e._ angels who
inflict chastisement as ministers of God.

The seven angels of Ezekiel may be compared with the seven eyes of
Yahweh in Zech. iii. 9, iv. 10. The latter have been connected by
Ewald and others with the later doctrine of seven chief angels,[25]
parallel to and influenced by the Ameshaspentas (Amesha Spenta), or
seven great spirits of the Persian mythology, but the connexion is
doubtful.

In the Priestly Code, _c._ 400 B.C., there is no reference to angels
apart from the possible suggestion in the ambiguous plural in Genesis
i. 26.

During the Persian and Greek periods the doctrine of angels underwent
a great development, partly, at any rate, under foreign influences.
In Daniel, _c._ 160 B.C., angels, usually spoken of as "men" or
"princes," appear as guardians or champions of the nations; grades are
implied, there are "princes" and "chief" or "great princes"; and
the names of some angels are known, Gabriel, Michael; the latter is
pre-eminent,[26] he is the guardian of Judah. Again in Tobit a leading
part is played by Raphael, "one of the seven holy angels."[27]

In Tobit, too, we find the idea of the demon or evil angel. In the
canonical Old Testament angels may inflict suffering as ministers
of God, and Satan may act as accuser or tempter; but they appear as
subordinate to God, fulfilling His will; and not as morally evil. The
statement[28] that God "charged His angels with folly" applies to
all angels. In Daniel the princes or guardian angels of the heathen
nations oppose Michael the guardian angel of Judah. But in Tobit we
find Asmodaeus the evil demon, [Greek: to poneros daimonion], who
strangles Sarah's husbands, and also a general reference to "a devil
or evil spirit," [Greek: pneuma].[29] The Fall of the Angels is not
properly a scriptural doctrine, though it is based on Gen. vi. 2, as
interpreted by the Book of Enoch. It is true that the _bn[=e] Elohim_
of that chapter are subordinate superhuman beings (cf. above), but
they belong to a different order of thought from the angels of Judaism
and of Christian doctrine; and the passage in no way suggests that the
_bne Elohim_ suffered any loss of status through their act.

The guardian angels of the nations in Daniel probably represent the
gods of the heathen, and we have there the first step of the process
by which these gods became evil angels, an idea expanded by Milton
in _Paradise Lost_. The development of the doctrine of an organized
hierar