Wrestling With Angels: A Study of the Relationship Between Angels and Humans in Ancient Jewish Literature and the New Testament (Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des Urchristentums)

296 Pages·2004·11.47 MB·English

by  Kevin P. Sullivan

Wrestling with Angels
A STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN ANGELS AND HUMANS IN
ANCIENT JEWISH LITERATURE
AND THE NEW TESTAMENT
KEVIN P. SULLIVAN
DORE: JACOB AND THE ANGEL, 19th C.
Credit: The Granger Collection, New York
WRESTLING WITH ANGELS
ARBEITEN ZUR GESCHICHTE
DES ANTIKEN JUDENTUMS
UND DES
URCHRISTENTUMS
Ancient Judaism, and Early Christianity
herausgegeben von
Martin Hengel (Tübingen),
Pieter W. van der Horst (Utrecht), Martin Goodman (Oxford),
Daniel R. Schwartz (Jerusalem), Cilliers Breytenbach (Berlin),
Friedrich Avemarie (Marburg), Seth Schwartz (New York)
LV
WRESTLING WITH ANGELS
A Study of the Relationship between Angels and
Humans
in Ancient Jewish Literature and the New
7 estament
BY
KEVIN P. SULLIVAN
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BRILL
LEIDEN · BOSTON
2004
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sullivan, Kevin P. (Kevin Patrick), 1972־
Wrestling with angels : a study of the relationship between angels and humans in ancient
Jewish literature and the New Testament / Kevin P. Sullivan.
p. cm. — (Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des Urchristentums, ISSN
0169-734X ; 55)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 90-04-13224-4
1. Angels—History of doctrines—Early church, ca. 30-600. 2. Angels—Biblical teaching.
3. Angels Judaism)—History of doctrines. 4. Judaism History- Post-exilic period, 586
B.C.-210 A.D. I. Title. II. Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des
Urchristentums ; Bd. 55.
BT966.3S85 2003
235'.3'0901—dc22
2003065166
ISSN 0169-734X
ISBN 90 04 13224 4
© Copyright 2004 by Koninklijke Brill rw, Laden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written
permission from the publisher.
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use is granted by Brill provided that
the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright
Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910
Danvers, MA 01923, USA.
Fees are subject to change.
PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
To
Paul and Kathy Sullivan
and
In loving memory of
William (1920-2001) and
Mary (1923-1999) Kuzava

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xi
Abbreviations xiii
1 Introduction: Wrestling with Angels 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Methodology and Sources 2
1.3 Survey of Previous Scholarship 3
1.4 Historical Context 16
1.5 Outline 22
PART ONE
APPEARANCE
Introduction 27
2 "Blinded by the Light": Angels as Human Beings 37
2.1 The Book of Genesis 37
2.2 The Book of Joshua 55
2.3 The Book of Judges 57
2.4 The Books of Zechariah and Ezekiel 59
2.5 The Book of Daniel 61
2.6 The Book of Tobit 65
2.7 The Gospels 66
2.8 The Acts of the Apostles 71
2.9 The Apocalypse of John 74
2.10 Joseph and Aseneth 76
2.11 The Shepherd of Hermas 79
2.12 The Apocalypse of Abraham 81
Conclusions 82
3 "You Look Positively Angelic": Human Beings as
Angels 85
3.1 Adam 85
3.2 Seth(el) 90
3.3 Enoch 91
3.4 Noah 93
3.5 Melchizedek 96
3.6 Jacob/Israel 98
3.7 Moses 103
3.8 David 107
3.9 The Prophets 109
3.10 John the Baptist Ill
3.11 Jesus 114
3.12 Stephen 118
3.13 Paul 121
3.14 Taxo 125
3.15 The High Priest in Hecateus of Abdera 127
3.16 The Daughters of Job 129
3.17 On Being like Angels in Heaven 131
Conclusions 139
PART TWO
INTERACTION
Introduction 145
4 "Angels in Our Midst": Human-Angel Communities 147
4.1 The Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice (4Q400-407,
11 Q,17, Maslk) 149
4.2 The War Scroll (1QM and 4Q491-496) 155
4.3 The Hodayot (1QH) 161
4.4 The Rule of the Community (1QS, lQSa, and
1QS b) 163
4.5 Songs of the Sage (4Q511 Fragment 35) 165
4.6 The Corinthian Community 167
4.7 The Community of the Rechabites (Hist. Rech) 171