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Michael and Gabriel Stand on Opposite Sides of God

God built conflict into creation from the start. Michael governs water, Gabriel governs fire, and peace is what happens when neither wins.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Opening Provocation
  2. The Two Angels at God's Sides
  3. How God Makes Peace Between Fire and Hail
  4. What Peace Costs

The Opening Provocation

The oldest surviving text of Jewish Kabbalah does not begin with comfort. It begins with Ecclesiastes (7:14): also one opposite the other was made by God. And then it refuses to look away from what that means.

The Sefer HaBahir, the Book of Brilliance, was compiled or composed in Provence in the twelfth century CE, possibly drawing on much older fragments whose origins remain disputed. It opens its meditation on the structure of reality with a claim that most theologians prefer to soften: desolation was placed within Peace. Chaos was nested within Evil. God did not create a world of pure light and then watch darkness infiltrate from outside. God built the opposition in from the beginning. If this sounds troubling, the Bahir intends it to be troubling. It is not an accident that Jewish mysticism begins here, with a refusal to simplify what the world actually is.

The Two Angels at God's Sides

The Bahir names the opposition: Michael and Gabriel, the two princes stationed at God's right and left. Michael governs water and hail, the forces of flow and sudden cold. Gabriel governs fire, the consuming and transforming element. These are not metaphors for virtue and vice, for obedience and rebellion. They are genuine cosmic forces, elemental powers that can build or destroy depending on their proportion and direction.

Michael's element, water, sustains life and also floods it. Gabriel's element, fire, warms and also burns. Neither is pure good or pure evil. What matters is balance, orientation, the relationship between them. And the Bahir's insight is that their opposition is not a defect in creation. It is the mechanism by which the world remains alive rather than static.

How God Makes Peace Between Fire and Hail

The text turns to a verse from the Song of Songs (3:11): go forth and gaze, daughters of Zion, upon King Solomon. The Kabbalistic reading displaces the obvious interpretation. King Solomon here is not the historical monarch but a figure for God, the one who makes peace, shalom, whose very name contains the word for peace. The daughters of Zion who are called to witness are not women watching a wedding procession. They are the elements themselves, all the contradictions in creation, called to observe how God holds them together without collapsing one into the other.

The tradition behind the Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, a homiletical midrash compiled c. fifth to sixth century CE in Palestine, reads this verse similarly, identifying the tsiyyon of daughters of Zion as m'tzuyanim, the distinguished ones, those marked by the covenant for God. The peace they are called to witness is not the peace of resolution, where one side defeats the other. It is the peace of sustained tension, where fire and hail, Michael and Gabriel, stand on opposite sides and hold the world between them without crushing it.

What Peace Costs

The Bahir's understanding of peace is more demanding than the popular version. Popular theology wants peace to mean the absence of conflict, the moment when contradiction dissolves and everything is harmonious. The Bahir says peace is what happens when contradiction is held rather than resolved. God does not eliminate Michael in favor of Gabriel or vice versa. God stations them at each side and makes peace between them. Peace is the name for the relationship, not the elimination of the parties.

This also explains why the world contains suffering. Not because God failed to prevent it, not because some force outside God's authority inserted chaos into an otherwise orderly creation. But because the structure of reality requires both elements, and both elements, in their full expression, can be destructive to any individual creature caught in the gap between them. The mystics do not find this comforting in the conventional sense. They find it honest.

MichaelGabrielAngelsKabbalahBahirPeaceOpposing Forces
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From the tradition

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The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Sefer HaBahir 1:11Sefer HaBahir

Ancient Jewish wisdom grappled with this very tension, and one of the most fascinating texts to do so is the Sefer HaBahir, or "Book of Brilliance." The Bahir, a foundational text of Kabbalah, wastes no time getting to the heart of things. It starts with a simple, yet profound, question, pondering the verse from Ecclesiastes (7:14): "Also one opposite the other was made by God.” What does it mean?

The answer the Bahir offers is both poetic and a little unsettling. It suggests that God didn't just create harmony; God also created its opposite. Desolation was placed within Peace, and Chaos nestled within Evil. It’s a stark reminder that even in the most beautiful, serene moments, the potential for disruption exists.

The Bahir doesn't leave us wallowing in existential dread. It offers a glimpse of how these opposing forces are managed, even reconciled. It points us to the verse in Job (25:2): "He makes peace in His high places."

Who is this "He" that makes peace?

The Bahir interprets this verse through the lens of angelic forces. It introduces us to Michael, the prince on God's right, representing water and hail – forces of fluidity, but also potential destruction. And then there's Gabriel, the prince on God's left, embodying fire – passion, energy, but also consuming power.

Think about water and fire for a moment. They are elemental opposites, constantly vying for dominance. Too much fire, and everything is consumed. Too much water, and everything is drowned. So how do you bring these forces into balance?

The Bahir tells us that these two opposing forces are reconciled by the "Prince of Peace." Who this Prince is, the text leaves somewhat open to interpretation, inviting us to contemplate the mechanisms of balance itself. Perhaps it's a higher angelic power, a force of moderation, or maybe even an aspect of God's own being.

The image of Michael and Gabriel, these powerful, opposing forces, being brought into harmony is a potent one. It suggests that even within the divine realm, there's a constant negotiation, a striving for equilibrium.

