Tobit’s Raphael and the Mysterious Messenger of the Lord

Introduction

The Messenger of the Lord (מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה Mal'akh YHWH) is a mysterious figure who appears in narratives throughout the Hebrew Bible.[1] “He” meets Hagar in the desert, tests Abraham, speaks to Moses through a burning bush, comes to Joshua the night before Jericho, and blocks the road for Balaam and his donkey. He also predicts the birth of Samson, ascends to the heavens, defeats 185,000 Assyrians, appears before King David, and contends with “the adversary,” among other encounters.[2] This mysterious Messenger also continued to appear after the Hebrew Bible, in apocryphal stories. This paper will examine references to the angel Raphael, depicted in the book of Tobit, as continuations, expansions, and a reshaping of the canonical Messenger of the Lord tradition, and explore the significance of those changes.* 

Many of the Messenger’s canonical roles, such as testing or assisting humans in crisis, the discussion of its identity, and its ascent to heaven are paralleled in Tobit. But while Tobit utilized the tradition, it also changed it by envisioning Raphael as both Messenger and an Angel of the Presence, rather than as God himself. Notably, while Raphael was further developed in later angelology, this was his introductory appearance. Tobit thus serves as a bridge between the canonical and the later apocryphal traditions. By examining the developments, parallels, and textual evidence, Tobit’s contributions to the tradition will come to light.

 

Development of the Mal'akh YHWH Tradition

Before exploring the Messenger in Tobit, it is pertinent to examine its role in  canon. Today, “angel” carries with it anachronistic images of winged beings that are not present in the Hebrew Bible. The word mal'akh, often translated as “angel,” also means messenger. It can refer to humans, celestial beings, or as stand-in for God.[3] Angels as a celestial group first appear early on in Genesis, but Gabriel and Michael, the only two named angels in the canon, first appear in Daniel.[4] In the apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, a group of “archangels” or “Angels of the Presence” came to be identified and expanded on.[5] By that time, there was a trend in naming “angels and assign[ing] them mediatorial responsibilities.”[6] As such, Raphael, whose name means “God heals” or “God has healed,”[7] is identified in 1 Enoch as the one “who is set over all disease and every wound of… the people” (40:9), and over the “spirits of men” (22:3).[8] These responsibilities are paralleled with Raphael’s roles in Tobit as well.

 

The Ambiguous Identity of the Messenger

While there are “angels” throughout the Hebrew Bible, there also appears to be a specific being who is not merely a messenger, but the Messenger. This figure displays divine abilities, exercises the authority of God, speaks as God, and identifies himself as God (as in Exo. 3:2-6). However, it should be noted that there is no uniform Messenger tradition. As noted by Camilla von Heijne, “Sometimes the angel is presented as distinct from God… [and] God sometimes refers to the [Messenger] in the third person… However, by possessing the divine name, the [Messenger] of Exodus shares the divine nature and power and cannot be seen as completely separate from the Deity.” She further notes that the association between the Messenger and God in Genesis and Judges “is undeniable. These differences within the Bible may possibly mirror a historical development of the [Messenger]-concept.”[9]

 

The Angel of the Presence in Canon and Apocrypha

One later development of the tradition came in the form of the “Angel of the Presence” (Mal'akh HaPanim, מלאך הפנים).[10] Margaret Barker notes that it has “two meanings… an angel who stands in the divine presence… [and] an angel who, having stood in the divine presence, becomes a part of it and so becomes that divine presence on earth.”[11] This figure is only referenced once in the Hebrew Bible, in Isaiah 63:9, “In all their distress he was distressed; the angel of his presence saved them.”[12] The passage derives from the post-exilic portion of Isaiah,[13] so it is not surprising that the term also appears in the apocrypha. For example 1st Enoch lists Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Phanuel (71:8-9) as Angels of the Presence.[14] They also appear in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and in Jubilees.[15] In Tobit 12, a 3rd century CE text,[16] Raphael is described as one of the seven Angels of the Presence, tying him into this development of the Messenger tradition.

