Ophanim
wheels seen in Ezekiel's vision of the chariot
The ophanim (Hebrew: אוֹפַנִּים ʼōp̄annīm, 'wheels'; singular: Ofan אוֹפָן ʼōp̄ān), alternatively spelled auphanim or ofanim, and also called galgalim (Hebrew: גַּלְגַּלִּים galgallīm, 'spheres, wheels, whirlwinds'; singular: גַּלְגַּל galgal), refer to the wheels seen in Ezekiel's vision of the chariot (Hebrew merkabah) in Ezekiel 1:15–21. One of the Dead Sea Scrolls (4Q405) construes them as angels; late sections of the Book of Enoch (61:10, 71:7) portray them as a class of celestial beings who (along with the Cherubim and Seraphim) never sleep, but guard the throne of God. In some systems of Christian angelology, they are one of the choirs (classes) of angels, and are also identified as Thrones.
These "wheels" have been associated with Daniel 7:9 (mentioned as galgal, traditionally "the wheels of galgallin", in "fiery flame" and "burning fire") of the four, eye-covered wheels (each composed of two nested wheels), that move next to the winged Cherubim, beneath the throne of God. The four wheels move with the Cherubim because the spirit of the Cherubim is in them. The late Second Book of Enoch (20:1, 21:1) also referred to them as the "many-eyed ones".
The First Book of Enoch (71.7) seems to imply that the Ophanim are equated to the "Thrones" in Christianity when it lists them all together, in order: "...round about were Seraphim, Cherubim, and Ophanim".
The Ophanim has also been used to interpret ancient art. A chariot wheel can only move forward or backwards; by crossing two wheels perpendicularly, a vehicle can conceptually move instantly in any of the four cardinal directions. Moshe Greenberg analyzed this visionary imagery in Ezekiel 1, positing that it was a disk-wheel with an archaic hub resembling an inner wheel, as seen in cylinder seals from the 3rd millennium BCE, or the concentric rims of Sargon II's Neo-Assyrian throne chariot.
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