|
Listen to the post in audio
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Introduction
Satan, also known as the Devil (also called Lucifer in Christianity) is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that tempts men into sin or falsehood. In Judaism in Christianity and Islam, usually the views on origin and history are different, but deep down the concept of evil is absolutely similar, just with different interpretive additions depending on the traditions. Knowing these stories well can really make believers understand a lot, and while we would certainly like to avoid having to “talk” about “the one” who tempts us, tries to afflict us and trip us up, it is important to do so. Knowing your enemy is the first step that leads to victory in dealing with him.
Who is Satan
Ha-satan (literally “the satan”) first appears in the Bible as a subordinate of YHWH, pursuing the nation of Judah in the heavenly court and testing the faithfulness of GOD’s followers. Over time other “information/descriptions” were provided to us by the Scriptures, and Satan was delineated into a malevolent entity with foul qualities, almost in dualistic opposition to GOD. In the apocryphal book of Jubilees, YHWH grants Satan (referred to as Mastema) authority over a group of fallen angels to tempt humans to sin and punish them.
Although the book of Genesis does not mention him, he is easily identified with the serpent in the Garden of Eden, while more clearly in the Synoptic Gospels, Satan tempts Jesus in the wilderness. In the Book of Revelation, Satan appears as a Great Red Dragon, who is defeated by the Archangel Michael and cast out of heaven, only to be bound for a thousand years, and to be once again (albeit briefly) released before being finally defeated and cast into the lake of fire.
In the Middle Ages, Satan played a minimal role in Christian theology, but during the early modern period the importance of this mysterious character to many increased as beliefs such as demonic possession and witchcraft spread among the people.
In the Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew term śāṭān (Hebrew: שָׂטָן) is a generic noun meaning “accuser” or “adversary,” and is derived from a verb meaning primarily “to hinder, to oppose.” In the early biblical books, such as 1Samuel 29:4 it refers to human adversaries, but in later books, especially Job 1-2 and Zechariah 3, to a supernatural entity. When used without the definite article (simply satan), it can refer to any accuser, but when used with the definite article (ha-satan), it usually refers specifically to the heavenly accuser, literally, the satan (i.e., the devil).
The word with the definite article Ha-Satan (in Hebrew הַשָּׂטָן hasSāṭān) occurs 17 times in the Masoretic Text, in two books of the Hebrew Bible: Job ch. 1-2 (14×) and Zechariah 3:1-2 (3×). It is translated in English Bibles primarily as “Satan'”(18× in Book of Job, The Books of Chronicles, and Book of Zechariah). The word without the definite article is used in 10 instances, two of which are translated diabolos in the Septuagint. It is translated in English Bibles as “an accuser” (1 time) but mostly as “an adversary” (9 times as in the Book of Numbers, 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 Kings).
1 Chronicles 21:1, can be translated as, “Satan rose up against Israel” or “And an adversary rose up against Israel.” In Psalm 109:6b “and let Satan stand at his right hand” or “let an accuser stand at his right hand.”
The word does not appear in the Book of Genesis, which mentions only a talking serpent and does not identify the serpent with any supernatural entity. The first occurrence of the word “satan” in the Hebrew Bible in reference to a supernatural figure comes from Numbers 22:22, which describes the Angel of YHWH confronting Balaam on his donkey: “Balaam’s departure aroused the wrath of Elohim, and the Angel of YHWH stood on the road as a ‘satan’ against him. ” In 2Samuel 24, YHWH sends the “Angel of YHWH” to inflict a plague against Israel for three days, killing 70,000 people as punishment for David taking a census without his approval. 1 Chronicles 21:1 repeats this story, but replaces the “Angel of YHWH” with an entity referred to as “a Satan.”
Some passages clearly refer to the satan without using the word itself. 1Samuel 2:12 describes Eli’s sons as “sons of Belial”; the later use of this word clearly makes it a synonym for “satan.” In 1Samuel 16, YHWH sends a “disturbing spirit” to torment King Saul as a mechanism to ingratiate David with the king. In 1Kings 22:19-25, the prophet Micaiah describes to King Ahab a vision of YHWH sitting on his throne surrounded by the Host of Heaven, GOD asks the Host which of them will lead Ahab astray. A “spirit,” whose name is not specified, but who is analogous to Satan, offers himself as “a lying Spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets.”
