and His accompanying angels, as we may infer from the story of the angels
who appeared to Abraham, and the similar incidents of Hagar and
Jacob.(536) The varying application of the term _Elohim_ to God and to the
angels or gods is proof enough of the priority of polytheism, even in
Judaism. The trees or springs, formerly seats of the ancient deities,
spirits, or demons, were now the places for the appearance of angels,
shorn of their independence, looking like fiery or shining human beings.
Popular belief, however, perpetuated mythological elements, ascribing to
the angels higher wisdom and sometimes sensuality as well. Such a case is
the fragment preserved in Genesis telling of the union of sons of God to
the daughters of men, causing the generation of giants.(537) Obviously the
old Babylonian "mountain of the gods," with its food for the gods, became
in the Paradise legend the garden of Eden, the seat of God;(538) and the
Psalmist still speaks of the "angels' food," which appeared as manna in
the wilderness.(539) On the whole, the sacred writers were most eager to
allot to the angels a very subordinate position in the divine household.
They figure usually as hosts of beings, numbered by myriads, wrapped in
light or in fleeting clouds. They surround the throne or chariot of God;
they comprise His heavenly court or council; they sing His praise and obey
His call.

Scripture is quite silent about the creation of these angelic beings, as
on most purely speculative questions. At the very beginning of the world
God consults them when He is to create man after the image of the
celestial beings. For this is the original meaning of _Elohim_ in Gen. I,
26 and 27 and V, 1: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness";
"And God created man in his own image, in the image of godly beings He
created him." This view is echoed in Psalm VIII, verse 6: "Thou hast made
him a little lower than godly beings." In Job XXXVIII, 7, both the morning
stars and the sons of God, or angels, "shout together in joy" when the
Lord laid the foundations of the earth.(540)

3. In Biblical times--which does not include the book of Daniel, a work of
the Maccabean time--the angels and demons were not invested with proper
names or special functions. The Biblical system does not even distinguish
clearly between good and evil spirits. The goat-like demons of the field
popularly worshiped were merely survivals of pagan superstitions.(541)

In general t