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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



Angelic interpretation between God and man • 

 reappears in Job xxxiii. 23 (see iv. 13, sqq.), and 

 converse with angels forms a large part of the 

 visionary setting of the later prophetical books 

 (Ezekiel, Zechariah). But these visions, to which ' 

 the prophets do not ascribe objective reality, il- 

 lustrate rather the religious imagination than the | 

 theology of the period. 



The idea of ranks and classes of angels, ' 

 though naturally suggested by the conception of 

 a host (see Joshua v. 13, sqq.), was up to this 

 time undeveloped; for neither the purely sym- ! 

 bolical cherubim, nor the unique and obscure 

 seraphim of Isaiah vi., have in the Old Testa- 

 ment the meaning later conferred on them of dis- 

 tinct classes of angels. But the angels of Zech- 

 ariah present something of a systematic scheme, 

 though it seems unsafe, with Ewald and others, to 

 see ia the seven eyes of Jehovah (iii. 9, iv. 10) a 

 developed doctrine of seven chief angels (as in 

 Tobit xii. 15 ; Revelation viii. 2), parallel to and 

 influenced by the Amesha-cpentas of the Eranian 

 mythology. The book of Daniel shows a much 

 fuller development in a similar line. Israel, Per- 

 sia, etc., have special angels (princes), whose 

 contests represent those of human history (chap- 

 ters s., xii. ; see Isaiah xxiv. 21, sq.). " The great 

 prince who presides over'' Israel is named Mi- 

 chael (who is like God ?), and the angelus inter- 

 pres is called Gabriel (man of God). The anal- 

 ogy of these notions to those of Zarathustrism is 

 less decided than has often been supposed ; but 

 the freedom which Old Testament writers allow 

 themselves in matters of imaginative representa- 

 tion, to which these conceptions mainly belong, 

 is such a3 to render foreign influence quite cred- 

 ible. 



The ranks, classes, and names of angels are 

 a favorite topic of post-canonical and especially 

 of Apocalyptic literature. In the book of Enoch, 

 cherubim, seraphim, and even the wheels of Eze- 

 kiel's vision, become distinct classes of angels ; 

 and Rafael (see Tobit xii. 5), Phanuel, Uriel, etc., 

 are added to the names of individual archangels. 

 Specially celebrated is the interpretation which 

 this book gives of Genesis vi. 2, where the sons 

 of God are understood as angels. This inter- 

 pretation seems to have influenced Jude, verse 

 6 (see 2 Peter ii. 4), was current in the early 

 church as well as in Judaism, and (though the 

 narrative so understood is quite unique in the 

 circle of Biblical ideas) is defended on philo- 

 logical grounds by the best recent scholars, the 

 occurrence being viewed as history or as myth, 

 according as the interpreter is theosophically or 



critically inclined. Of other passages in later 

 Jewish literature it may suffice to refer to the 

 full account of the creation of angels of various 

 functions, presiding over various powers of Na- 

 ture, in " The Book of Jubilees " (see Roensch, 

 " Das Buch der Jubilaen," p. 259). 



The angelology of the New Testament attaches 

 closely to the notions already developed. The 

 ministry of angels is, as in the Old Testament, 

 specially connected with the work of salvation 

 (Hebrews i. 14), and with the person of Christ 

 (John i. 51), to whom after the temptation (and 

 at Gethseman*e ?) angels minister, and who can at 

 will command their aid (Matthew xxvi. 53). As 

 in the later Old Testament books, revelations by 

 angels are given in vision or dream, but even 

 waking eyes see the angel or angels who minister 

 at the resurrection. So an angel delivers Peter 

 (Acts xii.), etc. As in the Old Testament, the 

 figure of angels is human, their raiment white, 

 and their aspect luminous. A multitude of angels 

 appear singing praises at the nativity (Luke ii. 

 13), and in general they sympathize with the 

 repentance of sinners and the progress of the 

 divine kingdom (Luke xv. 10; 1 Peter i. 12). 

 Gabriel reappears in Luke i. The belief in spe- 

 cial guardian angels of individuals appears as 

 current (Acts xii. 15), but the words of Jesus 

 (Matthew xviii. 10) hardly go farther than the 

 statements of the Psalms. The angelic hosts of 

 the prophetic eschatology are naturally trans- 

 ferred to the second coming (Parusia) of our 

 Lord. The saints after the resurrection are like 

 the angels (Matthew xxii. 30 ; Luke xx. 36). In 

 the Apocalypse angels play a great part. No- 

 table features, in addition to the seven highest 

 angels (viii. 2), are the angels of the seven 

 churches (who, however, are by many taken as 

 human figures, church officers), and the associa- 

 tion of special angels with cosmical forces, e. g., 

 angels of fire and water (xvi. 5, xiv. 18). The 

 same idea appears even more sharply expressed 

 in the writings of Paul, if, as Ritschl has ren- 

 dered plausible, the elements (elemental powers) 

 of the world (Colossians ii. ; Galatians iv. 3) are 

 the angels, and specially the angels of the law. 

 This view is connected with the characteristic 

 position of Paul and the Epistle to the Hebrews, 

 that the inferiority of the old covenant is stamped 

 by the fact that the law was given and enforced 

 by angels (Galatians iii., iv. ; Hebrews ii. ; see 

 Acts vii. 53), an idea partly based on Exodus 

 xxiii. 20, sq., and partly on a transference to 

 Sinai of the usual poetico - prophetic imagery 

 of a theophany — a transference suggested by 



