Iaoel

In the Apocalypse of Abraham, the ANGEL OF THE LORD sent to take ABRAHAM to HEAVEN in a visionary experience. Iaoel appears in the likeness of a man whose “body was like sapphire, and the aspect of his face was like chryso- lite, and the hair of his head like snow. And a kidaris [headdress] (was) on his head, its look like that of a RAIN - BOW , and the clothing of his garments (was) purple; and a golden staff (was) in his right hand” (11:1–4). Iaoel describes himself: I am Iaoel and I was called so by him who causes those with me on the seventh expanse, on the firmament, to shake, a power through the medium of his ineffable name in me. I am the one who has been charged according to his commandment, to restrain the threats of the living creatures of the cherubim against one another, and I teach those who carry the song through the medium of man’s night of the seventh hour. I am appointed to hold the Leviathans, because through me is subjugated the attack and menace of every reptile. I am ordered to loosen Hades and to destroy those who wondered at the dead. I am the one who ordered your father’s house to be burned with him, for he honored the dead. I am sent to you now to bless you and the land which he whom you have called the Eternal One has prepared for you. (10:7–16) Iaoel is visible to Abraham as he accompanies him on a 40-day fast and purification, but after Abraham makes a required sacrifice to God, the angel becomes invisible forever.