Where are angels found in the Bible?

Answer 1

Some see the strangers who visited Abraham and Lot as angels, indeed many English translations of the Hebrew Bible use that word for them. However, the original Hebrew text uses the word, elohim, the Hebrew for gods. When these traditions were written down, they were not perceived to be angels, but gods.

The cherubim, such as those that guarded the path back to the Tree of Life and the images of cherubim that surrounded God's mercy seat in the Book of Exodus, were perceived as sphinx-like creatures with wings, similar to Mesopotamian depictions. Described in Isaiah 6:2, seraphim were said to be part of God's retinue and it seems they were creatures of fire (seraphmeans 'burn'), with six wings.

Angels, such as we perceive today, were never mentioned in scriptures written before the Babylonian Exile. They were messengers of God and did not necessarily have wings. From the time of the Babylonian Exile, they were mentioned frequently in the Old Testament. Matthew and Luke have angels in their nativity accounts, although in different circumstances, and Matthew has an angel appear at the tomb of Jesus. The two men in shining garments who were inside the tomb in Luke's Gospel are not actually called angels, but the intention seems to be that they are regarded as such. Angels are also found in Revelation.

Jews appear to regard Satan as an angel. He is depicted in the Book of Job and in Jewish midrashim as the loyal assistant of God. Satan was written retrospectively into the history of 2 Chronicles, although the parallel passage of the somewhat older Second Book of Kings never mentions him. Christians and Muslims also regard Satan as an angel, but one who has fallen from grace and is now an evil adversary of God. Satan is mentioned in the gospel story of the temptation of Jesus.