Wheel

Wheels appear in Scripture in both practical and visionary contexts. The practical wheel (galgal, also meaning "rolling thing") was used in threshing instruments (Isaiah 28:28), in wheels of wagons (Ezekiel 23:24; Nahum 3:2), and in the ten wheeled bronze bases of the temple (1 Kings 7:30–33). Psalm 83:13 uses the wheel or tumbleweed metaphorically: "O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind." The most theologically significant wheels are in Ezekiel's inaugural vision, where four enormous wheels (Hebrew ofan) accompany the four living creatures bearing the divine throne-chariot: they are described as "a wheel in the middle of a wheel" with rims full of eyes (Ezekiel 1:15–21; 10:9–17), moving in concert with the Spirit without turning. This image of omnidirectional divine movement has generated extensive discussion in Jewish mysticism (Merkabah tradition) and Christian theology about the divine omnipresence and sovereignty.