GABRIEL gā’ brĭ əl (Heb. גַּבְרִיאֵ֕ל, Gr. Γαβριήλ, G1120), the name of a supernatural messenger seen by Daniel in his vision in Daniel 8:16 and 9:21 only in the OT. The name has been etymologized as a compound meaning, “God is great,” and other names similar to it have been proposed in the apocalyptic and legendary writings of the Jews. In the apocryphal and mystical kabbalistic writings this angel is joined with the archangel Michael (Dan 10:13, 21; 12:1) and Uriel and Raphael around the throne of God. However, the narrative of Daniel’s vision states clearly that the sound heard by Daniel was (Heb. קﯴל־אָדָ֖ם) “voice of a man” so that there is no reason to suppose that this messenger of the Almighty had an appearance or powers apart from man. In the apocryphal books of 1 and 2 Enoch, the character and position of Gabriel are defined in terms of the Jewish folklore. In the Aram. Targ. he is written back into several accounts of the OT and is the angel to whom the finding of Joseph’s brothers, the burial of Moses and the slaughter of the Assyrian armies of Sennacherib are all ascribed. It is not clear what the exact sources of these embellishments may have been, but it is highly possible that they were, in fact, aspects of the Pers. demi-gods derived from the elaborate hierarchy of the Iranian pantheon. The simplicity of the account in Daniel is a far removed step from the involved tales of the rabbis.

The angel plays a role in the Lucan account of the Incarnation, as Gabriel is the messenger who announces the birth of John the Baptist to his father the priest, Zechariah, in the Temple (Luke 1:19) and the birth of the Messiah to the Virgin Mary (1:26). His action in both places and the acceptance of his message is similar to the appearance recorded in Daniel. He indicates his authority as one who stands in the presence of the Almighty and thus follows His bidding and bears divine authority for His message. The mythical encrustation of the ages has not dimmed the simple narrative of the angelic announcement, and the Scripture envisions no such creature as the artists of the Renaissance often depicted, a half-man and half-bird derived from late Gr. sculpture. A most interesting aspect is the rarity with which such heavenly visitations are mentioned in the Bible, and in each of the four cases are directly connected to the fulfillment of the Messianic promise. Speculations on the mechanism and details of these angelic announcements have troubled the Church throughout the ages.