Abdiel (Hebrew: עֲבְדִּיאֵל "Servant of El") is a biblical name which has been used as the name for a number of several notable people. The name has the same meaning as Obadiah and is cognate with the Arabic name Abdullah. Abdiel is mentioned a single time in the Bible, in 1 Chronicles 5:15: "Ahi the son of Abdiel, the son of Guni, chief of the house of their fathers."[1]
Aperel (fl. c. 1350s BCE), ancient Egyptian courtier and administrator
Fictional characters
Paradise Lost
Chief among fictional characters bearing the name Abdiel is the seraph Abdiel appearing in Milton'sParadise Lost (1667), specifically in Book V and Book VI. Two passages from Book V serve to establish Abdiel's character:
Had audience; when among the Seraphim Abdiel, than whom none with more zeal adored The Deity, and divine commands obeyed
— Book V, lines 804-806
So spake the Seraph Abdiel, faithful found Among the faithless, faithful only he Among innumerable false. Unmoved, Unshaken, unreduced, unterrified His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal.
— Book V, lines 896-900
Abdiel denounces Satan after hearing him incite revolt among the angels, and abandons Lucifer to bring the news of his defection to God. However, when he arrives, he finds that preparations are already underway for battle. In the ensuing fight, Abdiel smites Satan, Ariel, Ramiel, and Arioch, presumably among others. In Asimov's Annotated Paradise Lost, Isaac Asimov theorized that Abdiel was in fact a representation of Milton himself. Likewise, in Cyder, Ambrose Philips refers to Milton as "that other bard" and contrasts Milton to his character Abdiel.
by Anatole France in The Revolt of the Angels as the "angelic name" of the character Arcade, the guardian angel bent on causing the revolt that gives the novel its title
by Steven Brust in To Reign in Hell as the ambitious angel who catalyzes the dispute between Yaweh and Satan which would eventually result in the revolt in Heaven
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