Cherubim guard things. When God expels Adam and Eve from Eden, he stations a cherub with a flaming sword to guard the pathway to the tree of life (Gn 3:24).

Scripture also shows specific responsibilities given to some cherubim: There’s a great deal more detail I could go into here, but you should read Ezekiel’s descriptions for yourself in Ezekiel chapters 1 and 10.

Cherubim are accompanied by mysterious “whirring wheels” (Ezek 10:9–11, 13).

Cherubim have four wings, two of which cover their bodies (Ezek 1:11).

Cherubim have human hands, possibly four of them (Ezek 1:8).

Cherubim have stiff legs with calves’ feet (Ezek 1:6).

Cherebim have a generally humanoid form (Ezek 1:5).

Note: Ezekiel is describing a carved decoration in a vision, so it’s possible that the cherubim are merely carved in such a way that the viewer can only see two of the four faces.

Two faces: man and lion (Ezek 41:18–19).

Four faces: cherub, man, lion, and eagle (Ezek 10:14).

Four faces: man, ox, lion, and eagle (Ezek 1:10).

However, cherubim with multiple faces seem to have the faces of different creatures on the same body:

Cherubim seem to have multiple faces, but the faces vary in number and nature.

The most vivid descriptions of cherubim come from the prophet Ezekiel: They’re mentioned 33 times in the Bible, and only in the Old Testament. CherubimĬherubim (singular “cherub”) show up a bit more often in the Bible-and a good deal earlier. “Seraphim” is usually defined as “burning ones.” The few other times the Hebrew root of the word ( serap) shows up, it’s in reference to the “fiery serpents” that God sent to judge the children of Israel in the wilderness (Nu 21:6, Dt 8:15) or “flying serpents” that Isaiah talks about in two of his oracles (Is 14:29 30:6).

At least one seraph plays a part in forgiving Isaiah of his sin.

The seraphim proclaim God’s holiness to one another.

Two are used for covering their faces, two for covering their feet, and two for flight.

Isaiah sees seraphim serving in the presence of God’s throne in the temple.We can only discern a few things about the seraphim from this passage: The singular form of seraphim is “seraph.” (Hebrew uses “-im” similarly to how we add “-s” to words to make them plural.) The Bible mentions seraphim only twice, both in Isaiah’s grand vision of the Lord in the temple in Isaiah chapter 6. Mike Heiser has some more thoughts on this passage here, and even more thoughts on this in his book, The Unseen Realm.*īy the way, if you’d like to study the Old Testament in its original Hebrew, check out this online course from my friends at Zondervan Academic.* 2. “Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat.” (Lev 16:8, NASB)īut the Hebrew word translated “scapegoat” in this passage is azazel-and there’s good reason to believe it’s meant to be a name (just like “Yahweh” is a proper noun translated “LORD”). The actual verse reads like this in most of our Bibles: The Lord tells Moses that one goat should be slaughtered, and another is to be sent away into the wilderness. This connection comes from a nearby passage in Leviticus 16, where the Day of Atonement ritual is being laid out for the people to follow.

I don’t know what that’s about.īut the Jews drew a connection between these “goat demons” and the demonic figure Azazel-a villainous fallen angel from the book of 1 Enoch. One obscure passage in Leviticus mentions “Goat demons” or “goat idols” (Lev 17:7). Let’s get the weirdest one out of the way first. I’m not going to spend time on “angels” or “demons” as general categories-this list focuses specifically on categories of divine beings (excluding the trinity and idols) the Bible mentions. Let’s take a tour of some of the specific types of angels the Bible mentions. 8 kinds of angels and demons in the Bible I probably don’t have to tell you that it would have taken me a lot longer to do without Logos Bible Software.īeware: some of this is probably going to sound straight-up weird. So one rainy Sunday afternoon, I made this list of all the angels and demons the Bible mentions. I was curious about just what kinds of angels the Bible claims exist. For example, you’ve heard of cherubim and seraphim-but what about that goat demon in Leviticus 17:7? For example, the Bible doesn’t say we become angels when we die-that’s from It’s a Wonderful Life.īut on the other hand, there’s some even weirder stuff that the Bible DOES say about angels and demons that we never hear in Sunday school. There’s a lot of weird stuff we hear about angels that doesn’t show up anywhere in the Bible. But sometimes it’s hard to separate what the Bible says from traditions and lore that we’ve picked up along the way. Angels and demons (and the spirit world in general) are fascinating.

Dark angel picture