Wheel

A wheel is a round, flat device used for moving things. It was first created in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), around 3500 BC. The earliest known form is the two-wheeled cart of Sumer. The first wheels were likely simple discs cut from trees. Later wheels were made by joining three shaped wooden planks together with copper clamps that ran the entire length of the wheel. After 2000 BC, wheels with spokes began to appear in northern Mesopotamia.

In the Bible, four Hebrew words are used for different types of wheels. These include:

• the potter’s wheel (Jeremiah 18:3),

• chariot wheels (Exodus 14:25), and

• wheels for grinding grain (Isaiah 28:28).

The most important use of wheel in the Bible is in Ezekiel's vision of God's chariot (Ezekiel 1, 10). The cloud appearing in a stormy wind (Ezekiel 1:4) is accompanied by fire, living creatures, and wheels. Ezekiel draws the reader’s attention to each of these events. The wheels move in whatever direction the creatures go.

What makes these wheels special is their shape. Ezekiel describes each as "a wheel within a wheel." This does not mean two wheels on the same axis. Instead, it describes one wheel set inside another wheel at a 90-degree angle. This arrangement allows the wheel to roll in any direction. It can roll from east to west and from north to south. Wherever the living creatures go, the wheels follow. This represents God's universal judgment, which no one can escape.

See also Ezekiel, Book of.