Flaming sword (mythology)

A flaming sword is a sword glowing with flame by some supernatural power. Flaming swords have existed in legend and myth for thousands of years.

Painting by Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix of an angel (Camael) expelling Adam and Eve with a flaming sword. According to Robert Means Lawrence,[1] Arthur de Bles, and R.L. Giles, the angel who cast Adam and Eve out of Paradise was said to be Jophiel.[2]

In Sumerian mythology, the deity known as Asaruludu is "the wielder of the flaming sword" who "ensures the most perfect safety".

Judeo-Christian sources
St Jophiel, stained glass at St Michael's Church, Brighton.
St Uriel, stained glass at St James' Church, Ewhurst Green.
The flaming sword is an attribute of both Jophiel and Uriel.

According to the Bible, a flaming sword (Hebrew: להט החרב‎ lahat chereb or literally "flame of the whirling sword" Hebrew: להט החרב המתהפכת‎ lahaṭ haḥereb hammithappeket) was entrusted to the cherubim by God to guard the gates of Paradise after Adam and Eve were banished (Genesis 3:24).[3][4][6] Scholars have variously interpreted the sword as a weapon of the cherubim, as lightning, as a metaphor, as an independent divine being,[7][8][9] or even as a figurative description of bladed chariot wheels.[10]

Eastern Orthodox tradition says that after Jesus was crucified and resurrected, the flaming sword was removed from the Garden of Eden, making it possible for humanity to re-enter Paradise.[11]

Dumah is an angel mentioned in Rabbinical literature. Dumah is a popular figure in Yiddish folklore. Isaac Bashevis Singer's Short Friday (1964), a collection of stories, mentions Dumah as a "thousand-eyed angel of death, armed with a flaming sword". The sword is otherwise associated with various angels, such as the archangel Uriel, Camael or Jophiel.[8][12]

Germanic mythology

In Norse mythology, the weapon wielded by the giant Surtr of Muspelheim, is referred to as a "flaming sword" (Old Norse: loganda sverð) by Snorri Sturluson in Gylfaginning 4, of the Prose Edda.[13][14][15] Snorri immediately afterwards quotes a stanza from his poetic source, (Völuspá 52),[16] where it is stated that Surt has fire with him, and that his sword shines with the "sun of the gods of the slain".[14][15]

But it has been argued that contrary to Snorri, the poem might be stressing the fiery glare of Surtr himself more than the sword.[17]

In the quoted poem there occurs the phrase svigi lævi ("destruction of twigs") meaning "fire",[lower-alpha 1][18][19] or at least "fire" is the standard interpretation of this periphrase (kenning).[20] However, Henrik Schück's hypothesis sought to interpret this as a sword: emending the phrase to svigi læva to permit identification with the sword Lævateinn in Fjölsvinnsmál.[21]

Snorri paraphrases the strophe of the poem a second time (at Gylf. 51) merely saying: "Surt rides first, and before him and after him is burning fire",[18][22] and afterwards requotes more extensively around the same strophe (Völuspá 48–56).[23]

The possibility that this sword imagery was inspired by Christian writings have been speculated.[24]

Celtic legend

According to the Welsh triads (in what is not precisely a triad but an ancillary list known as the "Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain"), the Dyrnwyn ('White-Hilt') is said to be a powerful sword belonging to Rhydderch Hael, one of the Three Generous Men of Britain mentioned in the Welsh Triads.[25][26] When drawn by a worthy or well-born man, the entire blade would blaze with fire. Rhydderch was never reluctant to hand the weapon to anyone, hence his nickname Hael "the Generous", but the recipients, as soon as they had learned of its peculiar properties, always rejected the sword.[25]

Eastern religion

The Acala deity (known as Fudō Myōō in Japan) is depicted in Buddhist art holding a sword which may or may not be flaming and sometimes described only generically as a treasure sword (宝剣, hōken) or as vajra-sword (金剛剣, kongō-ken), which is descriptive of the fact that the pommel of the sword is in the shape of the talon-like vajra (金剛杵, kongō-sho) of one type or another.