 

Textual Evidence for Raphael’s Identity in Tobit

Tobit begins by referencing the death of Sennacherib’s army by the “King of Heaven” (1:18). However, in the Hebrew Bible, the army is struck down by the Messenger.[17] Shortly after this subtle but no doubt intentional reference, Tobit 3:16-17a says, “the prayers of both of them were heard in the glorious presence of God. So Raphael was sent to heal both of them: Tobit, by removing the white films from his eyes… and Sarah… by giving her in marriage to Tobias… and by setting her free from the wicked demon Asmodeus.” These establishing passages frame Raphael as an Angel of the Presence, and assign him a mediatorial role as healer. Joseph Fitzmyer notes that in the manuscript tradition, the “Vg [says] ‘and the holy angel of the Lord, Raphael, was sent to cure both.’”[18] Here, Raphael is identified as both the Messenger and an Angel of the Presence.

 

The private revelation of his identity is later bookended with his public revelation to Tobit and Tobiah, in which Raphael says, “‘it was I who brought and read the record of your prayer before… the glory of the Lord, and likewise whenever you would bury the dead… I was sent to you to test you… I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand ready and enter before the glory of the Lord.’ The two of them… were afraid. But he said… ‘Do not be afraid; peace be with you… I really did not eat or drink anything—but what you saw was a vision… get up from the ground… See, I am ascending to him who sent me…’. And he ascended. Then they stood up, and could see him no more… an angel of God had appeared to them” (12:11-17, 19-22).

 

Joseph Fitzmyer describes the manuscript evidence for interpreting Tobit 12 as a Messenger tradition. While Hebrew 4Q200 6:2-3 has “an angel of God,” Aramaic 4Q196 17i 4-5 has, “the angel of,” followed by three dots. Fitzmyer sees these dots as “representing the tetragrammaton.”[19] Carey Moore agrees with this reading and argues that that the “three dots following ‘angel’ in this fragmentary reading should be understood as a damaged symbol of the tetragrammaton, which is symbolized by four dots as in other Qumran texts.”[20] Further, G1 has “the angel of the Lord appeared to them,”[21] and manuscript GII identifies Raphael as the “angel of God”, another “title that can also be used for the ‘angel of the Lord.’”[22] Philip Muñoa concludes, “commentators agree that the best reading of 12.22 is ‘angel of the Lord’, thus making explicit Raphael’s identity as the angel of the Lord.”[23] 

 

Parallels between Tobit and Judges 13

One of the canonical Messenger traditions finds significant parallel in Tobit. In Judges 13, during the Philistine threat over Israel, the Messenger appears to the wife of Manoah, who is barren, and announces that she will give birth to a son (13:1-5). She goes and tells her husband, “‘A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like that of an angel of God… I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name’” (13:6-7). Manoah prays for the figure’s return, and he does, meeting them in a field. He gives them further instructions about their future child, Samson, then Manoah tries to offer a kid to the Messenger.

 

But the Messenger replies, “‘If you detain me, I will not eat your food; but… prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.’… Then Manoah said to [him]… ‘What is your name…?’ But [he]… said to him, ‘Why do you ask my name? It is too wonderful.’ So Manoah… offered it on the rock to the Lord… When the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar… Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord… [he said,] ‘We shall surely die, for we have seen God.’ But his wife said to him, ‘If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt… [and] grain offering at our hands…” (13:16-23).

 

Here, the figure is variously identified as God, the Messenger, a man, the “angel of the God,” and “the angel of the Lord.” It appears that different Messenger traditions are united here in which he appeared to others as a human being.[24] This story is paralleled particularly in Judges 6 with Gideon and the Messenger. Both Gideon and Manoah prepare an offering for the Messenger, he refuses to eat, the food is consumed by fire, then the figure disappears. As noted by Von Heijne, “This highly superhuman disappearance makes Manoah and Gideon finally realize that they have met a divine messenger and they consequently fear for their lives.”[25] 

 

Raphael and the Messenger of Judges

In contrast to the Messenger in Judges 6 and 13, when Raphael comes to Tobit and is asked his identity, he cannot withhold it and simply vanish. In order to accomplish his task, he gives his name as Azariah and identifies an Israelite heritage.[26] While in Judges 13, the Messenger has a startling appearance, Raphael has a human appearance, though this is paralleled in other Messenger traditions (Gen. 16.7-17; Judg. 6.11-24), and in Hellenistic literature.[27] One strong similarity is the belief in that seeing the Messenger, or seeing God face to face, will bring death, just as Tobiah and Tobit are struck with fear when Raphael proclaims his identity (12:16).[28] Another point of comparison lies in his ascent. Raphael’s ascent is “only the second angelic ascent in biblical literature, after that of Judg. 13.20, and the more explicit of the two.”[29] Tobit seems to be drawing on Judges' Messenger traditions of identity, appearance, and ascent, but also shaping them in different ways.

