TheHashmallim (Hebrew:חַשְׁמַלִּיםḤašmallīm; sing.Hashmal,חַשְׁמַלḤašmal; renderedamber by theAuthorized Version)[1] are angelic entities inJudaism.[2]
The wordhashmal appears in theHebrew Bible inEzekiel 1:4-5:
And I looked, and, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, a great cloud, with a fire flashing up, so that a brightness was round about it; and out of the midst thereof as the colour of electrum, out of the midst of the fire. And out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man.[3]
Hashmallim occupy the fourth rank of ten inMaimonides' exposition of theJewish angelic hierarchy.[4]
TheSeptuagint translateshashmal to ηλεκτρον (elektron), which means "amber" in English. Later,hashmal became theModern Hebrew word that translates to the English word "electricity". Jewish poetJudah Leib Gordon coined the modern Hebrew word, in his 1878 collectionGabashta.[5]
Gerson B. Levi (1901)."AMBER". InSinger, Isidore; et al. (eds.).The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 487. | This article related to theHebrew Bible is astub. You can help Wikipedia byadding missing information. |