11 myths
Myths, legends, and mystical writings about Raphael from across Jewish tradition.
11 myths on JewishMythology.com retell how Jewish tradition imagines raphael, drawn from the Hebrew Bible, Midrash, Talmud, Kabbalah, and later Jewish literature. Each story below synthesizes primary sources into a single narrative; follow any myth to read it, and from there into the source passages behind it.
Tobit prayed for death in Nineveh. Sarah prayed for death in Media. Both prayers reached the throne of glory at once, and one angel answered them both.
Raphael walked with Tobias from the Tigris to Ecbatana and back, ate at every table, and never once touched a single bite of food. Then he said what he was.
A demon stood bound in front of the king of Israel and told him to go wash his hands before he questioned her. Solomon got up and washed his hands.
Tobiyyah offers the man who guided him home half the silver he carried, and the man refuses, then names himself one of the seven.
Satan built a face no man could resist and set it in the rabbi's doorway, so Matya took white-hot nails and burned out his own eyes.
Tobias went looking for a road guide to distant Media and hired a traveler named Azariah, never guessing the man was an angel.
Asmodeus said his business was wrecking marriages. Solomon chained him and made him haul water jars, ten at a time, past fish liver burning on a reed.
Hannah sat on the highway until she saw Tobiyah and a stranger. Raphael carried gall for blind eyes while Tobit taught his son to pay wages before nightfall.
Tobiyyah reaches Ecbatana with Raphael hidden beside him. Raguel weeps for joy, then warns that seven grooms died before they could touch Sarah.
In Nineveh on the Feast of Weeks Tobit will not eat until his son finds a hungry kinsman, and later the son runs home with healing.
Earlier angel bands fell for mocking man. Labbiel yields, becomes Raphael the healer, and Ben Nez pins the south wind so the world can stand.