 

Further Parallels between Tobit and the Canon

Another plot that Tobit’s echoes is Genesis 24, which also appears to feature the Messenger and tells a “story of angelic guidance, marriage, an eligible relative, prayer and a successful journey.” Tobit differs as it does not depict Tobiah, like Abraham, hoping to find a wife for his son, but in terms of the overall story, “its allusions to this Abraham narrative are too strong to dismiss.”[30] For example, Abraham instructs his servant who is sent to look for a wife for his son Isaac, “the Lord will send his angel before you” (Gen. 24:17), just as Tobit says to Tobiah, ironically, “a good angel will accompany him” (5:22). One scholar, Alan Segal, notes “that Raphael’s role as ‘tester’ in Tob. 12.11-20 means that he can be identified as the angel of the Lord since this angel was sent to test Abraham in Gen. 22.11-18,” another Abrahamic parallel.[31]

 

Another scholar, Margaret Barker, argues that Raphael must be understood as a manifestation of the Lord, because Raphael’s role as healer “would account for why it was Raphael who appeared as the answer to Tobit’s prayer (Tob. 3.1-6)…. He was praying to that aspect of the Lord which was Raphael, and so when divine help appeared, the angel was Raphael.”[32] On a textual level, Charles Gieschen argues that the divine name reference in the Tobit 11:14 doxology “is an allusion to the angel of the Lord tradition in Exod. 23.21.”[33] The cumulative weight of these scholar’s contributions, the manuscript tradition, and the textual parallels inevitably show a distinct and intentional connection between the Messenger of the Lord and Raphael.

 

Conclusions

The book of Tobit takes the Messenger tradition in new ways, and lays the groundwork for later traditions of angelology.[34] As noted by Muñoa, it moves beyond a mere “incorporation of several angel accounts… [and] positions [itself] as a speculative angel of the Lord text.”[35] It differs from prior tradition in that it does not equate Raphael with God, but rather as an “Angel of the Presence.” This latter tradition had only begun to take shape in the canon, but was further developed in Tobit, and in the literature that followed. Notably, Tobit also maintains elements of the Messenger traditions, seen in Raphael’s appearance to humans in crisis, his testing of Tobit, Tobiah, and Sarah, his revelation of identity, and his ascent.[36] Thus, Tobit should be read as a continuation, expansion, and reshaping of the Messenger tradition, one which bridges the canonical and apocryphal. Tobit is significant in showing the ongoing importance of the Messenger of the Lord tradition for the Jewish people, during a period of developing angelology.

*This paper was written in November 2020 for a Hebrew Bible course.*

 

