And as for their appearance, the four had the same likeness, as if a wheel were within a wheel.
The wheels appear again beside the cherubim — the living creatures of Ezekiel's vision — as the glory of the Lord prepares to leave the temple. Ezekiel tells us they are the same wheels he saw by the river Chebar. One wheel set inside another raises the question this chapter puts to every reader. Is history a tangle of turning circumstances, or is something intelligent moving inside it?
Wheels, not chance
The wheels stand for God's government of events on earth. One writer sets that against a world run by luck:
William KellyIt is the exact reverse of circumstances left to blind chance. Whatever the upheavals or changes among men, God knowingly guides everything, even where you would least expect it. The instruments of that providential government, below the expanse, agreed completely with what was above. And over this was the likeness of a throne.
How the wheel inside a wheel works
The shape is not decoration. It explains how the wheels could move in any direction:
Numerical Bible NotesThe four wheels are alike, and have one basic meaning. In look and in structure each is like a wheel inside a wheel. So they travel on four sides, one wheel set into the other, crossing it at right angles. Like the living creatures, they never need to turn, whichever direction they go.
Straightforward, yet many-sided
The crossed wheels also say something about how God's dealings land. Besides their direct aim, they produce results off to the side:
The Bible TreasuryTheir work was like a wheel inside a wheel — indirect and side results, as well as the leading feature of going straight forward. They are full of eyes: they see everything in front and behind, and judge not only results but causes.
One short summary puts both halves together — movement that is controlled and intelligent, yet hidden from view:
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe Spirit was in the wheels. The wheels looked like beryl, and they were full of eyes: a picture of the controlled but intelligent motion of events. There were wheels within wheels, and these mark the control of events as mysterious and hidden.
The same vision, now over Jerusalem
Ezekiel says the four wheels had the same likeness. There was no difference between them, and none from what he had seen before. That sameness matters to a city about to fall:
Numerical Bible NotesThe wheels come into view once more. We have them just as they appeared at Chebar: one wheel beside each cherub, with the look of topaz in them, and the likeness of a wheel within a wheel. They still display divine characteristics, though now in human history. Here it is added that the whole body, backs, hands, wings and wheels are full of eyes all round. These are the marks of a knowledge that is truly all-knowing — though of course no creature has such knowledge. They move by a wisdom higher than their own.
Commentators differ on the stone: some call it beryl, others topaz. Either way, the gem-like look displays divine characteristics inside human history.
Wheels and cherubim inseparable
The wheels never act on their own. They move with the cherubim, under the glory that is leaving the house:
William KellyThe wheels are never cut off from the cherubim. There is not the least difference in their common action, or in the end of all their complicated movements. All-pervading intelligence is claimed still more strongly here for the whole body, backs, hands, wings and wheels… There might be a lingering over the east gate, but the glory was departing.
When your own life feels like wheels within wheels
The phrase has passed into ordinary speech, and one writer turns it straight onto the reader's circumstances:
J. T. MawsonDo the times seem out of joint, with the wheels always turning against you? Are you tempted to think, as those who do not know God think, that you are at the mercy of uncontrolled and fickle chance? Then consider that the Saviour is on the throne, above all the wings and wheels that puzzle you… He is above all circumstances, and He controls all the wings and wheels that have their part in your life.
Summary
- Turning, not tumbling. The wheels rule out blind chance. Whatever changes come among men, God guides it all.
- Turning without swerving. One wheel crosses the other at right angles. So the wheels move any direction without ever turning aside.
- Turning unseen. A wheel inside a wheel brings side results as well as direct ones. The control is real, but hidden.
- Turning under eyes. Eyes all round mean the wheels judge causes as well as results. They move by a wisdom higher than their own.
- Turning under a throne. The wheels never break step with the cherubim, and above them stands the throne. The Saviour there is above every wheel in your life.