Editing Seraph (section)

==Origins and development==
[[File:Syrian - Slab with Six-Winged Goddess - Walters 2116.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1|Ancient [[Arameans|Aramean]] six-winged deity, from [[Tell Halaf]] (10th century BCE)]]

In Hebrew, the word ''saraph'' means "burning", and is used seven times throughout the text of the Hebrew Bible as a noun, usually to denote "[[serpents in the Bible|serpent]]",<ref>{{cite web |title=Strong's H8314 – Saraph |url=http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H8314&t=KJV |access-date=2011-12-05 |publisher=Blue Letter Bible}}</ref> twice in the [[Book of Numbers]],<ref>{{cite bible|Numbers|21:6|KJV}}</ref><ref>{{cite bible|Numbers|21:8|KJV}}</ref> once in the [[Book of Deuteronomy]],<ref>{{cite bible|Deuteronomy|8:15|KJV}}</ref> and four times in the [[Book of Isaiah]].<ref>{{cite bible|Isaiah|6:2|KJV}}</ref><ref>{{cite bible|Isaiah|6:6|KJV}}</ref><ref>{{cite bible|Isaiah|14:29|KJV}}</ref><ref>{{cite bible|Isaiah|30:6|KJV}}</ref> The reason why the word for "burning" was also used to denote a serpent is not universally agreed upon; it may be due to a certain snake species' fiery colors, or perhaps the burning sensation left by its venomous bite. Regardless, its plural form, ''seraphim'', occurs in both Numbers and Isaiah, but only in Isaiah is it used to denote an angelic being; likewise, these angels are referred to ''only'' as the plural ''seraphim'' – Isaiah later uses the singular ''saraph'' to describe a "[[fiery flying serpent|fiery flying ''serpent'']]", in line with the other uses of the term throughout the [[Hebrew Bible|Tanakh]].

There is emerging consensus that the motifs used to display seraphs in [[Hyksos period|Hyksos]]-era [[Caanan|Canaan]] had their original sources in Egyptian [[uraeus]] iconography.<ref>{{cite book|title=Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible|editor-first1=Karel |editor-last1=van Der Toorn|editor-first2=Bob |editor-last2=Becking|editor-first3=Pieter |editor-last3=W. Van Der Horst|first1=T. N. D. |last1=Mettinger|chapter=Seraphim|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] and [[W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.]]|date=1999|page=743|quote=...there is now an emerging consensus that the Egyptian uraeus serpent is the original source of the seraphim motif.}}</ref> In Egyptian iconography, the uraeus was used as a symbol of [[sovereignty]], [[Royal family|royalty]], [[divinity]] and [[Divine right of kings|divine authority]], and later iconography often showed uraei with wings. In the early monarchic period of [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Israel]] and [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]], Egyptian motifs were evidently borrowed by the Israelites ''en masse'', as a plethora of personal [[Seal (emblem)|seals]] belonging to classes ranging from commonfolk to royalty have been discovered, which incorporate several pieces of ancient Egyptian iconography, including the [[winged sun]], [[ankh]], the ''[[hedjet]]'' and ''[[deshret]]'' crowns of [[Upper Egypt|Upper]] and [[Lower Egypt]], [[Scarab (artifact)|scarabs]], and the uraeus cobra. These uraei often had four wings, as opposed to the Egyptian standard which only gave them two.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Berlin|first1=Adele|last2=Brettler|first2=Marc Zvi|author3=Jewish Publication Society|year=2014|title=The Jewish Study Bible Jewish Publication Society Tanakh translation|place=New York, New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=779|isbn=9780199978465}}.</ref> These images have been connected with the ''seraphim'' angels associated with Isaiah's visions, or perhaps more directly to the aforementioned "fiery flying serpent", but this continues to be debated – and an image of serpentine ''seraphim'' clashes with Isaiah's own vision, which clearly envisioned ''seraphim'' with heads, legs, and arms – although, on the second matter, some scholars have proposed that the covered "feet" of the seraphim should be identified as genitals, as "feet" are often used in the Hebrew Bible as a euphemism for the [[Human penis|penis]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Quick |first=Laura |date=6 March 2022 |title=Behemoth's Penis, Yahweh's Might: Competing Bodies in the Book of Job |trans-title= |url= |language= |journal=Journal for the Study of the Old Testament |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages= |doi=10.1177/0309089221104053 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Stavrakopoulou | first=F. | title= [[God: An Anatomy]] | publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group | year=2022 | isbn=978-0-525-52046-7 | language=en | access-date=2024-08-28 | page=103}}</ref>

