Cherubism is a rare genetic disorder that causes prominace in the lower portion in the face. The name is derived from the temporary resemblance to cherubs in renecance paintings. The aperance of people with the disorder is caused by a loss of bone in the mandible which is replaced by the body with accesive amounts of tissue. A cherub (Hebrew כרוב; plural cherubim, כרובים) is an angelic creature mentioned several times in the Tanakh, or Old Testament, and in the Book of Revelation. ...
While the use of cherubs might have verged on heresy, since they are heavenly beings whose portrayal might lead to idolatry, the use of a more mortal and neutral symbol -- a death's head -- would have served as a graphic reminder of death and resurrection.
Cherubs reflect a stress on resurrection, while death's heads emphasize the mortality of man. The epitaphs that appear on the bottoms of many stones also add credence to this explanation of change in form over time.
The pattern is one of a long period of coexistence between cherubs and death's heads in the Boston center, and an increasingly more rapid eclipsing of death's heads by cherubs in direct proportion to distance, with a much shorter period of overlap.
The word cherub (cherubim is the Hebrew masculine plural) is a word borrowed from the Assyrian kirubu, from karâbu, "to be near", hence it means near ones, familiars, personal servants, bodyguards, courtiers.
Cherub and Cherubim are most frequently referred to in the Bible to designate sculptured, engraved, and embroidered figures used in the furniture and ornamentation of the Jewish Sanctuary.
He rode upon a cherub and flew upon the wings of the wind." The idea of cherubim as the chariot of God seems indicated in I Paralip.
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