Kavod (glory), Ruach (spirit) and Merkaba (chariot)

The three words at a glance

Hebrew word	Usual translation	Biglino’s reading	Wallis’s reading
Kavod (כָּבוֹד)	glory, honour	something “heavy” that can kill whoever stands in front of it; a technological object	a craft “which can fly”, another name for the ruach
Ruach (רוּחַ)	spirit, wind, breath	in many verses “a real, concrete thing”, a flying machine that Elijah and Ezekiel got on	“the wind maker”, a craft; the “vortices of wind” that terraform the planet
Merkavah (מֶרְכָּבָה)	chariot	site summary only: a term for a flying vehicle	not on this site

Kavod (glory)

What the text says

Moses asks to see the kavod. The answer is a safety instruction.

And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. […] And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

Exodus 33:18–23 (KJV)

On Sinai the kavod sits on the mountain for six days and looks like fire.

And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.

Exodus 24:16–17 (KJV)

Later it fills the tent, and Moses cannot go in.

Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

Exodus 40:34–35 (KJV)

In Ezekiel the kavod moves. It rises from the cherubim, stops at the threshold of the temple, and leaves with them.

Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims. And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD’S house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

Ezekiel 10:18–19 (KJV)

What it means

Kavod comes from the verb kabad, “to be heavy”. Strong’s dictionary gives the meaning as “properly, weight, but only figuratively in a good sense, splendor or copiousness” (Strong’s H3519). The KJV renders it as “glory” and “honour”.

So the traditional reading takes “heavy” in the social sense. A person of weight is a person of honour. Applied to God, the kavod becomes his radiant presence.

The paleo-contact reading

Mauro Biglino is an Italian translator who worked on Hebrew Bible texts for the Catholic publisher Edizioni San Paolo. In the conversation Gods of the Bible, Graham Hancock asks him for an example of technology in the Bible. Biglino answers:

For example, in the Book of Ezekiel, and in the Book of Exodus, the kavod of Yahweh is clearly described, that when Moses asked Yahweh for the possibility to see his kavod, and Yahweh told him "you cannot stay in front of kavod because if you are in front of kavod you will die," and—this is important—Yahweh cannot do anything, so God is impotent, not potent, in front of the danger of the kavod, and this is very interesting—Yahweh tells Moses "you can hide behind these rocks," so the rocks can do what God cannot do.

Mauro Biglino, Gods of the Bible

Later in the same conversation, Biglino explains why he does not accept “glory”:

it's necessary to carefully read the context to understand the meaning of a unique term because for example, "kavod" means "something heavy" meaning "a person of weight" in the sense that that person has an importance in the society it also means "a famous person", a "person of glory" so the theologians chose the term "glory" and always apply it to the term kavod without considering the context but when we read that the context says that "I cannot see the kavod in front of me because it will kill me" "but when the kavod passes I have to be hidden behind rocks" so it cannot be the "glory of God", because God in that case is not able to control the effects of his glory so it's ridiculous so the context implies, in every situation, the possible real meaning of this term

Mauro Biglino, Gods of the Bible

Biglino also points to the noise the kavod makes when it lifts off. In the same video he says:

There is another object named kavod. Kavod is always translated as Glory of Yahweh but in the Book of Ezekiel there are some clear translations that can allow us to think that it was a technological tool. In one Italian translation San Paulo Editions it's written that Ezekiel hears the sound produced by kavod which was behind him when this kavod was arising from the earth

Mauro Biglino, Gods of the Bible

The verse he means is Ezekiel 3:12. The KJV follows the Hebrew text as printed:

Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place.

Ezekiel 3:12 (KJV)

“Blessed” is baruch (ברוך). Change the last letter and you get berum (ברום), “when it rose”. Several modern English Bibles take that second reading. The NRSV has “as the glory of the LORD rose from its place”, and the NIV is close to it. Then the verse no longer praises the glory. It describes a loud noise behind Ezekiel as the kavod lifts off.

Paul Wallis is an author and a former Anglican archdeacon who writes about paleo-contact in the Bible. In A populated universe he links the kavod to the ruach:

You’ve got other technology referenced—the Ruach turns out to be a craft, we discover in Ezekiel. It’s also called a Kavod, which can fly, and we’re told the sound it makes when it flies and the size and textures of the materials.

Paul Wallis, A populated universe

How I use this in my research

I read the kavod as the vehicle and field presence of YHWH. It is heavy, it shines, it makes noise and it is dangerous at close range. That fits a machine better than an abstract glory. On the rank of the kavod in YHWH’s world, see The Hierarchy of YHWH.

