---
title: Exodus 25:18
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/exodus-25-18/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/exodus-25-18.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Exodus 25:18
testament: OT
section: Law
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Exodus 25:18

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Make two cherubim of hammered gold at the ends of the mercy seat,

## JW Usage

JWs acknowledge the golden cherubim on the ark of the covenant but argue these were commanded by Jehovah for a specific purpose and were never objects of worship themselves. The distinction between God- commanded sacred art and human-initiated religious imagery is maintained — the cherubim were part of the divine design, not a precedent for Christians to create religious images.

## Protestant Usage

Exodus 25:18-22 records Jehovah commanding Moses to "make two cherubim of hammered gold" on the mercy seat of the ark. This is God himself ordering representational art of heavenly beings — in direct proximity to his own presence. If the second commandment (Exodus 20:4) forbade all images of heavenly things, God contradicted his own law within five chapters. The same pattern continues: the tabernacle curtains bore woven cherubim (Exodus 26:1), Solomon's temple was filled with carved figures (1 Kings 6:29, 7:25), and the bronze serpent was a God-commanded image that Jesus later used as a type of the cross (John 3:14). The consistent biblical principle is that the problem is worship directed at images, not the existence of images. The Watchtower itself publishes illustrated depictions of Jesus in every issue of its magazines — representational art of a heavenly being by their own standard.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Cross Is Not Pagan — And Paul Boasted In It](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/cross-pagan-symbol-rebuttal.md) — Galatians 6:14 / 1 Corinthians 1:18 / Colossians 2:14 [Practice]
- [Images Are Not the Problem — Worship Is](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/images-in-worship-protestant-response.md) — Numbers 21:8 / 2 Kings 18:4 / Exodus 25:18 [Practice]