Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today’s video, we’re going to discuss Uriel:
regent of the sun, archangel, presider over Tartarus, flame of God, and angel of September.
We’re going to start off with some rapid fire information;
following that we’re going to explore Uriel’s role in scripture,
meaning the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Bible, and the Quran; and finally,
we’re going to look at Uriel’s role in two apocryphal works: 2 Esdras and the Book of Enoch.
Let’s get into it.
Uriel, whose name means ‘fire of God’, is one of the most important angels in non-scripture
biblical lore. Depending on the source, he’s been classified as either a Seraphim or Cherubim,
the two angelic choirs closest to God's Throne, and as one of the seven archangels.
Other aspects of his power and purview include: presider over Tartarus, archangel of salvation,
flame of God, angel of the presence, and angel of the month of September. In Milton’s Paradise Lost,
he’s described as the ‘regent of the sun’ and as ‘the sharpest sighted spirit in all of Heaven’.
According to Abbot Anscar Vonier, born near the end of the 19th century CE,
Uriel is the angel who stands guard with a flaming sword at the entrance
of Eden after Adam and Eve are expelled and its paradise becomes lost to humanity.
Canonically speaking, Uriel is absent from scripture. In the Hebrew bible, known as the Old
Testament to Christians, no angels are addressed by name. In the New Testament, which accounts
for roughly the last quarter of the Christian Bible, only two angles, Michael and Gabriel,
are addressed by name, and of those two, only Michael is actually referred to as an archangel,
as can be seen in Jude 1:9: “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he
disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation …” In Islam,
Israfil is the archangel who will blow the trumpet from the holy rock in Jerusalem; though there
is no clear Judeo-Christian counterpart, Uriel and Raphael are sometimes associated with him.
Though Uriel doesn’t feature in scripture by name, there are events that feature
anonymous angels with whom he is sometimes identified. Lacking specificity, these events,
by nature of their substance not being ascribed by name, are left open to theorizing and are,
therefore, attributed to any one of a bevy of prominent and powerful angels,
depending on the version. Examples include the unnamed angel who wrestles Jacob in Genesis
22:25, “Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn …”, and with
the angel who annihilates the Assyrian army in II Kings 19:35, “That night an angel of
the Lord went out and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp,
and the following morning they were all dead corpses.”
Despite his exclusion from scripture, Uriel is an angel of great prominence in apocryphal
and pseudepigraphal writings, as well as religious exegesis. This is born out by him being counted
among the seven archangels by various sources and authorities, including: the Book of Enoch,
the Testament of Solomon, and Christian Gnosticism, as well as by Gregory the Great,
who became pope in 590 CE, well known for his extensive writings, and by Pseudo-Dionysius,
who wrote many influential religious treatises in either the fifth or sixth century CE.
We’re going to spend the rest of the video looking at two apocryphal works, meaning works
of dubious authenticity, that Uriel features in: first 2 Esdras and then the Book of Enoch.
Today, foremost denominations of Christianity,
like Catholicism and Protestantism, have relegated 2 Esdras to Apocrypha; however,
certain denominations, like Russian Orthodox and Ethiopian Orthodox, do consider it canon.
It is commonly held that the impetus for this work was the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem,
as well as, in general, Jewish subjugation under Roman hegemony. In it, Ezra is deeply troubled by
contemplation of how Jewish people will prosper in the future, as their current prospects seem
precarious. He asks several questions of God, seven, to be precise, the essence of which is why
the righteous, faithful believers and servants of the true God, those who hold to Judaism,
are oppressed and dispersed, under the yoke of a sinful society, the citizens of which scorn
God with every breath they draw while their minds are filled false religious convictions.
The answer Ezra receives is very much akin to the one Job receives in the Book of Job,
which is something to this effect: do not question God because creation is unfathomable in its scope
and complexity, and God’s responsibilities, which are basically to tend the infinite,
are even more incomprehensible and inscrutable; take solace in these facts: God is good, and God
tirelessly works towards making existence good in a world where a race of pugnacious,
profit-seeking people relentlessly and perpetually seek to visit misfortune on each other.
Here’s a passage in which Uriel is sent as a heavenly
interpreter to facilitate Ezra’s reconciliation and enlightenment:
“And the angel, whose name was Uriel, was sent to me and gave me an answer,
And said, Your heart has gone to far in this world,
and you think to understand the way of the most High?
Then I said, Yea, my lord, And he answered me, and said, I am sent to show you three ways,
and to set forth three comparisons before you: Whereof if you can answer one, I will show
you also the way that you desire to see, and I will show you from where the wicked heart came.
And I said, Tell on, my lord. Then said he to me, Go your way, weigh me the weight of the fire,
or measure me the blast of the wind, or call me again the day that is past.
Then I answered and said, What man is able to do that, that you should ask such things of me?
And he said to me, If I should ask you how great dwellings are in the midst of the sea,
or how many springs are in the beginning of the deep, or how many springs are above the firmament,
or which are the outgoings of paradise: I would expect you would say to me,
I never went down into the deep, nor as yet into hell, neither did I ever climb up into heaven.
