Chapter 1 of Yechezkel is the Ma'aseh Merkavah (Account of the Chariot) - the opening vision of Yechezkel's prophecy in the exile. The very first point to understand is the choice of the chariot imagery: when the nation is on a "journey" - meaning we have traveled away from our land and find ourselves in exile - Yechezkel sees Hashem riding in a chariot. The revelation of the chariot expresses that, as it were, we are in a state of travel, just as earthly kings, when traveling from place to place, prepare a chariot to set out on the road.
From here we can understand why Yeshayahu saw Hashem seated upon His throne: Yeshayahu prophesied here in the Land of Israel, when the divine rule was, as it were, functioning in its established order. But when the exile arrived, Yechezkel does not see Him seated upon His throne in His palace, but rather like a king seated in a chariot. When we speak of a chariot, the plain meaning is an actual chariot - a magnificent, grand carriage - and that is how it should be visualized, but solely as an allegory, so that through the physical parable we can grasp the exalted spiritual reality. A chariot is hitched to animals that pull it, which is why we find mention of the four Chayos (living creatures) bearing the chariot; and a chariot has wheels (ofanim) through which it rolls and advances, which is why we also find mention of the Ofanim.
Chazal state: Yeshayahu is compared to a city dweller who saw the king, while Yechezkel is compared to a villager who saw the king. In the simple understanding, a villager who sees the king is overwhelmed with wonder. He does not see the king every day, so when he sees him once, he describes everything in great detail: what kind of chariot he had, how many horses, how they were harnessed, and how there were bells in the front and back. In contrast, a city dweller is not overly astounded; the king's procession passes by him periodically, and when asked what happened, he replies briefly that the king passed by. Therefore, Yeshayahu does not elaborate in his descriptions: "I saw the Lord sitting [upon a throne]," His hem filled the Temple, Seraphim stood above Him - and that is all. According to this approach, Yechezkel was on a lower level of prophecy and was therefore filled with wonder, whereas Yeshayahu was on a higher level, like a city dweller, since city dwellers were always considered more cultured and knowledgeable than villagers, all the more so in antiquity.
The Malbim, however, connects this to the concept mentioned earlier. In what setting does a city dweller encounter the king? He sees him seated upon his throne, since the royal palace is located in his city; he passes by and enters on occasion, there are state ceremonies, and he observes the king on his royal throne. A villager, by contrast, never sees the king on his royal throne, for the king built no palace in the village; he can only see him when the king travels from place to place and passes through in his carriage. This is the crux of the distinction, not contradicting the first simple interpretation, but building upon it: Yeshayahu beheld divine visions when the heavenly kingdom was settled in its place - Hashem seated upon His throne - because we had not yet been exiled. Yechezkel beholds his vision after we have been exiled, when divine guidance is no longer administered through the miraculous presence of a King seated upon His throne, but has been handed over to the angels. Consequently, he perceives it at a lower level - not the world of Beriah but the world of Yetzirah, where Hashem's providence is no longer seen in an overt, miraculous manner, but through natural means, via the celestial systems and the angels that govern the world.
וָאֵרֶא וְהִנֵּה רוּחַ סְעָרָה בָּאָה מִן־הַצָּפוֹן עָנָן גָּדוֹל וְאֵשׁ מִתְלַקַּחַת וְנֹגַהּ־לוֹ סָבִיב וּמִתּוֹכָהּ כְּעֵין הַחַשְׁמַל מִתּוֹךְ הָאֵשׁ׃ - "And I looked, and behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud and flashing fire, with a brightness surrounding it; and from within it, like the color of chashmal from the midst of the fire."
The nogah (radiance or glow) is like the halo of light surrounding the moon: a luminous glow emanating from a celestial body. The nogah receives light and shines, yet it does not burn, and its quality is that of chesed (lovingkindness) - to bestow illumination within the darkness and light up the night. In other words, though there is a state of darkness, a cloud, and thick gloom, amidst all of this one sees an illumination of chesed that does not consume.
