Among all of the Malachim, Gavriel seems disproportionately involved in human events:
- He was responsible for saving Chananiah, Mishael, and Azariah from the fiery furnace (Berachos 4b, Pesachim 118a-b).
- He stuck a stick in the Mediterranean, which ultimately led to the creation of Rome (Shabbos 56b, Sanhedrin 21b).
- He went to visit Avraham (Yoma 37a, Bava Metzi’a 86b).
- He destroyed Sedom (Bava Metzi’a 86b).
- He destroyed the Beis HaMikdash (Yoma 77a, from Yechezkel ch. 10).
- He placed a tail on Vashti (Megillah 12b).
- He retrieved Tamar’s signs (Sotah 10b).
- He killed Bisya’s maidservants who tried convincing her not to save Moshe (Sotah 12b).
- He castrated Potiphar (Sotah 13b).
- He taught Yosef all seventy languages (Sotah 33a, 36b).
- He is the one who receives prayers recited in Aramaic (Sotah 33a).
- In the future, he will be the one to hunt the Leviason (Bava Basra 74b-75a).
- When Shimon Ben Shetach’s Sanhedrin (was supposed to have) judged King Yannai, Gavriel came to kill those who refused to judge (Sanhedrin 19b).
- He held the gates of Yerushalayim shut so that when Shevna went to surrender to Sancheirev, it would be him alone (Sanhedrin 26a).
- When Nevuchadnetzar ran to retrieve the letter that did not show proper respect to Hashem, Gavriel stopped him (Sanhedrin 96a).
- He showed Moshe how to make the Menorah (Menachos 29a).
Contrast with, say, Michael:
- He went to visit Avraham (Yoma 37a, Bava Metzi’a 86b).
That’s literally it. Refael gets the same mention in the same sources. Besides for Samael (aka Satan aka Malach Hamaves aka Yetzer Hara), Gavriel seems to be the only one who ever does anything.
My question is twofold:
- Why Gavriel?
- Out of these sources, almost none of them actually mention Gavriel in the original Pesukim (where the event actually took place in the times of Tanach). How do Chazal know that it was Gavriel in these instances? Is there a pattern by which they can deduce Gavriel’s involvement, or is it just tradition?