Angels-SAMMAEL

Sammael (from sam, “poison,” plus el, “angel”)
is considered both evil and good. He is known
as the chief ruler of the fifth heaven, as “that
great serpent with twelve wings that draws after
him, in his fall, the solar system” (Revelation
12), as well as the angel of death, whom God
sent to fetch the soul of Moses at the time of his
death. Sammael is regarded in rabbinic literature
as chief of the Satans and as the angel of
death. In the Secrets of Enoch, he is the prince
of demons and a magician.
In Talmud Yalkut, Sammael is Esau’s
guardian angel, and in Sotah, he is regarded as
Edom’s angelic prince guardian. He is equated
with the serpent who tempted Eve and, by
seducing her, is considered to be the father of
Cain in the Sayings of Rabbi Eliezer. In the
Zohar he is the dark angel who wrestles with
Jacob at Peniel.
Sammael is cited in Arthur Waite’s The
Holy Kabbalah, as “the severity of God” and as
the fifth archangel of the world of Briah, where
he corresponds to the sefira Geburah. In
Baruch, chapter 3, and in the Ascension of Isaiah, the names Sammael
and Satan are used interchangeably. Sammael also has a literary
presence; for instance, in Longfellow’s lengthy poem The Golden Legend,
he is mentioned as the angel of death.