20 And the innermost room was 20 cubits in length, and 20 cubits in width, and 20 cubits in its height; and he proceeded to overlay it with pure gold, and to overlay the altar with cedarwood.
21 And Solomon went on to overlay the house inside with pure gold, and to make chainwork of gold pass across in front of the innermost room, and to overlay it with gold.
22 And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until all the house was completed; and all the altar that was toward the innermost room he overlaid with gold.
23 Further, he made in the innermost room 2 cherubs of oil-tree wood,
10 cubits being the height of each one.
24 And 5 cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and 5 cubits was the other wing of the cherub. 10 cubits it was from the tip of his wing to the tip of his wing.
25 And the second cherub was 10 cubits. The 2 cherubs had the same measure and the same shape.
26 The height of the one cherub was 10 cubits, and that was so of the other cherub.
27 Then he put the cherubs inside the inner house, so that they spread out the wings of the cherubs. Thus the wing of the one reached to the wall and the wing of the other cherub was reaching to the other wall; and their wings were toward the middle of the house, reaching wing to wing (1 Kings 6 NWT).
31 And the entrance of the innermost room he made with doors of oil-tree wood: side pillars, doorposts [and] a 5th [a 5th what? Literally a 5th door supporting component (the top of the door frame). symbolically a 5th Cherub in addition to the two on the ark and the two in the bottom half of the temple]. (1 Kings 6 NWT)
6 Then the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Jehovah to its place, to the innermost room of the house, the Most Holy, to underneath the wings of the cherubs.
7 For the cherubs were spreading out their wings over the place of the Ark, so that the cherubs kept the Ark and its poles screened over from above.
8 But the poles proved to be long, so that the tips of the poles were visible from the Holy in front of the innermost room, but they were not visible outside. And there they continue down to this day. (1 Kings 8 NWT)
So there were two cherubs 10x10 placed side by side in a 20x20 cross section most holy, with the ark between them. Their wings covered the ark and its carrying poles FROM ABOVE but not from the front! So their wings were not open in the vertical plane facing the door, but were open in the horizontal plane facing the ground and covering the ark from above. The symbolism here is to prevent the dragon seeing who is in their salvation covenants and giving them some protection from persecution.
37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the killer of the prophets and stoner of those sent forth to her, -- how often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks together under her wings! But you people did not want it. (Matthew 23 NWT)
But why were they only 10 cubits high in a 20 cubit high most holy? Well cherubs are master covenants with Jehovah. So there is Melchizedek for the FRC, Methuselah (Gabriel) for the CRC and Jesus (Michael) for the ARC - see intro28..So the two free standing cherubs are Melchizedek and Methuselah. Covenants mediators for humans. But they are two pieces in a 4 piece jigsaw. 2 further cherubs are needed placed on top of them to complete the picture. The height of the most holy requires this. so there are two heavenly angelic salvation covenants mediated by two heavenly cherubs which are symbolized by this 2 cherub void above the earthly salvation covenant cherubs. The ARC, the angelic ransom covenant is common to both humans and angels, since it bestows everlasting angelic life not a new human body. So now we have 5 Cherubs. So now we understand 1Kings6:31.
We do not know the names of these cherubs. But the covenants they mediate are the Angelic Priesthood Covenant (APC) and the Angelic Citizen Covenant (ACC) for the Kingdom of God in heaven.