Hadraniel (or Hadrianiel among other variant spellings), whose name means "majesty
r greatnessof God", is an
angel
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles inclu ...
in
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
Angelology
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...
assigned as gatekeeper at the second gate in
heaven. He is supposed to be more than sixty myriads of
parasang
The parasang is a historical Iranian unit of walking distance, the length of which varied according to terrain and speed of travel. The European equivalent is the league. In modern terms the distance is about 3 or 3½ miles (4.8 or 5.6 km).
His ...
s (approximately ) tall and a daunting figure to face.
When Moses arrived in heaven to get the
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...
from
God
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
, it was said that he was speechless with awe at the sight of Hadraniel. Hadraniel did not think
Moses should have the Torah, and made him weep in fear, which caused God to appear and reprimand Hadraniel for causing problems. Hadraniel quickly decided to behave and acted as a guide for Moses. This was a great help, for (according to Zoharic legend) "when Hadraniel proclaims the will of the Lord, his voice penetrates through 200,000 firmaments." Also, according to the
Revelation of Moses, "with every word from his (Hadraniel's) mouth go forth 12,000 flashes of lightning."
The Revelation of Moses
from "Hebrew Visions of Hell and Paradise," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1893 a
sacred-texts.com
/ref>
In Gnosticism
Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized pe ...
Hadraniel is only one of seven subordinates to Jehuel, prince of fire (King, p. 15). In the Zohar (55b), Hadraniel speaks to Adam about Adam's possession of the Book of the Angel Raziel, which was said to contain secret information that not even the angels knew.
References
Angels in Judaism
Angels in Christianity
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