And from within the nogah he perceives the chashmal, which represents the camp of the Shechinah, situated as it were inside the fire. What does this mean? This burning will be executed by Hashem Himself. The Beis HaMikdash is destined to be burned - this is the fire - and the fire will consume His Sanctuary, and Who is present inside? The Holy One, blessed be He, Himself. This is not carried out merely by natural mechanisms or lower forces, but by supreme celestial forces. Yet even though Hashem Himself comes to burn, there is a nogah all around - an aspect of non-consuming light, an element of chesed amidst the judgments and strict justice (gevuros). Within that harsh reality there will be a dimension of light that illuminates the darkness, and this light represents the salvation of those who cling to holiness - those who remain attached to the nogah all around will find deliverance from the consuming fire.
The Malbim explains: observe that Eliyahu also beheld the chariot outside its normal place. Eliyahu went into the desert, outside the Land of Israel, and there saw this exact same vision: "A great and strong wind" - this corresponds to the storm wind; "and after the wind an earthquake" - the Malbim explains that the earthquake came from the cloud; "and after the earthquake a fire" - this is the flashing fire. Yet none of these is the camp of the Shechinah, which is why it says that Hashem was not in the wind, not in the earthquake, and not in the fire. And after the fire came "a still small voice" (kol demamah dakah) - which is the chashmal. The word chashmal is composed of chash, denoting silence and stillness, and mal, denoting speech - that is, quiet speech, as in the verse "I heard a still voice" (demamah vekol eshma). This corresponds to the "still small voice" that Eliyahu beheld, and it is the dimension of chashmal described here.
This is also the concept of the four husks (kelipot) surrounding the nut: the husk closest to the fruit is the most refined, the soft husk in which good and evil are intermingled, which is the aspect of Nogah. And so the Kabbalists say, that Kelipat Nogah is mixed of good and evil, and is not purely evil. It is written that weekday eating goes to Kelipat Nogah, and excessive eating - beyond what a person needs - goes to Kelipat Nogah; that is, this is not an entirely demonic shell of the Sitra Achra, but Kelipat Nogah, which contains a blend of good and evil. And this is the aspect seen here: that very force destined to destroy the Beit HaMikdash, yet within that reality Yechezkel saw that there was a surrounding Nogah, representing a dimension of chesed embedded within that harsh reality.
וּמִתּוֹכָהּ דְּמוּת אַרְבַּע חַיּוֹת וְזֶה מַרְאֵיהֶן דְּמוּת אָדָם לָהֵנָּה׃ - "And from its midst was the likeness of four living creatures, and this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man."
The Malbim explains: Those who gaze into visions of G-d - meaning the Kabbalists - have already informed us that there are four camps of angels surrounding the Throne in the World of Beriah, signified by the acronym Argaman: Uriel, Raphael, Gavriel, Michael, Nuriel. At first glance, this adds up to five rather than four, but as we have already explained, Uriel and Nuriel are two facets of a single entity. Uriel is an expression of fire and light (or), while Nuriel is an expression of fire (nur), and both share the same essential nature. Thus, there are four camps of angels.
And Yeshayahu, as we explained, saw the King in His palace: "Seraphim stood above Him," which refers to the World of the Throne, the World of Beriah. The angels there operate miraculously, for the World of Beriah is an elevated world, the second from above - Atzilut, Beriah - and their mode of operation does not channel through the world beneath them, meaning not through the Ofanim. To explain: when speaking of the World of Asiyah, the operation is physical, natural, functioning through the celestial constellations and their spheres (galgalim). By contrast, when speaking of the influences of an elevated world like Beriah, the influences operate miraculously - not through physical, natural reality, but in a spiritual, wondrous, and supernatural manner.
