*** w61 1/15 pp. 57-58 Angels—God’s Spirit Messengers ***
CHARACTERISTICS OF ANGELS
While some would deny distinct personality to individual angels, the Bible teaches otherwise. Their personality is implied by the fact that they have individual names, such as Michael and Gabriel. (Dan. 12:1; Luke 1:26) However, apparently so as not to give undue prominence to individual angels little is said about their names. When Samson’s parents asked the name of the angel that had appeared to them, he rebuked them, saying: “Just why should you ask about my name, when it is a wonderful one?”—Judg. 13:18.
Angels are generally represented as males, because God and his Son are spoken of as males. They are, however, without sex, for Jesus told that those who come forth upon earth in the resurrection will not marry, because they will be like angels. It was the pleasures of sex that caused certain angels to leave their heavenly positions in Noah’s day. Also, they communicate with each other by means of the speech or ‘tongues of angels.’—Matt. 22:30; 1 Cor. 13:1.
Angels being spirit creatures, it is not possible for humans to know what they look like. In dealing with humans, angels at times appeared in human form and on occasion as winged creatures. Then again, to call attention to their honorable office, a physical glory and brilliance may be associated with them, they appearing as bright as lightning.—Dan. 10:6; Matt. 28:3.
In common with man, angels are free moral agents, that is, they can choose to do right or wrong. They are intelligent creatures that can worship God Jehovah or refuse to do so and take the consequences. Some of them have rebelled against God, chief of whom is their prince Beelzebub, Satan the Devil. Those who have continued faithful are termed “holy angels” and share in the vindication of Jehovah’s name, even as do faithful humans.—2 Pet. 2:4; Matt. 12:24; Mark 8:38.
Since God created man ‘a little less than the angels,’ angels doubtless have greater mental capacity than does man, and yet there are some things that God has kept from them. Thus Jesus said that the angels did not know the day or hour when the wicked heavens and earth would be destroyed. And Peter tells us that there were certain things that angels were desirous of peering into. They must be keenly interested in what is going on upon the earth, for they are said to rejoice at the repentance of a sinner and to watch the “theatrical spectacle” furnished by Christians. More than that, it is reasonable to conclude that angels can learn from observing Christians, for women in the Christian congregation are told to wear a sign of authority upon their heads because of the angels, so as to set the angels a proper example of submission to God-appointed rule.—Matt. 24:36; 1 Pet. 1:12; Luke 15:10; 1 Cor. 4:9; 11:10.
In keeping with their exalted position are the superhuman powers with which angels are endowed. In harmony with this we read that the Lord Jesus Christ will be revealed “from heaven with his powerful angels.” “Bless Jehovah, O you angels of his, mighty in power, carrying out his word.” And their power is implied by the deeds they are said to have performed, such as two of them destroying Sodom and Gomorrah and one of them slaying the Assyrian host of 185,000 warriors encamped before Jerusalem in the days of King Hezekiah.—2 Thess. 1:7; Ps. 103:20; Gen. 19:13; 2 Ki. 19:35.
We may also safely conclude that angels, God’s spirit messengers, travel at tremendous speeds. Thus once when Daniel began to pray, God dispatched an angel to him in answer to his prayer. This angel, although coming from beyond the realms of outer space, reached Daniel before he had concluded his prayer.—Dan. 9:21.
*** it-1 p. 1023 Ham ***
The black race descended from Cush and possibly from Put, other sons of Ham who were not involved in the incident or the curse.
*** g82 2/8 pp. 13-14 The Races—What Is Their Origin? ***
Skin Color
According to the Bible, all humans descend from Noah, through his three sons Shem, Japheth and Ham. Genesis chapter 10 lists 70 descendants of Noah saying: “From these the nations were spread about in the earth.” (Genesis 10:32) One of the many ways in which these nations have been classified is with reference to skin color. In the skin of all normal humans is a blackish brown pigment called melanin.
Noah and his three sons all had a measure of this dark pigment. From Shem came the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Jews and the Arabs who vary from fair to light-brown skin. The descendants of Japheth, who include the Indo-European races, vary from light skin to dark brown. As for Ham (meaning swarthy or sun-burnt), some, but not all, of his descendants had dark skin. The Egyptians, with light-brown skin, descended from Ham’s son Mizraim. Ham’s son Canaan, who was cursed by God because of bad conduct, was the forefather of the light-skinned Canaanites.
In agreement with this, Dr. Hughes, a professor of anthropology at the University of Toronto, said: “On every continent, and in every geographically defined race, there is a considerable range of variation in . . . skin pigmentation, . . . the Tamils of South India are considered by many anthropologists to be members of the Caucasoid [white Indo-European] major race, yet in skin pigmentation they are darker than many African Negroes.”
All of this shows how foolish it is to interpret God’s curse on Canaan as referring to a dark-skinned people. All divisions of mankind have a dark pigment in their skin, some to a lesser, others to a greater extent.
