Wings

[no thing]

I am not certain why, but I have recently been thinking about angels and fairies and the fact that they both have wings. Fairies are easy to understand in that they need wings to move around in mother earth’s atmosphere.

This leaves angels. Why are they shown with wings? Not that is truly matters one way or the other, since I would imagine angels would not need bodies of any sort, but the presence of wings raises the question of why. Does anyone have any background into why angels have wings?

ILAL

no thing

[ARCANEKNIGHT]

That's a good question.  In the Bible, angels aren't described as having wings, nor are they in the earliest Christian art.

What happened in between then and now?

The Renaissance!!  Wings were an art depiction added by Renaissance painters, and they have had wings ever since.

[no thing]

Arcaneknight,

Thanks for the reply and welcome to the forum. I was talking with a friend this morning and posed the same question. He provided the following;

1 Kings 8:6 - 8:7 
6 The priests then brought the ark of the LORD's covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim.
7 The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles.

2 Chrolicles 9:5   8 The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and covered the ark and its carrying poles.

closer translation from the Hebrew....from a Jewish translation....1 Kings chapter 8

    And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of HaShem unto its place, into the Sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim.
7
    For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the staves thereof above.


cherubim is plural for cherub
1.   a celestial being. Gen. 3:24; Ezek. 1, 10.
2.   Theology. a member of the second order of angels, often represented as a beautiful rosy-cheeked child with wings.
3.   a beautiful or innocent person, esp. a child.
4.   a person, esp. a child, with a sweet, chubby, innocent face.
[Origin: bef. 900; ME < L < Gk < Heb kərūbh; r. ME cherubin, OE cerubin, cerubim (all sing.) < L cherūbim < Gk < Heb kərū

So, apparently in the Old Testament, the wings are present. So are angels’ spiritual beings from another planet where wings are part of their physiology, and they have elevated themselves to some higher spiritual level?

ILAL

no thing