Abaddon Series

Abaddon

Do you want to know what the Scripture says, you must press "Ctrl," hold it down, and "click" on the Scripture.

INTRODUCTION

The Hebrew term Abaddon (Hebrew: A?adon, meaning "destruction," "doom") and its Greek equivalent Apollyon (Koine Greek: Apollúon, meaning "Destroyer") appears in the Bible as both a place of Destruction and an angel of the Abyss. In the Hebrew Bible, Abaddon is used concerning a bottomless pit, often appearing alongside the place Sheol, meaning the resting place of dead peoples.

In the Book of Revelation of the New Testament, an angel called Abaddon is described as the King of an army of locusts; his name is first transcribed in Koine Greek (Revelation 9:11—"whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon,"), and then translated Apollyon.

SCRIPTURE

10 They had tails with stingers like scorpions, which had the power to injure people for five months. 11 They were ruled by a king, the angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in

Greek, it is Apollyon.

Judaism

Hebrew Bible

The term Abaddon appears six times in the *Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible; Abaddon means Destruction or "place of destruction," or the realm of the dead, and is accompanied by Sheol.

*Masoretic text - The Hebrew text of the Old Testament is called the Masoretic Text because, in its present form, it is based upon the Masora—the Hebrew, textual tradition of the Jewish scholars known as the Masoretes (or Masorites). The Masoretes were rabbis who made it their special work to correct the faults that had crept into the text of the Old Testament during the Babylonian captivity and to prevent for the future, its being corrupted by any alteration.

The text of the Thanksgiving Hymns—which was found in the Dead Sea Scrolls—tells of "the Sheol of Abaddon" and of the "torrents of Belial [that] burst into Abaddon." The Biblical Antiquities (misattributed to Philo) mention Abaddon as a place (Destruction) rather than an individual. Abaddon is also one of the compartments of Gehenna. By extension, it can mean an underworld of lost souls or Gehenna.

Rabbinical literature

In some legends, Abaddon is identified as a realm where the damned lie in fire and snow, one of the places in Gehenna that Moses visited.

Christianity

New Testament

The New Testament contains the first known depiction of Abaddon as an individual entity instead of a place.

A king, the angel of the bottomless pit; whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon; in Latin Exterminans.

—?Revelation 9:11

In Revelation 9:11, Abaddon is described as "Destroyer," the angel of the Abyss, and as the King of a plague of locusts resembling horses with crowned human faces, women's hair, lions' teeth, wings, iron breastplates, and a tail with a scorpion's stinger that torments for five months anyone who does not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

The symbolism of Revelation 9:11 leaves the identity of Abaddon open to interpretation. Protestant commentator Matthew Henry (1708) believed Abaddon to be the Antichrist, whereas the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary (1871) and Henry Hampton Halley (1922) identified the angel as Satan.

In contrast, the Methodist publication The Interpreter's Bible states, "Abaddon, however, is an angel not of Satan but God, performing his work of destruction at God's bidding," citing the context in Revelation chapter 20, verses 1 through 3. Jehovah's Witnesses also cite Revelation 20:1-3, where the angel having "the key of the abyss" is shown to represent God, concluding that "Abaddon" is another name for Jesus after his resurrection.

Mandaeism

Mandaean scriptures such as the Ginza Rabba mention the Abaddons (Classical Mandaic: ?bdunia) as part of the World of Darkness. The Right Ginza mentions the existence of the "upper Abaddons" (?bdunia ?laiia) as well as the "lower Abaddons" (?bdunia titania). The final poem of the Left Ginza mentions the "House of the Abaddons" (bit ?bdunia).

Apocryphal texts

In the gnostic 3rd century Acts of Thomas, Abaddon is the name of a demon, or the Devil himself.

Abaddon is given significant roles in two sources, a homily entitled "The Enthronement of Abaddon" by pseudo-Timothy of Alexandria, and the Book of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, by Bartholomew the Apostle. In the homily by Timothy, Abaddon was first named Muriel and had been given the task by God of collecting the earth that would be used in the creation of Adam. Upon completion of this task, the angel was appointed as a guardian. Everyone feared him, including the angels, demons, and corporeal entities (having, consisting of, or relating to a physical material body). Abaddon was promised that any who venerated him in life could be saved. Abaddon is also said to have a prominent role in the Last Judgment as the one who will take the souls to the Valley of Josaphat. He is described in the Book of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as being present in the Tomb of Jesus at the moment of the resurrection of Jesus.