Endnotes

1. The phrase Mal’akh YHWH appears 65 times in the Hebrew Bible, and the “angel of God” (Mal’akh ‘Elohim) appears 12 times.
2. See Gen. 16:7-12; Gen. 22:11-18; Num. 22:21-41; 2nd Sam. 24:16; Zech. 1:12; 3:1; 12:8, etc. In Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are thrown into a fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar notices a fourth man, whom he describes as a having “the appearance of a god,” or “a song of the gods” (3:25). The apocryphal Prayer of Azariah identifies the figure as the Messenger of the Lord.
3. Raphael Patai, Encyclopedia of Jewish Folklore and Traditions (Armonk: Routledge, 2013), 31. The Hebrew Bible also uses “words other than malakh... The mysterious figure that wrestles with Jacob… is referred to first as ish (a man) and then as elohim (Gen. 32:25–31), and only later… as a malakh (Hos. 12:5)” (Ibid.).
4.  Margaret Barker, “The Archangel Raphael in the Book of Tobit” in Mark Bredin, Studies in the Book of Tobit: A Multidisciplinary Approach, Library of Second Temple Studies 55, (Bloomsbury: T&T Clark, 2006), 119.;
5.  Beate Ego, “The Figure of the Angel Raphael According to his Farewell Address in Tob 12:6-20” in Angels: The Concept of Celestial Beings - Origins, Development and Reception. Ed. Reiterer, Friedrich V., Nicklas, Tobias, and Schöpflin, Karin. De Gruyter, Inc., 2006), 244-245.; See also 4th Ezra 4:38; 1st Enoch 1:40, 2-10; Greek Enoch 20:7; Ethiopian Enoch 9:1, 40:2, 81:516; 1QM 9.15; Apocalypse of Moses 40.
6.  Philip Muñoa, “Raphael, Azariah and Jesus of Nazareth: Tobit's Significance for Early Christology” (Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 22, no. 1, 2012), 4-5.
7.  Ego, “Figure of the Angel Raphael”, 248.;  George W.E. Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature between the Bible and the Mishnah, (2nd ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005), 30.
8.  Irene Nowell, “The 'Work' of Archangel Raphael” in Angels: The Concept of Celestial Beings, 229.
9.  Camilla Hélena von Heijne, “The Ambitious Identity of the Angel” in The Messenger of the Lord in Early Jewish Interpretations of Genesis (Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, Inc., 2010), 119-120.
10.  Also referred to as the “Angel of his presence” or “Angel of his face” (mal'akh panav, מַלְאַךְ פָּנָיו). 
11.  Barker, “The Archangel Raphael”, 119-120.; See also 1QSb IV.  
12.  All scriptural quotations come from the NRSV (The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha, An Ecumenical Study Bible. 5th edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.).
13.  Third Isaiah (Isa. 56-66) is described as a post-exilic text (Brandon Simonson, “The Historical Context of 8th Century BCE Prophet Isaiah” STH TO 704, Introduction to Hebrew Bible, Boston University, 03 Nov. 2020.).
14.  Barker, “The Archangel Raphael”, 119-120. 2nd Enoch identifies Uriel as an Angel of the Presence.
15.  Ibid., 119. 
16.  The narrative is set during “the days of Shalmanesar” (1:2), when the Israelite, Tobit, “had been deported to the Assyrians and came as a captive to Nineveh” (1:10). It thus situates itself in the Assyrian captivity following the attack by Shalmanesar V on the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE. However, textual evidence suggests that it was a fictional novel likely written in the eastern Jewish diaspora around 200 BCE (Ego 239, Barker 118), rather than a historical chronicle from the 8th century. Though it was in the Septuagint and Dead Sea scrolls, it is not part of the Hebrew Bible, but is found in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles (Nickelsburg 35).
17.  See 2nd Kings 19:35-36; Isaiah 37:36-38.
18.  Joseph A. Fitzmyer, “Tobit”, Commentaries on Early Jewish Literature (Walter de Gruyter, 2003), 160.
19.  Ibid., 299. It is also found in 1QS 8:14 (quoting Isa. 40:3); 4QTestim (4Q175) 1, 19 (quoting Deut. 5:28 and 33:11); 4QTanhumim (4Q176) 1-2 i 6, 7, 9; 1-2 ii 3; 8-11:6, 8, 10.
20.  Muñoa, “Raphael the Savior”, 232; See also Carey A. Moore, Tobit: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary AB, 40A (New York: Doubleday, 1996), 274.
21.  Fitzmyer, “Tobit”, 299.
22.  Muñoa, “Raphael the Savior”, 232.
23.  Ibid.
24.  See Judg. 13.3, 6l; Ezek. 9.1-8; Dan. 9.21.
25.  Von Heijne, “Ambitious Identity of the Angel”, 104.
26.  One reason why the Messenger does not wish to reveal his identity may be that in antiquity, “To surrender one’s name is hazardous for a heavenly being, since ‘possession of such knowledge brings power over the one who is named’” (Geoffrey David Miller, “Raphael the Liar: Angelic Deceit and Testing in the Book of Tobit”, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 74, no. 3 (July 2012): 497.). As such, he does not self-identify until just before leaving them, to avoid anyone having power over him. Identifying as Azariah protects his celestial identity and provides a sufficient answer for the family.
27.  Muñoa, “Raphael the Savior”, 238.; Also, in “Hellenistic literature… gods appear among their people, as one of their people with an ethnic element… but Israelite literature had never depicted a divinity that so condescended so as to appear distinctly Israelite” (Ibid.). Nickelsburg notes that “Aspects of Tobiah’s interaction with Raphael parallel… Telemachus and the goddess Athena in Homer’s Odyssey” (Jewish Literature, 34).
28.  Nowell, “‘Work’ of Archangel Raphael”, 234.; cf. Gen. 32:29-31; Judg. 6:22-23; 13:21-22; Exo. 33.
29.  Muñoa, “Raphael, Azariah and Jesus”, 8.
30.  Muñoa, “Raphael the Savior”, 234. The Jacob narrative (Gen. 25-36) seems to have also influenced Tobit. While different than Abraham story of Genesis 24, several are paralleled in Tobit: “a son’s journey and safe return, a blind father, fatherly admonishment to marry a woman of their own kin, marriage, Jacob’s strange encounter with a man at night (this Genesis 32 incident is taken to be an angel of the Lord episode) and angelic protection” (Ibid.).
31.  Cited in Muñoa, “Raphael the Savior”, 233. See Alan Segal, Two Powers in Heaven: Early Rabbinic reports about Christianity and Gnosticism (SJLA, 25, Leiden: Brill, 1978), 90.
32.  Barker, “The Archangel Raphael”, 127.
33.  Cited in Ibid. See Charles Gieschen, Angelomorphic Christology: Antecedents and Early Evidence (AGAJU, 42, Leiden: Brill, 1998), 136.
34.  Muñoa further argues that Tobit’s portrayal of Raphael prefigures many Christological concepts in the New Testament, particularly matters of celestial identity, and similar accounts of ascension into heaven (“Raphael, Azariah and Jesus of Nazareth: Tobit's Significance for Early Christology.”).
35.  Muñoa, “Raphael the Savior”, 229.
36.  Ibid., 232. 

