BEER Group Read. What's in a Name?

[Robin Landseadel]

And then there's the "Gabriel Stone":

"All agree that the passage describes an apocalyptic vision of an  
attack on Jerusalem in which God appears with angels on chariots to  
save the city. The central angelic character is Gabriel, the first  
angel to appear in the Hebrew Bible. "I am Gabriel," the writing  
declares."
The stone inscription is one of the oldest passages featuring the  
archangel, and represents an "explosion of angels in Second Temple  
Judaism," at a time of great spiritual angst for Jews in Jerusalem  
looking for divine connection, said Adolfo Roitman, a curator of the  
exhibit.

The exhibit traces the development of the archangel Gabriel in the  
three monotheistic religions, displaying a Dead Sea Scroll fragment  
which mentions the angel's name; the 13th century Damascus Codex, one  
of the oldest illustrated manuscripts of the complete Hebrew Bible; a  
10th century New Testament manuscript from Brittany, in which Gabriel  
predicts the birth of John the Baptist and appears to the Virgin Mary;  
and an Iranian Quran manuscript dated to the 15th or 16th century, in  
which the angel, called Jibril in Arabic, reveals the word of God to  
the prophet Mohammad.

"Gabriel is not archaeology. He is still relevant for millions of  
people on earth who believe that angels are heavenly beings on earth,"  
said Roitman. The Gabriel Stone, he said, is "the starting point of an  
ongoing tradition that still is relevant today."


http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/04/30/jerusalem-museum-unveils-ancient-hebrew-stone/
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