Micha’el or מִיכָאֵל (Mikha’el) in the Hebrew means, “Who is like God?” The name is a constructed rhetorical question, implying no one is like God. The Mem (M) in conjunction with the Ḥiriq male/Ḥiriq Yud vowel pointer (מִי), in Hebrew is the “Who”. The “כָ”, comes from the preposition “כְּ”, which means, ” like or as”. The ‘el-אֵל or Aleph and Lamed (אֵל), is translated to mean “height”, or “uppermost”, or “skyward”. So in essence: “Who is like the Most High”.
Michael is mentioned in both the Old and New Testament. He’s referred to as the Captain of the Lord’s Army in Joshua 5:13-15. Daniel 10:10-14 describes Daniel’s vision of an angel who identifies as, “Michael, one of the chief princes…”. Daniel is informed in Daniel 12:1 that Michael, “will arise” at the resurrection of the dead.
In Jude 1:9 there is a dispute between Satan and Michael over Moses’ body. The passage reads, “But when the archangel Michael contended with the devil and disputed about the body of Moses, he did not dare to bring a condemnation of slander against him, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’”
Revelation 12:7-9 describes a war in heaven in which Michael being stronger, defeats Satan. The passage states,
7 And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Happy Michaelmas! (Mass of St. Michael)
The Rev. Nicole Foster
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