Cherub

About Cherub

Cherub is mentioned twice in the Bible, both in the context of the return of Jewish exiles from Babylonia to Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity (Ezra 2:59; Nehemiah 7:61). In these passages, Cherub is listed along with other places, such as Tel-melah and Tel-harsha, as the hometowns of some of the returning exiles.

These exiles were unable to prove their lineage as Israelites or to trace their ancestry to specific families. This suggests that during the Babylonian captivity, some Jews may have settled in Cherub and other nearby towns, and over time, their family records were lost or destroyed.

The exact location of Cherub is unknown, but it was likely a small town or village in Babylonia, where a community of Jewish exiles had lived during the captivity. The name "Cherub" may be derived from the Akkadian word "kāribu," which means "intercessor" or "one who blesses," possibly indicating a religious significance of the town in Babylonian culture.

The mention of Cherub in the lists of returning exiles highlights the challenges faced by some Jews in proving their heritage and the diversity of locations from which they returned to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.

Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.