The Angelic Orders and Names
According to older
Jewish (and early Christian) writings, there are theoretically nine orders in
the hierarchy of angels in Heaven. These were divided into three categories.
The “higher orders” were the Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones. The secondary
three were the Dominations, Principalities and Powers. Finally, the Virtues,
Archangels and Angels made up the lowest ranks.
I have noticed, however,
in Scripture, that the messengers of the Most High seem to use the term “angel”
as a general one, denoting those involved in the briefest encounters – such as
the opposition of the progress of the prophet Balaam (Num 22) – to the mighty
Cherub who fell from grace (Eze 28:16/Rev 12:7). Similarly, the term “archangel”
seems to be applied to an angel as a result of office, rather than rank. For
consider, the individual Michael is in Jude 1:9 referred to as an Archangel,
yet it is He who was at the head of the army of loyal angels that cast the
rebels out of the Kingdom in Rev 12:7. Clearly, this cannot be a denotation of
order, especially not one below Thrones and Powers.
This leaves us with
seven order-titles remaining. Of these, the apostle Paul speaks of Dominations,
Principalities and Powers in a negative sense in several of his Epistles, such
as Romans, Ephesians and Colossians. This alludes to some incident that
affected their standing in the Heavenly courts (if, indeed, the first Judaic
list was ever accurate). The particular event is indeed referred to in the
contained body of work, but for ease of transition the order of Virtues has
been elevated above these least of these three.
We are then left with
the following list, and their Hebrew translations or equivalencies:
Blazing
Ones – Seraphim
Near (Wise) Ones – Cherubim
Thrones (Seats of the Presence) – Ophanim or Auphanim
Principalities (Rulers) – Ikari’im
Powers – Ko’achim
Virtues – Malakim*
Dominions (Dominations) – Hashmallim
*The
term “Malak” can also be used to denote an angel of any class.
In regards to the names
of individual angels used, we have precious few examples from Scripture, namely
Michael, Gabriel, Azazel (see if you can find it), Abaddon, Helel (Lucifer). We
can see, however, that in most of these, there follows a clear pattern. There
is a root that denotes some attribute (Micah = “likeness”, Azaz = “strong”
etc), and then the suffix el or iel, referring to ownership or subjection to
El, the singular form of Elohim or LORD. This results in names such as Michael
(The Likeness of El) and Azazel (Strong One of {or against} El). By
following this formula, then potentially infinite names can be generated – a
good thing, considering the number of angels exposed to the view of some
prophets – and I have simply chosen those names which both the Spirit revealed
to me, and those which seemed to fit the angel being considered both in Order
and in character.
The resulting “multitudes”
with names such as Phaniel (Face of El) and Turel (Rock of El) can thus be
produced.