Merkabah

Merkabah (Hebrew: מֶרְכָּבָה, romanized: merkāḇā, lit. 'chariot') or Merkavah mysticism (lit. Chariot mysticism) is a school of early Jewish mysticism (c. 100 BCE–1000 BC), centered on visions such as those found in Ezekiel 1 or in the hekhalot literature ("palaces" literature), concerning stories of ascents to the heavenly palaces and the Throne of God.
The main corpus of the Merkabah literature was composed in the period 200–700 CE, although later references to the Chariot tradition can also be found in the literature of the Hasidim of Ashkenaz in the Middle Ages. A major text in this tradition is the Maaseh Merkabah (Hebrew: מַעֲשֵׂה מֶרְכָּבָה, romanized: maʿăśē merkāḇā, lit. 'Work of the Chariot').

Etymology

The noun merkavah "thing to ride in, cart" is derived from a verb, Biblical Hebrew: רכב, romanized: r-k-b, with the general meaning "to ride". The word "chariot" is found 44 times in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible, most referring to normal chariots on earth. Although the concept of the Merkabah is associated with Ezekiel's vision, the word is not used in Ezekiel 1.
However, when left untranslated, in English the Hebrew term merkavah relates to the throne-chariot of God in prophetic visions. It is most closely associated with the vision in Ezekiel 1 of the four-wheeled vehicle driven by four hayyot "living creatures" with four wings; the angels have the faces of a man, lion, ox, and a large predatory bird. The last animal, the נֶשֶׁר nešer, is often translated "eagle", but today it can also refer to the Eurasian griffon vulture.

Ezekiel's vision of the chariot…