Gabriel

In Abrahamic religions, Gabriel (Hebrew: ×'Ö·Ö¼×'Ö°×¨Ö´×™×Öµ×œ, ModernÂ Gavri'el, TiberianÂ Gaá¸‡rÃ®Ê¼Ä"l, God is my strength; Arabic: Ø¬Ø¨Ø±ÙŠÙ„, JibrÄ«l or Ø¬Ø¨Ø±Ø§Ø¦ÙŠÙ„ JibrÄÊ¾Ä«l) is an archangel who typically serves as a messenger sent from God to certain people.

In the Bible, Gabriel is mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, he appeared to the prophet Daniel, delivering explanations of Daniel's visions (Daniel 8:15â€"26, 9:21â€"27). In the Gospel of Luke, Gabriel appeared to Zecharias, and to the virgin Mary foretelling the births of John the Baptist and Jesus, respectively (Luke 1:11â€"38). In the Book of Daniel, he is referred to as "the man Gabriel", while in the Gospel of Luke, Gabriel is referred to as "an angel of the Lord" (Luke 1:11). Gabriel is not called an archangel in the Bible, but is so called in Intertestamental period sources like the Book of Enoch. In the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, the archangels Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel are also referred to as saints.

In Islam, Gabriel (Jibra'il) is considered one of the four archangels whom God sent with his divine message to various prophets, including Muhammad. The 96th chapter of the Quran, sura Al-Alaq, is believed by Muslims to be the first surah revealed by Gabriel to Muhammad.

Judaism

Gabriel is interpreted by the Rabbanim to be the "man in linen" in the Book of Daniel and the Book of Ezekiel. In the Book of Daniel, he is responsible for interpreting Daniel's visions. Gabriel's main function in Daniel is that of revealer, a role he continues in later literature. In the Book of Ezekiel, Gabriel is understood to be the angel that was sent to destroy Jerusalem. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, Gabriel takes the form of a man, and stands at the left hand of God. Simeon ben Lakish (Palestine, 3rd century) concluded that the angelic names of Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel came out of the Babylonian exile (Gen. Rab. 48:9).

In Kabbalah, Gabriel is identified with the sephirot of Yesod. Gabriel also has a prominent role as one of God's archangels in the Kabbalah literature. There, Gabriel is portrayed as working in concert with Michael as part of God's court. Gabriel is not to be prayed to because only God can answer prayers and sends Gabriel as his agent.

According to Jewish mythology, in the garden of Eden there is a tree of life or the "tree of souls" that blossoms and produces new souls, which fall into the Guf, the Treasury of Souls. Gabriel reaches into the treasury and takes out the first soul that comes into his hand. Then Lailah, the Angel of Conception, watches over the embryo until it is born.

Intertestamental literature

The intertestamental period (roughly 200 BCE â€" 50 CE) produced a wealth of literature, much of it having an apocalyptic orientation. The names and ranks of angels and devils were greatly expanded, and each had particular duties and status before God.

In 1 Enoch 9:1â€"3, Gabriel, along with Michael, Uriel and Suriel, "saw much blood being shed upon the earth" (9:1) and heard the souls of men cry, "Bring our cause before the Most High." (9:3) In 1 Enoch 10:1, the reply came from "the Most High, the Holy and Great One" who sent forth agents, including Gabrielâ€"

And the Lord said to Gabriel: "'Proceed against the bastards and the reprobates, and against the children of fornication: and destroy [the children of fornication and] the children of the Watchers from amongst men [and cause them to go forth]: send them one against the other that they may destroy each other in battle: for length of days shall they not have." â€"1Â EnochÂ 10:9

Gabriel is fifth of the five angels who keep watch: "Gabriel, one of the holy angels, who is over Paradise and the serpents and the Cherubim." (1 Enoch 20:7)

