Do We Still Believe in Angels?

May your name be praised forever, our king, who creates ministering angels, and whose ministering angels all stand in the heights of the universe...And the ofanim and the chayot hakodesh, with a great noise rise up toward the seraphim, and in their manner offer praise and declare:

(10) A fiery stream issued And came forth from before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him, And ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; The judgment was set, And the books were opened.

(5) And out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man. (6) And every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings. (7) And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot; and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. (8) And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and as for the faces and wings of them four, (9) their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. (10) As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man; and they four had the face of a lion on the right side; and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four had also the face of an eagle. (11) Thus were their faces; and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies. (12) And they went every one straight forward; whither the spirit was to go, they went; they turned not when they went. (13) As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like coals of fire, burning like the appearance of torches; it flashed up and down among the living creatures; and there was brightness to the fire, and out of the fire went forth lightning. (14) And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

(24) So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden the cherubim, and the flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way to the tree of life.

(2) and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood over against him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed down to the earth,

(2) והנה שלשה אנשים AND BEHOLD THREE MEN — one to announce to Sarah the birth of a son, one to overthrow Sodom, and one to cure Abraham, for one angel does not carry out two commissions (Genesis Rabbah 50).

(11) Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov says: One who does a single commandment acquires a single defender. One who does a single sin acquires a single prosecutor. Repentance and good deeds are like a shield against punishment.

(11) "Defender": A good interceding angel.

(1) As for the existence of angels, there is no necessity to cite any proof from Scripture, where the fact is frequently mentioned.

(2) We have already stated above that the angels are incorporeal. This agrees with the opinion of Aristotle: there is only this difference in the names employed--he uses the term "Intelligences," and we say instead "angels." ... But "angel" means "messenger"; hence every one that is intrusted with a certain mission is an angel.

The elements are also called angels. ... It is also used of ideals, perceived by prophets in prophetic visions, and of man's animal powers, as will be explained in another place.

(3) "God does nothing without consulting the host above"

These passages do not convey the idea that God spoke, thought, reflected, or that He consulted and employed the opinion of other beings, as ignorant persons have believed. How could the Creator be assisted by those whom He created! They only show that all parts of the Universe, even the limbs of animals in their actual form, are produced through angels: for natural forces and angels are identical. How bad and injurious is the blindness of ignorance!

Our Sages have already stated--for him who has understanding--that all forces that reside in a body are angels, much more the forces that are active in the Universe. The theory that each force acts only in one particular way, is expressed in Bereshit Rabba (chap. 1.) as follows: "One angel does not perform two things, and two angels do not perform one thing"; this is exactly the property of all forces.

"R. Jochanan said that Judah was about to pass by [without noticing Tamar], but God caused the angel of lust, i.e., the libidinous disposition, to present himself to him." Man's disposition is here called an angel.

(4) We have already stated that the forms in which angels appear form part of the prophetic vision. Some prophets see angels in the form of man, others perceive an angel as a fearful and terrible being, others see them as fire,

Another passage in Bereshit Rabba (ibid.) runs thus: "Before the angels have accomplished their task they are called men, when they have accomplished it they are angels."

(story of Joseph, looking for his brothers) And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying: ‘What seekest thou?’

(15) וימצאהו איש AND A MAN FOUND HIM — This was the angel Gabriel (Genesis Rabbah 84:14) as it is said, (Daniel 10:21) and the man (והאיש) Gabriel”. (or could it have just been a man? can we be "angels" for each other?)