What is seraphs of heaven?

Answer 1

Another answer from our community:

Seraphim are are celestial beings whom Isaiah saw standing before the throne of God when he was called to his prophetic ministry. They were seen by Isaiah as having hands, faces, voices of men and stood upright, they had 3 pairs of wings.

The word seraphim means 'burning ones'. Seraphim is a plural word so maybe seraph is singular.
The word seraphim, literally "burning ones", transliterates a Hebrew plural noun; translation yields seraphs. The singular, "seraph", is more properly rendered sarap. The word sarap/seraphim appears three times in the Torah (Numbers 21:6-8, Deuteronomy 8:15) and four times in the Book of Isaiah(6:2-6, 14:29, 30:6). In Numbers and Deuteronomy the "seraphim" are serpents -- the association of serpents as "burning ones" is possibly due to the burning sensation of the poison. Isaiah also uses the word in close association with words to describe snakes (nahash, the generic word for snakes, in 14:29, and efeh, viper, in 30:6).

Answer 2

Reference is made in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 6, to seraphim (sing: seraph or Hebrew, śārāf), who were part of God's retinue and it seems they were six-winged creatures of fire, but Isaiah did not identify the seraphim with angels. Keel and Uehlinger (Gods, Goddesses and Images of God in Ancient Israel) note that mythological four- and six-winged cobras are found in Egyptian mythology and even in Israel, and that the Hebrew name for cobras and the mythological variety is śārāf ('the one that burns'). They say that the Seraphim found in Isaiah can only be viewed as the same mythological creatures.


On the other hand, Christian tradition has seen Seraphim become a class of angels, along with Cherubim, Thrones, Dominations, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and (lowest of all) simple 'angels'.

Answer 3

Jewish tradition states that there are ten kinds of angels, with the seraphim being one of these kinds.

Answer 4

six winged angels of heaven