Angels are mentioned in the Bible fairly often, although there is no special, developed angelology in it. This is understandable: the Bible pays attention first of all to the human being, and to angels insofar as they touch people and their lives. But a definite...
Angels are mentioned in the Bible fairly often, although there is no special, developed angelology in it. This is understandable: the Bible pays attention first of all to the human being, and to angels insofar as they touch people and their lives. But we will not find in the biblical books a definite definition of who angels are and what their nature is. They speak only of concrete episodes of angels appearing to people.
At the same time it is not always easy to understand whether a theophany is in question or the appearance of a special spiritual created being. A special kind of vision was called angels, during which prophets saw the image of a heavenly rider on a white horse proclaiming the will of Yahweh; the prophets usually perceived this rider not as a special created being separate from God, but as the manifestation of Yahweh Himself, addressing Him accordingly. But there was also another experience: angels sometimes appeared to people in human form, most often, like the heavenly riders, fulfilling the role of messengers who told those to whom they were sent the will of God.
The riders of apocalyptic visions, up to the well-known riders of the Apocalypse, go back to the image of the heavenly rider. Angels in human form are no less well known: such angels announced the Savior's resurrection to the women who came to the tomb at night. Real experience, as often happens, gave rise to a special literary genre in which angels, along with people, become characters in the narrative.
An example of this kind of literature is the Book of Tobit, where an angel accompanies the main hero of the story in his wanderings. Yet its real hero is still not the angel, but Tobit himself. And, of course, God, who accompanies Tobit and leads him after Himself.
