Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/638

586 — THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Angelolo^y lipginning). •liiiin

siiiil:

To Josliiin b. Ilnimniali the emperor Ma"You sjiy tlmt no portion of the lieiiv-

enlv hosts sinjis praise to the Lord twiee. but that Goil daily hears uiw aiiirels wlio siiii: his praise [based oil Ijini. iii, ',':!| and then ro. ^Vhi1lll•^ do they goV" Whereupon .loshna replied: "To the stream of fire whence they emanated" (Dan. vii. 10). II.: " What is the eliaraeter of this stream? " " It is J. like the .Ionian, whieli ceases not to flow by day or by niuht." H. " And whence comes the stream of " From the sweat of the livin;.' creatures lire'/ " J. of God's chariot, which didjis from them under the burden of God's throne" ((ien. H. l.wviii.. bejriuning. and iiarallel passaires; compare IJaeher. "Ag. Tan." i. 178). Another theory is. that angels are lialf fire, half water, and that (!od makes peace between the opposing elements {Ver. H. II. ii. liSa). They feed on the rays of God's majesty, for "in the light of the king's countenance is life " (Prov. xvi. l.j. Pesik, vi, 57"). A characteristic and well known passage is the following:
 * ' III tliree respects demons re.seiiitile anpels; In three others,





niaiikintl. I.ike the impels ttiey have wiiifcrs, they iiinve from one end of Hit' earth tn the other, and are presi'liMit. IJke men they eat and drink, jtiopa^rate themselves, and die. In tlin-r rc-

men resemtjle the angels; In three others, the animals. Like animals they eat ami drink, propapate themselves, and disehar^re waste iimtter" ^Hiitz. Iti'i and panillel pas.saj?esi. speet.s

In order that Moses might become like the angels, and drink had to be consumed in his entrails (Voma,4/'). The angels that appeared to Abraham only pretended to eat (Targ. Yer. Gen. xviii. 8, and in the Midrash). The angels are generally represented as good, and as not subject to evil impulses (Gen. K. xlviii. 11). Hence the Ten Commandments are not apiilicable to them (Shab. MSA); they are called "holy." while men reijuire a twofold sanctification to merit the epithet (Lev. H. ..iv. 8). Having this character, they show neither hatred nor envy: nor does discord or ill will exist among them "(Sifre. ]S'iim. 42). Nevertheless, they stand in need of mutual beneficence (Lev. ]{. xxi., beginning). Although there is nothing hidden from the superior beings (Jlidr. Tell. XXV. 14), yet they do not know the day of Israel's redemption (S;inli. 'M<i): see also Matt. xxiv. 3, "of that day and hour knowelh no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." Though the Israelites, emerging from the .sea, knew where God's glory resided, the angels were in ignorance of it (F^x. H. x.iii., end). Adam's knowledge exceeded that of the an,ffels (Bacher. "Ag. Pal. Amor." iii. 1'35, note 1): not Adam alone, however, but all the pious rank above the ministering angels (Gen. R. xxi., Yer. Shab. vi.. endi. Although they renderGod unfailing obedience, and are ready to serve Him before they hear His commands in which regard they are imitated by Israel they are nevertheless fallible. There are fallen angels. Two were exjiellcd from heaven for one hundred and thirty-eight years on account of ]ireniaturely disclosing the decree of Sodom's destruction, or for presumption (Gen. H. 1.. I.wiii.). The angels apjiear at times standing: now in the shape of a man or of a woman, and now as wind or as tire (Ex. IL xxv., beginning). Of the three angels that appeared to Abraham (Gen. xviii. 2). one was like a Saracen, one like a Nabatean. and the third like an Arab (Gen. H. xlviii. 9). To Jacob (Gen. x.xii. 2o)the angel appeared as a shepherd (Gen. K. l.xxvii.), as a heathen, and as a learned man (I.Iul. 9 1<. An angel assumed he shape of .Moses in order to be captured by Pharaoh in Moses' place: another, taking S(/lomon's form, dethroned liiiu (Yer. Ber. all I'ooil

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1

586

13<(compare Lev. R. vi., Yer. Sanli. ii. 20r). Angels come from heaven on horses, with gleaming weapons (IV Mace. iv. 10): (Jabriel smites Sennacherib's host (II Kings, xix. -i-)) with a sharpenetl scythe whiili had been ready since the Creation (Sanh. !).">//). The stone mentioneil in Dan. vi. IH was a stone lion into which an angel had entered (Cant. H., l)eginning). A high priest was killed by an angel in the Holy of Holies; and the impress of ix.

a

calf's

foot

(eomjiare

Yoma. 21") was found

K/ek.

wicn

i.

7;

Ta'anit,

256;

(Yoma, i>li). Angels being generally conceived as endowed with wings, Akiba took the expression "fowls of the heaven" (Ps. civ. 12) to mean angels; but R. Ishmael refuted him (Bacher, " Ag. Tan." S24: bet

his shoulders

i.

comjiare Gen. R. Ixv. 21; Pesik. H. viii.. lieginning; Yer. Ber. vii., end). Their bodies were suppo.sed to be like the figure <lescribed in Dan. X. (i. Their size is variously One angel exleiuls from earth to heaven, given. where the hayyot stand: Sandalfon is taller than his fellows by the length of a journey of live hundred years (Hag. 13'<). According to one tradition, each angel was one-third of a world; according to another, two thous;ind parasjings (a parasang = IJ.ss miles), his hand reaching heaven to earth (Bacher," Ag. Pal. Amor." iii. :i71. 547). The angels do not, of course, always disclose themselves in all their size; they are visible to those only whom their message concerns; and their message is heard by none but those for whom it is intended (Ta'anit, 21"). Their number was considered, even by the oldest Talmudists, to be infinite. Rabbi Joshua .said that the sun is onlv one of the nianv tlionVariety sands that serve God (Yalk., Ex. :!9G). of Angelic (Jod caused to ]iass before Moses the Forms. hosts of angels thai lived in His |)reseuce and served Him (Targ. Yer. to Ex. xxxiii. 23). God combats evil by Himself; but in beneficent works myriads of angels assist Him (Num. R. xi. 7). Every angelic host consists of a thousiind times a thousand but, to judge from Dan. vii. 10. and Job. xxv. 2, 3. the hosts themselves were innumerable. After the expulsion of the Jews from their own conn try the number of the angelic hosts was decrea.sed (Sifre, Num. 42). When Jacob left Laban's house, sixty times ten thousand angels danced before him (Cant. R. vii. 1; compare Gen. R. Ixxiv., I

mm



We

end). When at the revelation Israel first said " will do it." and then will hear it," the same number descended and bound two crowns about the head of each Israelite; but when the Israelites sinned, one hundred and twenty thousiind angels came to remove (hem (Shab. 88"). On Sinai (Jod appeared with twenty-two thousand angelic hosts; though another authority holds that the number of hosts

"We

by any mathematician and parallel jiassages). A thousand angels constitute the following of every Israelite; one angel preceding him. to bid the demons make way. This angel's left hand, which executes but one command the command of the titUiii (Dent. vi. 4-8) holds a thousand angels: and the right hand, which executes a number .of commands, holds could

(Pesik.

not

be c(miputed

xii. (}~/t

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ten thottsand angels (Bacher,

"Ag.

Pal.

Amor."

ii.

130, 219).

Though the Bible makes no statement concerning the origin of angels, tradition emphatically declares them to have been created by God. but not until the second day of the Creation, in order that it should not be .said that God had received assistance in His work, and that Michael .sustained the firmament in the south, Gabriel supjiorted it in the north, and God