ABSTRACT
THERE were angels in Jewish belief before there were demons. 1 The early religion of Israel provided Jahweh with a following of celestial beings, ready to serve him and to carry out his commands, and these Bene-Elohim are referred to on several occasions in the Old Testament. Genesis (vi. 1 ff.) relates that some of them found the daughters of men fair, and that their unnatural union peopled the earth with giants. Isaiah (vi. 2) speaks of the six-winged seraphim who hovered above the throne of God, singing his praise. And in 1 Kings (xxii. 19) the Seer, Micaiah, has a vision of Jahweh on his throne with “all the host of heaven” on either side.
