The term angel comes from the Greek angelos,
which means “messenger.” Similarly, the Persian term angaros means
“courier.” In Hebrew, the term is malak, which also means “messenger.”
Serving as messenger refers to one of the angel’s primary duties, to shuttle
back and forth between earth and heavenly realms. Angels also mete out the will
of God, whether it is to aid or to punish humans. Angels are specific to
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; however, they derive from concepts of helping
and tutelary spirits that exist in mythologies the world over.
The Western concept of the angel evolved primarily from the
mythologies of Babylonia and Persia. ZOROAS-TRIANISM developed a complex
angelology that influenced the Jews, who spent time exiled in Babylonia. The
angel also absorbed characteristics from Sumerian, Egyptian, and Greek beings.
Syncretic Jewish, Hellenistic, and Gnostic angel beliefs were absorbed into
Christianity and then into Islam.
The Bible presents
angels as representatives of God. The term ANGEL OF THE LORD appears frequently
and may refer to an angel or to God himself. Angels exist in a celestial realm.
They are incorporeal, but have the ability to assume form and pass as mortals.
They also appear as beings of fire, lightning, and brilliant light, sometimes
with wings and sometimes without. Various classes of angels are mentioned in
the Bible and apocryphal texts; they are organized into different hierarchies.
In the Bible, angels play roles in the
working out of humanity’s relationship to the Divine. Except for Michael,
Gabriel, and Raphael, they are not referred to with proper names. However, numerous
angels are mentioned by name in APOCRYPHA AND PSEUDEPIGRAPHA TEXTS. By the
Middle Ages, midrashim, kabbalistic writings, and other sources had cited
thousands of angels by name.
The ranks of heavenly angels have evil
counterparts in the FALLEN ANGELS cast out of heaven because they angered God. As DEMONS, they tempt humankind into sin and
steal souls into hell. The fallen angels also include the demonized gods of
pagan cultures.
The early church fathers of Christianity gave
extensive consideration to the duties, nature, numbers, abilities, and
functions of angels. This theological interest peaked by the Middle Ages and
began to decline in the Renaissance. The scientific revolution diminished the
stature and importance of angels, though DEVOTIONAL CULTS kept their interest
alive in Christianity. Angels renewed in popular interest in the late 20th
century, due in part to a widespread spiritual hunger for personal
relationships with the Divine and in part for the comfort of ready supernatural
assistance and guidance. Popular culture portrays angels as anthropomorphized
“best friends,” which is in stark contrast to the awe-some, impartial,
unknowable beings of Jewish angelology and early Christian lore.
Early
writings refer only to numberless numbers of angels their ranks are so vast as
to be beyond calculation. The stars and all heavenly bodies are angels or
angelic INTELLIGENCES. The biblical prophet DANIEL had a vision of heaven in
which at least 100 million angels appeared: “a thousand thousands served him
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.” The prophet ENOCH, in
his travels to heaven, observed “angels innumerable, thousands of thou-sands,
and myriads and myriads.” Enoch’s description is echoed in the New Testament
book of REVELATION, authored by John of Patmos.
In the Kabbalah, the Zohar states that 600
million angels were created on the second day of creation, but adds that other
angels were created on other days for other purposes. In the third century, the
Jewish scholar Simonben Lakish related angels to the seven heavens of Enoch and
the signs of the Zodiac. There were a total of 1.06434 quintillion angels, he
said, organized into hosts, camps, legions, cohorts, and myriads.
In Islam, the Koran states only that “numerous
angels are in heaven.” However, an Islamic tradition about the archangel Michael
holds that he is responsible for creating 700 quadrillion CHERUBIM alone.
Michael is covered with saffron hairs, each of which has a million faces, and
each face has a million eyes, from each of which fall 700,000 tears, each of
which becomes a cherub.
ORIGEN, a church father, said
that angels “multiply like flies.” But the Roman Catholic Church declared that
the numbers of angels were fixed at the time of creation.
By the
Middle Ages, speculation on the numbers of angels reached a peak. St. THOMAS
AQUINAS said that every person on earth has a guardian angel, but that the
total ranks of angels are much greater. St. Albert the Great, a Dominican monk
who was a teacher to Aquinas, said that each of the nine ranks of angels has
66,666 legions, each of which has 6,666 angels, for a total of nearly 4 billion
angels. Other medieval scholars placed the total number of heavenly host at
301,655,722, of which 133,306,668 are fallen.
In contemporary
popular culture, the question of the numbers of angels is moot. There are as
many angels in the universe as are necessary. Even in the 17th century, the folly
of angel counting was recognized. Said Thomas Heywood, an English playwright
who authored The Hierarchy of the Blessed Angels, counting angels would
“grow from ignorance to error.” The modern rhetorical question, “How many
angels can dance on the head of a pin?” points to the futility of trying to
calculate the numbers of the heavenly host.
Do Angels Eat?
Angels are incorporeal, so therefore they cannot
eat food in the same manner as mortals. How, then, to explain texts in which
angels eat food with mortals? The accepted answer is that angels only appear to
eat, which is sometimes necessary to protect their disguise as humans.
In Genesis 18, ABRAHAM is visited by three
angels, whom he mistakes for men. They partake of a feast of food and drink he
prepares for them. In the book of Tobit, Raphael, in the guise of a man, eats
food with his mortal companion and charge, Tobias. In The Testament of Abraham,
Michael arrives as the ANGEL OF DEATH to fetch the soul of Abraham and is offered
a feast.
In the latter work, Michael in a quick visit
to God protests that he will not be able to eat; God says he will send an
all-devouring spirit to enable Michael to give the appearance of eating.
Similarly, theologians explain that the angels of Genesis only appear to eat.
In Tobit, Raphael explains that visions are created to give the appearance of
eating; the angels actually consume manna, a special food of heaven.
Sometimes angels turn away food. In Judges
6:21 GIDEON presents food to the ANGEL OF THE LORD, who burns it up; this is a
sign that the angel is who he says he is, and his instructions to Gideon must be
followed. In Judges 13:15–16 an angel declines a kid offered by Manoah: “If you
detain me, I will not eat of your food but if you make ready a burnt offering,
then offer it to the Lord.”
Modern-day accounts
of angelophanies sometimes involve eating by angels.
ty for the info
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