@Resha Caner,
Resha Caner wrote:Very cool. You might have to humor me and occasionally Westernize some of the names you're using. By Rambam I assume you mean Moses Maimonides.
I'm not very familiar with him - basically at a "wiki" level, but I wouldn't have interpreted some of what he says to imply that angels cease to exist when their purpose is complete. I do like his view of angels, though.
So is there an explicit example of what you say, or is it all inference? For example, I could quote Luke 20:36 as the reason a Christian would claim angels are eternal (not that you would accept it). Even that reference, though, is not explicit.
My mind ran wild with applying this idea to Satan. Let's say God gives an angel a mission, and there is more than one way to properly execute the mission. Does the angel have a choice? If he does, then it could easily follow that he could make a bad choice. In Satan's case, he could refuse to complete the mission, thereby self-sustaining his own existence indefinitely. In other words, Satan could choose to make himself eternal. Being now eternal, it would be easy for Satan to think that in an infinity of time he could achieve omnipotence. Hence, he would be like God. And so the fall of the angels.
But, the downside of Rambam's position is that the angels become very mechanical - without the ability to make choices. So, would you say angels do or do not have choices?
Yea, RaMBaM is Maimonides, but he did not start this concept of Angels ceasing to exist when their task is complete. He is the one who labeled the Ophanim as the Planetary influence.
Angels would only be Eternal if they had an Eternal Task.
And from a Jewish perspective, HaSatan (Satan) does not go against God's Will. He is also an angel with a specific task and once his task is no longer required He will also cease to exist. (In the distant future).
I dont know the specifics of 'if Angels have a choice of how to apply this mission.' It is an interesting question though. I would assume that they have some kind of choice. Many stories of angels from the Midrashim almost humanize angels and give them personalities. But these are always the higher angels and not the messanger angels. I would picture angels like ants, going away at their specified task. Some intelligence to find a proper path but not much more. But I am not quoting anything here, so take this definition with a grain of salt.
The only thing I could find about the free choice of angels is a Midrash from the story of the Garden of Eden. Comparing Free Will before eating of the Tree of Knowledge and after.
Before eating of the tree of knowledge Free Will was in the realm of True and False like the Angels. We could make a false choice but we never would. It would be like us chosing to jump into a pit of fire and burning to death. It is clearly false. But we are still able to jump if we are so inclined. After eating of the fruit we saw things as Good and Evil. So you see from this Midrash it would seem that Angels have the ability to deviate from truth, but don't because it would be false and their own destruction.
Another Midrash is when Israel was about to receive the Torah [Exodus 24:7] they said, We will do and we will listen.
The Midrash asks "Who gave them the secret of the Angels?"
How is this statement the secret of the Angels?
The angles are created for one purpose alone: to carry out God's bidding. They "Do" (carry out) God's will before they "listen" (inquire as to the reason for the command and its purpose). They cannot act otherwise, for their entire existence hinges upon this one purpose.
The Midrash also states that God held a mountain over Israel so that if they refused the Torah it would crush them.
This goes along the same lines. (Midrash is always metaphorical and should never be taken litteraly) Israel's entire purpose to existence was to accept the Torah and carry it out. The entire reason they exist is for this. If they do not accept the Torah and keep it, then they no longer have a reason to exist. They therefore must accept it and keep it.
