URIEL

[Judaic] "My light is God" or "flame of God. Uriel is one of the archangels of rabbinical angelology. He was sent by God to rebuke the presumption of Esdras in questioning the ways of God (II Esdras iv), and converses with him at length. He is mentioned in I Enoch, where he is one of the four archangels, but in 40-9 and 71 his place is taken by Phanuel. In 19-1 and 20-2 he is one of the 'watchers', 'the angel over the world and Tartarus'; and in 21.27 he explains the fate of the fallen angels. In 72 ff. Uriel, 'whom the eternal Lord of glory sets over all the luminaries of heaven', shows Enoch the celestial phenomena; in 33-3 he writes them down. In the lost 'Prayer of Joseph' he is the angel with whom Jacob wrestled, the eighth in rank from God, Jacob being the first. In the midrash 1, Uriel is said to be one of the four guardians of God's throne. Uriel also appears in Milton's Paradise Lost where he is the 'Regent of the Sun' and 'sharpest-sighted spirit of all in heaven.'