GABRIEL the mighty one [or hero] oj G ad), the heavenly messenger who was sent to Daniel to explain the vision of the ram and the he-goat (Dan. viii.), and to communicate the pre diction of the Seventy Weeks (Dan. ix. 21-27). Under the new dispensation he was employed to announce the birth of John the Baptist to his father Zechariah (Luke i. t), and that of the Messiah to the Virgin Mary (Luke i. 26). i3oth by Jewish and Christian writers, Gabriel has been denomi nated an archangel. The Scriptures, however, affirm nothing positively respecting his lank, though the importance of the commissions on which he was employed, and his own words, am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God' (Luke i. 19), are rather in favour of the notion of his superior dignity.
In the Book of Enoch, the four great arch angels, Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, and Uriel,' are described as reporting the corrupt state of mankind to the Creator, and receiving their several corn missions. To Gabriel he says, Go, Gabriel, against the giants, the spttrious ones, the sons of fornication, and destroy the sons of the watchers from among the sons of men' (Greek Fragment c?.?` Um Book of Enoch, preserved by Syncellus in Scali ger's notes on the Chrovicon of Eusebius, Amstel.
165S, p. 404). In the rabbinical writings Gabriel is represented as standing in front of the divine throne, near the standard of the tribe of Judah (Buxtorf, Lex. Talmud. s.v.,".,411N). The rabbins also say that lie is the Prince of Fire, and appointed to preside over the ripening of fruit ; that he was the only one of the angels who understood Chaldee and Syriac, and taught Joseph the seventy lan guages spoken at the dispersion of Babel; that lie and Michael destroyed the host of Sennacherib, and set fire to the temple at Jerusalem (Eisenmen gees Entelecktes yudenthum, th. ss. 365, 379, 38o, 383).
By the Mohammedans Gabriel is regarded with profound veneration. To him, it is affirmed, a copy of the whole Koran was committed, which he imparted in successive portions to Mohammed. Ile is styled in the Koran, the Spirit of Truth, and the Holy Spirit. In his hands will be placed the scales in which the actions of men will be weighed at the last day (Sale's Zara,' ;D'Herbelot's Biblio lheque Orientale).—J. E. R.