Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained.
In today’s video, we’re going to discuss Abaddon, the abyss of absolute destruction
in the Old Testament and the angel of the bottomless pit in the New Testament..
The term "Abaddon" originates from the Hebrew word "אֲבַדּוֹן" (Avaddon), stemming
from the root "אבד" (avad), which signifies "to be lost" or "to perish."
Generally, "Abaddon" is understood as a great annihilating abyss; though less commonly,
it is also the name of the angel who presides over this abyss, as we’ll see.
In the context of the Old Testament, Abaddon serves as a descriptor for a realm of destruction,
frequently linked with Sheol—another Hebrew term, indicative of the underworld or the
realm of the dead.
However, the New Testament presents an evolution in the conception of Abaddon.
No longer a place of doom and destruction, it becomes personified as a sentient entity
with authority over the abyss.
We’re going to begin with three books from the Old Testament (the Books of Job, Proverbs,
and Psalms), using them to consider Abaddon as conceptualized inanimately, meaning as
a physical place or as an abstraction.
Following that, we’re going to dive into the book of Revelation, which is where Abaddon
is personified, becoming a sentient entity, given the ominous honorific ‘the angel of
the abyss’ and presented as the king of a pestilent swarm, as can be seen from this
passage: "They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is
Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon."
Alright, let’s get into it.
The Book of Job explores profound questions about human suffering, the nature of God,
and the relationship between God and humanity.
The story begins with Job, a man from the land of Uz who is described as "blameless"
and "upright," who "feared God and shunned evil".
Job is prosperous, with a large family and extensive flocks.
In the heavenly realm, God praises Job's righteousness to 'the Adversary', Ha-Satan in Hebrew.
The Adversary challenges Job's piety, arguing that Job is only righteous because he has
been blessed with prosperity.
The Adversary suggests that if Job were to suffer, he would surely curse God.
God humors this criticism and allows Job to be tested, sanctioning the suffering of one
of his faithful, this resulting in Job losing his wealth, his children, and eventually his
health, as he is afflicted with painful sores all over his body.
Despite this, Job initially does not curse God, instead saying, "The Lord giveth, and
the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord".
Job’s hardship, no longer merely a stretch of bad luck or a few unfortunate events stringed
together, spirals into an interminable gauntlet of trials and tribulations.
Job begins to question why he is suffering despite his righteousness.
He maintains his innocence and demands an answer from God.
His friends come to comfort him, insisting that he must have sinned to warrant such suffering.
They argue that God is just and therefore Job's suffering must be a punishment for some
hidden sin.
But Job rejects their arguments, insisting on his innocence.
Emerging from the heart of a whirlwind, God addresses Job.
But rather than providing a simple explanation for Job's suffering, He asserts His unfathomable
power and wisdom.
He doesn't directly answer Job's questions; instead, He weaves a cosmic tapestry of intricate
questions, challenging Job to comprehend His divine perspective.
This is no mundane Q&A, but a celestial dialogue that accentuates the vast gap between human
understanding and divine knowledge.
God then takes Job on a virtual journey through the cosmos and the animal kingdom, opening
his eyes to the wonders of creation that humankind often overlooks.
He introduces Job to the terrifying majesty of Behemoth and Leviathan, creatures so immense
and powerful that they stand as metaphors for the incomprehensible might of the Creator
Himself.
God's discourse showcases His supreme knowledge and power, intricately and inextricably tied
to every aspect of the cosmos, from the most infinitesimal mote to the most colossal creature,
from the most serene dawn to the fiercest storm.
He leaves Job and the reader in awe.
Humbled by God's response, Job repents, saying: "I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know" (Job 42:3).
In the end, God rebukes Job's friends for their lack of understanding and insists they
offer sacrifices and ask Job to pray for them.
God then restores Job's fortunes, giving him twice as much wealth as he had before, along
with new children.
Job lives for another 140 years, seeing four generations of his offspring, before he dies.
Pertaining to the Book of Job, the most germane passage is chapter 26 verse 6, which reads
as “Sheol is naked before Him; Abaddon has no cover.”
To unpack this we have to delve into what Sheol is, what Abaddon is, and the broader
context of Job 26.
Sheol, in the context of the Hebrew Bible, is commonly depicted as the realm of the dead,
where both the righteous and unrighteous go after death.
It's often described as a place of darkness, silence, and forgetfulness, separate from
the world of the living.
The concept of Sheol is rather vague and doesn’t entail the punishment and reward that are
associated with the later dichotomic concepts of Hell and Heaven.
Abaddon, as it is used in the Old Testament, generally refers to a place of destruction
or perdition.
It is often paired with Sheol, suggesting that it's closely related to the realm of
the dead.
Unlike Sheol, however, Abaddon conveys a stronger connotation of active ruin or annihilation,
associated with the most extreme kind of destruction.
