You know how we imagined mermaids all the time but how did the Harry Potter series totally change our view? Now, what if I say that angels, might look very different from what we have so far imagined? Maybe biblically correct angels look a lot different from what we know as a modern society. Here is a little about how the Bible describes the messengers of God, aka the angels.
Today, when we talk about angels, we mean a human with compelling beauty and an addition of feathery wings. Right? However, in the Bible, there are several types of angels, and most of them are really weird. Yes, there are scriptures about human-like angels, but there’s more to it.
Several of the angels described in the Bible have very disturbing looks. Some of them might have a human body with an animal head, or a human head on an animal body. Maybe a being with multiple heads, eyes, and rings around their face embodied with tiny eyes on them. You got the picture, right? Let’s dive more into the descriptions from the Bible now.
Introduction to Biblically Correct Angels
The first angel of Biblically mentioned in the Bible comes in the Old Testament- Book of Genesis. In the early chapters where Adam and Eve are mentioned, we find the records about the angel as well. The paradise, aka, the Garden of Eden where the first man and woman lived was guarded by an angel. And to our surprise, it had an ever-turning fiery sword as the gatekeeper. This mention totally breaks the image of angels being soft and comforting rather than scary and fierce.
The next angel whom we cross in the Old Testament is from the Book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel, the Hebrew prophet described his dream in this book where he sees God sitting on a throne of “lapis lazuli”. However, he also saw four more living creatures surrounding the God. He described them as human-like but with some bizarre alterations. Each one of those creatures had four heads and four wings with straight feet like those of calves. Their feet looked like it was of burnished bronze.
He further described that out of those four heads, only one was of a human, the others were of an eagle, an ox, and a lion. And, these creatures looked fierce and had wheels surrounding them which had eyes on them. Hard to think of them as angels, right? But yes, they were the messengers of God.
Angels’ Hierarchy according to the Bible
According to the Bible, there is a hierarchy of these angels, and there are a total of nine variations of them. Also, the one described by Ezekiel is on the top of that hierarchy as a many-eyes ophanim and four-faced cherubim. Maybe the Devil was one of these cherubims before he became a fallen angel.
Then comes the Serphims, often described as the “fiery angels” with six wings. They are known to use four of their wings to cover themselves in front of God. This is to show their respect and modesty to him. While they use the rest two wings to fly. Next are the Ophanims, the giant angels. They have glowing wheels inside wheels surrounding them and eyes all over them. They are often referred to as thrones too as they served as God’s throne.
These Biblically accurate angels make up the first three tiers of the hierarchy as Ophanims (four-headed), Serphims, and Ophanims (the giants). The angels after them turn more humanly as they spend more time among the humans. However, the first three mostly upheld heaven and the throne and served God.
Lastly, we have the third tier of angels, also known as the archangels or the principalities. They are the most similar to the ones that we often see portrayed in the sculptures or paintings in the modern day. They are said to be the guards of the human realm, the oceans, continents, countries, or a group of humans. The principalities lead other angels to carry out a plan for God and work the most closely with humans.
The modern portrayal of the Angels
The Book of Revelation of the Old Testament talks about angels and describes them in a way that we might think is contrasting to what we think of them.
It all started in 1946 in Indianapolis when a general store included images of cherubs in their catalog. However, these cherubs were totally different from Ezekiel’s cherubims. In recent years, the Christian media all over the world have portrayed angels like plums and super cute babies. They have beautiful eyes, Greek hair, and milky skin with a pair of white feathery wings. They are called cherubim or the cherubs. We usually see them carry a bow and an arrow with hearts on them or a harp.
So now with this complex hierarchy of the angels, and all these biblically accurate angels we have a new perception and a new horizon of angels to explore. Maybe, the portrayal of angels in the human form is to send a message that we should not be afraid of angels as they are God’s messengers. What are your thoughts?
Also read: From Underrated to Celebrated: The Journey of African Art Through History