When Enoch asked who the four figures were that he had seen: "And he said to me: 'This first is Michael, the merciful and long-suffering: and the second, who is set over all the diseases and all the wounds of the children of men, is Raphael: and the third, who is set over all the powers, is Gabriel: and the fourth, who is set over the repentance unto hope of those who inherit eternal life, is named Phanuel.' And these are the four angels of the Lord of Spirits and the four voices I heard in those days." (Enoch 40:9)

Christianity

New Testament

First, concerning John the Baptist, an angel appeared to his father Zacharias, a priest of the course of Abia, (Luke 1:5-7) whose "barren" wife Elisabeth was of the daughters of Aaron, while he ministered in the temple:

After completing his week of ministry, Zacharias returned to his house (in Hebron) and his wife Elizabeth conceived. After she completed "five months" (Luke 1:21-25) of her pregnancy, Gabriel is mentioned again:

Gabriel only appears by name in those two passages in Luke. In the first passage the angel identified himself as Gabriel, but in the second it is Luke who identified him as Gabriel. The only other named angels in the New Testament are "Michael the archangel" (in Jude 1:9) and "Abaddon" (in Revelation 9:11) . Gabriel is not called an archangel in the Bible. Believers are expressly warned not to worship angels (in Colossians 2:18-19 and Revelation 19:10).

Gabriel's horn

The trope of Gabriel blowing a trumpet blast to indicate the Lord's return to Earth is especially familiar in Negro spirituals. However, though the Bible mentions a trumpet blast preceding the resurrection of the dead, it never specifies Gabriel as the trumpeter. Different passages say different things: the angels of the Son of Man (Matthew 24:31); the voice of the Son of God (John 5:25-29); God's trumpet (I Thessalonians 4:16); seven angels sounding a series of blasts (Revelation 8-11); or simply "a trumpet will sound" (I Corinthians 15:52).

In related traditions, Gabriel is again not identified as the trumpeter. In Judaism, trumpets are prominent, but they seem to be blown by God himself, or sometimes Michael. In Zoroastrianism, there is no trumpeter at the last judgement. In Islamic tradition, it is Israfil who blows the trumpet, though he is not named in the Qur'an. The Christian Church Fathers do not mention Gabriel as the trumpeter; early English literature similarly does not.

The earliest known identification of Gabriel as the trumpeter comes in the year 1455 in Byzantine art, as an illustration in an Armenian manuscript showing Gabriel sounding his trumpet as the dead climb out of their graves. Two centuries later comes the first known appearance of Gabriel as the trumpeter in English culture, in John Milton's Paradise Lost (1667):

Later, Gabriel's horn is omnipresent in Negro spirituals, but it is unclear how the Byzantine conception inspired Milton and the spirituals, though they presumably have a common source.

In Marc Connelly's play based on spirituals, The Green Pastures (1930), Gabriel has his beloved trumpet constantly with him, and the Lord has to warn him not to blow it too soon. Four years later "Blow, Gabriel, Blow" was introduced by Ethel Merman in Cole Porter's Anything Goes (1934).

Feast days

The feast of Saint Gabriel was included for the first time in the General Roman Calendar in 1921, for celebration on March 24. In 1969 it was transferred to 29 September for celebration together with St. Michael and St. Raphael. The Church of England has also adopted the 29 September date, known as Michaelmas.

The Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite celebrate his feast day on 8 November (for those churches that follow the traditional Julian Calendar, 8 November currently falls on 21 November of the modern Gregorian Calendar, a difference of 13 days). Eastern Orthodox commemorate him, not only on his November feast, but also on two other days: 26 March is the "Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel" and celebrates his role in the Annunciation. 13 July is also known as the "Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel", and celebrates all the appearances and miracles attributed to Gabriel throughout history. The feast was first established on Mount Athos when, in the 9th century, during the reign of Emperor Basil II and the Empress Constantina Porphyrogenitus and while Nicholas Chrysoverges was Patriarch of Constantinople, the Archangel appeared in a cell near Karyes, where he wrote with his finger on a stone tablet the hymn to the Theotokos, "It is truly meet...".

The Ethiopian Church celebrates his feast on 28 December, with a sizeable number of its believers making a pilgrimage to a church dedicated to "Saint Gabriel" in Kulubi on that day.