Yechezkel, as noted, saw the King outside His palace; he saw the Chariot (Merkavah). This corresponds to the world of angels, the World of Yetzirah - Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah - a lower world. In this reality, the mode of action and devolution flows from Yetzirah down to Asiyah. How do these angels impart influence? Through the world of action, via tangible influences, through nature and the celestial order, rather than by overturning natural laws in an overt, miraculous manner. And when Hashem wishes to govern through hidden miracles, the Holy One, blessed be He, directs and steers via the Chayot, which are situated above the world of the Ofanim, much like a person riding in a chariot.
From this we can understand the entire metaphor that unfolds as the text continues. In a chariot there is a rider, and the rider represents, as it were, the Holy One, blessed be He - corresponding to the World of Beriah, the World of the Throne (all in quotation marks, as these are allegorical descriptions). Beneath it lies the lower world, the World of Yetzirah, which is the realm of angels and the realm of the Chayot that Yechezkel beheld, whose faces and fourfold aspects we will examine shortly. These are the Chayot that pull the chariot. And by what power does the chariot move? By the power of the wheels and spheres (ofanim). The Chayot draw forward and impart influence, and that power transfers and acts through the wheels, which are driven by the momentum of the Chayot. Such is the physical analogy, and so Yechezkel perceived the spiritual influences descending from above to below.
Thus we find: the World of the Throne is the World of Beriah, the World of Yetzirah is the realm of the Chayot, and the third, lowest world is the realm of the celestial spheres, the World of Asiyah. This is also the text found in many Ashkenazi siddurim: "seraphim, vechayot, ve'ofanei hakodesh" (Seraphim, Chayot, and holy Ofanim), whereas the Sephardic text says "seraphim, ve'ofanim, vechayot hakodesh." According to the Kabbalists, the first version is more precise. This is not to suggest altering prayer book texts - our established liturgy remains as it is, and it is intriguing that the Sephardic rite is generally aligned with Kabbalah - but Rav Mazuz cites from the Zohar and the Tikkunim that they too read "seraphim, vechayot, ve'ofanei hakodesh." The logic is straightforward: first the Seraphim ("Seraphim stood above Him"), representing the World of Beriah, the World of the Throne, as seen by Yeshayahu; followed by the holy Chayot, representing the World of Yetzirah, the four Chayot seen by Yechezkel; and beneath them the holy Ofanim, representing the realm of the celestial wheels, the World of Asiyah. If one says "Seraphim, Ofanim, and holy Chayot," the order is disrupted: mentioning the high Seraphim, jumping down to the lower Ofanim, and relegating the intermediary Chayot to the end.
To return to the subject: during times of exile, Hashem does not act through overt miracles, but governs according to the natural order and the celestial spheres; this is providence channeled through the Ofanim and spheres. When Hashem wishes to govern through hidden miracles, He guides events not through the Ofanim directly, but through the holy Chayot of the World of Yetzirah - His ministering servants who fulfill His will, situated above the World of Asiyah - resulting in a providence that subtly transcends nature. As the Malbim explains, this is like a person riding a chariot who directs its wheels by means of the creatures pulling it. Consequently, the Chayot seen by Yechezkel are lower than the Seraphim seen by Yeshayahu, for Yeshayahu saw "Seraphim stood above Him" in the World of the Throne, whereas Yechezkel saw Chayot in the World of Yetzirah.
And since this form of providence - governing through celestial systems, stars, and planetary spheres - is the established mode during exile, when the Holy One, blessed be He, does not perform overt miracles for us or guide us above nature, Yechezkel was shown the commencement of the reign of the four kingdoms that would rule until the end of all exile. An exile was now beginning, the first exile, similar to what we encounter in Sefer Daniel, where the Malbim will point out further parallels. Daniel foresaw the four kingdoms destined to reign: both in the vision of the statue composed of four types of materials corresponding to the four empires that ruled over Israel, and in the vision of the beasts rising from the sea, which likewise depict the four kingdoms destined to dominate Israel. So too here, Yechezkel is shown the mechanisms of divine providence in exile: how the Holy One, blessed be He, channels abundance through the regimes of these kingdoms, and we will see how each empire draws its power, as it were, from one of the four holy Chayot, from which its strength derives and by virtue of which it exercises dominion.