Bibliography

Beate Ego, “The Figure of the Angel Raphael According to his Farewell Address in Tob 12:6-20” in Angels: The Concept of Celestial Beings - Origins, Development and Reception. Ed. Reiterer, Friedrich V., Nicklas, Tobias, and Schöpflin, Karin. De Gruyter, Inc., 2006. 239-253.

Brandon Simonson, “The Historical Context of 8th Century BCE Prophet Isaiah”, STH TO 704, Introduction to Hebrew Bible, Boston University, 03 Nov. 2020.

 

Camilla Hélena von Heijne, “The Ambitious Identity of the Angel” in The Messenger of the Lord in Early Jewish Interpretations of Genesis. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, Inc., 2010.

 

Carey A. Moore, Tobit: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary AB, 40A. New York: Doubleday, 1996.

 

Geoffrey David Miller, “Raphael the Liar: Angelic Deceit and Testing in the Book of Tobit.” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 74, no. 3 (July 2012): 492–508.

 

George W.E. Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature between the Bible and the Mishnah. 2^nd ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005. 29-34.

 

Irene Nowell, “The 'Work' of Archangel Raphael” in Angels: The Concept of Celestial Beings - Origins, Development and Reception. Ed. Reiterer, Friedrich V., Nicklas, Tobias, and Schöpflin, Karin. De Gruyter, Inc., 2006. 227-238.

 

John J. Collins, “Chapter 26 The Hebrew Short Story: Ruth, Esther, Tobit, Judith” in Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2018. 572-574.

 

Joseph A. Fitzmyer, “Tobit”, Commentaries on Early Jewish Literature. Walter de Gruyter,  2003.

 

Margaret Barker, “The Archangel Raphael in the Book of Tobit” in Mark Bredin, Studies in the Book of Tobit: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Library of Second Temple Studies 55. Bloomsbury: T&T Clark, 2006. 118-128.

 

Phillip Muñoa, “Raphael the Savior: Tobit’s Adaptation of the Angel of the Lord Tradition.” Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 25, no. 3 (March 2016): 228–43.

 

Phillip Muñoa,  “Raphael, Azariah and Jesus of Nazareth: Tobit's Significance for Early Christology.” Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 22, no. 1 (2012): 3-39.

 

Raphael Patai. Encyclopedia of Jewish Folklore and Traditions. Armonk: Routledge, 2013.