We are told too that “the words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in the fire”; again, in another place “the tongue of the just” is said to be “as silver tried by fire.” And the cherubim are described as golden, because they are by interpretation the plentitude of knowledge. And it is commanded also that a candlestick of solid gold should be put in the tabernacle of the testimony; and that, it seems to us, is a type of the natural law in which the light of knowledge is contained. But what need is there to multiply proof texts when those who will can easily see for themselves from many Scripture passages that gold is applied to the intellect and mind, whereas silver is referred only to language and the power of speech?
The two cherubim which covered the mercy seat beheld one another with their countenances turned toward it. The word cherubim means “fullness of knowledge.” What do the two cherubim signify but the two Testaments? And what does the mercy seat prefigure but the Lord become a man? John says of him, “For he is the expiation” for our sins.
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Exodus 25:18