The Malbim explains: until the Name is complete and His throne is complete, Providence is conducted through the Seraphim standing above Him, and only then will the King sit upon His royal throne. The ultimate governance destined to be revealed, when the Holy One, blessed be He, rules with exclusive sovereignty and the Name is whole and the throne is whole, will emanate from the World of the Throne, which is the World of Beriah. But Yechezkel is shown that we are not yet there, and that currently governance flows from a lower world, from the World of Yetzirah - from the four Chayot of the Merkavah that lead it. From them, the heavenly princes of the nations receive their influence, each drawing sustenance from a different Chayah, and each Chayah influences the Ofan corresponding to it. There are four Chayot and four Ofanim; the Ofanim represent the influences in the World of Asiyah, each exerting influence upon the World of Asiyah according to the powers assigned to it.
The Malbim has already explained in the prophecy of Zechariah that the four kingdoms correspond to the four directions of heaven, with each kingdom holding dominion and power in one of the directions of the world, like a wheel divided into four, where each has mastery over a quarter of the world's power. The influencing celestial prince channels influence through the Ofan corresponding to that direction: each prince acts through that Chayah toward that Ofan, bringing down a quarter of the world's influence below. This is the meaning of the verse, "Until the wheel is broken at the cistern" - until this one sinks and the other Ofan rises in its place. That is, each of them holds sway at a different time; this one ascends while the others descend, and then the next ascends while the others descend. As we will see, they do not descend entirely, but they lose their power and dominion in the world: when Babylon ruled, the other kingdoms were subjugated; when Greece ruled, the other kingdoms were subjugated, and so on.
He calls them Chayot (living creatures), since each possesses the face of a lion, an ox, and an eagle, yet he emphasizes, "and this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man." If they are Chayot, how can you say they had the likeness of a man? The Malbim explains: one of the four faces is indeed human, but one cannot refer to them as "man" based on the face alone, since there are three other faces - an ox, an eagle, and a lion. Rather, when it says "they had the likeness of a man," it does not refer to the face, but to the overall form.
The meaning is this: the form of an animal is fundamentally different in its structure from the form of a man. Man walks upright on two legs while an animal walks on four; the animal is bent over, its face toward the ground, devoid of intellect and reason. But these Chayot had the form and stature of a man - standing upright on two legs with two arms (and later we will see how many hands). Likewise, they possessed wisdom and understanding like a human, and only in their faces was there a distinction: man, lion, ox, and eagle. Do not imagine that this was an ox in the physical mold of an ox with the intellect of an ox; rather, their form was like that of a human, and their wisdom and understanding were like that of a human - and not merely human, but vastly superior, in that just as man possesses intellect and reason, so too do they possess intellect and reason, and God instilled in them wisdom and understanding to comprehend their Creator, to praise Him, and to give glory to His Name.
וְאַרְבָּעָה פָנִים לְאֶחָת וְאַרְבַּע כְּנָפַיִם לְאַחַת לָהֶם׃ - Each one had four faces, and each one of them had four wings.
Let us first examine Rashi, whose words depart from the conventional understanding. Rashi writes: "'Each one had four faces' - to this one alone, to the human visage alone, there were four faces, and similarly for the lion, the eagle, and the ox, making sixteen for each creature, and so for each and every creature." One might have understood that there are four Chayot, each with four faces - the creature on the right having the faces of a man, ox, eagle, and lion, and likewise for the one on the left, totaling four times four, or sixteen faces in all. Rashi comes and explains that this is not the calculation. "Each one had four faces" means that each facial orientation itself consisted of four faces. Consider the creature on the far right: it has the faces of a man, an ox, an eagle, and a lion. Picture a cube with a different face depicted on each side. "Each one had four faces" means that the human visage itself has four faces, the ox visage has four faces, the lion visage has four, and the eagle visage has four - all within a single creature. Thus, one creature is structured with four heads - man, eagle, ox, and lion - and each of them is composed of four, resulting in sixteen faces for a single creature.
