An Angelic Misunderstanding - K. Gabriel

Angels are found hundreds of times throughout the Bible, yet there is a great deal of confusion surrounding them. The angelic image of beautiful creatures with wings and a halo of light, is the creation of Renaissance artists and is completely different from the Bible’s image of an angel. 

In the Hebrew Bible, malakh מלאך refers to an angel. The root of this word is לאך, meaning “going back and forth”. The implication is that this is hard work; giving rise to another Hebrew word, melacha מלאכה, meaning “physical labor”. An angel is a messenger who tirelessly goes back and forth, delivering information. The God of Israel employs angels as intermediaries, shuttling between heaven and earth.

Angels don’t have wings in the Bible, but rather look human, so people in the Bible often don’t recognize them as angels. The idealized artistic depictions obscure the real Hebraic biblical meaning. Enroll in our live online Biblical Hebrew course and understand the true word of the Bible.

Source : https://lp.israelbiblicalstudies.com/