Book of Job
The Satan who appears in the Book of Job is a very important figure to study because he allows us to understand many theologically important things. Present in the prose of the Book of Job is the only time in the Holy Scriptures where we find the Creator interacting and speaking directly with the devil, evil. Satan after GOD’s praise of the believer, wants to prove that his evil will make him “curse GOD”, and so he begins (with GOD’s permission) to trip up the righteous man called Job.
Interesting to see especially when GOD asks “the satan” where he has been, and he replies that he has traveled all over the earth far and wide, and thus makes us understand how much this being is constantly looking to drive us to evil, and no place on Earth is left out.
Another important consideration is that between these lines of Job 1 we understand that Satan has almost unlimited powers to inflict tribulations on us, but he is not allowed to “touch” the life of the Lord’s servant. This is a nformation that makes many scholars and believers reflect and hope for the ultimate good.
Book of Zechariah
Zechariah 3:1-7 contains a description of a vision dated mid-February 519 BCE, in which an angel shows Zechariah a scene of Joshua the high priest dressed in filthy rags, representing the nation of Judah and its sins, on trial with YHWH as judge and Satan standing as accuser. YAHW rebukes the satan and orders that Joshua be given clean clothes, representing GOD’s forgiveness of Judah’s sins.
Christianity
“Satan” is also often called Devil in Christianity, borrowed from the Greek diabolos meaning “slanderer,” from diaballein “to slander”: dia- “through, by means of” + ballein “to hurl.” In the New Testament, the words Satan and diabolos are used indifferently as synonyms.
The three synoptic Gospels all describe the temptation of Christ by Satan in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11 ; Mark 1:12-13 ; and Luke1-13). Instead, because of his great faith and knowledge of Scripture, Jesus rebukes Satan every time and does not give in to temptation.
Satan is also found in some of Jesus’ parables, such as in the parable of the sower (Mt 13:1-23), the parable of the weeds (Mt 13:24-43), the parable of the sheep and the goats (Mt 25:31-46), and the parable of the strong man (Mt 12:29).
There are many other mentions of Satan that we find in the New Testament, and also in the last Book of Revelation, finding this evil figure as the supernatural ruler of the Roman Empire and the ultimate cause of all the evils of the world. In Revelation 2:9-10, as part of his letter to the church at Smyrna, John of Patmos refers to the Jews of Smyrna as the “synagogue of Satan” and warns that “the devil is about to throw some of you into prison as a trial , and for ten days you will have affliction. ” In Revelation 2:13-14, in his letter to the church at Pergamum, John warns that Satan lives among the members of the congregation and declares that “Satan’s throne” is in their midst. Revelation 12:3, on the other hand, describes a vision of a Great Red Dragon with seven heads, ten horns, seven crowns, and a massive tail, an image that is likely inspired by the vision of the four beasts of the sea in the Book of Daniel and by the Leviathan described in various Old Testament passages. There are many other references to Satan in this complex Book, which is absolutely very metaphorical and interpretable.
In Islam and the Quran
The Arabic equivalent of the word Satan is Shaitan (شيطان, from the triliteral root š-ṭ-n شطن). The word itself is an adjective (meaning “lost” or “far away,” sometimes translated as “devil”) that can be applied to both man (“al-ins,” الإنس) and jinn (الجن), but is also used in reference to Satan in particular. In the Qur’an, Satan’s name is Iblis, probably derived from the Greek word diabolos. Muslims do not regard Satan as the cause of evil, but as a tempter, who takes advantage of men’s inclinations toward self-centeredness.
Seven Surahs of the Quran describe how GOD ordered the angels, and therefore also Iblis, to bow before the newly created Adam. All the angels bowed down but Iblis refused, claiming to be superior to Adam. Angels are in fact generated from the element of fire (Quran 7, 12) according to the tradition, while Adam is simply generated from the earth (“dust” as specified in Genesis 2, 7). So ALLAH expelled him from Paradise and condemned him to Jahannam (in the center of the Earth, the underworld), and Iblis became a kafir “an ungrateful unbeliever”, whose only mission became that of misleading humanity. Yet GOD allows Iblis to tempt the believers (Quran 17, 62), although in His Omniscience He is aware that the righteous will be able to resist him, on the Day of Judgment those who will have followed evil will be thrown into the flames. After his expulsion from Paradise, Iblis, who later became known as Al-Shaitan (“the Demon”), tempted Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit and thus be punished.