And the calculation does not end there: "and each one of them had four wings" - for each of the sixteen, there were four wings. Four wings multiplied by four faces, multiplied by four visages, equals sixty-four wings for a single creature! And how many in total? Targum Yonatan states: two hundred and fifty-six wings - sixty-four multiplied by four Chayot.
From here, the Malbim raises a question: if each and every creature had four visages, and each visage had four faces, then one can no longer say that this is the lion-creature and that is the man-creature, since every creature encompasses everything, so how do they differ from one another? Rather, the Malbim explains: each creature had a different face pointing in the direction in which it traveled forward. Picture a cube with a different image on each of its sides, but each cube moves forward with a different face in front: for one, the forward-facing image is an ox; for the second, a lion; for the third, a man; and for the fourth, an eagle. Thus, although all of them possess all four visages, one of them is primary and leads. This is the guiding principle through which the Malbim explains that each creature possessed all four powers, but one power was dominant, leading, and primary, holding sway. Therefore, even though the primary face pointing in that direction was, for example, the face of an ox, it also possessed the other three faces, so that each one had four faces.
In every matter, the Malbim seeks to explain the deeper allegorical meaning - the inner lesson and the modes of divine governance that these visions represent. This comes to teach us that each creature represents a distinct, defined mode of governance: one for Chesed (lovingkindness), one for judgment, and one for mercy. Yet despite this, each one includes all the others, but the mode of governance is named after the primary line that directs it. Do not imagine that the other attributes are absent - it contains all of them, but there is one dominant attribute, and this is called the "face," the primary aspect, with all the others accompanying it. When Chesed prevails, the other attributes accompany it, as it is well known that every single attribute contains all the attributes within it. Just as we say during Sefirat HaOmer: Chesed of Chesed, Gevurah of Chesed, Tiferet of Chesed, Netzach of Chesed - what is the Sefirah? Chesed. And what does it encompass within itself? All the other attributes. And similarly with Gevurah: Gevurah of Gevurah, Chesed of Gevurah, Tiferet of Gevurah - the core attribute is Gevurah, and all the others are included within it.
The same applies to the kingdoms influenced by them: each one is a particular force that contains within it the other kingdoms. For example, when the Babylonian Empire ruled, Persia, Greece, and Rome also existed - they did not evaporate from the world. Rather, who was dominant, who set the tone? Babylon. It became the cornerstone and led the way, and so too was the unfolding of the divine bounty: the patron angel of Babylon stood at the head, drew the bounty from above, and channeled it downward to the other included faces, for within the face of the ox were also included the lion, the man, and the eagle. The recipient of the bounty is, as it were, the face of the ox, which leads the way, but the others receive from it as well.
The Malbim already explained in the Book of Yeshayahu that angels are always depicted with wings: in Yeshayahu, "Each one had six wings," while here, "Each of them had four wings." Why? Because wings symbolize flight and swift motion: they have two wings to fly instantly to wherever they are sent by their Creator. An angel is an emissary, receiving instructions from its Creator and carrying them out, and it performs these actions in an instant - and for that, wings are needed.
Furthermore, a wing signifies concealment and hiding, as it is written, "Your Teacher shall no longer be hidden (yikafeif)" - yikafeif means hidden, and wings also conceal what is beneath them. Therefore, they had two more wings, making four in total: two to indicate the speed and alacrity with which they perform the will of their Master, and two to cover their bodies. What is the idea behind covering themselves with wings? That their essence is hidden and concealed from apprehension - we have no grasp of them, and the wings conceal and veil their essence, which we have no ability to comprehend.
