The seraphim,
> widely depicted in Romanesque art, usually
> have six wings per side (I think) and sometimes
> with eyes. I also think the source is the
> Apocalypse, or possibly _The Celestial
> Hierarchy_.
Actually Isaiah 6. A seraph, plural seraphim, is a "burning one", i.e.
a "fiery", or venemous, serpent. The only other place they are
mentioned in the scriptures is the story in the Book of Numbers, where
God sends seraphim to bite the Israelite. Moses is told to stick a
bronze seraph on a pole (Numbers 21:8) and all who look at it will be
cured. Jesus alludes to the story at John 3:14 ("As Moses lifted up
the serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up") in an apparent
reference to his own crucifixion.
The Numbers story is a very interesting one in that it seems to
preserve a very primitive notion of a snake-god who, if you offend him,
sends venemous snakes to bite you. The reference in Isaiah suggests
that the seraphim had become a part of what one might call the mental
iconography of God. He is imagined as surrounded by the seraphim.
I speak under correction of Dr Bob, who will no doubt explain, quite
correctly, that all this is very iffy and there are alternative
explanations . . .
Dr Bill.
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