Tag: angels

Why Three Angels?

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
Genesis 18:2 (NIV)

In Genesis 18, we have this odd story about three men who meet Abraham. We’ll learn that they are angels, as two of them continue on to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in the next chapter.

The Rabbis ask, “Why THREE angels? Couldn’t one angel have done it all?”

In response, they suggest that perhaps an angel can only carry out one mission:

One to make an announcement
One to overthrow the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
One to cure Abraham after his circumcision

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.
Rashi on Genesis 18:1:1a

This may sound farfetched, but they have a reason for this. If you read through Genesis 18 and 19, the men switch between answering in the plural and in the singular at different times in the chapter.

You may know that this is so because throughout this section it (Scripture) mentions them in the plural — “and they ate” (Genesis 18:8), “and they said unto him” (Genesis 18:9) — whilst in the case of the announcement it states, (Genesis 18:10) “And he said, I will certainly return unto thee”, and with regard to the overthrow of Sodom it says (Genesis 19:22) “For “I” cannot do anything” and (Genesis 19:21) “that “I” will not overthrow [the city]”. Raphael who healed Abraham went thence to rescue Lot; that explains what is stated (Genesis 19:17) “And it came to pass when they had brought them forth, that he said, Escape for thy life”, for you learn from this that only one of these acted as Deliverer.
Rashi on Genesis 18:1:1b

While that’s all very interesting, the most challenging thing about the chapter is that the men also appear to be interchangeable with God. Sometimes Abraham is speaking to the angels, and sometimes the text says he is speaking to God.

When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
Genesis 18:16-17 (NIV)

There’s no concensus here. It’s a mystery. But it’s from this chapter that the notion of some kind of triune nature of God first shows up in the text. Not in the “Father/Son/Holy-Spirit” kind of way, but at least something that shows that God is more complex than we realize.

The Birds

Posted on by jovial_cynic

After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.
Genesis 8:6-7 (NIV)

I’ve mentioned the three land animals being a symbol of all people: wild animals, livestock, and creeping things.

I don’t think birds are people at all in the story. We already associate doves with the spirit of God, but ravens? Perhaps they represent something else entirely.

And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
Job 2:2 (NIV)

Song of Noah

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Song of Songs is a poem about a man who loves a woman, to the exclusion of all other woman. She is elevated above all other women, and adorned as such.

The story isn’t about the rejection of other women in the poem. It’s about a special relationship.

In a way, the story of Noah and the Flood in Genesis 6 and 7 is the same story as the Song of Songs.

Here is the difference:

Perhaps neither of these “other” groups are meant to point to people.

The “other women” in Song of Songs are the heavenly hosts that cheer the union.

The “people not on the boat” are the demonic forces that God will destroy because they desire to harm His bride.

Comments on Commentary

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Some rabbis have suggested that the Genesis 5:3 statement that Seth was in “Adam’s likeness: hints at Genesis 6’s world of weird angel/hybrid creatures.

Adam himself is TECHNICALLY not “just a human,” being born of dirt and spirit.

ויולד בדמותו כצלמו, “he begot a son in his likeness in his image;” the emphasis on this is to show us that anything he begot during the previous 129 years were only creatures that did not reflect his likeness or image, i.e. disembodied spirits, mostly מזיקים, injurious, destructive spirits. (Compare 3,20)
Chizkuni on Genesis 5:3

BUT.

Other rabbis in the Midrash have said that being “in Adam’s likeness” meant that he was… born circumcised.

He was righteous (Gen. 6:9). This suggests that he was one of the seven men born circumcised. Adam and his son Seth were born circumcised, as it is written: He begot a son in his own likeness after his image, and he called him Seth (Gen. 5:3).
Midrash Tanchuma on Genesis 5:3

Which is, by the way, NOT ANY WEIRDER THAN ANGEL/HUMAN MONSTER BABIES.

So, always take commentary with a grain of salt. Even mine.

Angels, Giants, and Men

Posted on by jovial_cynic

When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.
Genesis 6:1-2 (NIV)

There are 2 schools of thought on the “sons of God” in Genesis 6. This phrase “benei ha-elohim” can either be:

1. Angels who impregnated women
2. Men of Seth’s “godly” lineage who mixed w/ Cain’s line.

In interpretation 1, the Nephilim are monsters and giants. In interpretation 2, they are evil humans.

Either way, whether you believe the “sons of God” refers to angels or men in Seth’s line, neither position requires you to believe that the events actually happened.

The goal is to try to understand what the text intends to teach us, and the lesson may be the same either way.

That said, I strongly believe that Genesis 6 is meant to tell us a story about angels who took human form and impregnated women. Not that I think it literally happened, but I think that’s what the story is saying. And this is primarily because “daughters of Adam” cannot just mean “daughters of Cain.”

Besides, Jude and Peter aren’t going to quote from the Book of Enoch if they don’t think their audience is familiar with the book of Enoch and understand what says. And what it says is that angels impregnated women and those women gave birth to monsters. Later, war. And then the flood.