No one knows how many Death angels there are, no one but the Father. Mostly, they don't reveal themselves except to those whom they are taking. But Samael is the "Severity of God" and an Archangel (though not the Archangel of Death), and everyone knows what he's about. It was Samael who waited to take Isaac once Abraham had plunged his dagger into Isaac's chest, and he was not completely pleased when given the Command to stay Abraham's hand. Also, he has a history with Lilith. There are whispers...
Already released:
Severity of God. I like that title.
ReplyDeleteSo do all these guys come from the Bible? I was wondering.
ReplyDeleteI'll stop back if you want to answer.
Briane: No, not from the Bible -- they were conveniently excised -- but they are (mostly) from Hebrew mythology (some come from other traditions in the same region). Catholics kept some of these, but Protestants dropped pretty much all of them except Michael and Gabriel.
DeleteI bet there's an interesting story in how they decided which angels to cut out. I've always been interested in the fact that "the Bible" wasn't really one book.
ReplyDeleteBriane: I don't think so. I think they cut them all out except for the ones they couldn't. I mean, Gabriel is named as bringing the message to Mary, and it's hard to ignore that. Mostly, they just dropped whole books that dealt with too much Angel stuff.
Delete