Chronological timeline of texts tagged with Angelic Intermediaries
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In early biblical stories, God often interacts directly with people, appearing or talking to them in person. Later Jewish tradition began to describe divine encounters differently, introducing angels who acted as messengers, guides, or representatives of God. This reflected changing theology and how it began to conceive of God as more transcendent.
Note: Dates shown in this timeline are approximate and based on scholarly estimates.
Back to Tag5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Exodus 33:2
Hebrew Bible
1 The Lord said to Moses, “Go up from here, you and the people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ 2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you on the way.”
6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition)
Judges 6:14
Hebrew Bible
13 Gideon said to him, “Pardon me, but if the Lord is with us, why has such disaster overtaken us? Where are all his miraculous deeds our ancestors told us about? They said, ‘Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.” 14 Then the Lord himself turned to him and said, “You have the strength. Deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites! Have I not sent you?” 15 Gideon said to him, “But Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Just look! My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my family.”
3rd Century B.C.E.
LXX Exodus 33:2
Septuagint
1 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go, go on up from here, you and your people whom you have led out of the land of Egypt into the land that I swore to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your seed.’” 2 And I will send my angel along before your face and he will drive out the Amorite and Hittite and Perizzite and Girgashite and Hivite and Jebusite. 3 And I will bring you into a land flowing with milk and honey, for I will certainly not go up with you because of the stiff-necked people that you are, lest I consume you on the way.”
2nd Century B.C.E.
LXX Judges 6:14
Septuagint
13 And Gideon said to him, “In me, my Lord! But if the Lord is with us, why have these troubles found us? And where are all his wonders that our fathers fully told us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord lead up us out of Egypt?’ And now he has cast us out, and he has given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 Then the angel of the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this strength of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Look, I have sent you.” 15 And Gideon said to him, “In me, my Lord, by what shall I save Israel? Look, my thousand is weak in Manasseh, and I am the insignificant one in the house of my father.”
200-50 B.C.E.
1 Enoch 99:3
Pseudepigrapha
1 Woe to you who engage in godlessness, and glory in lying and extol them: You shall perish, and no happy life shall be yours. 2 Woe to those who distort the words of truth, and violate the eternal law, and transform themselves into what they were not [into sinners]: They shall be trodden underfoot upon the earth. 3 In those days, prepare yourselves, righteous ones, to raise your prayers as a memorial, and set them as a testimony before the angels, that they may present the sins of the sinners as a memorial before the Most High. 4 In those days the nations shall be stirred up, and the families of the nations shall rise on the day of destruction. 5 And in those days the impoverished shall go forth and carry off their children, and they shall abandon them, so that their children shall perish through them: Yes, they shall abandon their suckling children and not return to them, and shall have no pity on their loved ones.
75-85 C.E.
Acts 10:4
New Testament
1 Now there was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort. 2 He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was all his household; he did many acts of charity for the people and prayed to God regularly. 3 About three o’clock one afternoon he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God who came in and said to him, “Cornelius.” 4 Staring at him and becoming greatly afraid, Cornelius replied, “What is it, Lord?” The angel said to him, “Your prayers and your acts of charity have gone up as a memorial before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa and summon a man named Simon, who is called Peter. 6 This man is staying as a guest with a man named Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” 7 When the angel who had spoken to him departed, Cornelius called two of his personal servants and a devout soldier from among those who served him, 8 and when he had explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.