the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Raphael
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or ( ῾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).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Raphael'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/r/raphael.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
