The Superiority of Messiah to Angels
1:4 to 2:18
Now the author begins dealing with the first of the three pillars of Judaism of his day: angels. As John MacArthur records in his commentary, because of the popular rabbinic interpretations, the Jewish people of the time Hebrews was written had exaggerated the basic teachings of the TaNaKh about angels. Most Jews believed that angels were very important to the TaNaKh. They honored them as the highest beings next to YHVH. They believed that angels surrounded Ha’Shem and that they were the instruments of bringing His word to mankind and of working out His will in the universe. At that time, angels were thought to be eerie creatures made of fiery substance like blazing light, who did not eat or drink or reproduce. Many believed that angels acted as God’s council and He did nothing without consulting with them – that, for example, the us in, “Let us make man in our image” (Genesis 1:26), refers to this angelic council.
They believed two hundred angels controlled the stars and that one very special angel, the calendar angel, controlled the never-ending succession of day, months, and years. A mighty angel took care of the seas, while others oversaw the frost, dew, rain, snow, hail, thunder and lightening. Still others were wardens of Sh’ol and torturers of the damned. There were even recording angels who wrote down every word people spoke. There was an angel for death, and, on the other hand, a guardian angel for every nation and every child. They were said to be so many that one rabbi claimed that every blade of grass had its angel.
Many Jews believed that the Torah was brought to them from God by angels. This, above all else, exalted angels in the minds of the Isrealites. They believed that angels were the mediators of their covenant with ADONAI, and that angels continually ministered the blessing of the LORD to them as alluded to in Stephen’s sermon before the Sanhedrin in Acts 7:51-53. Consequently, some adored angels so much that they actually worshiped them. Gnosticism involved, among other things, the worship of angels.
Therefore, to the Jewish mind angels were extremely exalted and immeasurably important. If the writer to the Hebrews was going to persuade his fellow Jews that Yeshua is the mediator of a better covenant, even superior to that given through Moshe, he would have to show, among other things, that Christ is superior to angels.32
Leave A Comment