De Moor IX:1: The Term, "Angels": Part 1

ANGEL is a term of Office, more than of Nature.  ISIDORE,[1] book VII of Originum, chapter V:  The language of Angels is a term of office, not of nature.  For they are always spirits; but, when they are sent, they are called Angels….  They are called Angels, because they are sent from heaven to deliver messages to men.

This is further gathered from the signification of this name, for it denotes a Messenger or Legate.  Indeed, Angel is the Greek term Ἄγγελος/Angelos/Messenger, from ἀγγέλλω, to announce, concerning the Etymology of which last verb I am unwilling to contend with anyone.  GUSSETIUS,[2] in his Commentario Linguæ Hebraicæ, on the term נֶגֶד, page 494b, derives ἀγγέλλω/angello, to bear a message, from הִגִּיד/higgid, to announce, with the ὁμοργάνοις/similar-forming ד/d and ל/l exchanged, says he, rather than from ἄγγαρος, mounted courier, which is even more recent.  Yet GERHARD JOHANN VOSSIUS[3] in his Etymologico derives it from ἄγγαρος, mounted courier, observing that λ/l often disappears in ρ/r, and vice versa.  Now, ἄγγαρος, mounted courier, and ἀγγαρεύειν, to press into service (as a courier),[4] are terms that came to the Greeks from the Persians.  But among the Persians the Envoys of the King, οἱ ἐκ διαδοχῆς γραμματοφόροι, the letter-carriers of the relay, were called ἄγγαροι κατ᾽ ἐξοχὴν, par excellence, according to SUIDAS;[5] those that carried in relay the royal letters.  Ἡ λέξις δὲ Περσική·  σημαίνει δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἐκ διαδοχῆς βασιλικοὺς γραμματοφόρους,  It is a Persian term:  and it signifies the royal letter-carriers of the relay, in HESYCHIUS:[6]  which sort of royal Envoys had the right to seize whoever’s horses or ships, and indeed the men themselves, on their course.  PERIZONIUS,[7] Originibus Babylonicis, chapter XI, pages 204, 205, thinks that both are to be pleaded, so that ἄγγελος/angelos and ἀγγέλλω/angello are formed either from the ἄγγαρος, mounted courier, of the Persians, or from the Hebrew אִגֶּרֶת/iggereth/Epistle, with the letter R changed into an L, as it often happens.  But I should think, says he, that this origin is so much the more certain, inasmuch as in Hesychius I also read ἀγγέριος, even indeed expounded by ἄγγελος/angelos, and inasmuch as Xenophon[8] and Suidas, in explaining the office of the Persian ἀγγάρων, mounted couriers, also make use of the language of ἀγγέλων/angelon.  RELAND[9] in turn, in Dissertation VIII de Veteri Lingua Persica, § 15, Dissertationibus Miscellaneis, part II, pages 126, 127, derives ἄγγελος/angelos from the Persian word Agaliden, or Angaliden, to rouse someone, to urge, to excite, to drive away, to carry off, to compel to flee, to press.  But if, says he, we derive ἄγγαρος/Angaros from this term Agaliden, we will readily perceive that Angels were so called from the same, and that ἄγγελος/angelos does not much differ from ἄγγαρος/ angaros:  …yet in such a way that the term Angel, I know not by what fate, was made more general, and ἄγγαρος/Angaros was used more particularly for the messengers of the Persians alone, who had been accustomed to compel others into the service of the king.  With pleasure do I hear from learned Men critical observations of this sort concerning the Etymology of terms:  but to me, where it is abundantly evident concerning the signification of the terms ἀγγέλλω/angello and ἄγγελος/angelos, the remaining disputation appears to be all but goats’ wool.

To the Greek ἄγγελος/angelos corresponds מַלְאָךְ/malach of the Hebrews, from the root לאך, to send a messenger, unused in the sacred books.  However, almost all the Learned today embrace the opinion of LOUIS DE DIEU,[10] who in his Animadversionibus in Veteris Testamenti libros omnes, on Genesis 48:16, observed that מלאך is certainly to be devired from לאך, which verb does not indeed occur in the Sacred Codex, but is quite common in the Æthiopic Tongue, signifying in the first conjugation to send.  And indeed, in a similar manner GOLIUS[11] in his Lexico Arabico, column 2089, has this as the root, which, among the Arabs, in the fourth Conjugation, الاك, also denotes to send; whence also among the same is derived ملاك, Malachon, Angel.  And so מַלְאָךְ/malach denotes a Messenger, a Legate.

