angels are mentioned as
standing behind the heavenly throne, _Akathriel_, "the crown-bearer of
God," and _Sandalphon_, "the twin brother" = Synadelphon.

6. A striking contrast exists between the simple habitation in the sky
depicted in the prophetic and Mosaic books, and the splendor of the
heavenly spheres according to the rabbinical writings. The Oriental courts
lent all their grandeur to the majestic throne of God, on which He was
exalted above all earthly things. The immense space between was filled in
by innumerable gradations of beings leading up to Him. There was no longer
a question how far these other beings shared the nature of God; His
dominion was absolute. Still a new question, not known to the Bible,
arose, as to when the angelic world was created and out of what primordial
element. At first a logical answer was given, that the angels emanated
from the element of fire. Later the schoolmen, trying to dispose of the
angels as possible peers or rivals of the eternal God, ascribed their
creation to the second day, when the heaven was made as a vault over the
earth, or to the fifth day, when the winged creatures arose.(549) On the
whole, the rabbis denied every claim of the angels to an independent or an
eternal existence. Just because they firmly believed in the existence of
angels and even saw them from time to time, they felt bound to declare
their secondary rank. Only the archangels were made from an eternal
substance, while the others were continually being created anew out of the
breath of God or from the "river of fire" which flowed around His throne.
Thus even the realm of celestial spirits was merged into the stream of
universal life which comes and goes, while God was left alone in matchless
sovereignty, above all the fluctuations of time.

On the other hand, the rabbis opposed the Essenic idea of assigning to the
angels an intermediary task between God and man, and deprecated as a pagan
custom the worship or invocation of angels. "Address your prayer to the
Master of life and not to His servants; He will hear you in every
trouble," says R. Judan.(550) Some of the teachers even declared that any
godly son of Israel excels the angels in power. It is certainly
significant, as David Neumark has pointed out, that the Mishnah eliminates
every reference to the angels.(551)

7. In spite of this, none of the medieval Jewish philosophers doubted the
existence of angels.(552) Indeed, there was no reason for