The first mention of angels in Hebrew scripture is with Abraham, patriarch of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) when, as an old man, in Genesis 18: 1-5, he gives hospitality to three figures, whom he recognises as angels:

“And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground”.

Genesis 18:2, KJV

This ancient story (which also appears in Hebrews 13:2) was probably passed down orally before being written down. It may connect with the ancient Greek concept of xenia, which involved a religious obligation for people to welcome strangers into their homes, especially if these strangers were the gods themselves in disguise. Abraham’s story was popular with early Christian writers and artists, and it has been suggested that it may have been the basis for the Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is important to note that before 1000 CE, the Biblical angels in Genesis, Numbers, Judges, and Joshua acted as message bearers and did not have individual names.

After this, when King Saul established the kingdom of Israel and King David made Jerusalem the capital, people started referring to God as the Lord of Hosts (see the books of Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, and Jeremiah): a divine king surrounded by a heavenly army, the soldiers of which were angels, one particular type known as Cherubim, whose job was to prevent humans from returning to paradise:

” So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”

Genesis 3: 24 KJV

Cherubim are also found as carved figures on the ark of the covenant or the box that Moses made to house the Ten Commandments:

“And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt though make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.”

Exodus 25: 18 KJV

Later, in Isaiah, there is mention of another distinct type of angel, the six-winged seraphim:

“Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six sings: with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.”

Isaiah 6: 2 KJV

Now comes the exile: in 586 BCE, the King of Judah was defeated by the Babylonians (modern-day Iraq), and the inhabitants of Jerusalem were taken as prisoners to Babylonia. During the exile, the book of Daniel introduces different ranks of angles, and some were appointed to watch over various cities and nations – two of these are named Michael and Gabriel, the latter of which features prominently in the Gospel of Luke, where he announces the birth of John the Baptist and the birth of Jesus. The returning exiles brought the names of the angels back with them from Babylonia. Please look at the Biblical books of Ezra and Nehemiah for details. In keeping with this, the first explicit mention of Satan in the Bible is found in Job:

“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.”

Job 1: 6 KJV

With the Book of Daniel, the last of the Hebrew Scriptures, we come to the end of the Old Testament story – but the Book of Tobit (an Apocryphal book in certain Christian traditions) – written about the same time – and widely admired as a moral tale, tells the story about God sending Raphael (one of seven angels who see the face of God) to heal Tobit. The Book of Enoch (an ancient Jewish apocalyptic text( probably written from 300 BC through 100 BC) gives the names of seven archangels: Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Saraqael, Gabriel, and Remiel, as well as others. This book was lost for centuries until it resurfaced in Ethiopia at the beginning of the 17th century. Enoch is considered to be the great-grandfather of Noah. It tells the story of angels falling from heaven( Jude 14-15)  and why the Genesis flood was morally necessary. Also note that at about the same time – as Jewish scholars translated Hebrew scriptures into Greek, the stories about the angels grew and were embellished. Likewise, the hierarchies and ranks were enlarged, and there was increasing talk about personal guardian angels and Satan as the chief of demons. 

When Jesus was born, the interest in angels grew more and more, and more was added to the rolls (check out the Talmud, written by rabbis between 200 and 400 CE). Likewise, the job of the angels continued to expand. The fascination of the Essenes ( a Jewish sect that learnt the names of the angels and kept them secret) led in the Middle Ages to the esoteric form of Judaism called Kabbala, associated with a collection of writings known as the Zohar.  Cabalistic writings contain the names of many angels and allege that with these names, the angels may be conjured up for power over nature. 

The Christians continued with the Jewish fascination with angels. Gabriel announced to Mary she’d bear the promised Messiah (Luke 1:26-28) and Michael, who fights the Devil ( Jude 9 and Revelation 12:7). Jesus talked about angels and said each child has an angel who continually sees the face of God (Matthew 18:10). There were bad angels too, demons. They needed to be cast out from people who were possessed – indeed, part of the mission of Jesus was a war against demonic forces. Now Christians frame their religion as a fight against the Devil (Ephesians 6:12), although Paul warned against getting too caught up with this ‘distraction’. 

For more on hierarchies and categories of angels, see the work of a Christian monk, writing under the name of Dionysius, and a medieval Jewish thinker, Moses Maimonides (1135-1204). The interest in angels grew throughout the Middle Ages – in literature (Dante Alighieri) and theology (Thomas Aquinas). The Middle Ages was the high point of angelology, but the idea continued to inspire literary men like John Milton and William Blake.