Destroying angel (Bible)

In the Hebrew Bible, the destroying angel (Template:Lang-he, malʾāḵ hamašḥīṯ), also known as mashḥit (Template:Lang-he mašḥīṯ, 'destroyer'; plural: Template:Lang-he, mašḥīṯīm, 'spoilers, ravagers'), is an entity sent out by YHWH on several occasions to kill the enemies of the Hebrews.

These angels (mal'akh) are also variously referred to as memitim (Template:Lang-he, 'executioners, slayers'), or Angel of the Lord. The latter is found in Job 33:22, as well as in Proverbs 16:14 in the plural, "messengers of death". Mashchith was also used as an alternate name for one of the seven compartments of Gehenna.^[2]^[3]

In 2 Samuel 24:15-16, the destroying angel kills the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In 1 Chronicles 21:15, the same "Angel of the Lord" is seen by David to stand "between the earth and the heaven, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out against the Hebrews' enemies". Later, in 2 Kings 19:35, the angel kills 185,000 Assyrian soldiers.

In the Book of Enoch, angels of punishment and destruction belong to a group of angels called satans with Satan as their leader. First they tempt, then accuse and finally punish and torment, both wicked humans and fallen angels.^[4]

In Judaism, such angels might be seen as created by one's sins. As long as a person lives, God allows him to repent. However, after death, the angels of destruction are allowed to execute the sentence proclaimed in the heavenly court.^[5]

The angels of punishment as satans are recounted in Islam in the form of a hadith. According to which, a murderer is instructed to repent from his sins by leaving his evil environment and move to a better one. However, he dies on his way, thereupon a disagreement between the angels of mercy and the angels of punishment under the leadership of Iblīs (Satan) occurs, who may take the soul of the repenting murderer.^[6]^(p56)

References

^ Foster, Charles. c. 1879. The Story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation Told in Simple Language for the Young. PA: Fifty Second Thousand.
^ Boustan, Ra'anan S.; Reed, Annette Yoshiko, eds. (2004). Heavenly Realms and Earthly Realities in Late Antique Religions. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521121774.
^ Raphael, Simcha Paull. 2019. Jewish Views of the Afterlife. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-538-10346-3 p. 150
^ Caldwell, William (1913). "The Doctrine of Satan: II. Satan in Extra-Biblical Apocalyptical Literature". The Biblical World. 41 (2): 98–102. doi:10.1086/474708. JSTOR 3142425. S2CID 144698491.
^ Israel Meir Ha-Kohen. 2005. Above All Else: The Chofetz Chaim on Torah Study: Collected from His Writings, Volume 1. Feldheim Publishers. ISBN 9781583308004. p. 112
^ Awn, P. J. (1983). Satan's Tragedy and Redemption: Iblīs in Sufi Psychology. Niederlande: E.J. Brill.

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[:0-1] Foster, Charles. c. 1879. The Story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation Told in Simple Language for the Young. PA: Fifty Second Thousand.

[2] Boustan, Ra'anan S.; Reed, Annette Yoshiko, eds. (2004). Heavenly Realms and Earthly Realities in Late Antique Religions. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521121774.

[3] Raphael, Simcha Paull. 2019. Jewish Views of the Afterlife. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-538-10346-3 p. 150

[4] Caldwell, William (1913). "The Doctrine of Satan: II. Satan in Extra-Biblical Apocalyptical Literature". The Biblical World. 41 (2): 98–102. doi:10.1086/474708. JSTOR 3142425. S2CID 144698491.

[5] Israel Meir Ha-Kohen. 2005. Above All Else: The Chofetz Chaim on Torah Study: Collected from His Writings, Volume 1. Feldheim Publishers. ISBN 9781583308004. p. 112

[Awn-6] Awn, P. J. (1983). Satan's Tragedy and Redemption: Iblīs in Sufi Psychology. Niederlande: E.J. Brill.

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