from Hebrew saraf, burning. Winged heavenly beings mentioned in the Scriptures only in the vision when Isaiah was called by God to prophesy. Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on the throne, above him he saw some s. erect. These had three pairs of wings, with one of them they covered their faces, for fear of seeing God; with the second they covered their bodies and with the third, they flew. The s. they praised the glory of God, shouting to each other: “Holy, holy, holy, Yahweh Sebaot: the whole earth is full of his glory.” The voice of the s was so strong. that the hinges and lintels of the Temple were shaken. Isaiah declared himself a man of impure lips and unworthy before the holiness of God; but one of the s. he took with his tongs an ember from the altar, flew to Isaiah and touched his lips with it, purifying fire, and said to him: “Behold, this has touched your lips: your guilt is removed, your sin is atoned for,” Is 6. Tradition, like the cherubim of the Ark, gave them the name of angels, who are part of the heavenly choir.
Digital Bible Dictionary, Grupo C Service & Design Ltda., Colombia, 2003
Source: Digital Bible Dictionary
They are called “beings like fire” (DHH), seraphim (RVA, RVR-1960, BJ, NC, VM-1893, -im is the Heb. plural suffix). They were heavenly beings whom Isaiah, when he was called to prophetic ministry, saw before the enthroned Lord (Isa 6:2-3, Isa 6:6-7). This is the only mention of these creatures in the Bible.
The word seraphim means “the burning ones” or “the fiery ones.” The same word is used to describe the serpents in the desert (Num 21:6, Num 21:8; compare Deu 8:15; Isa 14:29; Isa 30:6). They belong to an order of supernatural beings who attend the throne of God. Isaiah describes them as standing erect with three pairs of wings and human hands, faces, and voices. See FIRE.
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
(burn, burn).
They were heavenly beings that Isaiah saw standing before the Lord, Isa 6:2, Isa 6:6 : See “angels”.
Christian Bible Dictionary
Dr. J. Dominguez
http://bible.com/dictionary/
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
(-> snake). According to Isaiah’s vision, next to the throne of God “there were seraphim. Each had six wings; with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet and with two they flew. One proclaimed the other saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord of Hosts! The whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:2-3). These s†™eraphim, flying serpents of fire, stand erect, at the sides of God, as a paradoxical and grandiose sign of power. They form his court (cf. Ps 7,8; 82,1; Zec 1,11-14), they are a sign of his mystery. These are their features: they are serpents, they belong to the lower world, they are as if sprouting from the very bowels of the earth; they are flying, they move away from the ground and dominate with their wings the immense spaces of the skies; they are fire, they burn without being consumed. (Moses found God in the bush of fire: cf. Ex 3,2). They fly and worship, in a gesture of respect and great freedom. They cover their faces so as not to see the unviable, they cover “the feet” (sexual symbol), so as not to expose their shame in the light of mystery. In this way they adore, with the same gesture of their covering wings and, at the same time, they fly: they remain upright before the mystery. They cry out or sing: they raise their voice, they answer each other, in antiphonal song, shouting the word of sacred confession: Holy! Burning/flying serpents, converted into a voice of worship, that is what the seraphim are.
PIKAZA, Javier, Dictionary of the Bible. History and Word, Divine Word, Navarra 2007
Source: Dictionary of Bible History and Word
Spirits that are around the throne of Jehovah in heaven. (Isa 6:2, 6) The Hebrew word sera fimʹ is a plural noun derived from the verb sa raphʹ, meaning “to burn; burn† . (Le 4:12) Hence the Hebrew term sera·phim literally means “fiery ones.” When in other places this word, either singular or plural, refers to terrestrial creatures, its meaning is “poisonous”, “scorching (causing inflammation)” and “scorching snake”. (Nu 21:6, 8, notes.)
The prophet Isaiah tells us of his vision in the following words: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I, however, got to see Jehovah, sitting on a throne lofty and lofty, and his skirts filled the temple. There were seraphim standing above him. Each had six wings. With two of it he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew to and fro. And this one cried out to that one and said: †˜Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah of armies. The fullness of the whole earth is the glory of him † ™. And I proceeded to say: †˜Woe is me! Well, I can give myself as reduced to silence, because I am a dirty-lipped man, and in the midst of a dirty-lipped Moorish people; for my eyes have seen the King himself, Jehovah of armies!†™. At that, one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he proceeded to touch my mouth and say: †˜Look! This has touched your lips, and your error is gone and your very sin is atoned for†™† . (Isaiah 6:1-7.)