As we find in Midrash Rabbah, the rabbinic commentary on the Torah, the world is sustained by the very tension between opposing forces. Without darkness, we wouldn't appreciate light. Without challenge, we wouldn't grow.

So, what can we take away from this brief glimpse into the Sefer HaBahir? Perhaps it’s a reminder that life's inherent contradictions aren't a flaw, but a feature. That even in moments of desolation or chaos, the potential for peace and order exists. Maybe, just maybe, finding that "Prince of Peace" within ourselves is the key to working through the complexities of existence.

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Pesikta DeRav Kahana 1:3Pesikta de-Rav Kahana

[3] "Go forth and gaze, O daughters of Zion" (Song of Songs 3:11), the children who are marked out for Me by circumcision, by the shaving of the head, and by fringes. "Upon King Solomon" (there), upon the King to whom peace belongs. Another interpretation: "Upon King Solomon," the King who made His deeds whole with His creatures. He made fire whole for our father Abraham; He made the sword whole for our father Isaac; He made the angel whole for our father Jacob. Another interpretation: "Upon King Solomon," the King who makes peace among His creatures. Rabbi Yohanan said: "Dominion and dread are with Him" (Job 25:2). Rabbi Yaakov of the village of Hanan said: "Dominion," this is Michael; "and dread," this is Gabriel. "With Him" (there), and they make peace with Him, and this one does not harm that one. And Rabbi Yohanan said: From its days the sun has never seen the defect of the moon, nor does one constellation overtake its fellow, nor does a constellation see the one before it. Rabbi said: All of them ascend as one who ascends a ladder backwards.

It is written, "He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters," and so forth (Psalms 104:3). Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai taught: The firmament is of water and the stars are of fire, and they dwell one with the other and do not harm one another. The firmament is of water and the angel is of fire, and they dwell one with the other and do not harm one another. Rabbi Avin said: Not only between one angel and another, but even the angel itself is half fire and half water, and He makes peace within it. And it has five faces: "And his body was like beryl," and so forth (Daniel 10:6).

And it is written, "And there was hail, and fire," and so forth (Exodus 9:24). Rabbi Yehudah says: a flask of hail full of fire. Rabbi Nehemiah said: fire and hail mixed one within the other. Rabbi Hanin said: The reasoning of Rabbi Yudah is like a pomegranate berry whose seeds can be seen from within. Rabbi Hanin said: The reasoning of Rabbi Nehemiah is like the flame of a lamp in which water and oil are mixed together, and it burns from upon them. "And there was hail, and fire flashing" (there). What is "flashing"? Rabbi Yudah bar Simon said: It was summoned by name to carry out its mission. Rabbi Aha said: It is like a king who had two harsh legions that were at enmity with one another, and when the king's war arrived they made peace between themselves. So too fire and hail were at enmity with one another, and when the war of the Holy One, blessed be He, against Egypt arrived, "there was hail, and fire flashing" (there), a miracle within a miracle.

"With the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding" (Song of Songs 3:11). Rabbi Yitzhak said: We searched through all of Scripture and did not find that Bathsheba made a crown for Solomon her son; rather, this is the Tent of Meeting, which is adorned with blue, purple, and crimson. Rabbi Hunia said: Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai asked Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Yose: Is it possible that you heard from your father what is "the crown with which his mother crowned him"? He said to him: It is like a king who had a daughter and loved her exceedingly. He did not cease to cherish her until he called her "my sister"; he did not cease to cherish her until he called her "my mother." So too, at first the Holy One, blessed be He, cherished Israel and called them "My daughter," "Hear, O daughter, and see" (Psalms 45:11). He did not cease to cherish her until He called them "My sister," as it is said, "My sister, my beloved" (Song of Songs 5:2). He did not cease to cherish her until He called them "My mother," as it is said, "Listen to Me, My people, and My nation," and so forth (Isaiah 51:4); and it is written "My nation" in a way that may be read "My mother." Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai arose and kissed him on his head; he said to him: Had I come only to hear this matter, it would have been enough for me.

Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin in the name of Rabbi Levi: When the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, "Make Me a Tabernacle," he should have brought four poles and stretched the Tabernacle over them. Rather, this teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, showed Moses above a red fire, a green fire, a black fire, and a white fire, and said to him, "Make Me a Tabernacle." Moses said to the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the worlds, from where shall I get a red fire, a green fire, a black fire, a white fire? He said to him, "According to their pattern, which you are shown on the mountain" (Exodus 25:40). Rabbi Berekhiah in the name of Rabbi Levi: It is like a king who was revealed to a member of his household wearing a robe of precious pearls. He said to him, "Make Me one like this." He said to him, "My lord the king, from where do I have a robe of precious pearls?" He said to him, "You with your materials and I with My glory." So too the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Moses, if you make what is above down below, I will leave My council above and come down and contract My Presence among you below. What is above? "Seraphim standing" (Isaiah 6:2); so too below, "acacia boards standing" (Exodus 26:15). What is above? Stars; so too below, clasps. Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said: This teaches that the golden clasps appeared in the Tabernacle like the stars fixed in the firmament.

"On the day of his wedding" (Song of Songs 3:11), there were nuptials. "And on the day of the gladness of his heart" (there), this is the Tent of Meeting. Another interpretation: "On the day of his wedding," this is the Tent of Meeting; "and on the day of the gladness of his heart," this is the building of the eternal House. Therefore it is said, "And it came to pass on the day that Moses finished" (Numbers 7:1).

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