Additionally, Gabriel is the patron saint of messengers, those who work for broadcasting and telecommunications such as radio and television, remote sensing, postal workers, clerics, diplomats, and stamp collectors.

Latter-day Saint teachings

In Latter-day Saint theology, Gabriel is believed to have lived a mortal life as the prophet Noah. The two are regarded as the same individual; Noah being his mortal name and Gabriel being his heavenly name.

Islam

According to the Quran, God sent the Quran to the Islamic prophet Muhammad through His angel Gabriel (Jibra'il) and sent a message to most prophets, if not all, revealing their obligations. Gabriel is named numerous times in the Quran (2:97 and 66:4 for example). In 2:97, the Quran expressly narrates:

Who is an enemy to Gabriel! For he it is who hath revealed (this scripture) to thy heart by God's leave, confirming that which was (revealed) before it, and a guidance and glad tidings to believers.

Gabriel makes a famous appearance in the Hadith of Gabriel, where he questions Muhammad on the core tenets of Islam.

In Muslim tradition, Gabriel is considered one of the primary archangels. Exegesis narrates that Muhammad saw Gabriel in his full angelic splendor only twice, the first being when he received his first revelation. Muslims also revere Gabriel for a number of historical events predating the first revelation. Muslims believe that Gabriel was the angel who informed Zachariah of John's birth as well as Mary of the future birth of Jesus and that Gabriel was one of three angels who had earlier informed Abraham of the birth of Isaac. These events of Zachariah and Mary can be found also in the Quran, mentioned in surah Maryam, below are some ayat from the Quran referring to the archangel Gabriel (interpretation of the meanings).

Military campaigns of Muhammad

According to Islamic Tradition. The Angel Gabriel (Jibrayil in Arabic) was involved in many military campaigns of Muhammad helping, protecting and guiding him. The first was the Invasion of Dhi Amr. According to the Muslim scholar Sami Strauch, it is reported in Sahih Bukhari that it was raining, and Muhammad took his garments off and hung it on a tree to dry, while the enemy was watching, Ghwarath ibn al-Harith went to attack Muhammad. He threatened Muhammad with his sword and said "who will protect you from me on this day". Then according to Muslim Scholars the Angel Gabriel came and thumped Ghawrath in the chest and forced him to drop his sword. Muhammad then picked up the sword and said "who will protect you from me".

Ghawrath replied: "no one, and i testify there is no God worthy of worship but Allah" and he then converted to Islam. The Quran says regarding this incident:

Muhammad spent 11 days on this expedition and then returned to Medina.

Islamic tradition states that Gabriel was also involved in the Invasion of Banu Nadir. Muslim scholars (like Mubarakpuri) claim, the Banu Nadir were attacked because the Angel Gabriel told Muhammad that some of the Banu Nadir wanted to assassinate him. Watt contends it was in response to the tribeâ€™s criticism of Muhammad and doubts they wanted to assassinate Muhammad. He says "it is possible that the allegation was no more than an excuse to justify the attack".

He was also apparently involved in the Invasion of Banu Qurayza. According to The Sealed Nectar, a modern Islamic biography of Muhammad written by the Indian Muslim author Saif ur-Rahman Mubarakpuri, the Angel Gabriel visited Muhammad while he was washing clothes at Umm Salamaâ€™s house, asking that he should unsheathe his sword and to go to the Banu Qurayza and fight them. Mubarakpuri claims Gabriel said that he with a procession of angels would go ahead the fort of Banu Qurayza and cast fear in their hearts. This is also mentioned in the Sunni hadith collections in Sahih al-Bukhari, 4:52:68.

Baha'i Faith

The BahÃ¡'Ã Faith sees Gabriel as a messenger of God who delivered messages to Muhammad. He is mentioned in the KitÃ¡b-i-ÃqÃ¡n, the primary theological work of the Baha'i religion.

