Summary of Angels
Angels are a class of spiritual beings who serve as God’s messengers.
It is important to note that the Bible gives us very limited information about angels. Therefore, we must be careful in the conclusions we draw. We have insufficient information to say much of anything about these beings and most of what people believe about angels is derived from popular stories, legends, hearsay, movies and television, rather than from what the Bible relates. Some concepts, such as that of the guardian angel, are actually derived from other religions, such as Zoroastrianism.
The Hebrew word for angel is mala’ak. In meaning it is equivalent to the Greek word, angelos from which the English word is obviously derived. However, in both Hebrew and Greek, the term simply means “messenger” and was used for both God’s messengers as well as the messengers of a king or other ruler on Earth.
Three other terms are found in the Old Testament for angel. Seraphim (singular Seraph) simply means “flame.” It only shows up twice, both times in Isaiah, and both times in one chapter: Isaiah 6:2 and 6:6.
The second term is considerably more common, and is transliterated into English as “Cherub.” It is these angels that are described as particularly unusual to look at. Ezekiel 1:4-28 contains the most detailed description we have of them. Whether this is their normal appearance, it’s hard to say. They reappear in Revelation in virtually the same form. They appear most frequently, though, as a decorative images used in the temple.
The third term that is generally thought to refer to angels is found in only a handful of places. It is usually—though not always—translated as “the sons of God”. How to understand the term is a topic of great controversy, especially in Genesis 6:1-4, where the reader is told that the sons of God had sex with the daughters of men.
What do we know about angels? Not a lot. We know that in the Bible they are predominantly male (there are a couple of references in Zechariah that appear to be feminine: see Zech. 5:5-10 and 6:4-5). In fact, if the incident in Genesis 6 refers to angels, then they are masculine to the point of being able to mate with human women. However, the paucity of feminine angels in the Bible is not sufficient evidence to conclude that angels are never feminine. After all, arguments from silence are not particularly convincing, especially when so little is said to begin with.
We know that angels are sometimes frightening. Ezekiel gives us a description of the Cherubs in Ezekiel 1:4-28. A reading of that passage gives us the following characteristics: their basic form is that of a human biped (1:5), but they have four faces (1:6) and four wings (1:6). Their feet look something like those of a calf (cloven hooves?) and are shiny, as if they are made of burnished bronze (1:7). The four wings are spread out, one on each of their four sides. Under each wing is what looks like a human hand (1:8). Their heads have four faces, one on each of the four sides (1:10). One face looked human, one resembled an ox, one a lion, and one an eagle (1:10). As a result of having a face on each side of their bodies, they didn’t have to turn to change direction; no matter which way they decided to go, they were already facing that way (1:9, 12). The sound their wings made was quite loud (1:24). When an angel appears to someone, often one of the first things he has to say is “do not be afraid.” After Ezekiel’s description, we should not be surprised.
Yet—despite the description in Ezekiel—Genesis 18 and Joshua 5:13-15, plus most New Testament references show angels mostly in human form and indistinguishable from ordinary men. But in any case, 2 Kings 6:16-17 and Numbers 22:21-35 make clear the point that angels are not usually visible to human beings at all.
They serve as God’s messengers, to bring information to his servants (Daniel 10:12-14). They fight for God’s people (Joshua 5:13-15; 2 Kings 6:16-17), and they protect and help God’s people (Psalm 92:11-12).