Yeshayahu saw six wings on each one: with two it covered its face, with two it covered its feet, and with two it flew, whereas here there are only four. What is the difference? The Malbim offers a wonderful explanation: Yeshayahu saw the Seraphim standing above the Throne, in the World of Beriah, and there they have two kinds of concealment and covering. First, they receive divine influence from the world above them, which is the World of Atzilut - the highest realm, a reality exalted and distinct from the understanding and perception even of the angels. Concerning this it says, "With two it covered its face": the face is the upper part through which it receives the bounty from above, and it covers its face as if to say, "I have no apprehension of the source from which I receive." It cannot gaze upward and cannot grasp the World of Atzilut, which is why they say, "Where is the place of His glory?" - they cannot grasp it.
Second, "With two it covered its feet." The feet extend downward and transmit the bounty from the World of Beriah down to the World of Yetzirah, and this alludes to the fact that although the angels who receive the bounty do grasp the bounty itself, they cannot grasp the essence of the Giver. To illustrate: when one receives an object, one can examine what was received, but cannot grasp the essence of the giver. If one finds the offspring of a creature, one can investigate what was received, but trying to deduce from an egg what kind of creature laid it will not necessarily yield a conclusion if one has never seen it before. So too, by way of distinction: the Seraphim bestow downward upon the World of Yetzirah, upon the Holy Chayyot, and the Chayyot receive this bounty. What they receive they can grasp, but they cannot grasp the Giver of the bounty. The Chayyot cannot grasp the Seraphim above them, and the Seraphim cannot grasp the realm of Atzilut above them. Therefore, the Seraphim seen by Yeshayahu cover their faces, because they cannot comprehend the bounty descending to them from Atzilut, and they cover their feet, because the Chayyot beneath them cannot comprehend the Seraphim who bestow upon them - covering both the receiving face and the bestowing feet.
By contrast, the Chayyot below, in the World of Yetzirah, do not cover their faces, because they do comprehend the bounty that reaches them. They do not comprehend the Givers, but they do comprehend the bounty itself, and therefore they do not have the two wings to cover their faces. Nor does Yechezkel describe them as covering their feet, because they do not conceal or veil the bounty they transmit downward to the World of the Ophanim, which is the World of Asiyah. Just as material bodies perceive the influence of the soul that animates them, so too the lower realm, the World of the Ophanim, grasps the bounty reaching it from the realm of the Chayyot, because this dimension is closer to it and falls within the realm of comprehension.
What then do they have? Two wings to cover their bodies: their essence as it is in itself is concealed. Just as if one attempts to grasp the essence of the soul one cannot succeed - what the soul is in itself, prior to being joined with the body, is concealed, whereas we do perceive its effects within the body: the will and the active power of the soul. Therefore, relative to the World of the Ophanim there is no covering of the feet, for that can be grasped, but the Chayyot cover their bodies, because the substance and essence of the entity itself cannot be grasped.
Our Sages teach: From the day the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed, the wings of the Chayyot were diminished. What does this mean? The Chayyot channel divine influence in a miraculous manner, whereas the lower world, the World of Asiyah, receives natural influences according to the celestial spheres. From the day the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed, the wings of the Chayyot were diminished, meaning that the divine influence is no longer conveyed through the power of the wings of the Chayyot in a miraculous manner, but rather through natural means, and Providence operates more through the Ophanim, which represent governance through the natural order and natural systems. There are no longer those coverings of the wings of the Chayyot that produce concealment and a veil for miraculous governance; rather, governance is natural and overt, and one can offer natural explanations for everything that occurs in reality. The wings that cover and create a concealed, miraculous mode of governance are what were diminished, and all divine governance became overt and natural, according to the World of the Ophanim.
