Revelation 8:2

2. I saw… seven angels which stood From this phraseology, Stuart identifies them with “the seven presence-angels,” or amshaspends of the Persians. He quotes the words of Raphael, in the apocryphal Book of Tobit: “I am… one of the seven angels… which go in and out before the glory of the Holy One.” And so, also, he quotes the seven “watchers” of the Book of Enoch, who wait and watch for the divine commands. Alford draws the strong inference that the existence of these angels is a part of the additional revelation derived by the Jews from the captivity. See our note on Matthew 1:20. Hengstenberg takes a different view. He shows that there are, indeed, ranks and gradations of angels: “For God’s creations are no democratic chaos.” He quotes the seraphim of Isaiah 6:0; the “ angel-princes” of Daniel 10:13; the “thrones, dominions, principalities, powers,” of St. Paul; also 1 Peter 3:22, and Jude Revelation 8:8, in proof of these ranks. Yet this particular seven he believes to be only occasional, arising from the sevenfold arrangements of the book, and this seven would indeed have been ten, had there been ten trumpets. Agreeing with Hengstenberg in this occasional character of the seven, and in the existence of angel ranks, we doubt whether this standing implies any permanent rank of this seven. The seven had been standing before John saw them; and they had stood before the throne for a definite purpose; namely, the receiving and blowing the trumpets. They stood before the theophanic throne just as the another angel, Revelation 8:3, stood before the altar, both to perform a given task. The Greek for stood is in the perfect tense, who have stood, or have been standing. Just so in Revelation 8:5, took is perfect has taken. The seer’s eye watches and tells what has been done, as soon as it is done. So, “I saw the seven angels who have been for some time standing” to receive the trumpets.