Raphael
Ra'phael ( ῾Ραφαήλ = רפָאֵל, "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. Nu 2:18); and his name was interpreted as foreshadowing the healing of the schism of Jeroboam, who arose from that tribe (1Ki 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 1Ch 26:7 as that of a man. SEE REPHAEL.