In the context of the book of Job, this verse, "Sheol is naked before Him, And Abaddon has
no covering" emphasizes the omniscience and omnipotence of God.
"Sheol" and "Abaddon" are invoked to signify places that are typically hidden or unknowable
to humans: Sheol, the realm of the dead, and Abaddon, a place of utter destruction.
The declaration that "Sheol is naked" and "Abaddon has no covering" means that even
the remotest and most mysterious areas of existence are fully exposed before God.
This verse serves to underline the vast and impassable chasm that starkly separates divine
and human understanding.
It's part of a longer passage where Job is highlighting the unimaginable power and knowledge
of God, even over the realms of death and destruction, places that inspire fear and
are beyond human understanding.
This point is particularly poignant within the broader context of the Book of Job, which
grapples with the question of why righteous people suffer, and explores the limitations
of human wisdom in comprehending divine will and the nature of the universe.
We will now briefly explore the depiction of Abaddon in the books of Psalms and Proverbs.
These books present Abaddon similarly to the Book of Job, again portraying it as the abyss
itself.
Subsequently, we will delve into the Book of Revelation, where Abaddon undergoes a transformation
of personification to become the angel of the abyss.
Psalms 88:11 reads: "Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness
in Abaddon?"
Psalm 88 is a song of deep lament, filled with descriptions of suffering and pleas for
God's help.
The speaker asks a series of rhetorical questions, wondering whether God's love and faithfulness
can be known in the grave or in Abaddon.
The mention of Abaddon here as a place of destruction again emphasizes its association
with death and oblivion.
The Psalmist is expressing deep despair and questioning whether God's love and faithfulness
can reach even into the darkest places of existence.
Proverbs 15:11 reads: "Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD—how much more the hearts
of men!"
In this verse, both Sheol (the realm of the dead) and Abaddon (a place of destruction)
are depicted as fully known and exposed before the Lord.
The emphasis here is on the omniscience of God, who fully perceives and understands even
the deepest mysteries and the most hidden places.
The comparison made in the second half of the verse suggests that if God can fully understand
these mysterious realms, then surely the hearts of humans are even more accessible to Him.
This verse encourages moral and righteous behavior, implying that nothing is hidden
from God.
Where Abaddon is mentioned in several Old Testament books, it only appears once in the
New Testament, in the the book of Revelation, and where the Old Testament - as we’ve just
seen - features Abaddon as a place or as an abstraction, the book of Revelation personifies
Abaddon, making it the angel of the bottomless pit rather than the bottomless pit itself.
The Book of Revelation is an apocalyptic work that describes the final wars between good
and evil and God’s final judgment, people either consigned to God's kingdom or condemned
to the lake of fire.
What transpires in the book of Revelation can loosely be sorted into two categories:
God unleashing chaos and cataclysm and Satan trying to take over the world.
Pertaining to God’s judgment leading up to the ultimate judgment that punctuates the
remaking of the world, it is meted out through three series of disasters: seven seals, seven
trumpets, and seven bowls.
It is during the tumult and upheaval of the trumpets that Abaddon makes his appearance.
After the 5th trumpet of the apocalypse was sounded, a star that had fallen to earth was
given a key to the shaft of the Abyss.
When the star opened the Abyss, smoke rose out, darkening the sun and the air, and locusts
came to the earth.
The locusts were commanded to harm only those people who did not have the seal of God on
their foreheads, but they were not to kill them, only to torment them for five months.
During these five months, people would seek death, yearning for the final release but
unable to escape their mortal forms, now like fetters of flesh, living sarcophagi that imprisoned
their souls.
The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle, with crowns of what looked like gold
and faces like human faces.
They had hair like women's hair, teeth like lions' teeth, and they wore breastplates that
seemed like iron.
Their wings made a sound like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.
They had tails with stingers like those of scorpions.
They had a king over them, Abaddon, who was the angel of the Abyss.
Here, Abaddon is depicted as a destructive force, as the angel of the abyss, leading
a horde of tormenting creatures that emerge from the Abyss.
The exact quote from the book of Revelation reads: “And they had a king over them, which
is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but
in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
Interestingly, some have tied this into the second defeat of Satan, his unholy horde laid
low by the host of heaven, led by Jesus Christ.
While Satan is eventually condemned to eternal damnation in the lake of fire, this perpetual
punishment doesn’t come about until his third defeat.
Following his second defeat, he’s imprisoned in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years, to
be released to once again work evil on the world after that time.
Here’s the passage: "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven,
holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.
And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him
for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so
that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended.
After that, he must be released for a little while.”
The interpretation of apocalyptic texts, such as the Book of Revelation, often leads to
a multitude of views.
A noteworthy interpretation links two figures mentioned in distinct segments of Revelation:
specifically, Abaddon, the entity referred to as 'the angel of the bottomless pit' from
Revelation 9:11, and the descending angel who binds and banishes Satan depicted in Revelation
20:1.
And that’s it for this video.
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