1. Judaism insists with unrelenting severity on the absolute unity and
incomparability of God, so that no other being can be placed beside Him.
Consequently, every mention of divine beings (_Elohim_ or _B’ne Elohim_)
in either the Bible or post-Biblical literature refers to subordinate
beings only. These spirits constitute the celestial court for the King of
the World.(531) All the forces of the universe are His servants,
fulfilling His commands. Hence both the Hebrew and Greek terms for angel,
_Malak_ and _angelos_, mean “messenger.” These beings derive their
existence from God; some of them are merely temporary, so that without Him
they dissolve into nothing. Although Scripture uses the terms, “God of
gods” and “King of kings,” still we cannot attribute any independent
existence to subordinate divine beings. In fact, Maimonides in his sixth
article of faith holds that worship of such beings is prohibited as
idolatry by the second commandment.(532) Thus the unity of God lifts Him
above comparison with any other divine being. This is most emphatically
expressed in Deuteronomy: “Know this day, and lay it to thy heart, that
the Lord He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath; there is
none else,”(533) and “See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god
with Me; I kill and make alive; I have wounded and I heal, and there is
none that can deliver out of My hand.”(534) The same attitude is found in
Isaiah: “I am the Lord that maketh all things, that stretched forth the
heavens alone, that spread abroad the earth by Myself” “I am the Lord and
there is none else; beside Me there is no god.”(535) Such conceptions
allow no place for angels or spirits.
2. It was certainly not easy for prophet, lawgiver, or sage to dispel the
popular belief in divine beings or powers, which primitive Judaism shared
with other ancient faiths. No sharp line was drawn at first between God
and His accompanying angels, as we may infer from the story of the angels
who appeared to Abraham, and the similar incidents of Hagar and
Jacob.(536) The varying application of the term _Elohim_ to God and to the
angels or gods is proof enough of the priority of polytheism, even in
Judaism. The trees or springs, formerly seats of the ancient deities,
spirits, or demons, were now the places for the appearance of angels,
shorn of their independence, looking like fiery or shining human beings.
Popular belief, however, perpetuated mythological elements, ascribing to
the angels higher wisdom and sometimes sensuality as well. Such a case is
the fragment preserved in Genesis telling of the union of sons of God to
the daughters of men, causing the generation of giants.(537) Obviously the
old Babylonian “mountain of the gods,” with its food for the gods, became
in the Paradise legend the garden of Eden, the seat of God;(538) and the
Psalmist still speaks of the “angels’ food,” which appeared as manna in
the wilderness.(539) On the whole, the sacred writers were most eager to
allot to the angels a very subordinate position in the divine household.
They figure usually as hosts of beings, numbered by myriads, wrapped in
light or in fleeting clouds. They surround the throne or chariot of God;
they comprise His heavenly court or council; they sing His praise and obey
His call.
Scripture is quite silent about the creation of these angelic beings, as
on most purely speculative questions. At the very beginning of the world
God consults them when He is to create man after the image of the
celestial beings. For this is the original meaning of _Elohim_ in Gen. I,
26 and 27 and V, 1: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”;
“And God created man in his own image, in the image of godly beings He
created him.” This view is echoed in Psalm VIII, verse 6: “Thou hast made
him a little lower than godly beings.” In Job XXXVIII, 7, both the morning
stars and the sons of God, or angels, “shout together in joy” when the
Lord laid the foundations of the earth.(540)
3. In Biblical times—which does not include the book of Daniel, a work of
the Maccabean time—the angels and demons were not invested with proper
names or special functions. The Biblical system does not even distinguish
clearly between good and evil spirits. The goat-like demons of the field
popularly worshiped were merely survivals of pagan superstitions.(541)
In general the angels carry out good or evil designs according to their
commands from the Lord of Hosts. They are sent forth to destroy Sodom, to
save Lot, and to bring Abraham the good tidings of the birth of a
son.(542) On one occasion the host of spirits protect the people of God;
on another they annihilate hostile powers by pestilence and plagues.(543)
At one time a multitude appear, led by a celestial chieftain; at another a
single angel performs the miracle. In any case the destroying angel is not
a demon, but a messenger of the divine will. Originally some of these
primitive forces were dreaded or worshiped by the people, but all have
been transformed into members of the celestial court and called to bear
witness to the dominion of the Omnipotent.
