Satan in the OT... Did the Israelites view him as a real person?

by dorayakii 9 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  dorayakii

  Was Satan viewed as a real person by the Israelites? The funny thing is, when David was incited to conduct the "illegal census" in 2 Samuel 24, the original Hebrew says that Jehovah himself incited David to conduct the census,

  The exact word for word translation of 2 Samuel in the original Hebrew is:
  
  "And again the anger (flaired-nostrils) of YHWH was kindled (burning) against Israel, and He moved (enticed/incited) David against them to say (utter), Go (proceed) number (count/reckon/perform a census on) Israel and Judah."

  
  By 1 Chronicles 21 we seem to have "new light" that tells us that it was "the Satan" that did the tempting. Interestingly, this is the FIRST TIME "the Satan" is mentionned in the Bible. There is a clear discrepancy here, and the NWT, in its well-documented and constant effort to reconcile biblical contradictions, heavily distorts the text by attributing the act to an impersonal "one" who is inciting David.
  
  There is only one other time (apart from apart from extensive mentions as part of a celestial confrontation over Job) that "the Satan" is mentionned in the Old Testament, and that is in Zechariah 3. Yes, believe it or not, apart from in Job, the name "Satan" only comes up twice in the whole of the Old Testament, and for minor wrongs at that, one of those occurances is even attributed to Jehovah in a parallel account !!! (& Obviously, you also have the snake that just couldn't shut up in the Garden of Eden but was never named as "Satan", and the fallen "shining one", often incorrectly called "Lucifer" as a proper name).

  Many scholars say that a change in doctrine (aka "new light") as to the personhood of "the Satan" happened between the writing of 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles. Before this major doctrinal change, YHWH was credited with both the good and the bad and "the resister" was just a negative aspect of the God YHWH that the israelites worshipped, but after this major doctrine change, "the Satan" split off from YHWH to become a separate entity thereby leaving YHWH to be attributed with only the positive occurances. This is why he was a vengeful, cruel God in the early OT, but transformed himself into a God of love in the NT...
  
  Satan as a seperate entity was largly ignored though, until the time of Jesus and the apostles. "The Devil" is not once mentionned in the Old Testament (obviously due to the fact that "tou diabolon" is a Greek phrase)... In the New Testament the "diabolon" or "Devil" is mentionned extensively as a seperate being. "Satan" is mentionned about 38 times and "the Devil" 34 times in the New Testament.
  
  This means that (excluding Job, the snake in Eden and a single reference at Isaiah 4:12 to the fallen "shining one" or Lucifer), Satan the Devil is mentionned a total of 2 times in the OT and 72 times in the NT (also excluding all NT references to the Great Dragon, a Roaring Lion and the Original Serpent). Now in your Bible, feel the thickness of the OT in relation to that of the NT... does that seem balanced to you?

  If we want to be picky and include all the references to snakes, lions and fallen angels, there is still a gross imbalance that shows the early Christians' paranoia about this entity, and there is still a conspicuous, sudden appearance of "the Satan" as a seperate being to YHWH halfway through the Old Testament. and a distict feeling that early on, YHWH and "the Satan" were just two sides of the same entity.
  
  The JW story of Satan as the fallen angel, the original serpent and "Satan" the "Devil" seems to be a mixture of many different views of the origin of wickedness held by the early israelites.
• 

  JCanon

  Interesting observation. I might comment later, but in your questino as far as the Jews go and Satan, their concept of Eden in relation to the goddess "Lilith" is an interesting Google. Even Michaelangelo when he painted Eden at the Sistine Chapel depicted the devil was a woman who tempted Eve.

  Likewise, the Bible calls Satan "the woman" when making reference to the "woman and her seed" that will oppose Jesus and his seed. This battle was played out in Revelation. So technically, one would have to include Genesis as a reference to Satan as well. But back to the culture, it is clear per Jesus' words, if he represents the culture, that they understood Satan to be an evil angel, consistent with Zechariah 3, of course, and in Jewish culture the concept somehow survived that Satan was the "woman".

  The other references to Satan as the "covering cherub" relates to there only being two "covering cherubs" over the Ark of the Covenant. There are two angels who are considered to be "covering cherubs" because their wings cover the ark. One was Satan, the other Michael, and their images were depicted alternatively on the curtains of the temple, as a cherub and a palm tree. The palm tree image, a feminine one, represented the "wife" or "woman" of the cherub. This is the one that fell because of it's great beauty.

