Satan

the second god of the Christians

The past few decades since the first screening of the film Rosemary’s Baby have seen a rise in belief in Satan. Across North America and South America more and more unusual or unexplained events are being identified as “Satanic”.

The traditional devil, or Satan, is a concept which has developed over the centuries. It is almost totally a Christian creation. Of all the religions in the world, only the Christians and Moslems, and some Jews, believe in the existence of such an entity.

In the Old Testament, Satan is not the proper name of a particular being. Nor does it refei~ to a demonic being who is the enemy of God. In its original application, it was a common noun which meant an adversary who opposed something. It was a human being who was an adversary, or satan, in I Samuel 2 9:4, 11 Samuel

From the frontispiece of Paul Carus's The History of the Devil and the Idea of Evil (1900)

 1 9:2 2, 1 Kings S: 4, 14, 23 and 25.

In Numbers 22:22 we read. And God’s anger was kindled because (Baalim) went. And the angel of the LORD stood in the way for an adversary against him.”

Again the word “adversary” found here is, in Hebrew, “satan”. There, is nothing in this text that would suggest that being a satan, or adversary, was the permanent function of a particular angel. Evidently this angel was chosen ad hoc for this occasion.

In Psalms 109:6-9, it says- “Give him over to wickedness, and let Satan stand at his right hand to accuse him. When he is taken to, court, let his plea be considered a wrong, and let the court find him guilty. Let his days befew.~.and let another take his office.” Here the word refers to a prosecutor in a court of law.

Satan was first used as the appellation of particular angel around 520 B.C. in Zechariah 3 and in Job I and 2, where he acts as a prosecutor in the celestial court.

Then he shewed me Joshua the high priest stddd~ng before the angel of the LORD, with Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, Satan, the LORD rebuke thee who hast put Jerusalem to trial: - Zechariah 3:1-2

‘Now there was a day when the members of the court of heaven came to the presence of the LORD, and Satan was also among them. And the LORD asked Satan, ‘Where have you been?’ And Satan answered the LORD and said, Roaming over this Earth, from end to end.’. And the LORD a.~sked Satan, ‘Have you conside9ed mVse,vant Job? .The,’e is none like him ~n the Earth, a perfect and upright man, one who feareth God, and avoids evil?’ And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job reverence Godfor nothing? Hast thou not hedged him roundon eve~’y side with your protection, his household and all that he hath? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands,’ and his cattle are spread over the land. But’put forth thy h~ind now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thyface,’ And the LORD said unto Satan, So be it. Alt that he hath is in thy hands, only he himself you must not touch.’ So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.” - Job 1:6-12

Here, in the Book of Job, Satan is still acting as the prosecutor (accuser) in the celestial court. He questions Job’s integrity and suggests to God that he’ be put on trial. Here he is clearly subordinate to God and a member of the holy retinue who acts only with God’s permission. Nowhere in any sense is he an enemy of God.

Fundamentalist ministers will jump in quickly at this point and quote their two favorite “Satan” passages - Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14. ,Let’s look, at these two chapters and see what they actually say..

That does sound like the Sunday School story of Satan, doesn’t it? Let’s take a look at verse 4, the beginning verse of this passage: Thou shalt take up this song of derision against the King of Babylon and say, How hath thy oppressions ceasetu Thy golden-city is at-an end! - -

The phrase the mount of the covenant, etc., is generally understood by educated Bible scholars as a reference by the King of Babylon to the northern mountains upon which, according to Babylonian mythology, the gods were supposed to meet and ponder the fate of mankind.

So you see this chapter has nothing to do with Satan or the Devil. It is a taunting speech directed against the King of Bablygri who was oppressing Jerusalem in the days of the Prophet Isaiah. It may well be that Daniel 4 is the record of the fulfillment of this prophecy.

Now let’s look at Ezekiel:

Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was thy covering, ruby, topaz and diamond, betyl, onyx and jasper, sapphire, emerald and opal. Workmanship of gold were by beads and bangles prepared fot thee the day thou wast created. Thou art the annointed cherub that covereth and I have set thee so. Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God. Thou host walked up and down in the midst of the stones offire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” - Ezekiel 2 8:1 3 - 15

Again, we have something that sort of sounds like the Sunday School Satan, until we read verse 12, (the beginning passage) which beans this passage: Son of man take up a lamentation upan the King of Tyre, end say unto him thus saith the LORD God.

So all this was being said about an earthly king, notl a supernatural lord ofevil. This is supported by chapter 27 and preceding parts of chapter 28, which are all about the city kingdom of Tyre.

See, you can find no Sunday School Devil in the Old Testament.

In the New Testament, Satan emerges as the very personification of the spirit of evil, as an independent personality. He is called “the author of evil.” In Revelation 12:9, there is the fullest, description of hinr that anctent serpent called the Devil and Satan which deceived the whole world. He was cast into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. He is the ‘personal tempter of  Jesus in Matthew 4, and it is this New Testament concept of Satan which has entered into popular lore.

How did today's Satan come into existence between the close of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament?

About 1000 B.C. the teachings’of Zoroasterism arose in Persia. Contained in these teachings is the concept that there is polarity in everything - good and evil, up and down, hot and cold, light and darkness.  The opposing polarities were personified as Ahura-Mazda and Abriman. One being evolution and the other being involution. The Law of Zoroaster taught that there was always an exchange taking place between these two extremes. The teachings were enlightened and scientific for their day.

 Through the centuries, the higher truths of these teachings were lost and replaced by the mythology of the ignorant masses, who came to believe that there actually were two gods - one good and one evil. The two gods, together with their respective angels, were at war with one another and the Earth was their battlefield. This simplistic interpretation of Zoroaster’s teachings was adopted by the Jews while they were held captive by the Persians 600 BC to 400 BC. ‘Israel, being in the middle of the fertile crescent, was a crossroads of ideas and philosophies and, along with Zoroasterism, traces of Babylonian religion could be found there - i.e. Beelzebub, who was the Babyionian god of the air, similar to the Christian St.. Michael. But because he was a foreign god, the Jews held him in contempt and regarded him as a demon (Matt. 10.25).

The writers of the New Testament were obviously influenced by their surroundings and used elements from this religious hodgepodge to express their ideas. Either we take these passages as allegories, or we find a conflict with other teachings in the New Testament and with the Old Testament.

Despite what the superstitious may claim, there can be no anti-God, no Devil.

There is only one force in the cosmos and that force is GOD!

The highest concept of God is that God is omniscient, omnipotent, and all good. Follow this: Being omniscient, God had to know, before he was created, what choices Satan would make. Being omnipotent, God has the power to stop him or refuse to create him in the first place, and, being all good, God would stop. such a being before he became a threat to the harmony of the universe.

It is not logical to. believe in both God and a Devil. But the fact that there really is no Devil or Satan does not prevent people from believing in him or worshipping him.

LINKS TO SATAN

Church of Satan, official website                                                     www.churchofsatan.com

Satan: the adversary of mankind -  A fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible                                                                                                                                                          aristotle.net/~bhuie/satan.htm