Arts and media

Angels are described as pure spirits. The lack of a defined form allows artists wide latitude in depicting them. Amelia R. Brown draws comparisons in Byzantine iconography between portrayals of angels and the conventions used to depict court eunuchs. Mainly from the Caucasus, they tended to have light eyes, hair, and skin; and those "castrated in childhood developed a distinctive skeletal structure, lacked full masculine musculature, body hair and beards,....â€ As officials, they would wear a white tunic decorated with gold. Brown suggests that "Byzantine artists drew, consciously or not, on this iconography of the court eunuch". Some recent popular works on angels consider Gabriel to be female or androgynous.

Visual art

See also Gabriel gallery in Commons

Daniel 8:15 describes Gabriel as appearing in the â€œlikeness of manâ€ and in Daniel 9:21 he is referred to as â€œthe man Gabriel.â€ David Everson observes that "such anthropomorphic descriptions of an angel are consistent with previous ... descriptions of angels," as in Genesis 19:5.

Gabriel is most often portrayed in the context of scenes of the Annunciation. In 2008 a 16th-century drawing by Lucas van Leyden of the Netherlands was discovered. George R. Goldner, chairman of the department of prints and drawings at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, suggests that the sketch was for a stained glass window. â€œThe fact that the archangel is an ordinary-looking person and not an idealized boy is typical of the artist", said Goldner.

In chronological order (to see each item, follow the link in the footnote):

Archangel Gabriel (Triptych), early 10th century, Benaki Museum
The Archangel Gabriel, Pisan, c. 1325/50, National Gallery of Art
The Archangel Gabriel, Masolino da Panicale, c. 1420/30, National Gallery of Art
Justice between the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, Jacobello del Fiore, 1421
Merode Altarpiece (Triptych), Robert Campin, c. 1425, Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Angel Gabriel, Agostino di Duccio, c. 1450
Annunciation, Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1475
The Angel Gabriel, Neroccio d'Landi, c. 1490
The Angel Gabriel, late 15th or early 16th century, Flemish, National Gallery of Art
The Angel Gabriel, Ferrari Gaudenzio, 1511, National Gallery, London
Gabriel delivering the Annunciation El Greco, 1575 (pictured above)
Go Down Death, Aaron Douglas, 1934

Music

The eccentric English hagiographer and antiquarian, Sabine Baring-Gould (1834â€"1924), wrote the English lyrics to Gabriel's Message, which he translated from the Basque Christmas carol Birjina gaztetto bat zegoen, which was probably related to the 13th or 14th-century Latin chant Angelus Ad Virginem which itself is based on the biblical account of the Annunciation in the New Testament Gospel of Luke.

Literature

In his epic poem Paradise Lost, John Milton made Gabriel chief of the angelic guards placed over Paradise
The Hebrew poem "Elifelet" (××œ×™×¤×œ×˜) by Nathan Alterman, put to music and often heard on the Israeli Radio, tells of a heroic, self-sacrificing Israeli soldier being killed in battle. Upon the protagonist's death, the angel Gabriel descends to Earth, in order to comfort the spirit of the fallen hero and take him up to Heaven
The main character of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses believes that he is the modern incarnation of Gabriel

