Texts in Conversation
2 Kings 25 uses the phrase “see the king’s face” for officials with direct access to the king. The same court language appears in Tobit, where the angel Raphael says he stands in God’s presence, applying royal bureaucracy to heaven.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
2 Kings 25:20
Hebrew Bible
18 The captain of the royal guard took Seraiah, the chief priest, and Zephaniah, the priest who was second in rank, and the three doorkeepers. 19 From the city he took a eunuch who was in charge of the soldiers, five men seeing the king's face30 who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens for military service, and 60 citizens from the people of the land who were discovered in the city. 20 Nebuzaradan, captain of the royal guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
Date: 600–501 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Tobit 12:15
Deuterocanon
13 And when you did not delay to rise up, and leave your dinner, but did go and cover the dead, 14 then I was sent to you to try you; and at the same time God did send me also to heal Sarah your daughter-in-law. 15 I am Raphael, one of the seven angels, which stand and enter before the glory of the Lord. 16 And they were both troubled, and fell upon their faces; and they were afraid.
Date: 225–175 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The “angels of the presence” [literally “of the Face”] are, along with the “angels of holiness,” the highest class of angels, those who are privileged to see God’s face and serve Him directly in the heavenly sanctuary, just as earthly kings allow only some of their servants to be “those who see the king’s face” (see 2 Kings 25:19; Esther 1:10, 14; Tobit 12:15). This particular angel of the presence is apparently the angel, the one often chosen by God for special tasks ..."
James L. Kugel, A Walk through Jubilees: Studies in the Book of Jubilees and the World of Its Creation (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 26.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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