Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Walter Mattfeld" <mattfeld AT mail.pjsnet.com>]

The recent query from Vincent DeCaen about Chronicles and its
"respectiblity/reliability" jogged my memory. The Chronicler mentions  a
"golden chariot of the cherubim", planned by David for the Temple (1 Chron.
28:18). You can imagine my surprise when I found in Phoenician art forms, a
bas-relief on a bronze bowl showing a cherub hitched up to a chariot (the
bowl being dated by scholars to the 8th century BCE) ! I, for one, developed
"some respect" for the Chronicler's ability to preserve such an ancient
pre-exilic concept !

I have made a line-drawing in pen and ink of the chariot being pulled by the
cherub. Those having an interest can access the picture at my website,
http://bibleorigins.homestead.com/index.html and then naviagting to the
"Illustrations menu" where one will find the drawing. For the actual
photograph of the bronze bowl, see the color photo on p.64, "The Eighth
Century Renaissance," in Peter Levi, Atlas of the Greek World. N.Y. Facts on
File. 1995. Unfortunately a shadow on the bronze bowl's inner edge makes the
relief difficult to see, hence the reason I made a line drawing of it (I
have a fascination with cherubim). Levi states that the bronze bowl is a
libations bowl from Olympia of the 8th century BCE (p.224, Levi).

All the best,  Walter

Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld
Walldorf by Heidelberg
Baden-Wurttemburg, Germany
http://bibleorigins.homestead.com/index.html