The vision in [[Isaiah 6|Isaiah Chapter 6]] of seraphim in an idealized version of [[Solomon's Temple]] represents the sole instance in the Hebrew Bible of this word being used to describe celestial beings.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&q=seraphim |title=Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible |publisher=Brill |year=1999 |isbn=978-90-04-11119-6 |page=742}}</ref> "... I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly." (Isaiah 6:1–3)<ref>{{cite bible|Isaiah|6:1-3|KJV}}</ref> And one cried to another, "Holy, holy, holy, is YHWH of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory." (verses 2–3)<ref>{{cite bible|Isaiah|6:2-3|KJV}}</ref> One seraph carries out an act of [[ritual purification]] for the prophet by touching his lips with a live coal from the altar (verses 6–7)<ref>{{cite bible|Isaiah|6:6-7|KJV}}</ref> "And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged."

The text describes the "seraphim" as winged celestial beings with a fiery passion for doing God's good work.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&q=seraphim |title=Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible |publisher=Brill |year=1999 |isbn=978-90-04-11119-6 |page=746}}</ref> Notwithstanding the wording of the text itself, at least one Hebrew scholar claims that in the Hebrew Bible the seraphim do not have the status of [[angels]], and that it is only in later sources (like ''[[De Coelesti Hierarchia]]'' or ''[[Summa Theologica|Summa Theologiae]]'') that they are considered to be a division of the divine messengers.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kosior|first=Wojciech|title=The Angel in the Hebrew Bible from the Statistic and Hermeneutic Perspectives. Some Remarks on the Interpolation Theory|url=https://www.academia.edu/4426250|journal=The Polish Journal of Biblical Research|date=June 2013 |volume=12|number=1 (23)|pages=56–57}}</ref> 

Seraphim appear in the 2nd-century BC [[Book of Enoch]],<ref>Enoch, xx. 7, lxi. 10, lxxi. 7.</ref> where they are mentioned, in conjunction with [[cherub]]im, as the heavenly creatures standing nearest to the [[throne of God]]. In non-biblical sources they are sometimes called the ''Akyəst'' ({{langx|gez|አክይስት}} "serpents", "[[dragon]]s"; an alternate term for [[Hell]]).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sola |first1=David Aaron |title=Signification of the Proper Names, Etc., Occurring in the Book of Enoch: From the Hebrew and Chaldee Languages |year=1852 |place=London, England |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Rev. X.Y.Z.|series=Merry England|volume=22|title=The Story of a Conversion|year=1894|page=151}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Enoch 1 68:9–16 |url=http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/enoch.html#68}}</ref>

In the [[Second Book of Enoch]], two classes of celestial beings are mentioned alongside the seraphim and cherubim, known as the ''[[Phoenix (mythology)|phoenixes]]'' and the ''[[chalkydri]]'' ({{langx|grc|χαλκύδραι}} ''khalkýdrai'', compound of {{lang|grc|χαλκός}} ''khalkós'' "brass, copper" + {{lang|grc|ὕδρα}} ''hýdra'' "[[Lernaean Hydra|hydra]]", "water-serpent"—lit. "brazen hydras", "copper serpents"). Both are described as "flying elements of the sun" that reside in either the 4th or 7th heaven, who have twelve wings and burst into song at sunrise.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Davidson|first1=Gustav|year=1967|title='A Dictionary of Angels, Including the Fallen Angels|chapter='Chalkydri'|page=84}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Davidson|first1=Gustav|year=1967|title='A Dictionary of Angels, Including the Fallen Angels|chapter='Phoenixes'|page=224}}</ref>

In the [[Book of Revelation]] (4:4–8), the beasts are described as being forever in God's presence and praising him: "[A]nd they rest not day and night, saying, 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.'" This account differs slightly from the account of Isaiah, stating in the eighth verse, "And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within". They appear also in the [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] text, ''[[On the Origin of the World]]''.<ref name="NagHammadi">{{cite book |title=The Nag Hammadi Library in English |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1977 |isbn=0-06-066929-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/naghammadilibrar00jame/page/166 166] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/naghammadilibrar00jame/page/166 }}</ref>