Yahoel (Church Slavonic:Иаоилъ, reconstructedGreek:Ιαοὴλ, reconstructedHebrew:יהואל orיואל;[1] also spelledJahoel,Jehoel, etc. in English andYaoel in French) is the name of an angel appearing in theOld Church Slavonic manuscripts of theApocalypse of Abraham, apseudepigraphical work dating from after thesiege of Jerusalem (70).[2] The name is thought to be a compound of theTetragrammaton andʔēl, the Hebrew word for 'God'.[1] He is an associate ofMichael (Apoc. Abr.10:17) charged to restrainLeviathan and destroy idolaters (10:10–14).[3]
Another later pseudepigraphical rabbinical work ascribed toIshmael ben Elisha, Hebrew3 Enoch 48d, gives Yahoel as one of the 70 names ofMetatron, which makes sense in light of the character and role of Yahoel in the Apocalypse of Abraham.[4]
In the 13th century,kabbalisticBerith Menucha ofAbraham Merimon of Granada Yahoel is the angel of fire.
Several popular dictionaries of angels, such asGustav Davidson'sA dictionary of angels: including the fallen angels (1967) repeat the claim that Jehoel was (in unidentified Jewish texts) the chief angel of theSeraphim. No source for this claim is forthcoming.
In theautobiography ofAvvakum, the angel’s name was corrupted in the passageиди Иоаль тьзе посредьства имени («go, Yahoel, (God’s) namesake by your name»), so the angel’s name becameАльтезъ (Altez).
