This noun identifies an agent of destruction, one who destroys or ruins. In 1 Corinthians 10:10, Paul warns the Corinthians by recounting Israel's wilderness failures: 'some of them grumbled and were destroyed by the Destroyer.' The reference is to the angel of death who executed judgment on rebellious Israel (Numbers 16-17). The term appears in Septuagint contexts of divine judgment, denoting a destroying agent—whether angelic executor or personified destruction. Paul's warning: the same Destroyer who judged Israel can judge the church.