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1 Introduction The interpretation of symbolic visions by angels is one of the major literary motifs in biblical literature of the Second Temple period. It emerges from prophetic soil, with precursors in Amos 7:7-9; 8:1-3; Jer. 1:11-19; 24, but it takes on new life with the rise of apocalyptic literature in the sixth–second centuries BCE. With a few possible exceptions, it appears to be a distinctly Jewish innovation, although the influence of Mesopotamian, Persian, and Greek traditions is evident. The interpreting angel motif developed within a sociopolitical and religious matrix that also saw the transformation of the old Israelite religion of the monarchic period into the emerging Judaism of the Second Temple period. This new literary motif was but one part of a much larger religious shift that also included the birth of apocalypticism and the development of Jewish angelology in tandem with, or perhaps as a result of, the emergence of monotheism.1 The goal of this study is to trace the development of the interpreting angel motif in late prophetic and early apocalyptic literature.2 This motif first appears in Ezekiel 40–48 and emerges more fully in Zechariah 1–6, where angelic mediation serves as the primary mode of divine revelation. Moving from prophetic literature into apocalyptic literature, angelic interpretation becomes a dominant motif that all but replaces direct divine revelation.3 Angelic interpretation of visions is widely regarded as one of the central motifs of apocalyptic literature, and therefore its development in the late prophetic and early apocalyptic texts under consideration in this study is of great importance 1. As I discuss below, one popular theory for the development of monotheism holds that the multi-tiered pantheon of early Israel collapsed into two tiers: the chief deity, now recognized as the only true God, and a host of subservient messenger deities (angels). This simple system does not appear to have lasted long, however, as by the end of the third century a vast angelic hierarchy had developed, once again expanding the “pantheon” into multiple levels. 1 not only for the study of Israelite and early Jewish religion, but also for the development of apocalyptic literature.4 The Interpreting Angel in Biblical and Extrabiblical Literature: An Overview The interpreting angel appears in only a handful of biblical texts, all of them exilic or postexilic (Ezekiel 40–48; Zechariah 1–6; Daniel 7–8).5 In these passages, a human prophet sees a highly symbolic and complex vision that, in 2. The primary texts containing angelic interpretation of visions upon which this study focuses include Ezek. 40:1-37, 43-49; 41:1—43:6; 44:1-5; 46:19—47:12; Zech. 1:7—2:5; 4:1-6a, 10b-14; 5:1—6:8; Dan. 7:15-28; 8:15-27. In addition, I will give somewhat less attention to materials from the Enochic corpus, which generally indicate developments between Zechariah 1–6 and Daniel 7–8. The relevant Enochic passages include 1 En. 18:14—19:2; 21:1—33:4; 72:1; 74:2; 75:3-4; 78:10; 79:2—81:10; 82:7-8. The interpreting angel motif also appears prominently in the Enochic Book of Similitudes (1 En. 40:2, 8-10; 43:3-4; 46:2—47:2; 52:3-9; 53:4-7; 54:4-10; 56:2-8; 60:5-6, 9-25; 61:2-13; 64:2; 71:3-17), but this portion of the Enochic corpus dates to the first century CE and therefore falls outside the chronological parameters of this study (see John J. Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature [2nd ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998], 178; George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch, Chapters 1–36; 81–108 [Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001], 7). 3. It should be noted that direct divine revelation continued unabated in certain traditions, and much of the Israelite prophetic corpus was composed or at least compiled in the Second Temple period. Thus it would be incorrect to speak, as some past scholars have, of the “end” of prophecy in the early Second Temple period and its replacement with apocalyptic literature. Yet within the stream connecting late prophetic literature (Ezekiel 40–48; Zechariah 1–8), angelic mediation does begin to supersede prophetic mediation, so that one may speak of the interpreting angel as “replacing” the prophet as the mediator of divine revelation, provided this...

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