2. Angelsas perfur,,ii)ii/ /i/i'/ur,,/ actions. This is an ancient reprcMiit.iiiDii nt which the OT furnishes many instaiirr> : 1'^ !)P"- (eited ^114", Lk 4'"'-), 'angels. . . sliall l..,n t li>c u|m,u their hands' ; in Dn 6'-- angels sluit tin- Ih.h-,' mouths; in Ps34'' angels encamp ro\niil .ilmnt tlirm that fear God ; so in Apocryplia (Bel ^", Three -"). It is therefore precisely in accord with Jewish modes of thouglit that we read in Mt 28^ 'Tliere was a great earth- quake : for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled away the stone' ; and in Mk V ' He was with the wild beasts ; and tlie angels ministered unto him ' (cf. Mt 4").
3. As performing psi/chical actions. When Jesus was in the garden, ani ' being in an agony jirayed more earnestly,' we are told that ' there appeared to him an angel from heaven strengthcninq him ' (Lk 22«).* So in Dn 10"'- Daniel records that there was 'no strength in him, and no breath left in him,' and an an^l ' touched him and strengthened him.' The Hebrews drew no dis- tinction between the physical and the psychical. It was in their regard just as easy for these siiiritual existences to roll away a stone as to infuse vigour into the system, and give power to the enfeebled nerves and will.
4. Angels are deputed to guard the righteous from danger. In Gn 24' Abraliam prays for his servant: 'May God send his angel before thee'; and Jacob saw angels ' ascending and descending ' over him in his sleep (Gn 28'-). In the time of Christ it was a Jewish belief not merely that angels are sent to guide and guard men, but also that every man lias his oivn guardian spirit, or, as others teach, two guardians. In the Talmudic treatise Beml-hoth (606), when a man goes into an unch'rin ]il'ifi' hp prays his guardian angels to wait
(int-il ■ I'M 1 'inns. In Pal. Targum to Gn 33'"
Jai' i' ' I i HI, 'I have seen thy face as if I saw Mm i,i., ,1 ///)/ angel'; on Gn 48'" the same Taimuii iiaiU; ■ May the angel whom thou hast assigned to me bless the lads.' Similarly the Solutr
* On the question of the genuineness of this passage s'otes on Select Readings 'in Westcott and Hort' s NT in
Greek.
to Exodus (p. 190) says ; ' From the 13th year of a man and onwards, God assigns to every man two angels, one on the right hand and one on the left ; and the Testament of Joseph (c. 6) names the angel of Abraham as the guardian of Joseph. It is here more than elsewhere that we seem to recog- nize the influence of Persia on Jewish beliefs.
The question now occurs. What connexion is there between the above and Mt 18"' ' See that ye despise not one of these little ones, for I say unto you, that their angels in heaven continually behold the face of my Father who is in heaven'? It is evident that 'their angels' means angels that watch over them. But did our Lord refer to the 'angels of the presence' or to individual guardian angels? The former is more probable for two reasons— (1) It was not part of the Jewish creed that any angels behold the face of God except the archangels ; (2) the guardian spirits accom- panying men on earth could hardly at the same time be said to be in heaven continually beholding the face of the Father who is in heaven. The allusion probably is, then, to the 'angels of the presence,' and especially to Michael the guardian of the pious and the helpless. It must be admitted that in Ac 12'^ we seem to have the popular Jewish notion in all its later development. When many brethren were met in the house of Mary, mother of John Mark, and were unable to believe that Peter had really been delivered, they said to Khoda, first, 'Thou art mad,' and then, 'It is his angel.' This, if pushed to its apparent implica- tions, seems to contain an allusion to a notion which occurs in some Jewish writings, that heaven is a counterpart of earth, and every man has his double in the celestial sphere ; or at all events tlie guardian angel is like him whom he guards. It is quite likely, however, that on the lips of the disciples these words might be merely an allusion to a popular conception, without carrying with them any literal belief.
5. Angels visit wrath on the adversaries of the righteoiis. This is implied in Christ's words : ' See that ye despise not one of these little ones' (Mt IS'"). The word opare implies ' beware ! ' and the teaching clearly is that angels are capable of punishing any who injure tliose whom it is their business to guard. The OT contains instances of their punitive abilities. It was an angel of the Lord who smote 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians (2 K 19^), and who destroyed the chil- dren of Israel till, when he came to Jerusalem, the Lord said to him, ' It is enough ' ('2 S 24''') ; and Ps 3.5='- 2)resents a picture calculated to inspire terror in every breast: 'Let them be as chaff before the wind, the angel of the Lord driving them on. Let their way be dark and slippery, the angel of the Lord pursuing them.' It is very noteworthy that the Lord Jesus, even in His hour of intensest agony, drew lonifiut finm the thought of angelic help. It Ma-~ a 11 a I ( oaifcirt to Him that the angels were at iln xaitiul, if He needed them. The military ''■nul kal l>y Judas could not arrest or injure Him unless He voluntarily submitted Him- self to them. He had 'authority to lay down' His 'life' ; and when the struggle was over, and the resolve retaken that the path of the cross was the path of duty, He conveyed to the Eleven the fact of His self-surrender by saying to Peter, who had impetuously used the sword in his Lord's defence, ' Thinkest thou that I cannot now beseech the Father, and he would even now send me more than twelve legions of angels ' ? (Mt 26*^). We note here that tlie prayer is not to be addressed to angels. There are very few instances of Jews praying to angels. The Piabbis discouraged it. Every pious Jew would, as Jesus did, pray to God that He would send angelic ministry ; as in 2 Mac