By Dr. Roy Blizzard and Andy Garza
Our recent article entitled The Lucifer Myth quite naturally raises the question, well, what about angels? To be honest, a discussion of angels as well as defining angels is much more difficult and complicated than our study on Lucifer. We must become aware of the historical nuances of the Hebrew language and correct our understandings of angelology. We are going to approach the subject of angels starting with the ancient Biblical world and following through to the Midrashic and Talmudic periods.
Let us first take a look at the ancient Biblical world for some background and perspective. As noted previously in our article, The Lucifer Myth , it was widely believed by ancient cultures that certain planetary bodies or stars ruled the cities. Dr. Marvin R. Wilson points out in his book, Our Father Abraham , that it was not at all unusual for the ancients to engage in cross-cultural interchange (known as syncretism) where one culture would borrow certain ideas or concepts from another although they were not necessarily in agreement with the peoples from whom they had borrowed. For example, in Psalm 68:4, David declares that it is the God of Israel who rides on the clouds as opposed to Baal as in Canaanite mythology. In Judaism, the term tzvah , or ‘host of heaven’ is most often identified with the stars and other heavenly bodies and were sometimes said to sing or shout for joy as in 1 Kings 22:19-22 and Psalm 89:5 ( Encyclopedia Judaica 1972 Edition Volume 8 page 972).
Furthermore, in Mesopotamia during the early years, figures of winged creatures are exhibited in art and many of them have religious symbolism. Winged beings, such as winged bulls were placed at the entrance of Babylonian and Assyrian temples and they appear on the incense altars from Taanach and Megiddo. Winged sphinxes, griffins, and human creatures are all represented in the art and iconography of these ancient cities. ( Encyclopedia Judaica Volume 5page 395) Whatever they were, it seems apparent that they were intercessors who brought the prayers of human beings to the gods.
A familiar term for a winged human creature would be cherub. The first angelic being to be mentioned in the Bible is a cherub (Genesis 3:24). It took the ancient Hebrew reader on a spiritual journey that they understood, but for them it meant something far different than it meant for non-Jews reading these texts several centuries later and for those of us today. “The most plausible derivation [of the etymology of the Hebrew word for cherub, keruv] is from the Akkadian karibu/kuribu ‘to pray’ or ‘to bless’, an intercessor who brings the prayers of humans to the gods. ( Encyclopedia Judaica Volume 5 page 399)
At this point, it would be natural to assume that Hebrew angelology is akin to the other surrounding pagan beliefs. But, Hebrew University Professor Yehezekel Kaufmann conjectured that Hebrew monotheism differed greatly from the other polytheistic religions, especially regarding Gods and angels, both good and evil. Kaufmann's characterization of what he calls pagan religion is "the idea that there exists a realm of being prior to the gods and above them, upon which they [the gods] depend, and whose decrees," even "they must obey" [Kaufmann, The Religion of Israel , 1972, 22] — the primordial realm. This is the meta-divine realm of supreme and ultimate power and it even transcends the deities. The gods then, are going to be limited. They are not the source of, or creators of, other beings that inhabit the unseen spiritual realm. They too are bound by, and subservient to, this primordial realm. But the Hebrew God just is, was, and will be. He did not emerge from the primordial meta-divine realm. Now since God is himself the transcendent source of all being, and since he is good, in the Yahweh monotheistic system there are no evil agents that constitute a realm that opposes God as an equal rival -- no divine evil agents. Again, in the pagan worldview, the primordial realm spawns all sorts of beings, all kinds of divinities, good and evil, that are equal in strength. They are locked in a cosmic struggle. But in the Israelite worldview, if God is the source of all being, then there cannot be a realm of supernatural beings that do battle with him such as Zoroastrianism’s Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu . There's no room for a divine antagonist of the one supreme God (hence no Lucifer). Here is the distinct spiritual cosmology that we must make paramount in our interpretations of this difficult topic. The Biblical language alternating between God and his “messengers” gives us the impression that there is a distinction. This is how the pagans thought; this is how we think. But historically, in the ancient Biblical period, there is no room for God and other beings existing apart from God other than mankind.
In the Bible, the angel is frequently called the malakh of God, and yet at the same time, the word is applied to human agents as well. Josephus, the Jewish historian in the first century, uses the term angelos in a twofold sense but is basically referring to messenger. The malakh Yahweh is the one sent by God with a commission. He is a friendly and helpful messenger in whom one may confide. He smites the foes of Israel, he helps Elijah, he protects Israel at the Red Sea, and guides the people. The prospering of Israel is his exclusive office. Yahweh or the malakh Yahweh is obviously one and the same person. The tradition concerning the person Yahweh is indeed present within Judaism but not completely uniform. Sometimes angels are known as or called simply kedoshim or “holy beings” and at other times, the angel is called simply a “man”. Notice in Genesis 32:24-31 that the mysterious being that wrestles with Jacob is called a man but in Hosea 12:5 he is referred to as a malakh . But after their contest is ended and the messenger strikes Jacob in the thigh, Jacob calls the name of the place of their contest “ Peniel ” (which in Hebrew means the face of God) because he says “I have seen God face to face.” Again, it is important to note that the Bible does not always clearly distinguish between God and his messenger, for example, Hagar meets an angel but later declares in Genesis 16:7,13 that it was the Lord that had spoken to her. Likewise it is God who commands the sacrifice of Isaac but in Genesis 22, Abraham is addressed by the Angel of the Lord from Heaven. In Exodus 3:2, the Angel of the Lord appears to Moses in the burning bush but throughout the rest of the story, Moses converses with God. So to with Gideon in Judges 6:11 and following: Sometimes Gideon speaks with God and sometimes with the angel of God. As a result, many scholars infer that the angel was not regarded as an independent being but simply a manifestation of the divine power and will. It is important in discussing the subject that the prophets say almost nothing about angels. It is interesting that Haggai calls himself in 1:13 the malakh Elohim, the messenger of the Lord with the message of the Lord. As we have noted previously in the Lucifer Myth, the Book of Daniel repeats much about angels such as the angel that saved the three men from the fiery furnace 3:25-28 and Daniel from the lion’s den in 6:23. Sometimes as mentioned, the angel is called man and on another occasion he is described as a man clad in linen 10:5. It’s interesting that in Daniel these beings now have proper names i.e., Gabriel 8:16 and Michael 10:13. In Daniel, there is the idea as we previously noted, that each nation has a ruling patron such as the patrons of Persia and Greece 10:13,20. It is chiefly from a closer contact with Babylonia, and her system of upper and lower spirits, that the influx of new elements into Jewish angelology can be traced.