In other places, instead of this official name, is a name more οὐσιῶδες or essential, Spirits, which indicates the Spiritual nature of Angels, Job 4:15; Luke 9:39; etc.  Also various cognomens were given to them, according to the dignity in which they were placed and according to the power with which they were furnished.  Thus they are called gods and the Sons of God, Psalm 97:7; Job 1:6; 2:1, because they were created by God, and by creation were furnished with the divine Image, to such an extent that they far excel even men in wisdom, holiness, and especially glory.  They are called ‎עִירִין/watchers, the wakeful, Daniel 4:13, 17, 23, not only because they, being without natural bodies, are ceaselessly vigilant, and never sleep; but also because they are awake and ready to extol the glory of God, to carry out and execute the commands of God, and to furnish whatever services to their Lord and God.  For, although our AUTHOR, Exercitationibus Textualibus XXI, Part I, § 2, left it undetermined, whether by this name the Triune God comes to be understood, or His Angelic Ministers:  ODÉ,[12] in his Commentario de Angelis, section VIII, chapter I, § 1, pages 735-738, rightly adds that, with the objects of Zornius[13] to the contrary answered, by עִירִין/watchers in the context cited in Daniel, Angels are to be understood, among other reasons, 1.  because Nebuchadnezzar, in Daniel 4:13, in a dream saw a Watcher and an Holy One come down from heaven; which action is more agreeable to an Angel, than to a divine Person; see Genesis 28:12:  which argument, nevertheless, is more probable than apodictic; see Genesis 11:7.  2.   Because he heard the same cry out with strength, verse 14, which cry best agrees with an Angel as a messenger of God and herald of divine oracles; see Isaiah 6:3.  3.  Because, since not Daniel, who was knowledgeable in divine things, but Nebuchadnezzar, undoubtedly ignorant with respect to that mystery, said in verse 17, by the decree of the Watchers was this matter, etc., he did not contemplate the Watchers as Persons of the Most Holy Trinity, but as Angels, as legates and interpreters, and as executors, perhaps even authors of that decree; and so he thought the same to be Watches and Holy assessors and Counselors of God.  Which error Daniels appears to have corrected in verse 24, in which he attributes that Decree, not to the Watchers, but to the Most High, that is, to God.  4.  Because Nebuchadnezzar did indeed know, that God sends His Angel to men, as it is evident from Daniel 3:28; but it is not able to be proven with any evidence, that he knew that a Person of the Most Holy Trinity might come down from heaven to men:  but, if he did not know it, neither by Watcher was he able to understand such a Person, nor by the Decree of the Watchers that of the Most Holy Trinity.  5.  Hence out of the Greek Versions of this context the name of Ἐγρηγόρων/Watchers, the Wakeful, appears to have adhered to the Angels, or to a certain order of them, among the Ancients:  compare the same ODÉ, Commentario de Angelis, section III, chapter I, § 16, page 325.  BUDDEUS, whom see in his Historia ecclesiastica Veteris Testamenti, period II, section V, § 3, tome 2, page 633, affirms that it is beyond controversy, that by the name of עִירִין/Watchers in the passages cited from Daniel are signified Angels.  That by עִיר/Watcher and עִירִין/Watchers in Daniel 4:13, 17, 23, are to be understood good created Angels, is similarly held by JACQUES ALEXANDRE VOS in his Commentario in Danielem; but to whom the conjecture of CLOPPENBURG[14] is also probable, in his Collatione criticæ cum DE DIEU, to whom neither is the same displeasing, opera Cloppenburgii, tome I, page 335, concerning the term עִיר here being not purely Hebraic denoting a Watcher, but through the Chaldaic change of צ into ע, which sort also obtains in Daniel 4:19, 20, in עָר/enemy and ‎אַרְעָא/earth[15] from the Hebrew צָר/enemy and אֶרֶץ/ earth, answering to the Hebrew word צִיר/messenger, which is interchangeable with מַלְאָךְ/malach/angel, and is used for legate, herald, Proverbs 13:17;[16] 25:13;[17] Jeremiah 49:14;[18] etc.; with SCHULTENS[19] observing concerning the signification of this term in Proverbs 13:17, “צִיר, messenger, interpreter, legate, so called after the illustrative figure of a Hinge,[20] as it were.  Thus the Hinges of Business.  But these things elsewhere.  Moreover, they are called θρόνοι/thrones, κυριότητες/ dominions, ἀρχαί/principalities, and ἐξουσίαι/powers, Colossians 1:16;[21] Ephesians 3:10;[22] 1:21,[23] on account of their excellence, dignity, and power, in which they are recognized to excel even the most powerful earthly Kings, when God at length remands His terrible judgments to them for execution:  compare SUICERUS,[24] Observationum Sacrarum, chapter XI, pages 281-283; ARNOLDI,[25] Refutatione Catecheseos Racovianæ, de Officio Christi Regio, questions 16, 17, § VIII, IX, pages 672, 673.  They are found emblematically under the name of the Morning Stars, Job 38:7, on account of the Light of their wisdom, holiness, joy, and glory, wherewith they shine, and adorn the Supreme Heaven, no less than the Stars, properly so called, do the Firmament.  To which add their early morning Creation, on the first day of the World, in the ancient morning of this World, with darkness hitherto prevailing.

