Eb. Nestle. GABBE (A Vd^^-n, B Ko/S^t; ; AV Gabdes), 1 Es a**.— In Ezr 2« Geba.
GABRIAS (B Ta^plas, m Ta^pd, indecl. Greek forms of '1?; [Aram. I3p], shortened form of Sx-i:? ' man of God ' ; omitting, as was customary, the name of the deity. Syr. and Heb. Fagii [ireserve the complete form). — Ace. to To 1'* Gabrias was the brother oi the Gahael to whom Tobit entrusted 10 talents of silver. In To 4-° the Gr. reads ]'a,3a^X<i) TV ToD Va^pla, H Valipei, which AV and RV render ' theso/i of Gabrias,' thereby introducing an apparent contradiction, probably gratuitously. Compare 'loi/Sas 'laKujBov, Ac 1", witii Jude '.
J. T. Marshall.
GABRIEL (Sri??, in LXX and NT Va^piri\, vir Dei, 'man of God ') appears in both OT and NT. In L)n 8'"- G. is the ' man ' who interprets Daniel's vision of the ram and the he-goat ; in 9'-"- he ex- plains to Daniel .leremiali's projihecy about the 70 years (.ler 25" 29'") as 70 weeks of years, and amplilies details. In NT G. is named by Lk alone; he foretells tlie birth of .loliii to /aoharias (1'"), and acts as the angel of Annunciation to .Mary (1-"). Dill'erent in some ways as the later is from the earlier presentation, yet both can be
* Luther, who had at first trojisliiled J'JtatIrr (Paveniont), •eenis to have thoutthl of the root n33 ' to be high,' since he coined the word Uochpfltu'er (Hii^ti-paveuient).
easily united as parts, not only of one character, but even of one aspect of it, viz. that of bearing divine sympathy and comforting promise to tlio.se in need. These appearances are quite in accord- ance with the notion of G.'s character attorded by the later and more developed Jewish an''ulology. The developed angelology of Dn is indeed used as an argument for the later date of that book (Driver, LOT^ p. 508). If the 'one like the appearance of a man' (Dn IC') be G., as would appear from the fact that his message resembles, even in its words, that of G. in 8 and 9, then G. is a companion of Michael, and both are members of a class, the ' princes ' or guardian-angels of the nations. In Enoch 9, G. is one of four great arch- angels ; but, comparing this with Lk 1'" and otlier references, he is one of seven (Rev 8-) who present the prayers of the saints and go in and out before God (To 12'"). The Targums add G. as a gloss to other parts of Scripture ; according to pseudo- Jonathan, the ' man' who showed Josepli tlie way towards his brethren (Gn 37") was G. ; again, witli Michael and others G. takes part in the burial of Moses (Dt 34°) ; G. is also the angel whom the Lord sent to destroy the host of Sennacherib (2 Ch 32-'). About the name Gabriel there is nothing distinctive, but it was probably p ^.loper name from its first use : the personality, however, is \'ery definite. Assuming tliat the supra-natural beings of the earlier books of the Bible are either the shrivelled-up descendants of the nature-spirits of primitive Semitic superstition (2-n''x) or sub- ordinate personal beings fully representing God at a definite time and place (d':n'"::) (Schultz, OT Thcol. ii. 215 f. ; W. R. Smith, Encrj. Brit.^ art. 'Angel'), it is clear that G. belongs to the latter rather than the former. Nor has his connexion with, far less his derivation from, any of the seven Amshaspends of Zoroastrianism, the seven Baby- lonian planets, or the seven councillors at the Persian court (Ezr 7'''), been made out. He is tiie messenger of J" : a characteristic Jewish idea, though the number of the archangels — seven — may iiave been derived from foreign sources. W'e possess but little de.scription of the special form under which he presented himself ; to Daniel he is simply 'the man G.,' thou^'li an elaborate and striking picture is drawn of the 'man' (G. ?1 in Dn 1U°-'. St. Luke is equally reticent, but calm- ness and sublimity are added : ' I am G. that stand in the presence of God.' In Dn 9-' G. is 'caused to Hy swiftly,' but the passage is not clear ; KVm ' .sore w e.tried ' seems somewhat inejit ; ' gleaming in splendour' (Schultz, OT Theul. li. 226 n. 2) is more likely, though it proposes an emendation of the original.
G. appropriates to himself the function of reveal- ing God. He brings the divine into the phenomenal world. In this he is contrasted with Alichael, who fights for God and the chosen people, ^'et in G.'s character there is also a stem element. Mohammed a.sserts him to have been the revealer of the Konvn, — probably in opposition to the later Jews, wlwse pnnce was Miilmel, — but Mohammed also repre- sents G. as fighting for hiui, e.g. at the heatt of 3000 angels against the idolatrous Mcccans. But, comparing Lk 1*" (also perhaps Dn 10"-'»- =') witii this, we see that these sterner aspects were not wanting even iu the Jewish conception of tiabriol.
A. (!i:ii:vK. GAD. — Gad is another form of goad, and the gadlly (so correctly RVm for ilP in .ler 40*' ; AV, RV'iJestruction')isthegoad-lly, thelly that stings. Hence the favourite derivation lor the verb to ' gad ' (though it is not very certain) is to rush ai)out like animals stung hy the gadlly. Perhaps better and more simply (after Skeat), to drive al>out (which was the orig. sense), goad; then rush