THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
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General Historical Development tinn ".Malak
In the
YIIWII"
(mi'ssciigcrof the Lonl)(iccurs chicliy in tlic-sinjjulur. signifies a special selt-niuuifestaliun of God (see Gen. xxxi. 1 l-i;i. where the angel of God Siiys, " I am tlie God of Bethel " Ex. iii. 2-(), where the angel of the Lord who appeared to Jloses in the flame of tire says, "I am the God of thy father"; compare Gen. At times the angel xxii. 11; Judges, vi. 11-22). clearly distinguishes himself from the Lord who semis him (see Gen. xvi 11, xxi. 17; Num. xxii. 81 Judges, xiii. Hi). Though ajipearing in human form (.see Gen. xviii. 2 (t kh/., xxxii. 2.5; compare llosea, xii. 5), the angel of the Lord has no individuality. Being only a lemiiorary manifestation of God. he can never rephice His presence; wherefore Jloses, not satislied with the Lord's saying " I will send an angel before thee" (Ex. xxxiii. 2), replies: "If thy presence [face] go not with me, carry us not up hence " (Ex. xxxiii. 15). Tlure prevailed no uniform conceittion of the.se angelic beings. In Jacob's dream they ascend and descend the ladder (Gen. xxviii. 12); in the vision of Isaiah (vi. 2) they are .six -winged seraphim; in Ezekiel the cherubim and living creatures (hayyot) have the liken<'ss of a man, are winged, and have feet (Ezik. i. 5-7, X. l'J-21). As guests of Abraham, they eat (Gen. xviii. 8); in the house of Manoali theangel refuses to eat (Judges, xiii. Hi). Whether in the popular mind these angels took the place of the powers of nature dcilied by the heathen nationselsewhere, or whether the psychological jirocess was a dilTerent one, the monotheism of Isniel necessitated the assumption of beings representing a heavenly
and
hierarchy readv to mediate between man and God. The .story of Creation makes no mention of the creati(m of angels, while from Job. xxxviii. 7. if not from Gen. i. 2I>. il rather appears that they looked on, approving and jiraising God's creative work. According to Job, iv. IH, xv. 15, the angels are endowed with moral sense, though they fall short of God's own ideal of jiurity and perfection. According to P.s. Ixxviii. 25, manna is "angels' food" ("bread of the mighty," H. V. compare Ps. Similarly, the tree in iianidise, who.se fruit ciii. 20). makes man like godly beings " knowing good and evil " (Gen. iii. 5), as well as the tree of life, bears food for angels, as may be learne(l from the word of the Lord spoken obviously to the angelic sons of God; "Behold the man is become as one of us, to know g(H)d and evil and now, lest he i)Ut forth his hand, and take al.so of the tree of life, and eat. and live forevir; therefore, the Lord (ioil sent him forth from the Garden of Eden" ((ien. iii. 22, 2;i). Elsewhere the angels are referred to as partaking of
(iod's
wisdom
(see
II
Sam.
xiv.
17,
2(1.
xix. 2S).
underlies the verse: "Thou madest him a Utile lower than the angels [godly beings) " (Ps. viii. 5); man, though mortal, being endowed
Some such view
with inlilleel. Postexilic Period During and after the Exile, under the inllucnce of Baliylonian and Persian systems of bilief, a great ihange becomes noticeable in The mon- the mono th<> angelic lore of the Jews. theislic idea took hold of the people permitting no being to intirfiTe with the absolute supremacy of
—
YllWII — the
greater became the nei'd of personifying the working forces of life, am of grouping them in ntnks around the throne of God lu form His roval I
court. His tianscemlent natui-e demanded a more detinite system of heavenly func'ionaries attending
Him and awaiting His commands.
Gradually the
government was formed after the pattern of the earthly one, as it presented itself, imposing and well organized, at the Persian C(mrt. But it is chiefly from a closiT contact with Babylonia and her system of u]iper and lower spirits that the influx of now elements into Jewish Augelology can be traced; and this is confirmed by the rabbinical tradition. "The names of the anAngelol- gels were brought by the Jews from ogy Sys- Babylonia" (Yer. R.H. i. 2, Gen. R. tematized. xlviii.). Ezekiel (ix. 2) already .sees seven angels of God in human form (see Toy's notes. "S. B. O. T." xii.): six to do the work of destruction, and the seventh the heavenly scribe sent toward the Holy City. While all the revelations he receives come directly from the Lord, in one instance an angel in the form of a man acts celestial
L. B. earlier Biblical wrilinjrs the
Angelolog7
as a divine interpreter, when the plan of a new city is mapped out for the prophet (Ezek. xl. 3). The prophet Zechariah, on the other hand, receives all his divine instructions no longer from God directly, Vmt through "the angel of the Lord who talks with
him"
(Zccli.
also
Kings,
I
i.
9;
M,
xiii. IS).
man
pears to him "a
ii.
2; iv.
1,
- 5;
v.
10:
compare
Instead of the Lord there apriding upon a red horse" as
chief among those who " walk to and fro through the earth" (('*. i. 8-10). The four smiths (it>. ii. 3, Ueb. [R. V. i. 20]; compare Ezek. xxi. 36) as well as "the man with a measuring line" (Zech. ii. 5, ]/t/i. [A. V. 1]) arc angels; and the .scene of the accu.sjition by S;itan of the high ]iriest Joshua while "standing before the angel of the Lord " (rt. iii. 1) must be placed in heaven. ])arallel to the scene in Job, i. ii-Vi. ii. 1-G. However, "the seven eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth" (Zech. iv. 10), while betraying Babylonian influence, are only the symbolical repn'sentation of Divine Providence, and are not identical with the seven archangels or watchers, as Herzfeld ("Gescli. d. Volkes Isniel," iii. 287) an<l Kohut ("JlUl. Angelologie," p. 0. note 17) believe. It is in the Book of Daniel that a systematic classification of angels is first presented. In Josh. v. 15 reference is made to "the captain of the Lord's host " (mrr N3V IC*. still without nameand individuality, and miller a mere manifestation of the Lord, In Dan. x. i;i, mention as is seen from .losh. vi. 2. is made of "captains of the first rank," A. V. "chief princes" (compare I'/i. xii. 1, "sar ha gadol." "the great captain." A. V. "prince") ami "captains" (princes) of a lower rank, these being tutelary spirits of the nations, "the prince of Persia and the prince Obviously, the underlyof Grecia" (ih. x. 20). ing idea is the one expressed, if not already in Deut. xxxii. 8, at least in the Sepluaginl reading, "according to the ninnberof the .sons of G(Kr' (compare Targ. ^ er. to the verse an<l to (Jen. xi. 7, Ecclus. [Sii-.ichl xvii. 17, Pirke R. El. xxiv., Isa xxiv, 21). that the seventy nations of Gen. x. each had their guardian angel in heaven; and that Michael, the guardian angel of Israel, ranks above the rest. He is one of the chii'f princes, his name signifying, "Who is like God?" being expressive of Gods greatness. The angel who interprets the visions' to Zechariah
appears
in
Dan.
viii.
1(5.
ix
21.
under
name of Gabriel ("the mighty man of God"). Above the.se two ranks a man-like being "clothed
the
appearance overawes Daniel and who swears "by He is probably liim that liveth forever" (xii. 7). identical with the angel who stands before the Lord, in
linen."
(viii.
whose
ir»-17,
X.
fiery
5-10,
1(1-18),
