Levi's testament in The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs mentions that Levi's lineage was appointed to be the priesthood by 'seven men in white raiment', possibly alluding to a tradition of seven principal angels. These details suggest the author was also drawing on the tradition of seven archangels.
In the same breath, Israel calls himself 'the first minister in the sight of God', while stating that the angel Uriel is his 'eighth'. In the Prayer of Joseph, the man Israel identifies himself as the incarnation of 'a ruling spirit' who is 'an archangel of the power of the Lord'. Jubilees 2.2 mentions 'the angels of the Presence'. Remiel, one of the holy angels, whom God has put in charge of those who rise. Gabriel, one of the holy angels, who is in charge of the Garden and the seraphim and the cherubim. Sariel, one of the holy angels, who is in charge of the spirits of the sons of men who sin against the spirit. Michael, one of the holy angels, who has been put in charge of the blessings of the people. Reuel, one of the holy angels, who tends the host of the luminaries. Raphael, one of the holy angels, who is in charge of the spirits of men. For example, 1 Enoch 17.1-8 (traditionally 20.1-8): And these are the names of the holy angels who keep watch: Uriel, one of the holy angels, who is in charge of the world and Tartarus. This is also found in versions of 1 Enoch, where Raphael is again mentioned. This is seen most immediately in Tobit 12.15: I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand ready and enter before the glory of the Lord. Second, despite interpreters taking 'seven spirits' to mean 'sevenfold Spirit', the matter is that the Greek gives 'spirit' in the plural, suggesting John does indeed have seven distinct 'spirits' in mind.Īn alternate explanation put forth is that the 'seven spirits before the throne' is John drawing from a pair of closely related traditions, of a specific class of angels that attend to God's throne, and of seven archangels. The passage only uses the word 'spirit' four times, with the latter three uses simply adding definition to the initial use. The New Oxford Annotated Bible mentions this as a possible interpretation of the text.Ĭritics of the common view believe two facts undermine its validity.įirst, it is objected that the Isaiah verse is merely poetic, not meant to be a literal enumeration that the holy spirit is 'sevenfold'. 'David', a messianic figure), so proponents of this view point to Revelation 3.1 and 5.6 to show how this is true of Jesus. The Isaiah verse shows this sevenfold Holy Spirit 'resting' on 'the stock of Jesse' (i.e. This view states that the Holy Spirit is defined in a sevenfold way, that there are seven attributes the Spirit imparts to the divinely-inspired. Victorinus' Commentary on the Apocalypse cites the passage directly, though his slightly different list is based on LXX Isaiah: We read of a sevenfold spirit in Isaiah namely, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, of knowledge and of piety, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord. That is to say, this 'sevenfold' Holy Spirit is: His delight shall be in the fear of Yahweh. The spirit of Yahweh shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh. The New Living Translation renders the text this way.Īs for the reason John identifies the person of the Holy Spirit as 'seven spirits', interpreters bring up Isaiah 11.1-3: A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The very early explanation for this is to interpret 'seven spirits' as a singular 'sevenfold Spirit'.
What little objection there is to this view comes in identifying 'the seven spirits' as the individual 'Holy Spirit'. Most Christian commentaries interpret these three as referring to the three persons of the trinity: Grace to you and peace from God the Father, and from God the Holy Spirit, and from God the Son The Three Entities Grace to you and peace from the one who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ The following is the answer I wrote to a similar question on Hermeneutics.SE.