וְרַגְלֵיהֶם רֶגֶל יְשָׁרָה וְכַף רַגְלֵיהֶם כְּכַף רֶגֶל עֵגֶל וְנֹצְצִים כְּעֵין נְחֹשֶׁת קָלָל׃ - "And their legs were a straight leg, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's foot, and they sparkled like the color of burnished copper."
Rashi cites two explanations for "a straight foot" (regel yesharah): First, kivvenan - that the feet of the Chayos were aligned parallel to one another. The second, more familiar explanation is straight in the sense that they have no joints (kefitzim), meaning knee-joints to bend their shins. "Kefitzim" is related to closing (kofetz) the hand, and we close our hand by virtue of joints; having no kefitzim means they have no joints, and the leg is a straight leg. The reason for this: they do not sit - for one who sits must bend his legs - nor do they lie down, and they do not need joints like an animal, which has an upper joint and a lower joint with which it bends its legs to lie down. Angels stand constantly, and consequently have no need for knee-joints to bend their legs.
"And the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's foot" - in the simple understanding, the sole of their foot resembled the hoof of a calf, and the Malbim leans toward this explanation. But Rashi explains based on Targum Yonatan that egel (calf) here is related to agol (round), rather than a calf: the Targum translates it as "round feet" (raglin segalgalin), and segalgal means round, meaning their foot was rounded.
"And they sparkled like the color of burnished copper" - from their radiance, it appeared as if sparks were shooting forth from them, just as we find regarding Queen Helena who made a golden candelabrum, so that when the sun rose, sparks seemed to flash from it. So too here, their feet were radiant and sparkling as though sparks flew from them. And what is nechoshet kalal? Refined, luminous copper, burnished copper that gleams. Rashi brings another explanation in the name of Menachem: that kalal is related to roasted (kalui) in fire, and the Malbim tends more toward this direction - copper that appears as though fire is burning within it, and that was how they shone.
The Malbim explains: The wings are intended to soar high, and when the Chayos, which represent the World of Yetzirah, ascend, they elevate the World of Asiyah along with them - as we will see later in verse 19. The feet, by contrast, allude to the lower part and to the state of walking upon the earth. And where is the "earth" of the Chayos? Above the Ophanim, for beneath the realm of the Chayos lies the realm of the Ophanim, and the foot of the Chayos rests upon the World of Asiyah. Thus, the wings signify soaring upward, which is when the Ophanim do not move according to the regular order of the cosmos and nature, but are guided above the laws of nature according to God's will. The governance of the feet, on the other hand, indicates a time when they guide the Ophanim according to the nature of the cosmic order, like a person walking on his feet, where everything proceeds naturally as dictated downward by the celestial system and the Ophanim.
The Malbim emphasizes that in spiritual terms, a "foot" alludes to the effect (mesovav) resulting from them, citing the Moreh Nevuchim (Part 1, Chapter 28, and Part 3, Chapter 4). There is also an apparently simpler biblical allusion to this from what Lavan said: "I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me leraglecha (on your account)" - because of you, showing that regel relates to cause and effect; likewise, "according to the pace (leragel) of the cattle and according to the pace of the children" - on account of. A "foot" thus alludes to the effect and the consequence flowing from a thing.
Therefore, "their legs were a straight foot": when they guide the world according to the cosmic order, which is the natural governance, this is called a straight path - there are no deviations, no twists or turns, and the world follows its regular course. The causes and laws of nature have been fixed since Creation until this day, and this is "their legs", the effects resulting from them, being "a straight foot": a continuous natural governance without alteration. "Sun, stand still at Giv'on, and moon, in the valley of Ayalon" is not a straight foot - that is governance that breaks the bounds of nature, not the static, fixed order. The feet govern according to the cosmic order and move according to fixed causes; as the causes go, so follow the effects, and in accordance with the direction of the cosmic order, all the results unfold.
