Ezekiel 1:12 - Exposition

Whither the spirit was to go, etc . The description passes on to the originating force of the movement of the mysterious forms. The Hebrew noun may mean "breath," "wind," or "spirit," the meanings often overlapping one another. Here the higher meaning is probably the true one. The "Spirit" (as in Genesis 1:1 ; Genesis 6:3 ; Psalms 104:30 ; Psalms 139:7 ; Isaiah 40:7 , Isaiah 40:13 ; and in Ezekiel himself, passim ) is the Divine Source of life in all its forms, especially in its highest form, moral, intellectual, spiritual. It is this which gave unity and harmony to the movements of the "living creatures," as it gives a life, harmony, and unity to all the manifold manifestations of the might of God of which they were the symbols. (On "they turned not," see note on Ezekiel 1:9 .)