[1] Isidore (c. 560-636) was Archbishop of Seville and a bright and shining light of learning in the intellectual darkness of his age.  He presided over the Second Council of Seville (619), which ruled against Arianism, and the Fourth Council of Toledo, which required bishops to establish seminaries in their principal cities.

[2] Jacques Gousset (1635-1704) was a French Reformed philologist and theologian.  He studied under Louis Cappel at Saumur, and was ordained to the ministry at Poitiers.  He left France in 1685, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and served as Professor of Greek at Groningen (1691-1704).

[3] Gerhard Johann Vossius (1577-1649) was a Dutch classical scholar and theologian.  In 1619, his Historia Pelagiana brought him into suspicion of Arminianism.

[4] Matthew 5:41:  “And whosoever shall compel (ἀγγαρεύσει) thee to go a mile, go with him twain.”  Matthew 27:32:  “And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name:  him they compelled (ἠγγάρευσαν) to bear his cross.”

[5] Suidas was the compiler of the Suda, an encyclopedia containing more than thirty thousand entries concerning the ancient Mediterranean world.  It was probably composed in tenth-century Byzantium.

[6] Hesychius of Alexandria (fifth century AD) composed a Greek lexicon of almost fifty-one thousand entries, filled with explanations of rare and obscure words and phrases.

[7] Jacobus Perizonius (1651-1715) was a Dutch scholar, excelling in the fields of theology, rhetoric, and history.

[8] Xenophon (c. 427-355 BC) was a mercenary soldier, who traveled extensively in the East.  He was also an acquaintance and admirer of Socrates.

[9] Adriaan Reland (1676-1718) was a Dutch scholar.  He was appointed to the University of Utrecht, first as Professor of Oriental languages (1701-1713), then as Professor of Sacred Antiquities (1713-1718).

[10] Louis de Dieu (1590-1642) was a Dutch Reformed minister, linguist, and orientalist.  He brought his considerable learning to bear upon the interpretation of the Scripture.

[11] Jacobus Golius (1596-1667) was a Dutch Reformed Orientalist.  He served as Professor of Mathematics and Arabic at Leiden (1629-1667).  Golius was first the pupil, then the successor, of Erpenius.  His Lexicon Arabico-Latinum was probably his most important contribution.

[12] Jacobus Odé (1698-1751) served as Professor of Philosophy (1723-1743), Professor of Theology (1727-1736), and Professor of Astronomy and Mathematics (1743-1751), at Utrecht.

[13] Petrus Zornius (1682-1746) was a German Lutheran philologist, historian, and educator.

[14] Johann Cloppenburg (1592-1652) was a Dutch Reformed theologian and controversialist.  He studied at the University of Leiden, and held various ministerial posts until his appointment as professor at the University of Harderwijk (1641), and then at Franeker (1643).  He was a lifelong friend of Voetius, and colleague of Cocceius at Franeker.

[15] Daniel 4:19, 20:  “Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonied for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him.  The king spake, and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream, or the interpretation thereof, trouble thee.  Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies (‎לְעָרַיִךְ).  The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth (‎אַרְעָא)…”

[16] Proverbs 13:17:  “A wicked messenger (‎מַלְאָ֣ךְ רָ֭שָׁע) falleth into mischief:  but a faithful ambassador (‎וְצִ֖יר אֱמוּנִ֣ים) is health.”

[17] Proverbs 25:13:  “As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger (‎צִ֣יר נֶ֭אֱמָן) to them that send him:  for he refresheth the soul of his masters.”

[18] Jeremiah 49:14:  “I have heard a rumour from the Lord, and an ambassador (‎וְצִיר) is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.”

[19] Albert Schultens (1686-1750) was a Reformed scholar and philologist.  He served as Professor of Hebrew at Franeker (1713-1729), and Professor of Oriental Languages at Leiden (1732-1750).  In his day, he was the pre-eminent teacher of Arabic in Europe.

[20] צִיר can signify a pivot or hinge.

[21] Colossians 1:16:  “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers (εἴτε θρόνοι, εἴτε κυριότητες, εἴτε ἀρχαί, εἴτε ἐξουσίαι):  all things were created by him, and for him…”

[22] Ephesians 3:10:  “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers (ταῖς ἀρχαῖς καὶ ταῖς ἐξουσίαις) in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God…”

[23] Ephesians 1:21:  “Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion (πάσης ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐξουσίας καὶ δυνάμεως καὶ κυριότητος), and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come…”

[24] John Caspar Suicer (1620-1684) was a Swiss theologian and philologist.  He studied at Saumur and Montauban, and served as Professor of Hebrew and Greek at the University of Zurich (1660).

[25] Nicolaus Arnoldi (1618-1680) was Professor of Theology at Franeker (1651-1680).