Gabriel

In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Baháʼí Faith), Gabriel is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind.

He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, the Quran and the Kitáb-i-Aqdas.

Many Christian traditions – including Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Anglicanism – revere Gabriel as a saint.

In the Hebrew Bible, Gabriel appears to The Prophet Daniel to explain his visions (Daniel 8:15–26, 9:21–27).

The archangel also appears in the Book of Enoch and other ancient Jewish writings not preserved in Hebrew.

Alongside the archangel Michael, Gabriel is described as the guardian angel of Israel, defending its people against the angels of the other nations.

In the New Testament, the Gospel of Luke relates the Annunciation, in which the angel Gabriel appears to Zechariah foretelling the birth of John the Baptist with the angel Gabriel foretelling the Virgin Mary the birth of Jesus Christ, respectively (Luke 1:11–38).

Islam regards Gabriel as an archangel sent by God to various prophets, including Muhammad.

Shimon ben Lakish (Syria Palaestina, 3rd century) concluded that the angelic names of Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel came out of the Babylonian exile (Gen. Rab. 48:9).

Alongside the archangel Michael, Gabriel is described as the guardian angel of Israel, defending this people against the angels of the other nations.

In the Kabbalistic tradition, Gabriel is identified with the sephirah 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.

Gabriel's first appearance in the New Testament, concerns the annunciation of the birth of John the Baptist.

John's father Zacharias, a priest of the course of Abia, was childless because his wife Elisabeth was barren.

An angel appears to Zacharias while he is ministering in the Temple, to announce the birth of his son.

When Zacharias questions the angel, the angel gives his name as Gabriel:

After completing his required week of ministry, Zacharias returns to his home and his wife Elizabeth conceives.

After she has completed five months of her pregnancy, Gabriel appears again, now to Mary, to announce the birth of Jesus:

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 ) and Abaddon (in ).

Believers are expressly warned not to worship angels in two New Testament passages: and.

Gabriel is not called an archangel in the canonical Bible.

However, the intertestamental period (roughly 200 BC – 50 AD) produced a wealth of literature, much of it having an apocalyptic orientation.

The names and ranks of angels and devils were greatly expanded in this literature, and each had particular duties and status before God.

The first five verses of the Al-Alaq, the 96th chapter of the Quran, are believed by Muslims to have been the first verses revealed by Gabriel to Muhammad.

The name Gabriel (Hebrew: גַּבְרִיאֵל, Gaḇrīʾēl) is composed of the first person singular possessive form of the Hebrew noun gever (גֶּבֶר), meaning "man", and ʾĒl, meaning "God".

This would make the translation of the archangel's name "man of God" or "power of God".

In Arabic, Jibrīl (جبريل), means "power of God".

In the Hebrew Bible, Gabriel appears to The Prophet Daniel to explain his visions (Daniel 8:15–26, 9:21–27).

Later an angel, not named but likely Gabriel again, appears to him and speaks of receiving help from the Archangel Michael in battle against the demon prince of Persia (Daniel 10:13, 21) and also Michael's role in times to come (Daniel 12:1).

These are the first instances of a named angel in the Bible.

Gabriel's main function in Daniel is that of revealer, responsible for interpreting Daniel's visions, a role he continues to have in later traditions.

Gabriel, (גַּבְרִיאֵל) is interpreted by Talmudic rabbis to be the "man in linen" mentioned in the Book of Daniel and the Book of Ezekiel.

Talmudic Judaism understands the angel in the Book of Ezekiel, who was sent to destroy Jerusalem, to be Gabriel.

According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, Gabriel takes the form of a man, and stands at the left hand of God.