Archangel Raphael. Raphael is an archangel first mentioned in the Book of Tobit and in 1 Enoch, both estimated to date from between the 3rd and 2nd century BCE.
In later Jewish tradition, he became identified as one of the three heavenly visitors entertained by Abraham at the Oak of Mamre. He is not named in either the New Testament or the Quran, but later Christian tradition identified him with healing and as the angel who stirred waters in the Pool of Bethesda in John 5:2-4, and in Islam, where his name is Israfil, he is understood to be the unnamed angel of Quran 6:73, standing eternally with a trumpet to his lips, ready to announce the Day of Judgment.
In Gnostic tradition, Raphael is represented on the Ophite Diagram. In the Hebrew Bible, the word literally means messenger; either human or supernatural in nature.
When used in the latter sense it is translated as angel. The original mal'akh lacked both individuality and hierarchy, but after the Babylonian exile they were graded into a Babylonian-style hierarchy and the word archangelos, archangel, first appears in the Greek text of 1 Enoch.
At the same time the angels and archangels began to be given names, as attested in the Talmudic statement that the names of the angels were brought by the Jews from Babylonia, attributed to Shimon ben Lakish or Rabbi Hanina respectively. Raphael first appears in two works of this period, 1 Enoch, a collect
In later Jewish tradition, he became identified as one of the three heavenly visitors entertained by Abraham at the Oak of Mamre. He is not named in either the New Testament or the Quran, but later Christian tradition identified him with healing and as the angel who stirred waters in the Pool of Bethesda in John 5:2-4, and in Islam, where his name is Israfil, he is understood to be the unnamed angel of Quran 6:73, standing eternally with a trumpet to his lips, ready to announce the Day of Judgment.
In Gnostic tradition, Raphael is represented on the Ophite Diagram. In the Hebrew Bible, the word literally means messenger; either human or supernatural in nature.
When used in the latter sense it is translated as angel. The original mal'akh lacked both individuality and hierarchy, but after the Babylonian exile they were graded into a Babylonian-style hierarchy and the word archangelos, archangel, first appears in the Greek text of 1 Enoch.
At the same time the angels and archangels began to be given names, as attested in the Talmudic statement that the names of the angels were brought by the Jews from Babylonia, attributed to Shimon ben Lakish or Rabbi Hanina respectively. Raphael first appears in two works of this period, 1 Enoch, a collect
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