I. Name
This name is based upon the Hebrew root rpʾ, to heal, hence rōpēʾ, physician etc. Raphael, then, might be translated ‘God healed’. The relation of this name to the Rephaim has not yet been studied.
II. Identity
The angel Raphael occurs in biblical literature for the first time in the book Tobit. He is apparently one of the four highest angels, known as the archangels in most of the old lists (four in most manuscripts of 1 Enoch 9, 10, 40:9; 54:6; 71:8–9, 13; 1QM. 9, 15; Apoc. Mos. 40; seven 1 Enoch 20). Most reve…