  So who Satan was, his former place in heaven and all that, was symbolized in orthodox lithurgy of the Jews and their imagery related to the temple. Of course, Satan, as Jesus' former wife is replaced by a new wife, "New Jerusalem" who is made up of those from the earth whom Jesus will figuratively marry. Thus the Church, the "144,000" replace Satan as Christ's Companion/Woman on Mount Zion, God's holy place.

  So whether or not Satan is mentioned on every page in scripture or not might be something to consider, but the concept of an evil angel leading other evil angels I think was understood in that culture, at least by the faithful to God.

  So, yes, Satan is present in the OT, first as "the woman" mentioned in Eden.

  JC
• 

  peacefulpete

  Good observation dorayaki, the OT mentions of Satan the devil are few for two reasons, first it's because the conception of Yahweh was evolving and secondly later compilers were leary of the appearance of polytheism. The earlier traditions felt that like the other gods Yahweh had two sides to his personality, he was both the beneficent father and the bringer of temptation and pain. This is why we see Yahweh inspiring the census and possesssing Saul etc. The Chronicler writing a century or so later felt it was necessary to attribute these negative attributes and actions to another entity. The Persian religion similarly had a father figure god all wise and good but he also had a nemesis who sought to oppose him. The Chronicler and his contemporaries apparently drew upon this Persian mythology. Ironically some felt uncomfortable granting another spirit being with powers that seemed to rival Yahweh's. I say 'seemed to rival' because bad occurs as often as good. Satan therefore was a useful new innovation but used sparingly by the principle OT contributors..
• 

  vitty

  So how does the Jewish religion today view Satan ?
• 

  dorayakii

  http://www.faqs.org/faqs/judaism/FAQ/06-Jewish-Thought/section-36.html Judaism does not believe in the devil, but we do believe in Satan (who
  more properly should be called "the Satan"). As this demonstrates, the
  Jewish view of Satan is very different than the Christian one. Here's
  a summary of the Jewish view; you can also find information at Alyza
  (Gretchen) Shapiro's web site at:
  http://www.cyberdrive.net/%7Ealyza/Jewish/satan.html
  
  The word satan means challenger. With the leading ha- to make haSatan,
  it refers to /the/ challenger. This describes Satan as the angel who
  is the embodiment of man's challenges. Satan works for G-d. His job is
  to make choosing good over evil enough of a challenge so that it can
  be a meaningful choice. Contrast this to Christianity, which sees
  Satan as God's opponent. In Jewish thought, the idea that there exists
  anything capable of setting itself up as God's opponent would be
  considered overly polytheistic--you are setting up the devil to be a
  god or demigod.
  http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/showthread.php?t=55424
  http://www.aish.com/rabbi/ATR_browse.asp?s=satan&f=tqak&offset=1
  http://www.beingjewish.com/basics/satan.html
• 

  dorayakii

  I believe the Jewish view harmonises all the references to "haSatan" in the Old Testament. It also sorts out the contradition in Isaiah 45:5-7...

  Yahweh was viewed, if not as "haSatan" himself, at least as the one who commanded haSatan... It was in this capacity that YHWH caused Job to be tested resulting in a positive proof of his faith, and it was in this way that YHWH deliberately created the Snake in Eden to test their faith.

  Isaiah 45

  5 I am YHWH, and there is no other; besides (except) Me there is no God. I will gird (encirle, bind hold close) you, though you have not known (percieved, recognised, admitted) Me;

  6 That men may know (percieve, recognise, admit) from the east (rising) to the west (setting) of the sun (shining shield) That there is no one besides (except) Me. I am YHWH, and there is no other

  7 The One forming light and creating darkness, making (causing) peace (well-being) and creating calamity (evil, pain, misery, badness, distress, injury), I, YHWH am doing these things

  http://www.outreachjudaism.org/satan.html

  In effect he is saying "I am Jehovah, and i am the one who creates peace AND pain & misery, well-being AND distress & evil... there is no other who causes these things"

  This explanation clarifies a lot of the Israelite creation story for me. The very fact that Christians say that God did not create evil always caused me to wonder, "well, if God is all-perfect and cannot create anything imperfect (Christian definition) the why does evil exist?...... why did Jehovah allow Satan the Devil to continue existing if he hates him so much and loves humans so much?...... Why in Judges 20, did Jehovah assure the Israelites that if they went up against the Benjaminites they would have a sure victory, then allow them to be completely routed, twice...... How can you call the instant execution of Uzzah for merely touching the Ark of the Covenant, righteous behavior?...... How is it possible that a God with the perfectly balanced qualities of love, justice, wisdom and power could get so angry and destroy the whol world?...... How could Abraham in effect "barter" for the lives of the people of Sodam and Gomorrah if God was so perfect and had already made up his mind?..."

