Angels in the Tanakh

Gothic revival angel in a cemetery in Metairie, Louisiana.The Biblical name for angel, ("mal'ach"), obtained the further signification of "angel" only through the addition of God's name, as "angel of the Lord," or "angel of God" (Zechariah 12:8). Other appellations are "Sons of God", (Genesis 6:4; Job 1:6 [R. V. v. 1]) and "the Holy Ones" (Psalms 89:6-8).

According to Jewish interpretation, 'Elohim is almost entirely reserved for the one true God; but at times 'Elohim (powers), bnēi 'Elohim, bnēi Elim (sons of gods) (i.e. members of the class of divine beings) were general terms for beings with great power (i.e. judges or alternately, some kind of super powerful human beings). Hence they came to be used collectively of super-human beings, distinct from God and, therefore, inferior and ultimately subordinate (e.g. Genesis 6:2; Job 1:6; Psalms 8:5). See also: Names of God in Judaism

Angels are referred to as "holy ones" Zechariah 14:5 and "watchers" Daniel 4:13. They are spoken of as the "host of heaven" Deuteronomy 17:3 or of "Adonai" Joshua 5:14. The "hosts," Tzevaot in the title Adonai Tzevaot (alternatively, Adonai Tzivo'ot), Lord of Hosts, were probably at one time identified with the angels. The identification of the "hosts" with the stars comes to the same thing; the stars were thought of as being closely connected with angels. However, God is very jealous of the distinction between Himself and angels, and consequently, the Hebrews were forbidden by Moses to worship the "host of heaven". It is probable that the "hosts" were also identified with the armies of Israel, whether this army is human, or angelic. The New Testament often speaks of "spirits," πνεύματα (Revelation 1:4).

Prior to the emergence of monotheism in Israel the idea of an angel was the Malach Adonai, Angel of the Lord, or Malach Elohim, Angel of God. The Malach Adonai is an appearance or manifestation of God in the form of a man, and the term Malach Adonai is used interchangeably with Adonai (God). (cf. Exodus 3:2, with 3:4; Exodus 13:21 with Exodus 14:19). Those who see the Malach Adonai say they have seen God (Genesis 32:30; Judges 13:22). The Malach Adonai (or Elohim) appears to Abraham, Hagar, Moses, Gideon, &c., and leads the Israelites in the Pillar of Cloud (Exodus 3:2). The phrase Malach Adonai may have been originally a courtly circumlocution for the Divine King; but it readily became a means of avoiding anthropomorphism, and later on, when angels were classified, the Malach Adonai meant an angel of distinguished rank. The identification of the Malach Adonai with the Logos, or Second Person of the Trinity, is not indicated by the references in the Hebrew scriptures; but the idea of a Being partly identified with God, and yet in some sense distinct from him, illustrates a tendency of Jewish religious thought to distinguish persons within the unity of the deity. Christians think that this foreshadows the doctrine of the Trinity, whereas Kabbalist Jews would show how it developed into kabbalistic theological thought and imagery.

In earlier literature the Malach Adonai or Elohim is almost the only angel mentioned. However, there are a few passages which speak of subordinate superhuman beings other than the Malach Adonai or Elohim. There are the cherubim who guard the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 18, Genesis 19. (J) the appearance of God to Abraham and Lot is connected with three, afterwards two, men or messengers; but possibly in the original form of the story God appeared alone (Cf. 18:1 with 18:2, and note change of number in 19:17). At Bethel, Jacob sees the angels of God on the ladder Genesis 28:12, and later on they appear to him at Mahanaim Genesis 32:1. In all these cases the angels, like the Malach Adonai, are connected with or represent a theophany. Similarly the "man" who wrestles with Jacob at Peniel is identified with God (Genesis 32:24, 30). In Isaiah 6 the seraphim, superhuman beings with six wings, appear as the attendants of God. Thus, the pre-exilic literature rarely mentions angels, or other superhuman beings other than God and manifestations of God; the pre-exilic prophets hardly mention angels. An angel of 1 Kings 13:18 might be the Malach Adonai, as in 19:5, cf. 7, or the passage, at any rate in its present form, may be exilic or post-exilic. Nevertheless we may well suppose that polytheists in ancient Israel believed in superhuman beings other than God, but that the inspired writers have mostly suppressed references to them as unedifying.

