We often hear about the benevolent angels, the messengers, the healers. But what about the ones who fall from grace?
Let's talk about Dumah.
According to Jewish tradition, Dumah wasn't always the overseer of the fiery pits of Gehenna (Jewish hell). In fact, he started out as a pretty important guy: the celestial Prince of Egypt. Imagine that – a divine ambassador, if you will, representing a whole nation in the heavenly court.
But then things took a turn.
The story goes that when Moses announced God’s impending judgment against the gods of Egypt – you know, the whole plagues situation – Dumah wasn't exactly thrilled. According to Tree of Souls by Howard Schwartz, he took off running, covering a distance of four hundred parasangs (an ancient unit of distance). That’s a serious power-walk of rebellion!
But you can't exactly outrun divine decree, can you? As the story is told in the Zohar and Pesikta Rabbati, God declared, "It is My decree!" And just like that, Dumah’s power and dominion were stripped away. He was banished from his high position and cast down to the lower regions.
Ouch. Talk about a demotion.
Now, instead of ruling over Egypt, Dumah was appointed over Gehenna and the angels of destruction. Talk about a career change! He became the judge of all the wicked souls, ensuring they received their just (or perhaps, unjust?) punishments. He became the angel of punishment.
The image conjured is pretty vivid: Dumah, standing guard, making sure the wicked get their due every single day of the week. Except, that is, for the Sabbath. On Shabbat, those poor souls get a break. A little respite from the torments. Can you imagine the collective sigh of relief?
But don't get too comfortable, because as soon as the Sabbath ends, Dumah is right there, ready to cast them back into Gehenna for another round of punishment. Sounds like a pretty thankless job, doesn't it?
It's hard not to see parallels with the story of Lucifer. Just as Lucifer rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven, Dumah seems to have rebelled, albeit in a different way, by running from God's decree. And just as Lucifer is often associated with the Devil and said to rule in hell, Dumah is assigned to rule over Gehenna. As Schwartz points out in Tree of Souls, this narrative clearly mirrors the fall of Lucifer.
Interestingly, other traditions, like the Midrash ha-Ne'elam in Zohar Hadash, identify the prince of Gehenna as Arsiel. Arsiel is described as standing before the souls of the righteous, trying to prevent them from praying for the wicked. A real gatekeeper of the underworld!
Now, because of his role as the angel in charge of Gehenna, Dumah is sometimes mistakenly identified as the Angel of Death. It's an easy mistake to make, given the grim nature of his duties.
But what does this all mean? Is it simply a cautionary tale about the consequences of disobedience? Or is there something deeper at play? Perhaps it's a reflection on the nature of justice and punishment, and the idea that even in the darkest corners of existence, there's a divine order, however harsh it may seem. Maybe even within our mythology, the concept of justice and punishemnt doesn't come from a place of malice but rather a broken system that no one can escape.
Whatever the interpretation, the story of Dumah reminds us that even angels can have a bad day, and that even in the most seemingly fixed systems, there is always the possibility of consequences, change, and even… a day of rest.