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(BtL) Archangels

The term archangel is scarcely used, showing up in the New Testament twice (1 Thess. 4:16; Jude 9). Michael is the only elohim directly called an archangel in the Bible, however, Gabriel tells Zechariah in the Gospel of Luke that he stands in the presence of God as a means of asserting his position and why Zechariah should believe him.

18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “By what will I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced ⌊in years⌋!” 19 And the angel answered and* said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news.
-Luke 1:18-19 LEB

This may be related to information given in the Second Temple period writing, 1 Enoch, which lists Michael, Uriel (sometimes Sariel or Phanuel), Raphael, and Gabriel as angels of higher status and it would seem command over other angels. Archangels are more prevalent in Second Temple period writings and more are given names. Some writings list a number of archangels as 4, 6, or 7. This is not exclusively stated as the total number of archangels, but that could be being implied.

In Allies of Majesty: I use the term archangel as the title for the highest Tier of elohim, Tier:4. The title archangel applies to both holy and unholy elohim. Bestial elohim of Tier:4 use the term Beast instead. I do not limit the total number of archangels, but I use the four named above as the chiefs of each Order: Michael as chief Warrior, Gabriel as chief Messenger, Raphael as chief Ministering Spirit, and Uriel as chief Minstrel. These four match the four Orders nicely, not only in number, but also in detail. In Revelation we see Michael as a warrior leading angelic armies. Gabriel is seen delivering messages to Daniel, Zechariah (father of John the Baptist). Raphael is associated with healing wounds and diseases as well as binding unholy elohim. Uriel (or Phanuel) is associated with human repentance and repelling the Satans from entering the presence of the Most High in order to accuse humans. All of these happen to work quite nicely with their associated Orders.

Other Contributing Works:
  • Angels, Michael S. Heiser, 2018
  • Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, Archangel (archangelus), 1999
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