Texts in Conversation
Tobit describes the angel Raphael inspiring fear, then giving reassurance. Revelation follows this when John bows in front of a figure who tells him not to be afraid. Both describe an angelic tradition that developed in the Second Temple Jewish period.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Tobit 12:16
Deuterocanon
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. 17 And he said to them, Do not be afraid, peace be to you; bless God to all eternity. 18 I when I was with you, was not with you of any favour of mine, but by the will of God; bless him day by day, praise him. 19 And you behold me that I have eaten nothing, but a vision has appeared to you. 20 And now bless the Lord on the earth and give God thanks: Behold I ascend to him that sent me: write down all these things which have happened to you. And he ascended. 21 And they rose up and could no longer see him.
Date: 225–175 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Revelation 1:17
New Testament
13 and in the midst of the lampstands was one like a son of man. He was dressed in a robe extending down to his feet, and he wore a wide golden belt around his chest. 14 His head and hair were as white as wool, even as white as snow, and his eyes were like a fiery flame. 15 His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword extended out of his mouth. His face shone like the sun shining at full strength. 17 When I saw him I fell down at his feet as though I were dead, but he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last, 18 and the one who lives! I was dead, but look, now I am alive—forever and ever—and I hold the keys of death and of Hades!
Date: 92–96 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The worship of angels aligned with God is also vigorously rejected in some Jewish and Jewish-Christian documents which do so within the narrative context of an angelophanic encounter. The passages listed below (where possible, with approximate dates of the writing) consist of prohibitions directed against a seer's revering reaction to the presence of an angelic figure ... In addition there are passages in the New Testament, as well as in later Jewish and Christian writings which, though not always in an angelophanic setting, may well have been formally influenced by this "refusal tradition." Here we may especially note Mark 10:17-18 and parallels ("Good Teacher..."; "Do not call me good; nobody is good except one, God"); Acts 10:25 (Peter's rejection of Cornelius' prostration); History of the Rechabites 5:3b-6:3 (a mild reprimand of Zosimus' posture); Joseph and Aseneth 14:9-11 (implicit rejection of Aseneth's fearful reaction) and 15:11-12 (esp. the longer recension; refusal to divulge name after Aseneth declares her intention to praise the angelic figure) ..."
Loren T. Stuckenbruck, Angel Veneration and Christology: A Study in Early Judaism and in the Christology of the Apocalypse of John, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe 70 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1995), 75–76.
* 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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