Cherubim
Extracted text from Cherubim.docx:
Many people would first have the image below in mind if they referred to "Cherubs." To be fair, once the Hebrew plural is used (Cherubim), then the image that comes to mind is not so likely to be the little Cupids, but there still may be some interference from that cultural interpretation.
David C. Cook illustrations render the Cherubim as human-looking "angels," whether guarding the entrance to the Garden of Eden or the Ark of the Covenant.
From the palace of Sargon II, this is certainly closer to what the biblical writers would have thought of than the little cupid "cherubs" or standard human-looking "angels" that usually come to mind. With the face of a human (intelligence), the winds of an eagle (speed), the body of a lion (ferocity), and the legs and feet of a bull (strength), this spirit being was ideally suited for guarding things (Eden, the ark), as well as serving as Yahweh's personal taxi service.
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I'd be curious to see a progression of different renderings of angels/seraphim/cherubim to see what the impact of varying cultural contexts affected visualisations of creatures that almost no-one has ever seen.
I may re-do this post as a Word file with other historical and cultural representations of Cherubim, which is normally the context in which I present this graphic. As to translation, I like the functional approach, which would favor "guardian beings" or something like that in this case.
in my Master's dissertation I made a brief research on the cherubs and found that this mythological motif was probably born in Sumer where we find the deamon Hubaba, guard of the Cedar Mountain (Epic of Gilgamesh) and then was preserved in the form of the winged genies in Assyrian iconography who guard the tree of life next to the king. The cherubs (cherubim) in Genesis also guard the tree of life in the Garden of Eden. So in my translation I would keep the word Χερουβίμ (Cherubim) and I would definitely include their mythological cultural context in the form of a note. Every single name and word has such a long history behind it.... and I love it. :)