* Cf. Enoch 207 Gabriel).
+ These are called (1) Vohu-Mané = ‘the good mind’; (2) Asha-vahista=‘the highest holiness’; (3) Khshathra-vairya =
(Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Sariel,
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been alien to all Jewish tradition to compare Ormazd or any of the archangels with J’. To them He was far above, and of another nature than, angels or archangels, who were only His servants. They borrowed the idea of the seven amshaspands, and made them the chiefs of the heavenly host ; but they regarded them, their chief included, as beings entirely subordinate to J”.
The Persian influence is seen so far in the pro- nounced angelology of the Book of Daniel. What is new here is that angels, who are designated ‘watchers’ (pry. In LXX yy is Grecized into elp, but Aq. and Symm. render ¢ypzyopos), have recog- nized princes with particular names, whereas in ancient Israel none of the angels were known by proper names. The angel in Jg 1318 refuses to tell his name. That the names of the angels ascenderunt in manu Israelis ex Babylone* is expressly acknowledged by the Rabbins them- selves. It is also taught in Daniel that the nations have their own special tutelary spirits, who fight actively in their behalf (10%), This identification of particular angels with different nations carries us a step further than the inter- cession of the angels in Zechariah’s first vision. There is also in Daniel a further development of the former prophet’s vision of a hierarchy among the angels; they are classified in categories, of which each has particular functions.
But it is in the Apocryphal writings that we discern the full strength of the Persian influence. The great Books of Sirach and Wisdom have little or nothing to say about angels. Judith speaks of none, and 1 Mace. refers only once to the destroy- ing angel (7). In Baruch also there is but a single reference to the subject (67). The other books, and mainly 2 (4) Esdras, Tobit, and 2 Mac., are our sources. The most important passage, and one which formed the groundwork, so to speak, of many subsequent delineations of man’s relation to the spirit-world, is To 1212-45 (ef, Rev 84): ‘When thou didst pray, and Sarah thy daughter-in-law, I did bring the memorial of your prayer before the Holy One: and when thou didst bury the dead, I was with thee likewise. ... And now God did send me to heal thee and Sarah thy daughter-in-law. Tam Raphael, one of the seven holy angels, which present the prayers of the saints, and go in before the glory of the Holy One.’ This passage teaches still more clearly than the Books of Zechariah and Daniel that there is a distinction of rank among the angels. Raphael is one of seven who stand in the immediate presence of God; from Lk 12° and Rev 8? we learn that Gabriel was also a member of Tobit’s heptarchy. This idea, which was prob- ably taken from the customs of Oriental palaces, where dignitaries were wont to gather round the throne, and which at all events had been embodied in the religion of Zoroaster, attains great promi- nence in the Jewish Apocalyptic literature. In spite of the weighty authority of A. B. Davidson, who observes, ‘The number seven already appears in Ezk 9°, and there is noneed to refer it to Persian influence’ (art. ANGELS in vol. i.), it is difficult to resist the conviction that the seven amshas- pands or princes of light suggested the seven Jewish archangels. So Winer, RW, art. ‘Engel’; Ewald, HI v. p. 185; Nicolas, Des Doctrines Religieuses des Juifs; Cheyne, OP p. 335. At the same time there is no reason to suppose that the entire scheme of the supersensible world elaborated in the Avesta, became part of the creed of Judaism. While the Persian influence is traceable, and while there are general points of resemblance in the angelology of
‘good government’; (4) Spenta-armaiti = ‘meek piety’; (5) Haurvatat = ‘perfection’; (6) Ameretat = ‘immortality’; (7)
Ahura-mazda= ‘the supreme god himself.’
* Jerus. Talmud, Résh-hashand, p. 56,
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the two systems, there is nothing like absolute identity. It is further implied in the passage under review, that according to their position in this hierarchy particular functions are performed by particular angels. The great business of ‘the seven’ is to ‘present the prayers of the saints.’ It _ seems to follow from this that the prayers of the
pious are directed to the angels for this purpose ; compare, on the other hand, Rev 228, Another belief, clearly reflected in Tobit, is that some angels are charged with the protection of individual men : ‘A good angel shall go with him, and his journey shall be prospered, and he shall return safe and sound’ (5*!). ‘Good’ is here evidently not descrip- tive of the angel’s character as opposed to evil angels, but to his office of guardianship, in keeping with the statement of v.48‘God . . . shall prosper your journey; and may his angel go with you.’
The Israelites thought of the superhuman powers, .
not as good and evil but as benevolent or anta- gonistic. If the idea of angelic guardianship of individual men appears at all in the OT (Ps 34’ 91"), it does so in a far less definite shape than here. In NT times, on the other hand, this belief seems to have been quite current (Ac 12”). An interesting example of its recurrence in modern literature is found in Lessing’s Nathan der Weise, where Recha, Nathan’s adopted daughter, is made to say— ‘Ich also, ich hab’ einen Engel