherubim. As the divine “ shechinah ” was enthroned above the ark of the covenant upon the wings of the cherubim, David in his poetical description represents the cherub and his wings as carrying the throne of God, to express the thought that Jehovah came down from heaven as the judge and saviour of His servants in the splendour of His divine glory, surrounded by cherubim who stand as His highest servants around His throne, just as Moses in his blessing ( ) speaks of Jehovah as coming out of myriads of His holy angels. The elementary substratum of this was the wings of the wind, upon which He appeared. In the psalm we have ויּדא, from דּאה, to soar ( ; ), which suggests the idea of flying better than ויּרא (He was seen), though the latter gives the real explanation. In and , the “cloudy darkness under His feet” ( ) is still further expanded, so as to prepare the way for the description of thunder and lightning in 2Sa 22:14. God in His wrath withdraws His face from man. He envelopes himself in clouds. The darkness round about him is the black thunder-cloud which forms His hut or tent. The plural succoth is occasioned by the plural סביבתיו, “His surroundings:” it is used with indefinite generality, and is more probably the original term than סכּתו in the psalm. The “ darkness ” is still further explained in the second clause, מים חשׁרת, water-gatherings . חשׁרה (ἁπ. λεγ.) signifies, according to the Arabic, a gathering or collection. The expression used in the psalm is מים חשׁכת, water-darkness , which, if not less appropriate, is at any rate not the original term. שׁחקים עבי, clouds of clouds , i.e., the thickest clouds; a kind of superlative, in which a synonym is used instead of the same noun.

‏ 2 Samuel 22:12

2Sa 22:11-12 11 He rode upon a cherub and flew hither,

And appeared upon the wings of the wind. 12 He made darkness round about Him as pavilions,

Water-gathering, thick clouds. 13 Out of the splendour before Him

Burned red-hot coals of fire.

These three verses are a further expansion of 2Sa 22:19, and 2Sa 22:11 of 2Sa 22:10. The cherub is not a personified earthly creature, for cherubim are angels around the throne of God (see at Gen 3:22). The poetical figure “riding upon the cherub” is borrowed from the fact that God was enthroned between the two cherubim upon the lid of the ark of the covenant, and above their outspread wings (Exo 25:20-21). As the idea of His “dwelling between the cherubim” (2Sa 6:2; 1Sa 4:4; Psa 80:2) was founded upon this typical manifestation of the gracious presence of God in the Most Holy place, so here David depicts the descent of Jehovah from heaven as “riding upon a cherub,” picturing the cherub as a throne upon which God appears in the clouds of heaven, though without therefore imagining Him as riding upon a sphinx or driving in a chariot-throne. Such notions as these are precluded by the addition of the term ויּעף, “did fly.” The “flying” is also suggested by the wings of the cherubim. As the divine “shechinah” was enthroned above the ark of the covenant upon the wings of the cherubim, David in his poetical description represents the cherub and his wings as carrying the throne of God, to express the thought that Jehovah came down from heaven as the judge and saviour of His servants in the splendour of His divine glory, surrounded by cherubim who stand as His highest servants around His throne, just as Moses in his blessing (Deu 33:2) speaks of Jehovah as coming out of myriads of His holy angels. The elementary substratum of this was the wings of the wind, upon which He appeared. In the psalm we have ויּדא, from דּאה, to soar (Deu 28:39; Jer 48:40), which suggests the idea of flying better than ויּרא (He was seen), though the latter gives the real explanation. In 2Sa 22:12 and 2Sa 22:13, the “cloudy darkness under His feet” (2Sa 22:10) is still further expanded, so as to prepare the way for the description of thunder and lightning in 2Sa 22:14. God in His wrath withdraws His face from man. He envelopes himself in clouds. The darkness round about him is the black thunder-cloud which forms His hut or tent. The plural succoth is occasioned by the plural סביבתיו, “His surroundings:” it is used with indefinite generality, and is more probably the original term than סכּתו in the psalm. The “darkness” is still further explained in the second clause, מים חשׁרת, water-gatherings. חשׁרה (ἁπ. λεγ.) signifies, according to the Arabic, a gathering or collection. The expression used in the psalm is מים חשׁכת, water-darkness, which, if not less appropriate, is at any rate not the original term. שׁחקים עבי, clouds of clouds, i.e., the thickest clouds; a kind of superlative, in which a synonym is used instead of the same noun.