URIEL (flame of God or my light is God).1. Mentioned in genealogies: (a) 1Ch_6:24; 1Ch_15:5; 1Ch_15:11. (b) 2Ch_13:2. 2. The angel who rebukes the presumption of Esdras in questioning the ways of God (2Es_4:1; 2Es_5:20 ff; 2Es_10:28), and converses with him at length. In 2Es_4:36 RV [Note: Revised Version.] reads Jeremiel. In Enoch 9.1 Uriel, or Urjan, is one of the four archangels, but in 40.9 and 71 his place is taken by Phanuel. In 19.1, 20.2 he is one of the watchers, the angel over the world and Tartarus; and in 21, 27 he explains the fate of the fallen angels (cf. Sib. Orac., where he brings them to judgment). In 72 ff. Uriel, whom the eternal Lord of glory sets over all the luminaries of heaven, shows Enoch the celestial phenomena; In 33.3, 4 he writes them down. In the lost Prayer of Joseph he is the angel with whom Jacob wrestled, the eighth in rank from God, Jacob being the first.
C. W. Emmet.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
1. A Kohathite Levite, son of Tahath (1Ch_6:24); if the lists proceeded from father to son, without omission of intermediate links in the genealogy, Uriel would answer to Zephaniah son of Tahath (1Ch_6:36).
2. Chief of the Kohathites under David (1Ch_15:5; 1Ch_15:11), with 120 brethren brought up the ark from Obed Edom's house (1Ch_15:12).
3. Of Gibeah; father of Maachah or Michaiah, Rehoboam's favorite wife (2Ch_13:2); in 2Ch_11:20 she is called Absalom's daughter, i.e. granddaughter, Tamar, Absalom's daughter, being her mother.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
U'ri-el. (the fire of God).
1. An angel named only in 2Es_4:1; 2Es_4:36; 2Es_5:20; 2Es_10:28.
2. A Kohathite Levite, son of Tahath. 1Ch_6:24.
3. Chief of the Kohathites, in the reign of David. 1Ch_15:5; 1Ch_15:11. (B.C. 1043).
3. Uriel of Gibeah was the father of Maachah or Michaiah, the favorite wife of Rehoboam and mother of Abijah. 2Ch_13:2. (B.C. before 973). In 2Ch_11:20, she is called "Maachah the daughter of Absalom." Probably her mother, Tamer, was the daughter of Absalom.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
(Heb. Uriel', אוּרַיאֵלfire [or light] of God; Sept. Οùριήλ), the name of three Hebrews.
1. A Kohathite Levite, son of Tahath and father of Uzziah (1Ch_6:24 [9]; apparently the same in Zephaniah (2Ch_6:36). B.C. cir. 1550. SEE SAMUEL.
2. Chief of the Kohathites of the family of Korah in the reign of David, who assisted, together with one hundred and twenty of his brethren, in bringing the ark from the house of Obededom (1Ch_15:5; 1Ch_15:11). B.C. 1043.
3. Uriel of Gibeah was the father of Maachah, or Michaiah, the favorite wife of Rehoboam, and mother of Abijah (2Ch_13:2). B.C. ante 973. In 11:20 she is called Maachah the daughter of Absalom; and Josephus (Ant. 8, 10,1) explains this by saying that her mother was Tamar, Absalom's daughter. Rashi gives a long note to the effect that Michaiah was called Maachah after the name of her daughter-in-law, the mother of Asa, who was a woman of renown, and that her father's name was Uriel Abishalom. There is no indication, however, that Absalom, like Solomon, had another name, although in the Targum of R. Joseph on Chronicles it is said that the father of Maachah was called Uriel, that the name of Absalom might not be mentioned. SEE MAACHAH.
4. Uriel is also named in the Apocrypha (2Es_4:1; 2Es_4:36; 2Es_5:20; 2Es_10:28) as an angel or archangel; and in the book of Enoch he is described as the angel of thunder and lightning (ch. 20), and as being placed over all the lights of heaven (75:3).
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.