4. The belief in angels served two functions in the development of
monotheism. On the one hand, it was a stage in the concentration of the
divine forces, beginning with polytheism, continuing through belief in
angels, and culminating in the one and only God of heaven and earth. On
the other hand, certain sensuous elements in the vision of God by the
seers had to be removed in the spiritualization of God, and it was found
easiest to transform these into separate beings, related to Deity himself.
Thus the fiery appearance of God to the eye or the voice which was
manifested to the ear were often personified as angels of God. This very
process made possible the purification of the God idea, as the sublime
essence of the Deity was divested of physical and temporal elements, and
God was conceived more and more as a moral and spiritual personality.
Hence in Biblical passages the names of God and of the angel frequently
alternate.(544) The latter is only a representative of the divine
personality—in Scriptural terms, the presence or “face” of God. Therefore
the voice of the angel is to be obeyed as that of God himself, because His
name is present in His representative. A similar meaning became attached
later on to the term _Shekinah_, the “majesty” of God as beheld in the
cloud of fire. This was spoken of in place of God that He might not be
lowered into the earthly sphere. For further discussion of this subject,
see chapter XXXII, “God and Intermediary Powers.” In fact, we note that
the post-exilic prophets all received their revelations, not from God, but
through a special angel.(545) They no longer believed that God might be
seen or heard by human powers, and therefore their visions had to be
translated into rational thoughts by a mediating angel.
5. Persian influence gave Jewish angelology and demonology a different
character. The two realms of the Persian system included vast hosts of
beneficent spirits under Ahura-Mazda (Ormuzd) and of demons under the
dominion of Angro-mainyus (Ahriman). So in Judaism also different orders
of angels arose, headed by archangels who bore special names. The number
seven was adopted from the Persians, while both names and order were often
changed. All of them, however, were allotted special functions in the
divine household. The pagan deities and primitive spirits which still
persisted in popular superstition were given a new lease of life. Each
force of nature was given a guardian spirit, just as in nature-worship;
angels were appointed over fire, water, each herb, each fountain, and
every separate function of life. A patron angel was assigned to each of
the seventy nations of the world mentioned in the genealogy of Noah.(546)
Thus the celestial court grew in number and in splendor. A beginning was
made with the heavenly chariot-throne of Ezekiel, borne aloft by the four
holy living creatures (the _hayoth_), surrounded by the fiery _Cherubim_,
the winged _Seraphim_, and the many-eyed _Ofanim_ (wheels).(547) This was
elaborated by the addition of rows of surrounding angels, called “angels
of service,” headed by the seven archangels. Of these the chief was
Michael, the patron-saint of Israel, and the next Gabriel, who is
sometimes even placed first. Raphael and Uriel are regularly mentioned,
the other three rarely, and not always by the same names. The _Irin_ of
Daniel—known as “the Watchers,” but more precisely “the ever-watchful
Ones”—are another of the ten classes of angels included. Below these are
myriads of inferior angels who serve them. Their classification by rank
was a favorite theme of the secret lore of the Essenes, partly preserved
for us in the apocalyptic literature and the liturgy. The Essenic saints
endeavored to acquire miraculous powers through using the names of certain
angels, and thus exorcising the evil spirits.
This secret lore seems to be patterned after the Zoroastrian or Mazdean
system. It is noteworthy that the most prominent angelic figure is
_Metatron_, the charioteer of the _Merkabah_ or chariot-throne on high,
which is merely another form of _Mithras_, the Persian god of light, who
acts as charioteer for Ahura Mazda.(548) Two other angels are mentioned as
standing behind the heavenly throne, _Akathriel_, “the crown-bearer of
God,” and _Sandalphon_, “the twin brother” = Synadelphon.
6. A striking contrast exists between the simple habitation in the sky
depicted in the prophetic and Mosaic books, and the splendor of the
heavenly spheres according to the rabbinical writings. The Oriental courts
lent all their grandeur to the majestic throne of God, on which He was
exalted above all earthly things. The immense space between was filled in
by innumerable gradations of beings leading up to Him. There was no longer
a question how far these other beings shared the nature of God; His
dominion was absolute. Still a new question, not known to the Bible,
arose, as to when the angelic world was created and out of what primordial
element. At first a logical answer was given, that the angels emanated
from the element of fire. Later the schoolmen, trying to dispose of the
angels as possible peers or rivals of the eternal God, ascribed their
creation to the second day, when the heaven was made as a vault over the
earth, or to the fifth day, when the winged creatures arose.(549) On the
whole, the rabbis denied every claim of the angels to an independent or an
eternal existence. Just because they firmly believed in the existence of
angels and even saw them from time to time, they felt bound to declare
their secondary rank. Only the archangels were made from an eternal
substance, while the others were continually being created anew out of the
breath of God or from the “river of fire” which flowed around His throne.
