Apparently a cherub is an angel of some particular order or rank to whom specific duties and work are assigned. That portion of the Lord’s word which is now available among men does not set forth clearly either the identity or work of these heavenly beings.
The concept of sectarian scholars that they are ‘mythological living creatures, ’ who filled for the Hebrew people the same position that the griffins did for the Hittites, is utterly false. (Griffins were supposed to be winged sphinxes having the bodies of lions and the heads and wings of eagles, and they were in fact mythological creatures.)
(Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 124)