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Textual Usage The word 'archangel' (lemma: ἀρχάγγελος) appears twice in the New Testament, at least once in the LXX translation of the book of Enoch (which mentions numerous angels and their duties and authority - I would read it here or here if this topic interests you), and also in a highly disputed verse in 2 Esdras. It should be noted that after the ...

In Genesis 3:24, it is a Cherubim - an angel of the Lord who guards the Garden of Eden. They are depicted in the tabernacle and on the ark of the covenant, guarding the Throne of God. In all places, they are associated with angelic beings and are part of the host of heaven. The difficulty in giving a verse calling a cherubim an angel is that angelos is a ...

What follows is a reading of the Sodom narrative based on the commentary of Nachmanides which is drastically different from the way this story is commonly understood. No other reading of this story makes sense to me. Progression of events: The people of Sodom gather outside Lot's house and they make a request. The original Hebrew is highly ambiguous here: ...

Hard Question, Soldarnal Peter O'Brien says of this verse in his Colossians commentary: This verse has been described as one of the most contested passages in the NT, presenting great difficulties in language and content. And Douglas Moo, in his: This verse furnishes the most important evidence about the false teaching, but it is also arguably the ...

I tend to just take ἄγγελος as simply messenger in this context. As the word is around ½ of the time simply meaning messenger and the other ½ of the time meaning an angel (i.e. messenger from God) we must choose from the context. Imagine we are praying for Peter and an excited woman told us Peter was at the door. She claims she 'heard' Peter through the ...

In The Resurrection of the Son of God, N. T. Wright points out that continued existence after death was a belief that divided the Sadducees and the Pharisees: Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the ...

Lot may or may not recognize who they are. Remember that Lot moved to S'dom after spending a great deal of time with Avraham; this means that (1) Lot doesn't necessarily behave like the natives (a point they make in 19:9) and (2) he had the chance to absorb some lessons about hospitality from his uncle. So it is entirely possible that as far as Lot was ...

I think it is quite common for expositors to consider these 24 elders as all the saints who are a royal priesthood reigning in heaven, including us. The symbolic representation of 12 tribes of Israel and 12 Apostles representing the entire church from Adam to the end of the world is very easy to ascribe to. Besides the winged creatures are often thought as ...

From a Christian perspective prophets after the return from the Babylonian exile are often citing visions about the days of Messiah. However there is no evidence that ancient rabbinic sources understood Zechariah 5 as referring to the end times. Therefore, it seems purely a Christian view that equates this chapter to those times. Under that view, the woman ...

This prophecy concerns the problems encountered in rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. It is closely connected with the story in Ezra 4. The wicked woman in the "eiphah" measure (bushel or barrel) represents one or more of the enemies of Israel, primarily the Samaritans and the Edomites, who harassed the builders after being excluded from the rebuilding ...

"Principalities" and "powers" are separated in the original language. The structure is similar to the ESV rather than the KJV. I will, therefore, treat them separately. Principalities The underlying word here can carry a range of meanings. In Romans 13:3, for instance, it refers to a human magistrate. In Ephesians 6:12 it is instead contrasted with "flesh ...

Was Lot righteous in his own merit, or just relatively good? The text here doesn't seem to argue for the former; if Lot was more righteous than the other residents of S'dom (evidenced by the fact that he was saved), that doesn't actually mean he was virtuous. The bar there was pretty low if the town's response to visitors was to initiate gang-rape. So what ...

I actually have no intellectual or difficulties of conscience with this story. It just seems good and right to me as it is told. In fact I have always found it very comforting and true to life. Some have difficulty thinking Lot (a righteous man according to 2 Peter 2:7) sinned in this instance, so they come up with ideas on how even this action could be ...

I take it as being they thought Peter's guardian angel had assumed his appearance to talk to them. We should note that this interpretation does not mean the Bible is teaching that guardian angels can assume their wards appearance but that these believing Jews in the first century believed such to be true. The understanding of Peter's aggelos being his ...

It is always God who reveals Himself and speaks to Moses and to the prophets. However, if we take a close look, we may find that even though God is speaking and being addressed as God, He really is represented by His messenger who speaks in His Name and with His authority. The mention of God´s Angel in Moses´ encounter with God in the burning thornbush ...

The link to the Administration of the Temple in Jerusalem is supported by the fact that there were 24 priestly divisions to serve in the Temple as scheduled by the Law. (Whether the 24 is better than the 12 or perhaps weaker, so that the number has to be doubled, the earlier 12 of sons of Israel and tribes and 12 of apostles and 12 of tribes again (in ...