the back (as rounded) · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine plural
high
וְגֹ֥בַהּve.Goah
H1363
elation · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
dreadful
וְיִרְאָ֣הve.yir.'Ah
H3374
fear (also used as infinitive) · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
rings
וְגַבֹּתָ֗םve.ga.bo.Tam
H1354
the back (as rounded) · conjunction + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
full
מְלֵאֹ֥תme.le.'Ot
H4392
full (literally or figuratively) or filling (literally) · adjective, feminine plural construct
eyes
עֵינַ֛יִם'ei.Na.yim
H5869
an eye (literally or figuratively) · noun, common feminine dual absolute
about
סָבִ֖יבsa.Viv
H5439
(as noun) a circle · noun, common both genders singular absolute
four
לְאַרְבַּעְתָּֽןle.'ar.ba'.Tan
H702
four · preposition + cardinal number, feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 10:12 And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that…
Revelation 4:6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beas…
Revelation 4:8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy,…
Job 37:22-24 Fair weather cometh out of the north: with God is terrible majesty.
Psalms 77:16-19 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.
Psalms 97:2-5 Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.
Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
Isaiah 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 1:15-25
The prophet is very exact in making and recording his observations concerning this vision. And here we have,
I. The notice he took of the wheels, Eze 1:15-21. The glory of God appears not only in the splendour of his retinue in the upper world, but in the steadiness of his government here in this lower world. Having seen how God does according to his will in the armies of heaven, let us now see how he does according to it among the inhabitants of the earth; for there, on the earth, the prophet saw the wheels, Eze 1:15. As he beheld the living creatures, and was contemplating the glory of that vision and receiving instruction from it, this other vision presented itself to his view. Note, Thos…
rings--that is, felloes or circumferences of the wheels.
eyes--The multiplicity of eyes here in the wheels, and Eze 10:12, in the cherubim themselves, symbolizes the plenitude of intelligent life, the eye being the window through which "the spirit of the living creatures" in the wheels (Eze 1:20) looks forth (compare Zac 4:10). As the wheels signify the providence of God, so the eyes imply that He sees all the circumstances of each case, and does nothing by blind impulse.
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 1:18
As for their rings - The strakes which form the rim or periphery.
They were dreadful - They were exceedingly great in their diameter, so that it was tremendous to look from the part that touched the ground to that which was opposite above.
Were full of eyes - Does not this refer to the appearance of nails keeping on the spokes, or strakes or bands upon the rim?
John Gill on Ezekiel 1:18
As for their rings, they were so high, that they were dreadful,.... The circles and circumferences of them were "high": which may denote the visibility and extensiveness of the churches of Christ, especially in the latter day; when they shall be exalted above the mountains and hills, the kingdoms and states of this world; and there shall be such numerous additions to them, that the place will be too strait for the members of them to dwell in, Isaiah 2:2; and "they were dreadful"; terrible, as the churches of Christ will be to their enemies to look at, when they shall be in their exalted state, Revelation 11:12; or the words may be rendered, "and they had fear" (s); there was fear and reveren…
The Church Fathers
Three, however, are indicated both in the animals and in the wheels, when they stood, when they walked, when they were lifted up, which both the animals and the wheels did in common. For neither could animals that were standing walk on wheels, nor could animals walking on the ground lift themselves on wheels, but of those actions, one was rest, one was motion, and elevation.
Those who are over others are to be warned that through prudence they should attain watchful eyes within and round about and strive to become living creatures of heaven. For the living creatures of heaven are described as full of eyes round about and within. So it is fitting that those who are over others should have eyes within and round about, so that in striving to please the inward judge and in serving outwardly as examples of life, they may detect the things that should be corrected in others.
It hath been said by God that their [four] sides were "living animals" [which] were "full of eyes as they turned round." And by this word He hath taught us that the whole of the spiritual nature can see, and that all of it can hear, and that all of it can perceive, and that all of it can think, and that all of it can understand, and that all of it can desire with the desire of its nature; and it doth not hear with one member and not with another, or see with one and not with another, but the whole of it is hearing, and the whole of it is seeing, and everything which it is that it is wholly. And its hearing is not disturbed by its vision when with the member with which it heareth it [also] seeth, or when with that with which it thinketh it also tasteth; and we believe them to be undisturbed and undestroyed by each other.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Nave — (Heb. gao), anything convex or arched, as the boss of a shield, (Job 15:26) the eyebrows, (Leviticus 14:9) an eminent place. (Ezekiel 16:31) It is rendered once only in the plural, “naves,” (1 Kings…
Wheel · SYMBOLI — SYMBOLI
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Ezekiel 1:18
18. As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.
18. Et circumferentiae ipsis, [43] it proceritas ipsis, et terror ipsis: et terga ipsarum [44] plena oculis per circuitum ipsis quatuor.
What he says about the circumferences of the wheels may seem superfluous, but he refers to the second clause of the verse, where he says, that these circumferences were full of eyes. Here, then, he now treats about their height and terrible aspect. It signifies that the wheels were large, for being round their length and breadth is equal. When he says they were lofty, he, doubtless, signifies that they inspire terror by…
Description of the theophany seen by the spirit of the prophet. - Eze 1:4. And I saw, and, lo, a tempestuous wind came from the north, a great cloud, and a fire rolled together like a ball, and the brightness of light round about it, and out of its midst, as the appearance of glowing metal from the midst of the fire. - The description begins with a general outline of the phenomenon, as the same presented itself to the spiritual eye of the prophet on its approach from the north. A tempestuous wind brings hither from the north a great cloud, the centre of which appears as a lump of fire, which throws around the cloud the brightness of light, and presents in its midst the appearance of glowing…
The wheels were tall and frightening, and they were covered with eyes (cp. 10:12). There was no more hope of hiding from this chariot than of running from it.
Rashi on Ezekiel 1:18
And they had backs Heb. וְגַבֵּיהֶן, lit. and their backs. And they had backs.
and they were very high, and they were dreadful They were frightful to look upon. Others interpret: “they had fear,” meaning they stood in awe.
and their eyebrows Heb. וְגֲבֹּתָם, et leurs sourcils in French.
were full of eyes round about to see in all directions, for they did not turn when they went.