Nevertheless now have I asked you but only of the fire and wind, and of the day through which you
have passed, and of things from which you can not be separated, and yet you can give me no answer.
He said moreover to me, Your own things, and such as are grown up with you, you do not know;
How should your vessel (body/mind) then be able to comprehend the way of the Highest …”
The Book of Enoch is an apocryphal work. Originally, it was thought to have been written
after the New Testament, as there are parallels between the two works,
indicating that one was influenced by the other. However, after the discovery
of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, which was the discovery of an ancient trove of manuscripts,
most of them Hebrew, on the Northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, many conclusions concerning
the ages of various religious works had to be reevaluated. The Book of Enoch was one such work,
as scholarly consideration now places the creation of its oldest pieces
sometime in the 2nd century BCE, with it being derived from a much older oral tradition.
In the first Book of Enoch, there is a group of angels known as the Watchers. They are a venerated
group, even when reckoned within the divine hierarchy in which they exist. 200 of their number
became corrupted. They lay with mortal women, and from these unholy unions are spawned the Nephilim,
half-angel, half-mortal abominations that were a scourge upon the earth. Furthermore,
these angels brought much wicked knowledge in the world,
permeating it with sin. From them, men learnt how to craft killing weapons and how to wage war,
and women learnt charms and enchantments - how to beautify themselves and ensnare the
loins with the wiles of seduction. High up in heaven, four angels, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael,
and Uriel, watched in horror. They approached the seat of the Lord, imploring him to intercede,
and in response, God dispatched them, sending each with an assignment to ameliorate the plight
of the mortal plane. Here’s the passage that recounts what instruction was imparted on Uriel:
“Then said the Most High, the Holy and Great One spake, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech,
and said to him: {Go to Noah} and tell him in my name “Hide thyself!”
and reveal to him the end that is approaching: that the whole earth will be destroyed, and a
deluge is about to come upon the whole earth, and will destroy all that is on it. And now instruct
him that he may escape and his seed may be preserved for all the generations of the world.”
Later, Enoch is taken on a tour of the cosmos; the proverbial curtain is drawn back, and many visions
are revealed, visions of secret and remote places previously unseen by mortal eyes. One such place
is a desolate place that exists beyond an abyss lined with great columns of heavenly fire. It’s
described as a waste devoid of structure and life. There is no foundation of earth or water, nor is
there a celestial vault above, and there’s nothing living: no fish that swims, no bird that flies,
no beast that roams - utterly lacking in every sense. This ultimate emptiness is located at the
end of both heaven and earth. And it is said that angels who have strayed from the righteous path,
who no longer live as God’s faithful servants, labouring to shine his light upon the world,
choosing instead the temptation of transgression and the seduction of sin, are to be condemned,
inextricably bound to this chasm, one without bottom and not hemmed on either side by rock or
earth. Within this void are seven stars, burning in the distance like looming mountains of fire.
These seven stars are seven imprisoned angels who have been raked through flame.
One of the angels accompanying Enoch through his vision quest is Uriel,
who functions as a guide. Here’s a passage in which Uriel describes
the fate of the fallen watchers discussed earlier in the video,
“And Uriel said to me: ‘Here shall stand the angels who have connected themselves with women,
and their spirits assuming many different forms are defiling mankind
and shall lead them astray into sacrificing to demons [[as gods]], (here shall they stand,)
till [[the day of]] the great judgment in which they are made an end of.
And the women also of the angels who went astray shall become sirens. And I, Enoch, alone saw this
vision, the ends of all things: and no man shall see as I have seen … And there I saw seven stars
of the heaven bound together in it … Then I said: ‘For what sin are they bound, and on what
account have they been cast in hither?’ then said Uriel, one of the holy angels, who was with me,
and was chief over them: ‘Enoch, why dost thou ask, and why art thou eager for truth? These are
some of the number of stars [of heaven], which have transgressed the commandment of the Lord,
and are bound here’ … and I saw a horrible thing: a great fire there which burnt and blazed,
and the place was cleft as far as the abyss … and he [Uriel] said [[unto me]]:
‘this place is the prison of the angels, and here they will be imprisoned for ever.’”
The third book in the Book of Enoch, the Astronomical Book, describes the divulgence of
heavenly secrets to Enoch, of both the tempestuous firmament and of the cycles in which celestial
bodies like the moon and sun move across the sky. In this, Uriel reprises his role as guide,
uncloaking cosmic secrets never before witnessed by mortal eyes or grasped - however superficially
- by the cognizance of the mortal mind. Here’s the passage that introduces Uriel in this capacity:
“The book of the courses of the luminaries of the heaven, the relations of each, according to
their classes, their dominion and their seasons, according to their names and places of origin,
and according to their months, which Uriel, the holy angel, who was with me,
who is their guide, showed me; and he showed me all their laws exactly as they are,
and how it is with regard to all the years of the world and unto eternity … the luminary of the Sun
has its rising in the eastern portals of the heaven, and its setting in the
western portals of the heaven. And I saw six portals in which the sun rises,
and six portals in which the sun sets and the moon rises and sets in these portals, and the leader of
the stars and those whom they lead …” And that’s it for this video!
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