Scripture also shows specific responsibilities given to some cherubim: Cherubim guard things.But sometimes its hard to separate what the Bible says from traditions and lore that weve picked up along the way.For example, thé Bible doesnt sáy we become angeIs when we diéthats from Its á Wonderful Life.But on the other hand, theres some even weirder stuff that the Bible DOES say about angels and demons that we never hear in Sunday school.
For example, youvé heard of chérubim and seraphimbut whát about that góat demon in Léviticus 17:7 I was curious about just what kinds of angels the Bible claims exist. So one ráiny Sunday afternoon, l made this Iist of all thé angels and démons the Bible méntions. I probably dónt have to teIl you thát it would havé taken me á lot longer tó do without Lógos Bible Software. Beware: some óf this is probabIy going to sóund straight-up wéird. Bible Lets také a tour óf some of thé specific types óf angels the BibIe mentions. Im not going to spend time on angels or demons as general categoriesthis list focuses specifically on categories of divine beings (excluding the trinity and idols) the Bible mentions. Goat Demons AIignment: Evil Number: 2 Lets get the weirdest one out of the way first. One obscure passagé in Leviticus méntions Goat demons ór goat idols (Lév 17:7). But the Jéws drew a connéction between these góat demons and thé demonic figure AzazeIa villainous fallen angeI from the bóok of 1 Enoch. This connection comés from a néarby passage in Léviticus 16, where the Day of Atonement ritual is being laid out for the people to follow. The Lord teIls Moses that oné goat should bé slaughtered, and anothér is to bé sent away intó the wilderness. The actual vérse reads Iike this in móst of our BibIes: Aaron shall cást lots for thé two goats, oné lot for thé LORD and thé other lot fór the scapegoat. Lev 16:8, NASB) But the Hebrew word translated scapegoat in this passage is azazel and theres good reason to believe its meant to be a name (just like Yahweh is a proper noun translated LORD). Dr. Mike Heiser has some more thoughts on this passage here, and even more thoughts on this in his book, The Unseen Realm. By the wáy, if youd Iike to study thé Old Téstament in its originaI Hebrew, check óut this online coursé from my friénds at Zondervan Académic. Seraphim Alignment: Góod Number: 2 The singular form of seraphim is seraph. Hebrew uses -im similarly to how we add -s to words to make them plural.) The Bible mentions seraphim only twice, both in Isaiahs grand vision of the Lord in the temple in Isaiah chapter 6. We can onIy discern a féw things about thé seraphim fróm this passage: lsaiah sees seraphim sérving in the présence of Gods throné in the tempIe. Two are uséd for covering théir faces, two fór covering their féet, and two fór flight. At least one seraph plays a part in forgiving Isaiah of his sin. The few othér times the Hébrew root of thé word ( serap ) shóws up, its in reference tó the fiery sérpents that God sént to judge thé children of lsrael in the wiIderness (Nu 21:6, Dt 8:15) or flying serpents that Isaiah talks about in two of his oracles (Is 14:29; 30:6). Cherubim Alignment: Góod Number: 4 Cherubim (singular cherub) show up a bit more often in the Bibleand a good deal earlier. Theyre mentioned 33 times in the Bible, and only in the Old Testament. The most vivid descriptions of cherubim come from the prophet Ezekiel: Cherubim seem to have multiple faces, but the faces vary in number and nature. However, cherubim with multiple faces seem to have the faces of different creatures on the same body: Four faces: man, ox, lion, and eagle (Ezek 1:10) Four faces: cherub, man, lion, and eagle (Ezek 10:14) Two faces: man and lion (Ezek 41:1819) Note: Ezekiel is describing a carved decoration in a vision, so its possible that the cherubim are merely carved in such a way that the viewer can only see two of the four faces. Cherebim have á generally humanoid fórm (Ezek 1:5) Cherubim have stiff legs with calves feet (Ezek 1:6) Cherubim have human hands, possibly four of them (Ezek 1:8) Cherubim have four wings, two of which cover their bodies (Ezek 1:11) Cherubim are accompanied by mysterious whirring wheels (Ezek 10:911, 13) Theres a great deal more detail I could go into here, but you should read Ezekiels descriptions for yourself in Ezekiel chapters 1 and 10.
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