Thus even the realm of celestial spirits was merged into the stream of
universal life which comes and goes, while God was left alone in matchless
sovereignty, above all the fluctuations of time.
On the other hand, the rabbis opposed the Essenic idea of assigning to the
angels an intermediary task between God and man, and deprecated as a pagan
custom the worship or invocation of angels. “Address your prayer to the
Master of life and not to His servants; He will hear you in every
trouble,” says R. Judan.(550) Some of the teachers even declared that any
godly son of Israel excels the angels in power. It is certainly
significant, as David Neumark has pointed out, that the Mishnah eliminates
every reference to the angels.(551)
7. In spite of this, none of the medieval Jewish philosophers doubted the
existence of angels.(552) Indeed, there was no reason for them to do so,
as they had managed to insert them into their philosophic systems as
intermediary beings leading up to the Supreme Intelligence. All that was
necessary was to identify the angels of the Bible with the “ideas” of
Plato or the “rulers of the spheres,” the “separate intelligences” of
Aristotle. By this one step the existence of angels as cosmic powers was
proved to be a logical necessity. The ten rulers of the spheres even
corresponded with the ten orders of angels in the cosmography of the
Jewish, Mohammedan, and Christian schoolmen. The only difference between
the Aristotelian and the rabbinical views was that the former held the
cosmic powers to be eternal; the latter, that they were created.
In both Biblical and rabbinical literature the angels are usually
conceived of as purely spiritual powers superior to man. Maimonides,
however, following his rationalistic method, declared them to be simply
products of the imagination, the hypostases of figurative expressions
which were not meant to be taken literally. To him every force and element
of nature is an angel or messenger of God. In this way the entire
angelology of the Bible, including even Ezekiel’s vision of the heavenly
chariot (the _Merkabah_), in becoming a part of the Maimonidean system
turns into natural philosophy pure and simple.(553) Of course, Saadia,
Jehuda ha Levi, and Gabirol do not share this rationalistic view. To them
the angels are either cosmic powers of an ethereal substance, endowed with
everlasting life, or living beings created by God for special
purposes.(554)
The later Cabbalistic lore extended the realm of the celestial spirits
still more, creating new names of angels for its mystical system and its
magical practices. Yet in this magic it subordinated the angels to man. In
fact, it followed Saadia largely in this, making man the center and
pinnacle of the work of creation, in fact, the very mirror of the
Creator.(555)
8. For our modern viewpoint the existence of angels is a question of
psychology rather than of theology. The old Babylonian world has vanished,
with its heaven as the dwelling place of God, its earth for man, and its
nether world for the shades and demons. The world in which we live knows
no above or beneath, no heaven or hell, no host of good and evil spirits
moving about to help or hurt man. It sees matter and energy working
everywhere after the same immutable laws through an infinitude of space
and time, a universe ever evolving new orbs of light, engendering and
transforming worlds without number and without end. There is no place in
infinite space for a heaven or for a celestial throne. A world of law and
of process does not need a living ladder to lead from the earth below to
God on high. Though the stars be peopled with souls superior to ours,
still they cannot stand nearer to God than does man with his freedom, his
moral striving, his visions of the highest and the best. Through man’s
spiritual nature God, too, is recognized as a Spirit; through man’s moral
consciousness God is conceived of as the Ruler of a moral world; but this
same process at once does away with the need for any other spirits or
divine powers beside Him. God alone has become the object of human
longing. Man feels akin to His God who is ever near; he learns to know Him
ever better. He can dispense with the angelic hosts. As they return to the
fiery stream of poetic imagination whence they emerged, nebulous figures
of a glorious world that has vanished, man rises above angel and Seraph by
his own power to the dignity of a servant, nay, a child of God. Indeed, as
the rabbis said, the prophets, sages, and seers are the true messengers of
God, the angels who do His service.(556)