"... Scholarship on the origin of archangels has identified a number of explanations for their emergence within Hellenistic Judaism. One suggestion is that archangels evolved from earlier, polytheistic Jewish conceptions of the gods considered subordinate to Yahweh. For angels appear to function in ways that are similar to the divine beings of the heavenly council or court of the high God (e.g., Psalm 82:1; 1 Kings 22:19). Such a development fits with the theologically motivated early textual emendations of some biblical references (e.g., in Deuteronomy 32:8, “the sons of [the] God(s)” are appointed over each nation according to 4QDeut, but “angels of God” in the Septuagint) ..."

"... One other general observation can be made about certain biblical texts concerned with the divine realm. There are passages in both prose narrative and poetic compositions that quite clearly presuppose a knowledge, on the part of the audience, of a divine realm populated by a monarchical hierarchy of divine beings. (1 Kings 22:19-23; Job 1:6-12; Psalm 82) In some of these texts, the beings on the heavenly plane are quite simply called “gods” (אֱלֹהִים, אֱלִים, בְנֵי אֵלִים). In these passages, especially compositions that must be considered literary or liturgical, it is probably safe to assume that the authors took it for granted that people who heard the productions knew there was a heavenly world populated by the gods ..."