Abarbanel asksd how the Torah could have commanded the fashioning of statues. Seemingly, when God commanded the Israelites to make the Cherubs with the Ark covering, He was asking them to violate the prohibition of, "Do not make for yourself any carved idol, or any likeness of anything that is in Heaven above or on Earth below." (Exodus 20:4). How could God have made such a demand? In struggling to answer this difficult question, Abarbanel suggests that making graven images was only forbidden if there was intent to worship them, for verse 5 continues: "Do not bow down to them and do not worship them." Abarbanel concludes that the Cherubs were not made to be intermediaries between man and God, but only as a reminder of His awesome deeds.

Abarbanel explains that the purpose of the Cherubs was to symbolize the eternal link between God and Israel.