Gabriel #72

Gabriel is an angel who appears by name in the Book of Daniel and in the Gospel of Luke. His name in Hebrew is generally understood to mean “God is my strength” or “man of God.” He is one of only two angels given a personal name in the Protestant canon, the other being Michael (Daniel 10:13; Jude 9), and he consistently appears as a messenger who delivers or interprets a word from God.

Biblical Significance

In the Old Testament, Gabriel is sent to help Daniel understand his visions. When Daniel sees the vision of the ram and the goat, a voice tells Gabriel to make him understand, and Gabriel says that the vision concerns the time of the end (Daniel 8:15-19). Later, while Daniel is praying and confessing the sins of his people, Gabriel comes to him at the time of the evening offering and gives him insight into the prophecy of seventy weeks (Daniel 9:20-27). Interpretations of that prophecy differ widely among Jewish and Christian readers.

In the New Testament, Gabriel is the messenger of the birth announcements at the start of Luke’s Gospel. He appears to the priest Zechariah in the temple, standing at the right side of the altar of incense, and announces that his wife Elizabeth, who is old and has been unable to have children, will bear a son named John who will prepare the way of the Lord. When Zechariah asks for a sign, Gabriel identifies himself as the one who stands in the presence of God, sent to bring this good news, and Zechariah is unable to speak until the child is born (Luke 1:11-20).

Six months later, Gabriel is sent to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a young virgin named Mary who is engaged to Joseph of the house of David. He greets her as favored by God, tells her not to be afraid, and announces that she will conceive and bear a son named Jesus, who will be great, be called the Son of the Most High, and receive the throne of David (Luke 1:26-33). When she asks how this can be, he answers that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the power of the Most High will overshadow her, and he points to Elizabeth’s pregnancy as a sign that nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:34-37). Mary consents (Luke 1:38).

Legacy

Gabriel’s announcement to Mary, known as the Annunciation, is one of the most commonly depicted scenes in Christian art and is commemorated in many churches on March 25. Beyond the Bible, later Jewish tradition and Islam, where he is called Jibril, give Gabriel a larger role, including in the revelation of the Quran, and Christian tradition sometimes associates him with other biblical announcements, though the text does not name him in those places. In the Bible itself, his significance is that of a faithful messenger who brings reassurance and good news at pivotal moments in the history of salvation.