In Genesis 24:7, “The Lord the God of heaven....he will send his angel before you”, but in the continuation of the narrative, there is not the slightest reference to an actual angel accompanying the servant; it is only related that the Lord prospered his way and the servant says “and for me the Lord has led me in the way.” It is clear from that passage, therefore, that the angel stands only for the guidance and help of the Lord. Similarly it is stated in Numbers 20:16 “and sent an angel and brought us forth out of Egypt” but before in Numbers 14:19 the Bible designates the pillar of cloud as “the angel of God”. Hence the words under discussion here mean only “I will guide you and prosper you.” In the continuation of the passage, at the end of verse 22 and also farther on, it is clear that the reference is to the actions of God himself. We should not be surprised that in ancient thought processes, the line of demarcation between the sender and the sent is often blurred. Not only between God and His angel, but also as in Exodus 23:27, God and His terror. Terror in this passage is a kind of vanguard marching in front of the host which is akin to the sending of the angel in verse 20. God continues “and I will throw into confusion by means of my terror all the people against whom you shall come and I will make your enemies turn their backs to you. They will flee before you because of my terror…and I will send the hornet before you...it too, I shall send as a spearhead before your host.” The hornet is also mentioned in Deuteronomy 7:20 and Josh 24:12 and is nothing but unreasoning dread or panic, synonymous with the word for terror. It is important to emphasize once again that the use of these euphemistic synonyms is quite typical of ancient middle eastern prose and poetry.
The key that untangles some of the textual complications of men or angels being both God or a seeming separateness from God is the Hebrew concept of agency which when not understood, can lead to gross misinterpretations. A shaliach , or sent one, is best expressed by the dictum “a person’s agent is regarded as the person himself” (Nedarim. 72b; Kiddushin 41b). In many instances, when God’s messenger was a man, it could truly have been a man (Haggai for example as mentioned above), although this is in seeming contradiction to Numbers 23:19 that expresses that God is not a man. The explanation is agency where a “sent man” or shaliach is as if he were God (legally), yet not God. The development of the concept of angels as being a distinct being apart from God was deeply influenced and very much developed during the post-exilic Hellenistic/Midrashic/Talmudic period and is not part of Hebrew or Jewish thought. One of the principal angelic beings of the Greek world was Nike who was also known as the Goddess of Victory. In her temple in Athens at the Parthenon, she is shown without wings. Elsewhere throughout the Greek world she is depicted with wings because the Greeks desired that wherever she might be, she be able to fly back home. The sculpture shown below which is located in Ashkelon, far south in Israel, depicts Nike standing on the world supported by the god, Atlas, and dates from the first century BCE/CE. Ashkelon is one of the five principal cities of the Philistines and was the city where Herod the Great was born which he restored and refurbished during his reign.
All the theological concepts that expositors have attached to such passages with reference to the function of angels, their nature, and their relation to God are completely foreign to the simple meaning of the scriptures. Umberto Cassuto in his Commentary on Exodus page 306 states: “In the biblical conception, there is no precise distinction between the Lord and His angel, and this is clearly indicated by the expression, for My name is in Him. The connotation of the words, ‘My name is, I in My glory’, and the sense is: I Myself reveal Myself to you through him, and I and he are the same.” It is important to note that any and all mythological elements that found their way into Judaism from time to time, Jewish sages, nonetheless, passed over them in silence.
It is important that we understand that the idea of angels as intermediaries between God and man as found in Christianity did not originate with the Hebrews nor is it central to Judaism. Although Catholicism has a very highly developed angelology, a belief in angels was never central to the Jewish religion. As a matter of fact, Jewish sages rejected any intermediation between man and God. In the Talmudic Age, no traces of angel worship are to be found in spite of Christianity’s claims to the contrary. (Jerusalem Talmud page 971) Jewish sages were basically of the opinion that any appeal to an intermediary only leads to idolatry. It is an interesting fact that angelology did not originate with Judaism. It was common for the various inhabitants of the Middle East even up to and including the Biblical period to describe a world inhabited by different species of beings distinct and separate from human beings. The rabbinic statement “everyday God creates a legion of angels; they sing before him and disappear” was considered by Maimonides in his Guide to the Perplexed, to describe the natural and psychic forces in individuals. The modern Jewish attitude tends to regard the traditional references and descriptions as symbolic, poetic, or representing an earlier world view. Most feel that a belief in their literalness is out of keeping with a modern approach to the world and certainly cannot be reconciled with the rationalism of today.
This is by no means an exhaustive treatment of this complex topic, but the key to prevention of confusion is to preserve the ancient understanding of God as having no beginning or end. He did not emerge from the primordial realm as the other gods, and is active in the affairs of mankind with no other worldly beings in conflict or opposition to Him, nor is He reliant on any other worldly beings to assist Him.
