I used AI to create biblical angels

Doing this really made me think.

There really are a few different ways to describe someone's appearance.

Physical description: Like giving to the police for identifying someone.
Poetic: You might say something like "her hair, a cascade of golden sunlight, flows like a river of liquid gold, shimmering with every movement."
Doing the best with what you've got: How do you think someone that lived 2,000 years ago would describe a robot? While I might describe the robot as having a metallic body, driven on tracks, with cameras as eyes someone 2,000 years ago may say something like "His body was that of a sword, his feet like a chariot, and his eyes like lightening."

Today, I think we would primarily focus on number 1. But that's because today, people would hound you on the details. A few thousand years ago, that may not have been the case. Someone a few thousand years ago may have been more focused on "How did you know it was an angel?" And you might say "Because he told me things that he couldn't have known."

Imagine meeting one of these angels. Imagine going through your day then BAM. There's an angel. But not a halo and some beautiful wings. An angel described in the bible.

Part of the challenge of creating an angel is they are described differently in different parts of the Bible. It's almost like a person sees a creature that has a message from God and then says, "That was an angel". I also noticed that the creatures rarely identify themselves as angels.

As I wrote this I thought "What does the word angel mean?" And sure enough, it means "Messenger". So again, an angel probably isn't a species as we think of it today. It would really be "Any creature with a divine message."

Lastly, I tried to leave the word "Angel" out of my descriptions because I didn't want the AI to draw from our current interpretations of an angel. So, I would change it to something like "Create a creature". So, 1 Chronicles 21:16 goes from "David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand extended over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown." to something like "Create an image of a creature standing between the sky and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand extended over an ancient city. With the king and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown."

Microsoft Copilot reading about the end times while the world burns around him

Anyway, here's a couple of descriptions and AI's thoughts on what they look like:

Zechariah 1

Zechariah 1:8 A man mounted on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.

A man mounted on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.

1 Chronicles 21

1 Chronicles 21:16 a creature standing between the sky and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand extended over an ancient city. With the king and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.

a creature standing between the sky and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand extended over an ancient city. With the king and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.

Daniel 10

I struggled if I should put this one in here because the text doesn't say "Angel". But I believe the common understanding or interpretation is this was in fact an angel.

Daniel 10:5-6: A certain man dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz. His body also was like beryl, his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a tumult

A certain man dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz. His body also was like beryl, his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a tumult

Matthew 28, Luke 24, John 20

Matthew 28:2-3 a creature descended from another place and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.

Luke 24:4 two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing;

John 20:12 she *saw two people in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body had been lying.

a creature descended from another place and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. With two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; The two people in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body had been lying.