Hence it is "a straight foot," having no joints. A joint implies turning - having a joint in my hand allows me to turn it, whereas without joints I could not. When it comes to the fixed natural governance, there are no joints: it is a straight and fixed administration; the laws of nature are constant and unchanging. A joint creates turning and also constitutes an interruption, lacking unbroken continuity and breaking in the middle, whereas the governance of nature is a straight governance without interruptions.
And "the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's foot," according to Rashi and Targum Yonatan, denotes roundness (igul) - that is, they transmit constant circular motion to all the Ophanim, the source of this movement stemming from the Chayos above, which set the celestial spheres into motion.
"And they sparkled like the color of burnished copper" - the sparks issuing from the feet resemble sparks of burnished copper, referring to this world, the World of Asiyah, which is the realm of the spheres. The Malbim explains that copper (nechoshet) alludes to the concept of the serpent (nachash): the spiritual influence here descends into the realm of the serpent, the copper serpent, for this is a material, composite world containing the Sitra Achra (the Other Side), and the Sitra Achra is the aspect of the serpent. The sparks that reach the World of Asiyah from the feet of the Chayos come from pure, polished copper, the cleanest copper - nechoshet kalal. That is, down here there is a murky copper, which is the serpent, alluding to the power of the Sama-el and the Sitra Achra; against it is the pure, elevated copper that channels downward to refine the murky power of the copper serpent below. One can also see an allusion to this in the copper serpent made by Moshe, who told them to look toward the higher serpent - the burnished copper of holiness - in order to nullify the lower serpent, the Sama-el, which is the serpent of kelipah down here.
The Malbim adds that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, from which they ate through the sin of the serpent, has part of its root in the World of Yetzirah and in the influences descending from there downward. It is therefore understandable why the concept of the serpent is introduced here, for this aspect of serpent and copper (nachash and nechoshet) also exists in the World of Yetzirah. He cites the Midrash of Chazal that kalal signifies burning, as we explained in Rashi; and since their purpose at that time was to destroy and burn the Holy Temple, he saw sparks channeled from the power of the serpent - which was the empire reigning at that time, as we will see later - casting venom and a consuming fire into the Sanctuary. Therefore, he compared this to a serpent, and nechoshet kalal derives from roasted (kalui) and burning, as they went and burned the Holy Temple.
וִידֵי אָדָם מִתַּחַת כַּנְפֵיהֶם עַל אַרְבַּעַת רִבְעֵיהֶם וּפְנֵיהֶם וְכַנְפֵיהֶם לְאַרְבַּעְתָּם׃ - And the hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides; and the four of them had their faces and their wings.
Rashi first cites the words of the Targum here: "To scoop coals of fire with them" - that with their hands they would scoop up and prepare the coals of fire, as we will see later that these are the coals of fire destined to burn Jerusalem.
Chapter 1 of Yechezkel is the vision of the Chariot (the Merkavah) of the exile. Yeshayahu, who prophesied in the Land of Israel while the kingdom was intact, saw the King sitting upon His throne like a city-dweller; Yechezkel, who prophesied in the exile by the river Kevar, saw the King in His chariot like a villager. The vision included a stormy wind, a cloud, flashing fire - and from within them Nogah (radiance), chesed that does not consume within the judgment, and Chashmal, the camp of the Shechinah within the fire, like the still, small voice that Eliyahu witnessed. The four Chayyot in the World of Yetzirah, with their four faces and wings, express the divine Providence handed over during the exile through the angels and the Ophanim, through nature rather than through open miracles, as well as the four kingdoms that each draw sustenance from a different power, where each one incorporates all the others and only one rules in its designated time. Their fewer wings compared to the six wings of the Seraphim teach of the measure of perception in each spiritual realm, and "the wings of the Chayyot were diminished" teaches that manifest Providence today operates through nature. The straight leg without joints represents the fixed, unchanging laws of nature, and the burnished brass (nechoshet kalal) is the purest form of copper refining the power of the serpent (nachash) below - and at that very moment, also the sparks of fire destined to burn the Beit HaMikdash.