Once the doctrine of monotheism was formally expressed, in the period immediately before and during the Exile (Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Isaiah 43:10), we find angels prominent in the Book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel, as a prophet of the Exile, may have been influenced by the hierarchy of supernatural beings in the Babylonian religion, and perhaps even by the angelology of Zoroastrianism (it is not, however, certain that these doctrines of Zoroastrianism were developed at so early a date). Ezekiel 9 gives elaborate descriptions of cherubim (a class, or type of angels); and in one of his visions, he sees seven angels execute the judgment of God upon Jerusalem. As in Genesis, they are styled "men"; malach, for "angel", does not occur in Ezekiel. Somewhat later, in the visions of Zechariah, angels play a great part; they are sometimes spoken of as "men", sometimes as malach, and the Malach Adonai seems to hold a certain primacy among them Zechariah 1:11. The Satan also appears to prosecute (so to speak) the High Priest before the divine tribunal Zechariah 3:1. Similarly in the Job the bnei Elohim, sons of God, appear as attendants of God, and amongst them, Satan (Hebrew ha-satan), again in the role of public prosecutor, the defendant being Job (Job 1, 2. Cf. 1 Chronicles 21:1). Occasional references to "angels" occur in the Psalter (Pss. 91:11, 103:20 &c.); they appear as ministers of God.

In Psalms 78:49 the "evil angels" of the Authorized Version conveys a false impression; it should be "angels of evil", i.e. angels who inflict chastisement as ministers of God.

The seven angels of Ezekiel may be compared with the seven eyes of God in Zechariah 3:9, 4:10. The latter have been connected by Ewald and others with the later doctrine of seven chief angels (Tobit 12:15; Revelation 8:2), parallel to and influenced by the Ameshaspentas (Amesha Spenta), or seven great spirits of the Persian mythology.

In the Priestly Code, c. 400BCE, there is no reference to angels, apart from the possible suggestion in the plural in Genesis 1:26.

During the Persian and Greek periods, the doctrine of angels underwent a great development, partly, at any rate, under foreign influences. In Daniel, c. 160BCE, 71 angels, usually spoken of as "men" or "Angel-princes", appear as guardians or champions of the individual nations, defending them as God sits in council with them over the world; grades are implied, there are "princes" and "chief" or "great princes"; and the names of some angels are known, Gabriel, Michael; the latter is pre-eminent (Daniel 8:16; Daniel 10:13, 20-21), he is the guardian of Israel's leading Kingdom of Judah. Again in Tobit a leading part is played by Raphael, "one of the seven holy angels". (Job. 12:15.)

In Tobit, too, we find the idea of the demon or evil angel. In the canonical Hebrew/Aramaic scriptures, angels may inflict suffering as ministers of God; but they act as subordinates to God, and not as independent, morally evil agents. The statement (Job 4:18) that God "charged his angels with folly" applies to all angels. In Daniel, the princes, or guardian angels, of the heathen nations oppose Michael, the guardian angel of Judah. But in Tobit, we find Asmodeus the evil demon, , who strangles Sarah's husbands, and also a general reference to "a devil or evil spirit",  (Tobit 3:8, 17; 6:7).

The Fall of the Angels is not properly a scriptural doctrine, though it is based on Gen. 6:2, as interpreted by the Book of Enoch. It is true that the bnē Elohim of that chapter are subordinate superhuman beings (cf. above), but they belong to a different order of thought from the angels of Judaism and of Christian doctrine; and the passage in no way suggests that the bne Elohim suffered any loss of status through their act.

The guardian angels of the nations in Daniel probably represent the gods of the heathen, and we have there the first step of the process by which these gods became evil angels, an idea expanded by Milton in Paradise Lost. The development of the doctrine of an organized hierarchy of angels belongs to the Jewish literature of the period 200 BC to A.D. 100. In Jewish apocalypses especially, the imagination ran riot on the rank, classes and names of angels; and such works as the various books of Enoch and the Ascension of Isaiah supply much information on this subject.
 

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