The
heavenly intercessor is one of some prominence in the Book of Job, where it is
envisioned as a legal protagonist in Job’s dispute with God. As such the figure
is described variously as an “umpire” or arbiter (מוכיח, 9:33; cf. 16:21), a “witness”
(עד, שׂהד, 16:19), a “mediator” (גאל, 19:25-27). The concept goes back to the
ancient belief that each individual had a person god who acted in one’s behalf
in the divine council. In Job that heavenly being is identified variously as
one of the “holy ones” (קדשׁים, 5:1) or as an “angel” (מלאך), “One of a thousand.”
In the present form of the book, with its prose introduction, the angelic
figure can only be constructed as a heavenly opponent to the accuser (haśśaṭān).
In
Zech 1:12-17, in the place of multiplicity of such intercessors, the prophet
describes “the angel of YHWH” (מלאך-יהוה) as the singular intercessor for the nation
of Israel, who raises the question, “How long?” not to plead the nations’
innocence, but to argue the sufficiency of God’s punishments. In 3:1-5 the opposition
of accuser and advocate suggested above for Job, is explicit in the confrontation
between the angel of the Lord and haśśaṭān over the innocence of Joshua
the high priest. . . . in Dan 1:12-3 and parallel traditions about the
eschatological judgment (Testament of Moses 10; Jubilees 23; Testament
of Judah 20), Israel’s angelic advocate is juxtaposed with the demonic
opponent of Israel. Here the satanic figure is less an accuser than an
archdemon and anti-God figure, but the role of Israel’s advocate is related to
the nation’s status as God’s people. In Testament of Moses 10 the
intercessory function is colored by the language of high priestly ordination:
the angel’s “hands are filled.” Testament of Levi 3:5 attributes to
certain angels the priestly function of propitiating for the sins of ignorance
committed by the righteous. In 5:6 an unnamed angel who intercedes (παραιτεομαι) for Israel is opposed to the evil spirits
that would smite the nation. . . . . The Book of Revelation is eclectic in its
use of Jewish angelologies. On the one hand, in Revelation 1-5 the seven “spirits”
before the divine throne (1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6) correspond to the seven
interceding angels in Tobit, while the four living creatures (4:6-8) are drawn
from Ezekiel 1-2 (and Isaiah 6), the source of the tradition about the four
archangels. On the other hand, Rev 8:2-4 mentions the seven “angels” before God’s
throne, and, in addition, an unnamed angel who appears to be relaying the
prayers of all the human holy ones. The tradition of the confrontation
of Michael and Satan appears in 12:7-12. Here each is the commander of a
heavenly army, and the military confrontation retains the character of
judgment, for Satan is still identified as accuser. The old structure of Jubilees
is still evident; the archdemon leads astray in order to accuse. In the larger
context of Revelation, the mythic confrontation between Michael and Satan
(Revelation 12, as in Daniel 12) is combined with the vision of Daniel 7 about
the demonic beast and with the myth in 1 Enoch 10 about the temporary
imprisonment and ultimate destruction of the chief demons (Rev 12:12-17; 13;
20:1-3, 7-10).
The
Johannine Paraclete and the Holy Spirit in the Pauline epistles represent yet
another Christian development of Jewish angelology, not least in its Qumranic
form. In the Fourth Gospel, “The Holy Spirit,” “the Helper” (παρακλητος), the “Spirit of Truth,” is the opponent of
the world and of the demonic ruler of the world (see esp. 16:11), the
protagonist of Jesus (15:26; 16:9-10, 14), and the heaven-sent guide of the
children of God (14:26; 16:13). This Johannine conception reflects the Jewish
idea of a single heavenly protagonist and especially the terminology of Qumran
and Testament of Judah 20. It diverges from Jewish ideas in the specific
linking of the Paraclete with the person of Jesus.
Less
generally recognized are the relationships between the Pauline understanding of
the Spirit and both the Johannine Paraclete and its prototypes in Judaism. For
Paul (see esp. Ga. 4:4-6; 5:16—6:10; and Romans 7-8)., as for John, the Spirit is
closely associated with the risen Christ and it in one sense his indwelling alter
ego. The Spirit, who dwells in the Christian and guides one in the way of
righteousness, stands in opposition to the functional equivalents of Satan: sin
and its locus, the flesh. The Spirit is the Christian’s protagonist before God
and intercessor (Rom 8:14-17, 26-27). In this intercessory function, however,
the Spirit is paralleled by the exalted Christ (v. 34).
The
Epistle to the Hebrews represents, in a way, the ultimate Christianizing of the
Jewish traditions under discussion. Minimizing the importance of angels
(1:1-2:9) and comparing Jesus and Melchizedek (chap. 7), this author stresses
Jesus’ role as heavenly high priest and intercessor, stressing how Jesus’ high
priesthood is marked by characteristics essentially related to his humanity
(2;14-18; 4:14-5:9). However one explains these data, it seems clear that the
author if interacting with Jewish ideas about heavenly priests and intercessors
and quite likely the transcendental Melchizedek, applying to the exalted Christ
functions and characteristics that originally applied to angels. Different from
John and Paul, here the Holy Spirit plays no such role in Hebrews. (George W.
E. Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1 [Hermeneia—A Critical and Historical
Commentary on the Bible; Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001], 209, 210)
