Terminology Tuesday
DESTROYER, THE [Heb mašḥı̂t (מַשְׁחִית); Gk ho olothreutēs (ὁ ὁλοθρευτης)]. The Destroyer is a superhuman agent of destruction mentioned in Exod 12:23 and 1 Cor 10:10. In Exodus the Destroyer is an angelic agent who is sent by God to kill the firstborn of Egypt as the tenth plague. However, the distinction between God himself and the angel is unclear. In 12:13 God himself destroys (same root) the firstborn, and in 12:27 he slays (nāgap) the firstborn. Ps 78:49–51 speaks of a company of destroying angels executing the tenth plague. Heb 11:28 recalls this incident using the participle “the one destroying” (ho olothreuōn).
The Destroyer is illustrative of the OT concept that God uses angels to execute his judgment. An angel destroys the people of Jerusalem with a plague because of David’s census (2 Sam 24:16; 1 Chr 21:7–22:1) and destroys 185,000 soldiers of Sennacherib’s army (2 Kgs 19:35; 2 Chr 32:21; Isa 37:36; Sir 48:21; 1 Macc 7:41). The vision of Ezekiel 9 is of angels executing judgment on Jerusalem and Judah.
In 1 Cor 10:10 Paul admonishes the Corinthians not to grumble as some of the Israelites did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. It is unclear if Paul refers to Num 14 or 16:41–50, but the latter is preferred because it speaks of the destruction of the people by a punishing plague sent from God. It is also unclear if the Destroyer is an angel or Satan himself. If the Destroyer is an angel it could be a type of angel that executes God’s judgment, or the title for a specific angel that did so. A type of angel is supported by the rabbinic use of mašḥı̂t as a term, among others, for an angel of destruction. It was an outgrowth of the rabbinic concept that God’s mercy and wrath is put into effect by opposing groups of angels. A specific angel is supported by the presence of the definite article. Also, in postexilic Judaism mašḥı̂t is sometimes used as a designation for a specific angel of destruction (Str-B 3:412–16). Later the angel Satan is identified as an agent of destruction (Wis 2:24; John 8:44; 1 Cor 5:5 [olethros]; Heb 2:14; cf. 2 Cor 12:7; 1 Thess 2:18; 1 Pet 5:8). It at least can be said that in the recollection of the incident of Num 16:41–50 in 4 Macc. 7:11 and Wis 18:20–25 the figure is an individual destroyer.
In the Hebrew Bible, LXX, and early Christian texts “the destroyer” (the participial form of šāḥat, šādad, hāras, olothreuō, and diaphtheirō) can also be used to designate a human agent of destruction, whether an individual, group, or nation (Job 15:21; Isa 21:2; 49:17; Jer 48:8, 15, 18; Rev 11:18; see also ETOT 2: 201–2; and TDNT 5:167–71).
Bibliography Dibelius, M. 1909. Die Geisterwelt im glauben des Paulus. Göttingen.
Watson, D. F. (1992). Destroyer, The. In D. N. Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (Vol. 2, pp. 159–160). New York: Doubleday.
