v_public_angelic_beings: 53
This data as json
| rowid | entity_id | canonical_name | tradition | category | primary_domains | short_note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53 | ENT_ISR_RAGUEL | Raguel | Israelite/Second Temple | Angelic Being | divine vengeance; justice; luminaries; cosmic order; punishment of transgression | Raguel ("Friend of God" or "Shepherd of God") is one of the seven holy angels who stand before God in 1 Enoch 20:4: "Raguel, one of the holy angels, who takes vengeance on the world of the luminaries." His domain is distinctive — he oversees the execution of divine vengeance specifically against the luminaries (sun, moon, stars) when they transgress their ordained courses, as described in the Astronomical Book of 1 Enoch (chs. 72-82). This gives him a unique cosmological function among the seven: while Michael protects the righteous and Raphael heals, Raguel enforces the moral-astronomical order of the cosmos itself. In the Book of Tobit (2:15 in the Sinaiticus text, though this is textually variant), a figure related to Raguel appears in the narrative context alongside Raphael, suggesting his name was current in Second Temple angelological speculation broadly. Raguel also appears in 1 Enoch 23:4 as a heavenly judge figure. In Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity (where 1 Enoch is canonical), Raguel is venerated as one of the seven archangels alongside Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Sariel, and Remiel. He completes the seven-archangel council of 1 Enoch 20 alongside the four archangels already attested in the canonical Hebrew Bible and the Deuterocanon (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel) and the two other 1 Enoch-specific figures (Remiel, Sariel). Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination (2016) pp. 79-82. |