Christian Mysteries - Unveiled
Article: SATAN –
The Personification of Evil
(Continued...)
The Hebrew root “stn” means to oppose, obstruct.
Later as Hebrew stories developed, the Satan took on a supernatural character,
sent by God to obstruct human activity. Satan
does not act, however, of his own accord. Elsewhere Satan is stirred to account
for division within same people: “The Satan stood up against Israel, and
incited David to number the people” (1 Chron. 21:1).
In due course, as radical
opposition to Jews increased, they began
to apply the negative characteristics of their opponents to Satan. This process maligned the angelic figure of
Satan, to a far more evil character. The
Jewish apostates and opponents were denounced as being seduced by the evil
powers under many names such as, Satan, Beelzebub, Semihazah, Azazel, Belial,
Prince of Darkness and so on.
Here I
have to make one important comment and, that is, both Isaiah
14 and Ezekiel 2 8:1 3 – 15
should not be misunderstood for the fall of Satan and his angels. If read in proper context, the writings the
prophets speak is about the earthly kings - King of Babylon and King of Tyre
respectively and not any supernatural beings.
By the time of the new
Testament canons, Satan had become God’s
antagonist - enemy and contender. Throughout the scriptures, Satan is given an independent
entity from God and comes across as the very personification of evil.
In Matthew 4, Satan
personally tempts Jesus. All dispossessed
demon-spirits announce the divinity of Jesus and Revelation 12:9 mentions him
by another name namely, the serpent now as the Devil and Satan who has deceived
the whole world.
Satan also had counterparts
in the Egyptian Set, in Greece as Typhon and Sumerian Enki, but not always as a
personification of evil.
The known primary source
for depicting the Devil as “evil” comes
from Zoroaster’s teachings of the concept of two co-equal powers (good and evil) existing
from the beginning. And that they would
continue to battle till the end of the world.
Many concepts from Zoroastrianism were adopted into Judaism by the
Jewish priests during their captivity in Persia (538 BCE) and upon return
to Judea (330 BCE).
What had God to
say? The answer can be rather
unexpected. It is God who deliberately sends out a lying spirit:
"And there came
forth a spirit and stood before the Lord and said … I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit
in the mouth of all his prophets. And be said… go forth and do so." (1 Kings 22:21)
Again, God declares
that he is the creator of evil as well: “I make peace, and create evil, I the
Lord do all these things.” Isaiah 45:7,
Prophet Amos says that whenever evil occurs it is the Lord’s handiwork: “Shall
there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? Amos 3:6.
In the New
Testament, there are two schools of thought.
It appears that God does the work of the devil to tempt those who cannot
be saved, for Paul, in his disputed Epistle 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12, states: ”God shall send them a strong
delusion, that they shall believe a lie; that all might be damned who believe
not the truth.” But Apostle James in
his epistle, speaks differently:” Let no man say when he is tempted, I am
tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted of evil, neither tempteth he any man."
ends
I invite your comments and queries. Thank you.
Paul Rodricks,
Author & Freelance Writer.
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