Gabriel - Judaism

Judaism

Gabriel is mentioned in the Book of Daniel, in the Hebrew Scriptures where he is sent as a messenger of YHWH (see God in Judaism) to Daniel during the Jewish captivity in Babylon. He is later mentioned in the Talmud.

Gabriel is interpreted by the Rabbis 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 and acting as a spokesman providing God's responses to his prayers and fasting. In the Book of Ezekiel, Gabriel is understood to be the angel that was sent to destroy Jerusalem for its wickedness and idolatry during the late Kingdom of Judah, separating the few righteous Jews that would not be destroyed and would be exiled from the majority of wicked ones that would perish there for their iniquities and failure to return.

In the Kabbalah, he is identified with the sephirot of gevurah. He also has a prominent role as one of God's archangels in the Kabbalah literature. There, he is portrayed as working in concert with Michael as part of God's court. He is not to be prayed to directly; only God can answer prayers and send him 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.