Uriel

From Bible Encyclopedia

Uriel (1)

ū´ri-el (אוּריאל, 'ūrī'ēl, “flame of El (God),” or “El is my light” or ""God is my light"):

(1) A Kohathite Levite, said in 1 Chronicles 15:5 to be the chief of the sons of Kohath at the time when the ark was brought up to Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 6:24 (Hebrew verse 9); 1 Chronicles 15:5, 1 Chronicles 15:11). He corresponds to Zephaniah in the pedigree of Heman in 1 Chronicles 6:33-38 (Hebrew 18-23). See Curtis, Chronicles, 130 f.

(2) A man of Gibeah, and father of Micaiah, one of Rehoboam's wives, and the mother of King Abijah of Judah (2 Chronicles 13:2).

(3) The archangel (En 1 Chronicles 20:2, etc.). See next article.

Uriel (2)

(Οὐριήλ, Ouriel, “fire or flame of God”' or “my light is God”):

(1) Called only in 2 Esdras an “angel,” except 2 Esdras 4:36 where the Revised Version (British and American) and the King James Version rightly give “Jeremiel the archangel” for the King James Version “Uriel the archangel,” but elsewhere known as one of the four chief archangels. He was the angel who instructed Ezra (2 Esdras 4:1; 2 Esdras 5:20; 2 Esdras 10:28). In Enoch 20:2 Uriel is the angel who is “over the world and Tartarus” (ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τοῦ ταρτάρου, ho epí toú kósmou kaí toú tartárou), and as such is the conductor to Enoch in the world below, the secrets of which he explains. Compare also (Greek) 19:1; 21:5. In the (Latin) “Life of Adam and Eve,” 48 (ed. W. Meyer in Abhand. d. Bayer. Akad. der Wiss., XIV, 1878, 250), Uriel (Oriel) accompanied Michael when at God's bidding he wrapped the bodies of Adam and Abel in three linen sheets and buried them in Paradise. In the lost “Prayer of Joseph” Uriel is the angel who wrestles and converses with Jacob and knows the secrets of heaven (as in Enoch those of Tartarus), but stands only 8th in rank, whereas in (Greek) Enoch 20:2 ff he is the 1st of the six (or seven) archangels. In Sib Or 2:229 he is entrusted with the judgment of the Titans. Compare Milton, Paradise Lost, III, 690, “regent of the sun, and held the sharpest sighted Spirit of all in heaven.”

(2) “Urier” the King James Version = the Revised Version (British and American) and the King James Version margin “Jeremiel.”