'Rejoice ye heavens, with Him, and let all the angels of God (Codex

Alex. reads "sons of God") worship Him: rejoice ye Gentiles with His

people, and let all the sons of God strengthen themselves in Him'

(Deut. 32:43).

The marginal note in the Oxford edition of the A.V. puts against the

words of Hebrews 1:6: 'And let all the angels of God worship Him',

Deuteronomy 32:43, cf. Psalm 97:7.

We learn from the book of Job, that:

'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),

which suggests some sort of court and some powers of administration.  Again

we learn from the same book, that when the foundations of the earth were

fastened, and the chief corner stone was laid,

'The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for

joy' (Job 38:4-7).

This could not have taken place at the creation of Genesis 1:1, for the

angels themselves are created beings unless, of course, there was an earlier

creation of spirit beings.  It could have taken place at the six days'

creation, and this is in measure suggested by the first word translated

'foundation' in verse 6, which is really the word 'socket' and used many

times by Moses to describe the silver sockets made of redemption money, upon

which the Tabernacle rested.  Did these angels at that time realize the

redemptive purpose of this present creation?  It seems so.  Did the 'corner

stone' then symbolize the Christ Who was to be?  It is blessedly probable.

At some time after this, we know that some of the angels fell (2 Pet. 2:3,4),

and there are suggestions that when Satan fell, some angels fell with him,

and if so, this would be before the creation of Adam and be the cause of the

chaos of Genesis 1:2.  Satan or the Devil and his angels are spoken of in

Matthew 25:41, and Revelation 12:7.  We read of angels receiving and

administering the law (Acts 7:53; Gal. 3:19; Heb. 2:2), and the words of

Hebrews 2:5 seem to suggest that while angels will have no suzerainty over

the 'world to come', they may have had over a former world, even as they seem

to have had in connection with Israel and the law.  Hebrews 2, which speaks

of angels and the world to come, also quotes from Psalm 8, telling us that

both Adam and the Saviour were made a little lower than the angels, while in

Hebrews 1, the risen Saviour as 'The Man Christ Jesus' is said to be 'made so

much better than the angels as He hath by inheritance obtained a more

excellent name than they' (Heb. 1:4).

Psalm 8, while speaking of the creation of Adam, his temporary

subordination to angels, his dominion, and its typical foreshadowing of 'all

things' ultimately beneath the feet of Christ, has an enemy in view 'that

Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger' (Psa. 8:2).  The great bulk of

references to the 'Avenger', Hebrew naqam, speak of God taking vengeance, but

here in Psalm 8, the enemy appears to have usurped this prerogative.  This

seems to be similar to Satan's title of the 'Accuser' (Rev. 12:10), the word

diabolos 'devil' being translated 'accuser' in 2 Timothy 3:3 and Titus 2:3.