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the trend is SO ANNOYING. what is a biblically accurate angel? ask anyone who hasnt actually read the bible but googles "biblically accurate angel" and selects tiktok or tumblr or an AI generated image as a source and theyll say "a ring of wings with a thousand eyes" or something similar. fact is, we dont have just one description of angels in the bible, and the descriptions we do have are vague
in the bible, angels are mostly described as human-like or entirely human, if theyre described at all. literally just humans with a pair or 2 or 3 of wings or none
"Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew." (Isaiah 6:2)
^fresco painting of a seraph in the hagia sophia grand mosque
literally, angels can just look like normal humans:
"Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it." (Hebrews 13:2)
it's also implied that while humans can't always see angels, animals can:
"The donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. Thus the donkey turned off the road, and went into the field and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn it back onto the road." (Numbers 22:23)
some passages dont use the word angel but we can infer their identity:
"I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude." (Daniel 10:5-6)
the cherubim and ophanim are described as more complex and otherworldly, taking on animal and/or celestial shapes
the ophanim are the ones people usually think of these days when they hear the term "biblically accurate angels", even though theyre not referred to as angels in the bible
"Their entire bodies, including their backs, hands, and wings, were full of eyes all around, as were their four wheels." (Ezekiel 10:12)
the word ophanim comes from the hebrew word for "wheels", אוֹפַנִּים , ʼōp̄annīm
^ ezekiel's vision, aka the "chariot vision". ophan "wheels" on the far left, cherub (christianity; chayyoth "living creatures/beings", judaism) next to it, and god's throne in the sky
"In Judaism, the living beings are considered angels of fire, who hold up the throne of God. According to the Zohar, they hold up the firmament itself. They are ranked first in Maimonides' Jewish angelic hierarchy. They have also been correlated with four archangels: Michael is the "lion-headed", Raphael the "human-headed", Uriel the "bull-headed", and Gabriel the "eagle-headed.
"In Christianity, the four living creatures are Cherubim. A prominent early interpretation, variously modified by different interpreters, has been to equate the four creatures with the Four Evangelists. Throughout church history, the most common interpretation (first laid out by Victorinus), but not the original or the only, is that the lion represents Mark, the calf Luke, the man Matthew, and the eagle John."
"In Christianity, the four living creatures are Cherubim. A prominent early interpretation, variously modified by different interpreters, has been to equate the four creatures with the Four Evangelists. Throughout church history, the most common interpretation (first laid out by Victorinus), but not the original or the only, is that the lion represents Mark, the calf Luke, the man Matthew, and the eagle John."
technically when talking about ophanim you should call them accurate to judaism, not the bible, because they existed before christianity and the bible which kept the description. tbh i think some people forget the bible is relatively new compared to other abrahamic texts
basically before hopping on a trend you might want to do your own research first. i guess the trend isnt Hurting anyone but its seriously really annoying to see all the blatant misinformation. especially when youre attributing historically jewish beliefs to christianity
to summarize: a biblically accurate angel is literally nothing. it means Nothing because the bible never gives a concrete, detailed description of an angel, but it gives several vague descriptions of various ones. ophanim and cherubim, the ones youll often see depicted as monstrous/scary/celestial are jewish concepts, not originally christian, therefore not biblically accurate but accurate to judaism
Comments
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Koltin
Your brother is unbanned now
thanks for letting me know <3
by ♡ jovi 🐹; ; Report
pocono
THANK YOUUU!! it's so SO important to have a grasp on religous texts before you do stuff/say stuff about them and this trend shows exactly that.
ben
THANK YOU. I hate that trend. Yes, certain angels have crazy looking descriptions but there are different types of angels mentioned in the bible and most of the time when they interact with humans they just come in the form of what looks to be like a human.
akira
ive never really been a believer or religious in general, but i'd like to believe something is there, and i love the thought of angels being that thing
i dont think you have to be religious necessarily to believe in spirits and other beings like that. you can definitely be spiritual and not religious!
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☆Tessa ☆
THANK YOU!!! People need to believe in the Bible and not lean on their own understanding!!
Apav
Angel literally just means messenger, so any messenger that comes from God can be an angel. They aren't all going to be crazy looking. And during the time of Jesus, many Jews believed in guardian angels that looked identical to their human counterpart. Although this isn't biblical, it means that even during the events of the New Testament, people didn't all think angels were multi-headed chaos spirits.
yep!
by ♡ jovi 🐹; ; Report
xX_Dyrk_Nyte_Xx
my fave angel type are the throne angels :3 i love the sillay wheels that go brr
they remind me of a kirby boss . that is a boss you would see, in kirby
by ♡ jovi 🐹; ; Report
Oghhh ya they do..
by xX_Dyrk_Nyte_Xx; ; Report
☆pixiecritter♡
Interesting, I didn't know that. I'm guilty of hopping on this trend j cuz it looked cool
its understandable because they do look sick as hell tbh
by ♡ jovi 🐹; ; Report