Abdiel ( he, עֲבְדִּיאֵל "Servant of El") is a

biblical name Names play a variety of roles in the Bible. They sometimes relate to the nominee's role in a biblical narrative, as in the case of Nabal, a foolish man whose name means "fool". Names in the Bible can represent human hopes, divine revelations, ...

which has been used as the name for a number of several notable people. The name has the same meaning as

Obadiah Obadiah (; he, עֹבַדְיָה – ''ʿŌḇaḏyā'' or – ''ʿŌḇaḏyāhū''; "servant of Yah", or "Slave of Yah HVH) is a biblical prophet. The authorship of the Book of Obadiah is traditionally attributed to the prophet ...

and is cognate with the Arabic name

Abdullah Abdullah may refer to: * Abdullah (name), a list of people with the given name or surname * Abdullah, Kargı, Turkey, a village * ''Abdullah'' (film), a 1980 Bollywood film directed by Sanjay Khan * '' Abdullah: The Final Witness'', a 2015 Pakis ...

. Abdiel is mentioned a single time in the Bible, in 1 Chronicles 5:15: " Ahi the son of Abdiel, the son of Guni, chief of the house of their fathers."

People

Notable people with the name include: *

Abdiel Arroyo Abdiel Arroyo Molinar (born 13 December 1993) is a Panamanian international footballer who plays for Universidad César Vallejo. Arroyo also represents the Panama national football team. Club career In summer 2015, Arroyo caught the eye of Hon ...

(born 1993), Panamanian footballer *

Abdiel Ayarza Abdiel Armando Ayarza Cocanegra (born 12 September 1992) is a Panamanian professional footballer who plays as midfielder for Peruvian Segunda División side Cusco FC and the Panama national team. Playing career On 24 July 2019, Ayarza signed ...

(born 1992), Panamanian footballer *

Abdiel Colberg Abdiel Colberg (born December 20, 1957) is a Puerto Rican television producer and movie director. Among the movies which he directed and co-wrote is ''Los Díaz de Doris'' (1999), a drama starring Cordelia González, Braulio Castillo, Jr., Raul ...

(born 1957), Puerto Rican film director and television producer *

Abdiel Crossman Abdiel Daily Crossman (1804 – June 13, 1859) was Mayor of New Orleans from April 6, 1846 to March 26, 1854, having served four consecutive terms. He was the second and last Whig mayor of the city, and notably served as mayor during t ...

(1804–1859), mayor of

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...

, from 1846–1854 *

Abdiel Vázquez Abdiel Vazquez (born 1984) is a Mexican pianist who has won major awards for his playing both in Mexico City and in New York. Vazquez grew up just outside the city of Monterrey to a doctor and an engineer. He began studying the piano at age six, ...

(born 1984), Mexican pianist *

Abdiel Villa Abdiel Villa Aguirre (born March 16, 1983 in Mexico City) is a Mexican former professional footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are associ ...

(born 1983), Mexican footballer *

Aperel Aperel (sometimes written as Aperia) was a vizier of ancient Egypt, who served during the reigns of the 18th Dynasty kings Amenhotep III and Akhenaten.

(fl. c. 1350s BCE), ancient Egyptian courtier and administrator

Fictional characters

Paradise Lost

Chief among fictional characters bearing the name Abdiel is the

seraph A seraph (, "burning one"; plural seraphim ) is a type of celestial or heavenly being originating in Ancient Judaism. The term plays a role in subsequent Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Tradition places seraphim in the highest rank in Christ ...

Abdiel appearing in Milton's ''

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 16 ...

'' (1667), specifically in Book V and Book VI. Two passages from Book V serve to establish Abdiel's character: Abdiel denounces

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehoo ...

after hearing him incite revolt among the

angels 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 incl ...

, and abandons

Lucifer Lucifer is one of various figures in folklore associated with the planet Venus. The entity's name was subsequently absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil. Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passa ...

to bring the news of his defection to

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 ...

. However, when he arrives, he finds that preparations are already underway for battle. In the ensuing fight, Abdiel smites

, Ariel, Ramiel, and

Arioch Arioch ( ''’Aryōḵ'') appears in the Book of Genesis as the name of the "King of Ellasar", who participated in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim. The battle is described in Genesis as consisting of four kings, led by Chedorlaomer of Elam (Am ...

, presumably among others. In '' Asimov's Annotated Paradise Lost'',

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

theorized that Abdiel was in fact a representation of Milton himself. Likewise, in ''Cyder'',

Ambrose Philips Ambrose Philips (167418 June 1749) was an English poet and politician. He feuded with other poets of his time, resulting in Henry Carey bestowing the nickname " Namby-Pamby" upon him, which came to mean affected, weak, and maudlin speech or verse ...

refers to Milton as "that other bard" and contrasts Milton to his character Abdiel. In the film ''Paradise Lost'', which was to be released in 2012, Abdiel was set to be played by

Djimon Hounsou Djimon Gaston Hounsou (; ; born April 24, 1964) is a Beninese-American actor and model. He began his career appearing in music videos. He made his film debut in '' Without You I'm Nothing'' (1990) and earned widespread recognition for his role as ...

. However, pre-production of the project was ceased not long after, citing budgetary concerns of the production company.

Other uses

The character name ''Abdiel'' has also been used: * by

Madeleine L'Engle Madeleine L'Engle DStJ (; November 29, 1918 – September 6, 2007) was an American writer of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and young adult fiction, including '' A Wrinkle in Time'' and its sequels: ''A Wind in the Door'', ''A Swiftly Tilting Plan ...

in ''

Many Waters ''Many Waters'' is a 1986 novel by Madeleine L'Engle, part of the author's Time Quintet (also known as the Time Quartet). The title is taken from the Song of Solomon 8:7: "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. If a ...

'' as one among the seraphim * by

Margaret Weis Margaret Edith Weis (; born March 16, 1948) is an American fantasy and science fiction author, of dozens of novels and short stories. At TSR, Inc., she teamed with Tracy Hickman to create the ''Dragonlance'' role-playing game (RPG) world. She is ...

in the '' Star of the Guardians'' trilogy as a villain * by

Anatole France (; born , ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie França ...

in ''

The Revolt of the Angels ''The Revolt of the Angels'' () is a 1914 novel by Anatole France. Plot ''Revolt'' retells the classic Christian story of the war in heaven between angels led by the Archangel Michael against others led by Satan. The war ends with the defeat an ...

'' as the "angelic name" of the character Arcade, the guardian angel bent on causing the revolt that gives the novel its title * by

Steven Brust Steven Karl Zoltán Brust (born November 23, 1955) is an American fantasy and science fiction author of Hungarian descent. He is best known for his series of novels about the assassin Vlad Taltos, one of a disdained minority group of humans liv ...

in '' To Reign in Hell'' as the ambitious angel who catalyzes the dispute between Yaweh and Satan which would eventually result in the revolt in Heaven * by Kage Baker in ''

The Graveyard Game ''The Graveyard Game'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Kage Baker, the fourth installment in the time travel series concerning the exploits of The Company. Plot introduction The protagonists of the series are mostly immortal cybo ...

'' as an immortal who maintains certain secret machinery * As a major character in Shin Megami Tensei V, as an archangel who is the main representative of the game's law route

References

{{given name Hebrew-language names Individual angels