Ruach (spirit)

What the text says

The ruach appears in the second verse of the Bible.

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Genesis 1:2 (KJV)

The verb translated “moved” is rachaph. It occurs only three times. One of them describes a bird over its nest:

As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

Deuteronomy 32:11 (KJV)

Ezekiel’s first vision opens with a ruach that comes from the north. The KJV calls it “a whirlwind”. The Hebrew is ruach se’arah, a storm wind.

And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.

Ezekiel 1:4 (KJV)

Then the ruach picks Ezekiel up and carries him away.

I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing. So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.

Ezekiel 3:13–14 (KJV)

What it means

Ruach means wind, breath and spirit (Strong’s H7307). The KJV uses all three. It also uses “whirlwind”, “blast” and even “a region of the sky” for it. The word covers anything that moves air, from a human breath to a storm.

Translators choose “Spirit” with a capital S when they think God is the subject. That choice is theology, not grammar. Biblical Hebrew has no capital letters.

The paleo-contact reading

Biglino gives the ruach a chapter in his book. In The Future Human, with Alex Gómez-Marín, he says:

For example, if you mix the Book of Genesis with some chapters of the Book of Ezekiel, you clearly understand the meaning of the term ruach, which I devoted a chapter to in this book. Yes, because ruach is always translated as spirit of God. In many situations, it doesn't mean spirit; it is a real, concrete thing. Because it's necessary to say that Hebrew is a polysemic language, and so it's only the context that allows us to understand which is the real meaning in that verse.

Mauro Biglino, The Future Human

He continues:

Because in some verses, ruach can be the spirit—can be the spirit of God. But in other verses, clearly it can't be the spirit of God; it must necessarily be another thing. Because Elijah got on this ruach; Ezekiel got on this ruach. This ruach rises from the ground, comes from the north. So it's impossible that in that case ruach means spirit of God—because if that were true, we must have the spirit that is to the north, but it isn't in the south, in the east, or in the west. And that is ridiculous, of course.

Mauro Biglino, The Future Human

When the host asks whether he is talking about UFOs, Biglino answers:

Oh, I would say a thing: in the Bible, those are not unidentified aerial phenomena—because they are clearly identified phenomena. There is no doubt. The ones today are unidentified aerial phenomena or UAP, but those in the Bible are clearly identified, are described. It's enough to read the Book of Ezekiel—but it's necessary to read it with an open mind, as I said before, without the theologians' lenses. And it's clear that ruach is a flying machine—but clearly identified, clearly described.

Mauro Biglino, The Future Human

He also gives a reading list:

In Ezekiel—I recommend, if you don't want to read all the Book of Ezekiel, I recommend to read chapter 1, chapter 3, chapter 8, chapter 10, chapter 11. And it is written that when the kavod or the ruach of Yahweh, when it arises from the ground, produces a loud noise.

Mauro Biglino, The Future Human

One detail matters here. In the Elijah story itself (2 Kings 2:11), the Hebrew word for “whirlwind” is se’arah, not ruach. The chariot there is rekhev. Ezekiel’s ruach, by contrast, is a ruach in the Hebrew.

Paul Wallis reads Genesis 1:2 in the same physical way. In A populated universe he says:

In the Hebrew scriptures, the ruach turns up and hovers hawk-like—that’s the word in the Hebrew—and again, the ruach, the vortices of wind, start terraforming the planet, separating salt water from fresh water and creating dry land.

Paul Wallis, A populated universe

In the documentary Uncovered Beings of the Bible, Wallis describes Ezekiel’s flights:

And when you get into Ezekiel, you have this prophet being flown around in this craft and we have descriptions of the textures that he's feeling, the feelings of G-forces, the sounds of the engine when it flies.

And then the details of the weapons that are carried on this craft which is called the ruach, the wind maker, or the kavod, the glory.

Paul Wallis, Uncovered Beings of the Bible

In his book The Eden Conspiracy, quoted on Seeders of humanity, Wallis connects the whirlwind to a passage through the sky:

Ezekiel’s kavod, with its fire and clouds of smoke, arrives via a ‘whirlwind wind’ and so does Elijah’s when it takes him up into the sky, with Elisha as the eyewitness. Just picture that whirlwind with a craft travelling through it. Don’t we call that a wormhole?

Paul Wallis, The Eden Conspiracy

How I use this in my research

I do not translate ruach as “Spirit” by default. I check every verse. When the ruach comes from one direction, makes noise, lifts a man and sets him down elsewhere, I read it as a vehicle. When it is a man’s breath, I read it as breath. Genesis 1:2 is the hard case, and I lean toward Wallis. On my reading of the first chapter, see Genesis 1, six days of creation.