In popular culture

Baltimore's "Little Italy" has for over 80 years hosted an annual "end of summer" St. Gabriel Festival that features a procession with a statue of the saint carried through the streets.
1960: The Twilight Zone episode, "A Passage for Trumpet" â€" The down-and-out musician Joey Crown (Jack Klugman) meets an enigmatic trumpet player named "Gabe" (played by John Anderson) in what has been described as Rod Serling's version of It's a Wonderful Life.
1991: fantasy/drama film The Rapture â€" A series of trumpet blasts are suddenly heard all over the world. One of the characters identifies those notes as coming from Gabriel's trumpet. Gabriel's seven consecutive blasts signal the start of the Rapture.
1995: horror film The Prophecy â€" Gabriel, portrayed by Christopher Walken, searches for an evil soul on Earth during an end-of-days angelic civil war. Gabriel is also a character in The Prophecy II (1998) and The Prophecy 3: The Ascent (2000).
2004: action/horror film Van Helsing â€" Hugh Jackman plays Gabriel Van Helsing, the archangel in the flesh.
2005: fantasy/horror film Constantine â€" Tilda Swinton portrays an androgynous archangel Gabriel, the film's main antagonist on the brink of the Apocalypse.
2005: TV series Supernatural â€" Gabriel (portrayed by Richard Speight Jr.) is a runaway archangel posing as the demi-god Loki who kills people he deems evil with a sense of humor, but series protagonists Sam and Dean Winchester eventually discover his true nature.
2005: Spanish role-playing game Anima: Beyond Fantasy - Gabriel is as the humans know one of the seven "Beryls" (godlike beings of light) and is identified with the archangel of the same name. She has associated love, friendship, arts, and peace.
2007: action/horror film Gabriel â€" Gabriel (portrayed by Andy Whitfield) fights to save the souls in purgatory by defeating the evil fallen angels.
2010: supernatural action film Legion â€" Gabriel is the main antagonist who fights the archangel Michael who is trying to save humanity.
2012: Japanese light novel series No Game No Life - Jibril is a member of the FlÃ¼gel race and was a member of the Council of 18 Wings, a prominent section in the government. She is depicted as loving knowledge and books.
2014: Syfy Channel original series Dominion â€" Gabriel (portrayed by Carl Beukes) is the series antagonist, who plans to kill the Archangel Michael and annihilate humanity.

Notes

References

Bamberger, Bernard J. (2006). Fallen Angels: Soldiers of Satan's Realm. Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society. ISBN 978-0-8276-0797-2.
Briggs, Constance Victoria (1997). The Encyclopedia of Angels: An A-to-Z Guide with Nearly 4,000 Entries. New York, NY: Plume. ISBN 978-0-452-27921-6.
Bunson, Matthew (1996). Angels A to Z: A Who's Who of the Heavenly Host. New York, NY: Crown Trade Paperbacks. ISBN 0517885379.
Cruz, Joan C. (1999). Angels and Devils. Rockford, IL: Tan Books & Publishers. ISBN 0-89555-638-3.
Davidson, Gustav (1994). A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0029070529.
Dennis, Geoffrey (2007). The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 9780738709055.
Graham, Billy (1994). Angels: God's Secret Agents. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 9780849950742.
Guiley, Rosemary (1996). "G". Encyclopedia of Angels (1st ed.). New York, NY: Facts on File, Inc. pp.Â 69â€"70. ISBN 0-8160-3825-2. LCCN 96012009.
Guiley, Rosemary (2004). Encyclopedia of Angels (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Facts on File, Inc. ISBN 9780816050239. LCCN 2003060147.
Kreeft, Peter J. (1995). Angels and Demons: What Do We Really Know About Them?. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press. ISBN 9780898705508.
Lewis, James R.; Oliver, Evelyn Dorothy (2008-05-01). Angels A to Z (2nd ed.). Detroit, MI: Visible Ink Press. pp.Â 156â€"157. ISBN 978-1-578592-12-8.
Melville, Francis (2001). The Book of Angels: Turn to Your Angels for Guidance, Comfort, and Inspiration (1st ed.). Hauppauge, NY: Barron's Educational Series. ISBN 978-0-7641-5403-4.
Ronner, John (1993). Know Your Angels: The Angel Almanac With Biographies of 100 Prominent Angels in Legend & Folklore-And Much More!. Murfreesboro, TN: Mamre Press. ISBN 9780932945402.

External links

Archangel Correspondence. Archangel Gabriel, Angelic & Planetary Symbols. Last accessed November 15, 2013.
Catholic Encyclopedia. St. Gabriel the Archangel. Last accessed November 15, 2013.
Christian Art. Icons of the Archangel Gabriel. Last accessed November 15, 2013.
Jewish Encyclopedia.com. Gabriel. Last accessed November 15, 2013.
Hassett, Maurice. "Early Christian Representations of Angels." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 25 Dec. 2013

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