Archangel Jophiel: meaning, role, and origin
Jophiel is the archangel of beauty: the one who teaches you to look and to see the beautiful where it is found.
- beauty
- gaze
- wisdom
Jophiel at a glance
For you, he evokes care for how you look: noticing ordinary beauty often changes the mood of a day.
- Name
- “Beauty of God”
- Named by
- Later sources
- Texts
- Revelation of Moses (pseudepigraphon)
Archangels are not calculated; Lenain’s 72 angels, however, can be read in your date of birth.
Who is the archangel Jophiel?
Jophiel does not appear in the Bible. His name appears in later Jewish texts: the Revelation of Moses gives him another name, Dina, and makes him an angel of the seventh heaven who is said to have taught seventy languages; the Zohar presents him as a leader of angelic legions. Agrippa links him to Saturn, and Kircher calls him “angelus pulchritudinis,” the angel of beauty.
Modern angelology kept this last trait: Jophiel there becomes the archangel of beauty, the arts, and illumination. This is a recent reading, built on the meaning of a name more than on an ancient story.
Texts that name this archangel
| Text | Role in the text |
|---|---|
| Revelation of Moses (pseudepigraphon) | Another name, Dina, according to Gaster (1893) |
| Zohar | Chief of angelic legions |
| Agrippa; Kircher | Agrippa links him to Saturn; Kircher calls him “angelus pulchritudinis,” the angel of beauty |
According to the traditions
Kabbalah
The Zohar counts him among the great angels, at the head of legions that watch over the reading of the Torah on the Sabbath.
Modern angelology
Modern lists make him the angel of beauty and artistic creation, a role drawn from the name more than from an ancient text.
The name
Yophiel is translated “beauty of God.” The forms Iophiel and Zophiel are also found, the latter read as “God is my watchman.”
How the archangel is depicted
No set ancient iconography; modern lists make him the archangel of beauty and the arts.
Good to know
- Absent from the Bible.
The “messages” attributed to Jophiel on angelology sites are recent creations, with no ancient source.
Archangel Jophiel: your questions
Is Jophiel in the Bible?
No. His name comes from later Jewish texts, such as the Revelation of Moses and the Zohar, then from authors of the Renaissance and the 17th century, Agrippa and Kircher. No biblical book names him.
Why is Jophiel the archangel of beauty?
Because his Hebrew name is translated “beauty of God,” and because Kircher already called him “the angel of beauty.” Modern angelology developed this trait into a full role, turned toward the arts and harmony.
What is the link between Jophiel and the Kabbalah?
The Zohar cites him among the great angels. In kabbalistic lists, he is also associated with wisdom, Chokhmah, alongside Raziel; Agrippa, for his part, links him to the planet Saturn.
And what about your own angels?
Jophiel invites you to look. Lenain ties 72 angels to a date: which ones are yours?
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