Merkaba (chariot)

What the text says

Merkavah is the normal Hebrew word for a chariot. It occurs 44 times in the Hebrew Bible, mostly for war chariots and royal chariots (Strong’s H4818).

It does not occur in Ezekiel. Ezekiel describes living creatures, wheels, a firmament and a throne, but he never calls the whole thing a chariot.

Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

Ezekiel 1:15–16 (KJV)

The link between the cherubim and a chariot is made in Chronicles, in the plans for Solomon’s temple.

And for the altar of incense refined gold by weight; and gold for the pattern of the chariot of the cherubims, that spread out their wings, and covered the ark of the covenant of the LORD.

1 Chronicles 28:18 (KJV)

The Psalms let YHWH ride a cherub.

And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.

Psalm 18:10 (KJV)

What it means

In Jewish tradition “the Merkavah” became the name for Ezekiel’s vision as a whole. The Mishnah already treats it as a restricted subject. It rules that one may not expound “the Design of the Divine Chariot” alone, “unless he is wise and understands most matters on his own” (Mishnah Chagigah 2:1, Sefaria, William Davidson edition). Out of this grew a school of Jewish mysticism about ascents to the divine throne.

The spelling “merkaba” usually points to a third, modern use. In New Age teaching the Merkaba is a body of light or a vehicle of ascension. Thoth describes it in A Hypnotist’s Journey to Avalon, quoted on Pyramids:

Just as the Earth has a Merkabah, so does every living soul.

A Hypnotist's Journey to Avalon

The book The Essenes: Children of the Light, quoted on Yeshua ben Joseph, says:

The Egyptian texts spoke of the Merkabah, the Body of Light

The Essenes: Children of the Light

The paleo-contact reading

I have no verbatim Biglino quote on the merkavah on this site. I only have summaries. In the summary of The Governor of the Elohim is Not Who You Think, the three words are grouped together: “Kavod emits light and noise, ruach moves like wind, and merkaba transports, suggesting advanced technology in biblical accounts.” The summaries of Flying machines of the Gods and Angels and flying machines in the Bible list merkavah among Biglino’s terms for flying vehicles.

Paul Wallis does not discuss the merkavah anywhere on this site.

How I use this in my research

I keep the three meanings apart. The biblical merkavah is a chariot. The rabbinic Merkavah is Ezekiel’s vision. The New Age Merkaba is a light body. When I call Ezekiel’s vehicle a merkavah, I follow Chronicles and the rabbis, not Ezekiel himself. Ezekiel’s own words for it are ruach and kavod. On the cherubim that carry it, see Cherubim, a mechanical security device.

About the sources

Mauro Biglino translated books of the Hebrew Bible for the Catholic publisher Edizioni San Paolo. That collaboration ended when he spoke publicly about his literal readings. He reads the Hebrew literally and leaves key words untranslated. His books on this site include Gods of the Bible and The Naked Bible.

Paul Wallis is an author and a former Anglican archdeacon. He writes about the Bible and other ancient texts as records of contact. His books on this site include The Eden Conspiracy, Escaping from Eden and Echoes of Eden.

For more books in this area, see Books about Atlantis.

Related pages

• Ezekiel
• Cherubim, a mechanical security device
• Elijah
• Mount Sinai
• Elohim
• The Hierarchy of YHWH

Sources

Scholarship and word studies

• Strong’s H3519, kabod, Bible Hub
• Strong’s H3513, kabad, Bible Hub
• Strong’s H7307, ruach, Bible Hub
• Strong’s H7363, rachaph, Bible Hub
• Strong’s H4818, merkabah, Bible Hub
• Ezekiel 3:12 in the Hebrew interlinear, Bible Hub
• 2 Kings 2:11 in the Hebrew interlinear, Bible Hub
• Ezekiel 3:12 in many translations, Bible Gateway
• Mishnah Chagigah 2:1, Sefaria

Paleo-contact readings

• Mauro Biglino with Graham Hancock, Gods of the Bible
• Mauro Biglino with Alex Gómez-Marín, The Future Human
• Paul Wallis, A populated universe
• Paul Wallis, Uncovered Beings of the Bible
• Paul Wallis, The Eden Conspiracy

Bible text (KJV)

• Exodus 24:16–17
• Exodus 33:18–23
• Exodus 40:34–35
• Genesis 1:2
• Deuteronomy 32:11
• 2 Kings 2:11
• 1 Chronicles 28:18
• Psalm 18:10
• Ezekiel 1, Ezekiel 3:12–14, Ezekiel 10