Dear Gabby,
How did the early Jews view the angels, most specifically St. Michael, and how do Jewish people today acknowledge them? Did they ever pray to the angels for God’s intervention?
Vivat Jesus,
Bob
Dear Bob,
Thanks for sending your question. Catholicism has deep roots in Judaism and we take many of our prayers and traditions from the ancient faith. Angelology (study of angels) certainly grew out of the Old Testament and how the Jews saw angels.
The Old Testament is filled with references to angels – there’s the angel that guards the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve are banished (Gen 3), the angel that tells Abraham that Sarah will bear a child (Gen 18), the angel that stops Abraham from sacrificing Isaac (Gen 22), the angel that announces to Samson’s mother that she will have a quite exceptional child (Judges 13) and the archangel, Raphael, who appeared as a guide in the book of Tobit. This is only the beginning of the list.
The Hebrew word for angel, “mal’ach,” means messenger. Some of the medieval Jewish theologians say that angels perform tasks that are below the dignity of God to do and other theologians say that angels give God “cover” and permit God to distance himself from certain deeds (think the angel of death who killed all the firstborn at Passover).
Some Jewish folklore see angels as guardians, similar to how Catholics view angels. A famous Jewish bedtime prayer goes like this: In the name of HASHEM, God of Israel, may Michael be at my right, Gabriel at my left, Uriel before me, and Raphael behind me; and above my head the [Shechina] (1.10, p. 295).
However, in Judaism, God is God alone and angels don’t have wills of their own, they only do God’s will. For today’s Reform and Orthodox Jews, the existence of angels is more symbolic. Only the Hasidim Orthodox Jews literally believe in angels.
For Him,
Gabby
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