Islamic Tradition
In the Qur’an Satan is therefore clearly an angel, although in 18:50 he is also referred to as a “jinn,” meaning “evil spirit.” This, combined with the fact that he describes himself as “created out of fire” has posed a major problem for Muslim exegetes, who disagree on whether Satan is a fallen angel or the leader of a group of evil jinn. According to a hadith by Ibn Abbas, Iblis was indeed an angel whom GOD created from fire, stating that the word jinn could be applied to earthly jinn, but also to “fire angels” such as Satan. Hasan of Basra on the other hand, an eminent Muslim theologian who lived in the 7th century CE, stated that: “Iblis was not an angel even for the time of a blink of an eye. He is the origin of the jinn as Adam is of mankind.” While the medieval Persian scholar Abu Al-Zamakhshari states that the words angels and jinn are synonymous (Vicchio 2008, p. 183), and another Persian scholar (Al-Baydawi) argues instead that Satan was an angel, but that his actions made him a jinn. Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (revered as the founder of the Sunni orthodoxy Maturidiyya, “kalam”) also argued that since angels can be blessed by ALLAH, they are also tested and can be punished, consequently Satan became a devil after refusing to obey.
Bahá’í Faith
`Abdu’l-Bahá explains, “This lower nature in man is symbolized as Satan, the evil ego within us, not an evil personality outside.” All the other evil spirits described in the various faith traditions, such as fallen angels, demons, and genies, are also metaphors for the lower character traits that a human being can acquire and manifest when he or she turns away from GOD. The actions, which are described as “satanic” in some Bahá’í writings, denote human actions caused by selfish desires.
Conclusions
The Islamic vision of Iblis is very effective in making the concept of evil fully comprehensible, the fallen Angel is envious of the potential of the human, created yes from dust, but in the image and likeness of GOD. This torments the ego of the Angel who sins against GOD by questioning His authority, and then to be forgiven tries (and will try until the end of times) to prove that we are inferior to him. Tending to evil, a people with a “stiff neck”, now it is only up to us to prove that the end of history will be different from the expectations of the Devil.
We must keep our Souls “clean”, starting from our thoughts. According to Judaism, a Soul that has been “stained” by sin remains in a state of impurity only temporarily. The process of purification also comes from its intent, and is not absolutely punitive as many mistakenly believe. All Jews have a part in the World to Come, as well as any “Gentile” (i.e. of other religions and creeds) will remain in righteousness, even non-believers who keep the Seven Basic Commandments of Noah.
According to the Torah, no spiritual force opposes GOD, and of course Satan is included. The Devil is a spiritual entity who faithfully carries out his divinely assigned task of trying to seduce people into stumbling. Satan is also identified as a Prosecutor, the very word Satan means “prosecutor,” who brings charges against those who succumb to his cunning arguments.
The Talmud states that everything Satan does, he does for the good of heaven, so really we can be assured that nothing happens in all of creation (encompassing the entire Universe) without the approval of GOD. That’s why believers need to “relate” and “draw near” to GOD through prayer, meditation and invocation, at least three times a day, as the Bible repeatedly advises. We want to be sure that when the Divine Judgment decides that the time has come for someone to die, then Satan, the one sent from Above to execute the judgment, will not find us in sin.
Bibliografia
- Bamberger, Bernard J. (2006). Fallen Angels: Soldiers of Satan’s Realm. Jewish Publication Society of America. ISBN 0-8276-0797-0.
- Ahmed, Shahab (2017), Before Orthodoxy: The Satanic Verses in Early Islam, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0-674-04742-6
- Kelly, Henry Ansgar (2017), Satan in the Bible, God’s Minister of Justice, Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, ISBN 978-1-5326-1331-9
- Kent, William. “Devil.” The Catholic Encyclopedia (1908) Vol. 4. online older article
- Caldwell, William. “The Doctrine of Satan: II. Satan in Extra-Biblical Apocalyptical Literature”, The Biblical World, Vol. 41, No. 2 (Feb., 1913), pp. 98–102 in JSTOR