See also

Explanatory notes
  1. In the original text, með svigi lævi "with the destruction of twigs", in the dative case.

References
Citations
  1. Lawrence, Robert M. (1898), The Magic of the Horse-Shoe, With Other Folk-Lore Notes, Chapter III: The Number Seven at sacred-texts.com
  2. Davidson, Gustav (1967), A Dictionary of Angels, Including The Fallen Angels, Entry: Iofiel, Free Press, p. 150, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 66-19757, ISBN 9780029070505
  3. Genesis 3:24
  4. John Bellamy; Francis George, eds. (1818). "Genesis III". The Holy Bible: Newly Translated from the Original Hebrew, with Notes Critical and Explanatory. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown. p. 24, note to Gen. 3:24.
  5. Hendel, Ronald S. (December 1985), "'The Flame of the Whirling Sword': A Note on Genesis 3:24" (PDF), Journal of Biblical Literature, 104 (4): 671–674, JSTOR 3260679
  6. Brown–Driver–Briggs, cited by Hendel.[5]
  7. Hendel, Ronald S. (December 1985). ""The Flame of the Whirling Sword": A Note on Genesis 3:24". The Society of Biblical Literature. 104: 671–674. doi:10.2307/3260679. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  8. Hopler, Whitney. "How Did an Angel Expel Adam and Eve From the Garden?". learnreligions.com. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  9. Litvak, Salvador. "Table For Five: Bereshit". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 4 November 2020. Alternate link
  10. Lichtenstein, Murray H. (Spring 2015). "The Fearsome Sword of Genesis 3:24". Journal of Biblical Literature. 134: 53–57. doi:10.15699/jbl.1341.2015.2739. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  11. Orthodox liturgy of the third Sunday of Lent
  12. Moretz, Matthew. "The Angel with the Flaming Sword". Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  13. Gylf. 4, Finnur Jónsson (1910), p. 11
  14. Gylf. 4, Faulkes tr. (1995), pp. 9–10: "There is one called Surt that is stationed.. he has a flaming sword". Quoted by Samplonius (2013), pp. 118–119, n9.
  15. Brodeur tr. (1916), p. 16–17.
  16. Martin (1967), p. 81
  17. Martin (1967), p. 81: "When Snorri says that Surt's sword is “very good, from it there is a shine brighter than the sun,” [Gylf. 51] the brightness seems more likely to be attributable to Surtr who is linked with fire than to his unattested possession of Frey's sword".
  18. Hollander (1922), p. 117.
  19. Faulkes tr. (1995), p. 10: "stick-destroyer [fire]".
  20. Cf. Cleasby=Vigfusson's Dictionary (1874), s.v. "svigi".
  21. Ström, Folke (1956), Loki. Ein mythologisches Problem., Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, 62, 8, Göteborgs universitet, p. 124
  22. Gylf. 51, Faulkes tr. (1995), p. 53: "Surt will ride in front, and both before behind.."; Cf. p. 54 "After that Surt will fling fire over the earth".
  23. Faulkes tr. (1995), pp. 54–55.
  24. Samplonius (2013), p. 125.
  25. Bromwich ed. tr. (1961). Tri Thlws ar Ddeg Ynys Brydain ('The Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain'). pp. 240–241.
  26. Bromwich ed. tr. (1961) ed. and tr. Triad 2 "The Three Generous Men of the Island of Britain" . p. 5, and endnote to "Rhyderch Hael m. Tudwal Tutclyt", pp. 505–505.
Bibliography
  • Snorri Sturluson (1995). Faulkes, Anthony, (tr.) (ed.). Edda. Everyman. London: J. M. Dent.
  • Samplonius, Kees (2013), Gunnell, Terry; Lassen, Annette (eds.), "The Background and Scope of Vǫluspá" (PDF), The Nordic Apocalypse: Approaches to ‘Vǫluspá’ and Nordic Days of Judgement, Brepols, pp. 113–145, ISBN 9782503541822
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