After his failed rebellion and nine-day fall into hell, Lucifer (A.K.A Satan) comes to his senses on a lake of fire and strikes up a conversation with Beelzebub who happens to be treading (fire)water nearby. Ba’al Zebub is mentioned in 2 Kings as the polytheistic god of the philistine city of Ekron. The name has been roughly translated as “Lord of the Flies.” A moniker that William Golding put to such evocative use as the title of his first novel. The New Testiment often uses Beelzebub as a synonym for Satan (leading to some initial confusion on my part) but Milton clearly chooses to make him his own character and Lucifer's right hand man.
Milton notes in passing that Beelzebub is a Cherub. Now when most of us think of Cherub we think (and a Google image search corroborates):
This is not a Cherub, this is a Putto, which according to Wikipedia (where I get much of my Q & D info) is a figure of a pudgy human baby, almost always male, often naked and having wings, found especially in Italian Renaissance art. Often they are found in the company of cupids and angels. It’s one of the things I find so wonderfully endearing about those enormous canvases the way they are stuffed with crowds of Christian and pagan characters all nekkid and rubbing up against each other!Back to the question, what is a cherub if not one of those fat, adorable babies? Well, it gets a little complicated and I'm almost sorry I asked but it's also fascinating in an archaic, esoteric way. A little procrastination station on my journey through Book One. Once upon a time, before we had video games, movies, television, or radio, or even telegrams to distract us and plenty of tallow to burn in the evening hours many, many learned folk spent considerable energy to defining and delineating the Orders of angels. We'll skip the Jewish, Kabbalistic, Islamic, and Zoroastrian versions and go with the Christian since that's what Milton was. While there has been centuries of debate and discussion, generally the orders, spheres, or Choirs of angels or heavenly beings are as follows:
(the first sphere, heavenly guardians of God's throne)
1. Seraphim -- Said to stand at God's throne continuously singing, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. All the earth is filled with His Glory." Which seems like it might wear thin after a while. After hearing this my husband said no wonder he's a wrathful God!
2. Cheubim -- Have perfect knowledge of God, often found in the role of protectors.
3. Thrones -- The living symbols of God's justice and authority.
(the second sphere, heavenly governors)
4. Dominions -- Preside over nations and regulate the duties of lower angels.
5. Virtues -- Supervise the movements of the heavenly bodies in order to ensure that the cosmos remains in order.
6. Powers -- Academics and policy planners (God's cabinet?). As their name indicates one of their duties is to oversee the distribution of power among humankind.
(the third sphere, messengers and soldiers)
7. Principalities -- They bestow blessings to the material world and to inspire the creation or pursuit of art and science.
8. Archangels -- Guardians of nations and countries, concerned with politics, military matters, commerce and trade.
9. Angels -- The lowest order, most concerned with human affairs. Most commonly used to deliver messages
In the books of Ezekiel and Revelations (A couple of the trippy-ist books in the bi
ble) Cerubs are described as having four faces, one of a man, an eagle, a lion, and an ox. They also have four conjoined wings and the feet of an ox. From references in Ezekiel the face of the ox is considered the Cherub's true face. This may point to Mesopotamian origin of the cherub as a "version of the Shedu, protective deities sometimes found as pairs of colossal statues either side of objects to be protected, such as doorways." or possibly the related Lammasu, human headed winged lions similar to the sphinx. 
They are seen in a familiar human/angelic shape crouched atop the Arc of the Covenant (brought to popular culture by none other than archaeologist of note Indiana Jones)When Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden, it is Cherubim who guard the door to Eden
"So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." Genesis 3:24Curiously Milton names Satan as an Archangel a heavenly creature of much lower rank than the cherubic Beelzebub, makes me wonder what happens next. On to Book Two!
