Guardian Angels & the Bible?

Ezekiel 28:14-16 talks about the guardian cherub (aka Lucifer). As for the idea of a "guardian angel," I'm not sure how biblical that is. It could possibly have come from this verse: Psalm 34:7 "The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them." (Note: Most Christians understand the term "angel of the LORD" to mean the pre-incarnate Son of God.)

The idea could also come from the stories of Daniel in the lion's den or Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego in the fiery furnace, both found in the early chapters of the book of Daniel.

Other than those passages, I don't see any evidence in the Bible that God sends each person a guardian angel, as many people currently believe.

Chalk

Matthew 18:1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, " Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 "And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. . . . 10 "See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.

This is why people believe in guardian angels, at least for children.
Logan

The angel Jacob wrestles with in Genesis is interpreted by some Jewish commentators (wish I could remember which) as the guardian angel of Esau, his brother. (The text does not specifically say this, and the angel declines to identify himself.)

There's also a saying (not in the Bible) that every blade of grass has its own angel standing over it, telling it to grow.

I had a soul ... but NaNoWriMo eated it. :(

Breeder of Plot Wolverines

Also read 2Kings Chapter6

It is my understanding that

believers do not have just one guardian angel
but a host of angelic beings surrounding/supporting them

the children have angels
the adults have angels

and for some reason I think I recall a host as being 100
although there may also be a hierarchy in those angelic beings

with God, all things are possible. Let's not set limits. (smiley face)

I'm glad for this discussion. I hadn't ever made the connection regarding the angels of abused children. I have always focused more on the a personal relationship with God in my spiritual life than worrying about angels, and I have often found the discussion of angels in popular culture disturbing (like on Oprah and such). There was a poll once in which more Americans believed in angels than believed in God. I thought that was really weird. The scriptures mention angels and I believe they exist. But there is that passage about the devil being able to decieve us and appear as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14) so I have always been a bit leery of reports of manifestations of angels.

I guess my attitude toward angels is similar to my attitude toward Feng Shui, which is that it's a nice idea, but I'm not going to hang my hat on it.

2004: Win! 2005: 6- ish 2006: 35k-ish 2007: 2k 2008:?
Tricia V., aka FLRussell ('04-'06) or pooka

Guardian angels is really a theme that emerges from Christian culture and not so much the Bible itself. Angels in the Bible tend to serve as messengers or warriors, not as personal guardians. Angels are actually supposed to be kind of terrifying. When they appear, they often have to tell the humans "fear not".

If you want to see an angel acting in a guardian-like position, however, check out the Book of Tobit in the Catholic canon. That's the main example that springs to mind.

But think about that in the context of the time period. If a being of light suddenly appeared out of nowhere, whether floating in the air or suddenly standing before you and you had no idea what it was I think your first reaction would likely be fear. We as a race seem to be almost instinctually afraid of things unknown. So it may not be so much that angels are terrifying in themselves, but the people of the time were reacting out of fear of the unknown and the angel was simply reassuring them. My two cents, anyway :)

If you're wanting solid stuff to go off of and base characters on, there are actually encyclopedias on Angels, both fallen and not online and in book form to be found.

True, true. I would be pretty freaked out too. *grins*

But my general point was that angels in the Bible are not really seen in the same warm, friendly light that we see guardian angels today (except for a few instances).

Hey amrhoads,

This is actually a subject i'm writing on as well.

Does anyone know any good encyclopedias or book resources on angels? I've been wanting to get one for a while for reference material, but I really want something meaty - with a lot of information on the presence of angels both canonically, non-canonically and in literature.

Anyone know of any books which fit the bill?

A reference to the popular belief in Guardian Angels who are identical in appearance to those over whom they watch, appears in Acts XII:15. As far as I know this is the only such reference in the entire New Testament.