SERAPHIM  , the imaginary supernatural guardians of the

threshold of Yahweh's sanctuary, only mentioned in Isa. vi . (Isaiah's vision) . Their form is not described, but they have not only six wings (verse 2), but hands (verse 6) and feet (verse 2) . They are of colossal height, for they overtop Him who is seated on the high throne; and with a voice that shakes the thresholds they proclaim the Trisagion, like the four " living creatures " (cf . CHERUnns) in Rev. iv . 6-8 . Probably in the lost Hebrew text of Enoch xx . 7 " seraphim " stood where the Ethiopic and the Greek give " the serpents " or " the dragons "; Paradise, serpents and cherubim are here made subject to Gabriel . In late Jewish writings, more recognized than " Enoch," they are classed among the celestials with the cherubim and the 'ophannim (" wheels," cf . Ezek. i.) . Now as to their origin and significance . They may originally have had a serpent form, for it is difficult not to regard " seraphim " as originally (as in Num. xxi .

8) = " serpents "; cf. also the flying serpents of Israelitish

folklore in Isa. xiv . 29 . If so, Isaiah has transformed and ennobled these supernatural guardians of sacred things and persons . The Nehushtan " broken in pieces under Hezekiah (2 Kings xviii . 4) may have given an impulse to the prophet's imagination . Was it not a greater thing to ennoble them than to destroy their artistic representation ? There is no precise Babylonian or Egyptian equivalent, though attempts have been made to produce points of contact with Babylonian or Egyptian beliefs . See further Enc . Bib . " Seraphim," and cf . Duhm's Jesaia, ed . 2 (1902), on Isa. vi .

(T . K .