Abaddon


The Hebrew term "Abaddon", and its Greek equivalent "Apollyon" appear in the Bible as both a place of destruction and an angel of the abyss. In the Hebrew Bible, abaddon is used with reference to a bottomless pit, often appearing alongside the place שְׁאוֹל, meaning the realm of the dead.
In the New Testament Book of Revelation, an angel called Abaddon is described as the king of an army of locusts; his name is first transcribed in Greek as Ἀβαδδών, and then translated. The Latin Vulgate and the Douay Rheims Bible have additional notes, "in Latin Exterminans", exterminans being the Latin word for "destroyer".

Etymology

According to the Brown Driver Briggs lexicon, the Hebrew abaddon is an intensive form of the Semitic root and verb stem ’ăḇāḏ "perish", which occurs 184 times in the Hebrew Bible. The Septuagint, an early Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, renders "Abaddon" as "ἀπώλεια", while the Greek Apollyon is the active participle of apollymi, "to destroy".

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.
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 burst into Abaddon". The Biblical Antiquities mentions Abaddon as a place rather than an individual. Abaddon is also one of the compartments of Gehenna. By extension, it can mean an underworld abode 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 Christian scriptures contain the first known depiction of Abaddon as an individual entity instead of a place.
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 breast-plates, 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 believed Abaddon to be the Antichrist, whereas the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary and Henry H. Halley identified the angel as Satan.
In contrast, the Methodist publication The Interpreter's Bible states: "Abaddon, however, is an angel not of Satan but of God, performing his work of destruction at God's bidding", citing the context at 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 actually shown to be a representative of God, concluding that "Abaddon" is another name for Jesus after his resurrection.

Gnostic texts

In the 3rd century Acts of Thomas, Abaddon is the name of a demon, or the devil himself.
Abaddon is given particularly important roles in two sources, a homily entitled "The Enthronement of Abbaton" by pseudo-Timothy of Alexandria, and the Apocalypse of Bartholomew. 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, including the angels, demons, and corporeal entities feared him. Abbaton was promised that any who venerated him in life could be saved. Abaddon is also said to have a prominent role in the Last Judgement, as the one who will take the souls to the Valley of Josaphat. He is described in the Apocalypse of Bartholomew as being present in the Tomb of Jesus at the moment of his resurrection.