by cwconrad » January 13th, 2013, 10:16 am
Judging from your added emoticon, Barry, I gather you thought that was amusing. To me it seems your daughter is pretty astute. Since this is in the category of "Other," perhaps it's not amiss to reflect upon this usage. Of course the original sense of both the Hebrew 'mragel" and the Greek ἄγγελος is indeed "messenger." And my sense of the earlier OT usage of the term is for a recognizably human figure who carries a sort of message from God. I really have no notion of when the iconography started adding wings and all that stuff (e.g. Isaiah 6). Another thought that comes to my mind in this regard is a talk by the noted Jewish theologian Abraham Heschel, entitled, "Who is Man?" He said the question is usually posed as, "What is Man?" but that the question ought rather to be asked "Who?" And when he got around to answering the question, it was this rather fascinating and challenging riddle: "Man (i.e. ὁ ἄνθρωπος) is a messenger who has forgotten what the message is." I had some nice father-daughter time with my own daughter in Tucson over the Christmas holidays; at the other side of the continent, I don't get to see her very often any more. I appreciate your note.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)