Daniel 8:15-16

15, 16. This is the first time in Scripture that an angel is given a name. This one, having the appearance of a man (Daniel 7:13; Ezekiel 1:26), is called Gabriel “Man of God,” or “Hero of God.” He appears again Daniel 9:21, and probably Daniel 10:18. He is always in Scripture the bearer of good news to prayerful hearts. (Compare Luke 1:11; Luke 1:26.) He ever appears as God’s representative and mediatorial revelation of divine wisdom and comfort. The connection of this “archangel” with any of the seven amshaspands of Zoroastrianism, the seven Babylonian planets, or the seven counselors at the Persian court (Ezra 7:14) has not been made out (see article “Gabriel” in Hastings’s Dictionary of the Bible, 2:1899). It was formerly supposed that at least the names of these angels came from Babylon, but the cuneiform texts so far offer no confirmation of this theory. In the Zend-Avesta angels are supposed to be spoken of as symbols of God’s attributes, while the archangels are merely the Good Mind’s “thoughts and beneficent intentions” ( Sacred Books of the East, vol. xxxi). In the Scripture they appear as personal messengers of Jehovah. After considering the whole question of the angelology of Daniel, Behrmann reaches the conclusion that “we meet here no conception which had not been intimated or begun in earlier or contemporary biblical books.” (See also Daniel 10:13.)