No description of the Divine Person is given. However, the skirts of her majestic garment are said to have filled the temple and left no room for anyone to stand. His throne did not rest on the ground, but, in addition to being † œexcellent †, it was † œelevated †. That the seraphim were “standing” may mean “suspended” in the air by means of one of their pairs of wings, just as the cloud stood or was suspended by the entrance to Jehovah’s tent in the wilderness. (De 31:15) Professor Franz Delitzsch comments on the position of the seraphim: “The seraphim would not actually tower over the head of the one seated on the throne, but would be suspended above the robe that he wore. belonged to Him and with which the hall was filled† . (Commentary on the Old Testament, 1973, vol. 7, part 1, p. 191.) Instead of saying that ‘there were seraphim standing above it’, the Vulgate reads that they stood above ‘it’ .
High rank. These mighty heavenly creatures are angels who occupy a very high position in God’s organization, as they are shown serving the throne of God. The cherubim in Ezekiel’s vision were runners accompanying God’s heavenly chariot. (Eze 10:9-13) This idea of positions of rank or authority in the heavens is in harmony with Colossians 1:16, which speaks of the things that are “in the heavens and upon the earth, the things visible and invisible things, no matter whether they are thrones, or lordships, or governments, or authorities† .
Your role and responsibility. The number of seraphim is not mentioned, but it is said that they were crying out to each other, which allows us to understand that they were on each side of the throne declaring the holiness and glory of Jehovah in antiphonal song, that is, one (or a group ) repeated after the other the statement: “Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah of armies. The fullness of the whole earth is the glory of him †, or he responded with one part of it to the other. (Compare with the reading of the Law and the response of the people, in Dt 27:11-26.) With humility and modesty before the presence of the Supreme, they covered their faces with one of their three pairs of wings, and since they were in a holy place, they covered their feet with another pair in due respect to the heavenly King. (Isaiah 6:2, 3)
The cry of the seraphim regarding the holiness of God shows that they have to do with the declaration of his holiness and the recognition of his glory throughout the universe, which includes the Earth. One of the seraphim touched Isaiah’s lips with a glowing ember from the altar to cleanse his sin and error. Such an action may give us an indication that his work is related to some extent to the cleansing of God’s people from sin, by virtue of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the altar of God. (Isaiah 6:3, 6, 7)
His form in visions. The description of the seraphim with feet, wings, etc., must be understood symbolically. Their resemblance to the form of terrestrial creatures only represents some of their abilities or the functions they perform, just as God often symbolically speaks of himself as having human eyes, ears, and other features. The apostle John shows that no man knows the form of God by saying: “Beloved ones, now we are children of God, but what we will be has not yet been made manifest. We do know that when he is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is† . (1Jo 3:2.)
Source: Dictionary of the Bible
The only mention of these heavenly beings in Scripture is found in one of Isaiah’s earliest visions (Is. 6). The seraphim (the Hebrew plural is “serafim”, so that in Spanish the Spanish plural has been added to the Hebrew plural) were associated with the *cherubim and ophanines in the task of guarding the divine throne. The celestial beings that Isaiah saw had human form, but they were endowed with six wings: one pair to cover the face, another to hide the feet, and a third pair to fly. These seraphim were above the throne of God, apparently leading divine worship. One of them sang a refrain recorded by Isaiah: “Holy, holy, holy, Jehovah of armies; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
So powerful was this act of worship that the temple hinges shook and the holy place was filled with smoke. The prophet humbled himself before God and confessed his iniquity. Then one of the seraphim flew to him and with a burning coal that he had taken from the altar, and as an act of purification announced to the prophet that his sin had been forgiven and his guilt removed.
It would seem that for Isaiah the seraphim were angelic beings who were responsible for certain functions of guarding and worship. However, they seem to have been clearly moral beings, not mere projections of the imagination or personification of animals. They used their moral qualities exclusively for the service of God, and they were in such a position that they enjoyed the privilege of carrying out an atoning ministry, while at the same time extolling the character and ethics and morals of God.
The origin and meaning of the term heb. It is uncertain. The saraf of Nm. 21.6; Dt. 8.15 was a poisonous snake that bit the Israelites in the desert, while Is. 14.29; 30.6 refers to a reptile that had popularized the pueblo tradition (see DJ Wiseman, TynB 23, 1972, pp. 108–110). If the noun is derived from Heb. saraf‘to burn completely’, the seraphim could be agents of purification by means of fire, as indicated by Is. 6. It cannot be derived from saraf the meaning of “bright and shining beings”.
In the sculpture found at Tell Halaf (* Gozan) you can see a…