Ezekiel 1:7

Hebrew Bible

4 As I watched, I noticed a windstorm coming from the north—an enormous cloud, with lightning flashing, such that bright light rimmed it and came from it like glowing amber from the middle of a fire. 5 In the fire were what looked like four living beings. In their appearance they had human form, 6 but each had four faces and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight, but the soles of their feet were like calves’ feet. They gleamed like polished bronze. 8 They had human hands under their wings on their four sides. As for the faces and wings of the four of them, 9 their wings touched each other; they did not turn as they moved, but went straight ahead. 10 Their faces had this appearance: Each of the four had the face of a man, with the face of a lion on the right, the face of an ox on the left, and also the face of an eagle.

Revelation 1:15

New Testament

12 I turned to see whose voice was speaking to me, and when I did so, I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands was one like a son of man. He was dressed in a robe extending down to his feet, and he wore a wide golden belt around his chest. 14 His head and hair were as white as wool, even as white as snow, and his eyes were like a fiery flame. 15 His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword extended out of his mouth. His face shone like the sun shining at full strength. 17 When I saw him I fell down at his feet as though I were dead, but he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last,

 Notes and References

"... Use of bronze as a figure of speech is concentrated in the Old Testament poetry and prophets (two-thirds of the uses in these books are figurative) and the book of Revelation. When used figuratively, bronze often connotes strength, as seen in Job’s questions “Do I have strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze?” (Job 6:12), or when describing Leviathan, who cannot be fettered, it is said that “iron he treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood” (Job 41:27). In Jeremiah’s call to service he is told that God has “made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land” (Jeremiah 1:18). Hard and smooth, in judgment the ground will be made infertile: “I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze” (Leviticus 26:19; Compare Deuteronomy 28:23; Job 37:18). Polished and shiny, bronze was used for mirrors in the ancient world and is associated with shining and radiance. Bronze as associated with radiance is found in Revelation 1:15: “His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters”. Ezekiel’s heavenly creatures had legs that “gleamed liked burnished bronze” (Ezekiel 1:7), and later Ezekiel encountered a man whose “face shone liked polished bronze” (Ezekiel 40:3) ..."

Ryken, Leland Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (pp. 457-458) InterVarsity Press, 1998

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