JOHNSON

ROBERT CLARENCE

1927-2006

A bewildered-looking angel is gingerly perched on top of the rounded top white marble tablet marking the grave of Robert Clarence Johnson in the Woodward Hill Cemetery at Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Cherubim are one of nine orders or choirs of angels which are organized into three spheres, with three choirs in each sphere. According to Christian tradition, the first sphere, which is made up of the Seraphim, Cherubim, and the Thrones, are considered the closet to Heaven. In Ezekiel 10:14, the Cherubim are described as having four likenesses or four faces, “And every one had four faces; the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.” Cherubim are most always depicted as chubby babies.

The Cherubim were to be guardian angels. In two places in the Bible, their role is described, first as guardians of the gates at the Garden of Eden and then of the Ark of the Covenant.