Angels in Babylonian Literature
Introduction
The Bible has shown us that belief in angels, or intermediate spirits between God and man, is a characteristic of the semi -people. Therefore, it is interesting to trace this belief in the Semites of Babylon. According to Sayce (The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia, Gifford Lectures, 1901), the graft of semitic beliefs in the oldest Sumerian religion in Babylon is marked by the entrance of Angels or Sukallin in his theosophy. Therefore, we find an interesting parallel with the Lord’s angels in Nebo, Merodac Minister.
Developing
It is also called the angel or interpreter of the testament or Merodach, and Sayce accepts Hommel’s statement that it can be demonstrated from the mining inscriptions that the primitive semi-semitic religion consisted of the worship of the moon and the stars, the god- Athtar Luna and an angel god. Standing at the head of the pantheon. The biblical conflict between the kingdoms of good and evil finds its parallel in the spirits of heaven or the Igigi, who constituted the host of which Ninip was the champion (and from whom he received the title of Chief of Los Angeles) and the Babylonian stories of creation and flood do not contrast very favorably with biblical stories, and the same should be said of chaotic hierarchies of gods and angels that modern research has revealed.
Therefore, the Bible certainly sanctions the idea that certain angels are in charge of special districts (cf. Give., X, and above). This belief persists in a degraded form in the Arab notion of Genii, or Jinns, who lurk private places. Perhaps a reference to her can be found in Genesis, XXXII, 1.2: Jacob also followed the path he had begun; And the angels of God met him: And when He saw, he said: these are the camps of God, and called the name of that place Mahanaim, that is, camps.
Recent explorations in the Arab district of Petra have revealed certain enclosures marked with stones such as the permanent laces of Los Angeles, and the nomadic tribes frequent them for prayer and sacrifice. These places have a name that corresponds exactly with the mahanaim of the previous passage of Genesis. Jacob’s vision in Betel may fall in the same category.
conclusion
It is enough to say that not everything in the Bible is revelation, and that the object of inspired writings is not simply to tell us new truths, but also clarify certain truths that nature taught us. The modern vision, which tends to consider everything Babylonian as absolutely primitive and that seems to think that because critics assign a late date to the biblical writings, the religion contained there must also be late, it can be seen in Haag, Theologie Biblique.
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