When the creatures moved, the wheels moved; when the creatures stood still, the wheels stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose alongside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
He continues the same sentence, that the wheels were fixed, not that they fell but stood without motion, which we know to be unnatural, for a wheel cannot stand on any part of its rim, but will either fall on one side or the other, or will roll on: for the Prophet says that the wheels were immovable. Whence it follows that their moving force was external to themselves.
The prophet is very exact in making and recording his observations concerning this vision. And here we have, I. The notice he took of the wheels, Eze 1:15-21. The glory of God appears not only in the splendour of his retinue in the upper world, but in the steadiness of his government here in this lower world.
Commenting on Ezekiel 1:15-25
When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood,.... When ministers are active and lively, then the churches are; but when they are indolent, dull, and inactive, then the churches are so likewise: and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them; See Gill on Eze 1:19; for the spirit of the living creature was...