  The free-will arguement was never satisfactory for me. The Christian insistance on God being completely blameless from the negative aspects of this world never held water to me...
• 

  peacefulpete

  Notice the modern Jewish attempt to rationalise the subject. If Satan could be said to be acting independently of God then he is a rival in power and influence, this cannot be allowed therefore he must be working for God under his direction. This of course is distasteful to Christians who have dealt with the inigma of an all powerful god having an archnemesis in a very different way. They say he was made perfect but rebelled. But this raises question about what inspired the angel to rebell..........
• 

  Terry

  The Jews didn't know the Devil or Satan as a character until they were kidnapped and deported to a culture that had Good vs Evil.

  The Babylonian Captivity changed many views and altered the Jewish mythos.

  Jewish language, names, months, religion and practice was transformed by exposure to Babylonian ideas.

  When the deportees rejoined the Jews who had remained behind a clash of cultures ensued.

  One group had the old stories and ideas and the new group had exciting modern developments.

  Arguments proved to be chaotic to a group trying to reunite and weld a lasting community.

  Suddenly there was a solution!

  A "copy of the law" was "discovered" conveniently which set matters straight.

  What was this discovered document?

  We now know it was the work of a feverish redaction of old stories and new into document that purported to be historical.

  The old stories were told AND the new versions side by side. Interpretations and additions were pasted over to smooth out the story and make it dovetail into innovations. There were two creation stories, two Noah stories, several Abraham stories, etc.

  Among all these updates and revisions the idea was planted to make a reasonable "out" for God in allowing harm to come to mankind. Satan emerged as a scapegoat.

  The Book of Job (surely a spurious book) comes closest to making this argument.

  The rest is (pseudo) history.

  The Jews had neither heave nor hell. They only had life and death and remembrance. The Jews had a purpose in life which was to fear God and honor him by making the world a better place than when they were born.

  In the midst of all that a twisty/turning THEOLOGY was born and life hasn't been the same since then.

  A similar thing happened in the Middle Ages with the addition of the KABALLAH to Jewish theology. A complete revamping of the entire story of creation and man's split with God was invented along with the necessary social updating.

  It is no stranger to either Christian or Jewish thought that reshufflings take place conveniently.

  The JW's call it New Light.
• 

  JCanon

  So how does the Jewish religion today view Satan ?

  Good question. But Jesus and the 1st Century Christians seemed to have a clear concept of who he was and that would have to be factored in as a Jewish cultural concept that existed at that time. The see Satan as the leader of a rebellion against God and Christ, who is Micahel, and battling it out at the appointed time during the last days. He is then abyssed for 1000 years to be let loose to test the world one last time before being thrown into the lake of fire.

  As I said before, though, there are many artistic depictions of Satan as a woman-snake when lots of religious artwork during Rennassaiance times. So those concepts of Satan persist in some of the community. I'm not sure what the "official" view is now, or if it varies among different factions of Jews. But good question. Probably a little reserach will provide the answer, though.

  JC
• 

  M.J.

  Interesting perspective from the Christadelphians:

  http://www.christadelphianals.org/who_are2.htm

  The Devil and SatanRealising the truth about human nature is a great help towards understanding "the devil" and "satan" in the Bible. These terms have a long tradition in human superstitions about an Evil Spirit, active against God and tempting mankind to evil. The popular understanding of them did not originate in the Bible but in the pagan centuries long before the Christian era.

  Where the Bible writers, under the inspiration of God, have occasionally used these terms -they are in fact comparatively rare in the Bible - they represent only the evil tendencies of human nature. It is significant that throughout the Bible sinners are never encouraged to blame something or someone else for their failings, but only themselves. The persistent enemy of God is the human mind and its demands for satisfaction.The true Bible teaching about human nature delivers us from the fear of some supernatural devil and shows clearly where the real enemy of God is to be found.

  In-depth article here: http://www.christadelphia.org/pamphlet/devil.htm