✪ Theme: Matthew (King, Son of David), Mark (Servant), Luke (Son of Man), John (Son of God). Genealogy: Matthew (Abraham, Mat. 1:1), Mark (None), Luke (Adam, Luke 3:23), John (God, John 1:1). Face: Matthew (Lion), Mark (Ox), Luke (Man), John (Eagle), Eze. 1:10; 10:14; Rev. 4:7. Camp: Matthew (Judah - East), Mark (Ephraim - West), Luke (Reuben - South), John (Dan - North), Num. 2:3; 24:2 Branch: Matthew (King, Jer. 23:5-6), Mark (Servant, Zec. 3:8), Luke (Man, Zec. 6:12), John (God, Isa. 4:2). "The church Fathers connected the living creatures with the Gospels: the lion, Matthew; the ox, Mark; the main, Luke; the eagle, John." Ref-0171, p. 19. Lion: represents king, camp of Judah to the east of tabernacle (186,400 strong), book of Matthew. Ox : represents servant, camp of Ephraim west of tabernacle (108,100 strong), gospel of Mark. Man: represents man, camp of Reuben south of tabernacle (151,450 strong), gospel of Luke. Eagle: represents God, camp of Dan (judge) north of tabernacle (157,600 strong), gospel of John. "The gospels give a fourfold manifestation of Christ: He is seen in His sovereignty (Matthew), ministry (Mark), humanity (Luke), and deity (John)." Ref-0075, p. 28. See also the chart in Ref-0117, p. 95. ". . . by common consensus, Matthew's is the most ‘Jewish’ of the Gospels, with its stress on issues of special interest to the Torah and to the people, Israel, to whom Jesus spoke." Ref-0137, p. 7. It is not clear that the Jews would have allowed images on their standards: "In the time of Augustus, Roman legionaries would leave their standards in the Judean port city of Caesarea, so that the images drawn upon them would not offend the sensitive Jews." Ref-0150, p. 268. "The people of Israel in the wilderness encamped round about the tabernacle, and on the east side were three tribes under the standard of Judah, on the west were three tribes under the standard of Ephraim, on the south were three tribes under the standard of Reuben, and on the north were three tribes under the standard of Dan (Num. 2). And the standard of Judah was a lion, that of Ephraim an ox, that of Reuben a man, and that of Dan, an eagle, as the Jews affirm. Whence were frame the hieroglyphics of cherubims and seraphims, to represent the people of Israel. . . . The four seraphims standing in the four sides of the peoples court; the first in the eastern side with the head of a lion, the second in the western side with the head of an ox, the third in the southern side with the head of a man, the fourth in the northern side with the head of an eagle; and all four signify together the twelve tribes of Israel . . . " Ref-0849, p. 259. "the four faces resembled that of a lion, bull, eagle, and man. Thus, these faces represented the height of the wild animal kingdom, the height of the domesticated animal kingdom, the height of the bird kingdom, and the height of all creation." Andy Woods, "Introduction to Ezekiel", p. 20. [http://www.spiritandtruth.org/teaching/introduction_to_the_books_of_the_bible/26_ezekiel/ezekiel.pdf] accessed 20121003