Raphael

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Raphael (‘God has healed’) is the good angel of Tobit. In Tob 3:17 he is sent to heal Tobit, by restoring his sight; to give Sarah, daughter of his kinsman Raguel, to his son Tobias for wife; and to prevent the demon Asmodæus from adding him to the seven husbands he has already killed. In Tob 5:4 ff. he appears as ‘brother Azarias ’ to accompany Tobias on his journey to Media. Tobit despatches them with the parting ‘May [God’s] angel go with you’ ( Tob 5:16 , cf. Tob 5:21 ), and they start with their dog (a favourite subject with the great painters). In Tob 6:3 ff. he directs Tobias to take the heart, liver, and gall of a fish, manages the marriage, binds the demon, fetches money from Rages, and heals Tob 12:12-20 gives his description of himself, a passage which probably became the groundwork of later speculations. (1) He is one of the seven ‘angels of the presence’ (  Luke 1:13 ,   Revelation 8:2 [  Revelation 1:4 ?], Enoch 90). So in Enoch 20.3 he is one of the ‘watchers,’ the ‘angel of the spirits of men.’ The conception is usually traced to Persian influence; cf. the seven ‘princes of light’ of Zoroastrianism. (2) He is an intermediary, bringing the memorial of prayers before God (  Revelation 8:3 ). The doctrine of the Divine aloofness made it hard to conceive that man could have direct access to the ear of God, any more than a subject could enter into the presence of an Oriental monarch, or that He could interfere directly in the petty affairs of men. See Angels. (3) He is also a guardian angel, being present at Tobit’s good deeds, and the companion of Tobias. The long-maintained disguise is a unique feature; the ‘eating and drinking’ is explained as an illusion ( Tob 12:19 ). (4) He is true to his name, ‘the healer’; cf. Enoch 10.7, where he is ordered to bind Azazel (so 54), and heal the earth which the angels have defiled; and 40.5, where he is ‘set over the diseases and wounds of the children of men.’ (5) In Enoch 22 he is a guide in Sheol; in 32, in Paradise.

C. W. Emmet.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Ra'phael. (The Divine Healer). According to Jewish tradition, Raphael was one of the four angels, which stood round the throne of God - Michael, Uriel, Gabriel, Raphael.

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

See Rephael

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

raf´ā́ - el , rā´fā́ - el ( רפאל , rephā'ēl , from rāphā' 'ēl , "God has healed"; Ῥαφαήλ , Rhaphaḗl ): The name of the angel who, as Azarias, guides Tobias to Ecbatana and Rages (which see). The purpose of his mission is, in accordance with his name, to cure Tobit of blindness, and to deliver Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, from the power of the evil spirit Asmodaeus ( Tobit 3:8;  12:14 ). Later, in addition, when he reveals himself ( Tobit 12:15 ), he declares that he is "one of the seven holy angels, which present the prayers of the saints, and go in before the glory of the Holy One." These seven angels are derived, according to Dr. Kohut, from the seven Am-shaspands ( Amesha - spentas ) of Zôr oastrianism (compare   Revelation 4:5 ). At the head of the elaborate angelology of the Enoch books there are "four presences," and Raphael is one of them (En 40:9; 54:6). In the first of these passages Raphael is the healer; in the second, he with Michael, Gabriel and Phanuel lead the wicked away to punishment. These four presences seem related to the four "living creatures" of Ezekiel ( Ezekiel 1:5 ) and of the Apocalypse ( Revelation 4:6 ). While this is the general representation of Raphael's position in Enoch, in  Ezekiel 20:3 he is named among the angels who "watch," whose number according to the Greek text is seven. Raphael shared in the function assigned to the archangels, in the Oracula Sibyllina , of leading souls to the judgment seat of God (II, 215, Alexandre's text). He occupies a prominent place in Jewish medieval writings; he with Michael and Gabriel cured Abraham ( Yōmā' 37a); according to the book Zōhar , Raphael conveyed to Adam a book containing 72 kinds of wisdom in 670 writings. The painters of the Renaissance frequently depicted Raphael.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( ῾Ραφαήλ = רְפָאֵל , "the divine healer"), "one of the seven holy angels which... go in and out before the glory of the Holy One" ( Tobit 12:15). According to another Jewish tradition, Raphael was one of The four angels that stood round the throne of God; — Michael, Uriel, Gabriel, Raphael. His place is said to have been behind the throne, by the standard of Ephraim (comp.  Numbers 2:18); and his name was interpreted as foreshadowing the healing of the schism of Jeroboam, who arose from that tribe ( 1 Kings 11:26, see Buxtorf, Lex. Rabb. p. 47). In Tobit he appears as the guide and counsellor of Tobias. By his help, Sara was delivered from her plague ( Tobit 6:16-17), and Tobit from his blindness (11:7, 8). In the book of Enoch he appears as "the angel of the spirits of men" (20:3; comp. Dillmann, Ad Loc. ) . His symbolic character in the apocryphal narrative is clearly indicated when he describes himself as "Azarias the son of Ananias" ( Tobit 5:12), the messenger of the Lord's help springing from the Lord's mercy. (See Tobit). The name, in its Heb. form, occurs in  1 Chronicles 26:7 as that of a man. (See Rephael) .

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

One of the seven archangels and the guardian of mankind, conducted Tobias to the country of the Medes and aided him in capturing the miraculous fish, an effigies of which, as also a pilgrim's staff, is an attribute of the archangel.