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Angels Had Sex in the Jewish Temple?
An account in the Talmud is—provocative
In ancient Israel, a visit was required three times a year to the Temple to “behold” God, as we learn in the Bible (Exod 23:17; Deut 16:16). One might like description of such a remarkable experience, and there is a passage in the Talmud—which more than one commentator has pronounced “curious.”
We’d imagine people in Jerusalem filing into a building understood by them to be a nexus between Heaven and Earth. Within, in a golden room called the Holy of Holies, is the Ark of the Covenant. Over it hover the cherubim, mighty winged angels.
“In the midst of two living creatures you will be known,” says Habakkuk 3:2. To be an Israelite would be to understand that, from between these figures, the voice of the Creator had been heard.
The Bible speaks of two sets of cherubim. The first are found back in Exodus 25:20, fashioned under Moses’ watchful gaze. These rest upon the Ark, and “face” each other, as their wings “spread” over it.
Later, Solomon had made a second, larger pair, free-standing it seems. Details are available in 1 Kings 6:23–28 and 2…
